Sarah in the Suburbs

Pet Peeves.

2012-01-09T10:49:00.005-07:00

Today I am using a blog prompt because my mind is blank, but I felt like blogging. I picked one from The Imagination Prompt Generator that said five of my pet peeves are. I could probably list more than five, but I stick to what the prompts says.

1. People who don't put their shopping carts in the receptacle.

SERIOUSLY. How hard is it to put a cart away? I will never understand just leaving your cart in a random spot in a parking lot. The worst is when you think a parking space is empty and you start to pull into it, only to realize some idiot has left a cart there. Really? Most stores have multiple receptacles, so it's not really that difficult to walk 10-20 feet to put your damn cart away. I usually park close to a shopping cart receptacle because I find it less likely to find the random cart, reducing the chances of my cart getting dinged. However, I did see a man park two spaces away from one of these receptacles and he still didn't put his cart away! I got out of my vehicle, flipped him off, and put the damn cart away myself. Seriously, dude?

2. Irresponsible Pet Owners.

You know, the people who get an adorable puppy and love it and care for it, but then decide it's too much work, so they either leave the dog outside 24/7 or they just get rid of it. My neighbors are these people. They have two dogs who are outside ALL the time. They peek their heads over out shared fence and start barking, making my dogs go nuts whenever they're outside. It wouldn't bother me if this was just during the day when they're at work, but nope, they leave the damn dogs outside all night too. What is the point of having a pet just to keep it outside all the time? It really breaks my heart for the dogs, I'm not even mad at them when they bark, I'm mad at their owners for not caring enough about their pet to take it inside every now and then.

3. Facebook.

I could probably write a whole post on the annoyances of Facebook, but there are two occurrences that really stick out to me. The first is all the complaining/bragging. There are certain people who never post unless they have something to complain about or something to brag about. It's either my life sucks so bad or my life is so wonderful, aren't you jealous? The occasional complaint/brag worthy moment is okay, but every time you post? Can't you just post about the wonderful meal you cooked for dinner or your favorite sports teams like most people? The second Facebook related pet peeve are the people who give advice when it's not asked for. When someone posts "I wish my baby would sleep" here comes 50 mothers giving their advice on how to put the baby to sleep. Can't someone have their occasional complaint without being bombarded with people telling them what to do? It'd be different if someone asked for advice, but if they're not asking, shut your face.

4. People who are always broke, but continue to spend money on frivolous things.

I went Black Friday shopping with a friend of mine and she invited one of her friends along. Her friend bought a $400 TV, a $300 tablet, and a $600 laptop. I found out this week that her car is going to be repossessed in February. Which means she hasn't paid it in sometime. I don't get how buying big ticket items could be more important than making your car payments? I mean I've splurged on things before, but never so many things at once! You pay off one thing before you go buy the next big thing. My friend told me this girl was complaining about being broke before Black Friday which is why she wasn't invited - she invited herself. I don't get it. I never will.

5. People who don't discipline their kids in public.

I'm not talking about beating your child publicly, but if I'm sitting on an airplane and your kid is kicking the back of my seat repeatedly, ya think you could ask them to stop? I don't have kids, so I'm not one to judge parenting styles, but if your kid is being obnoxious, parent them! Don't just act like nothing is happening. I see it all the time at work - parents just letting their kids run loose and getting into everything. Your five year old child should not be pushing a cart down an aisle full of breakables. I'm sure being a parent is trying & tiring, but if you decided to bring them into this world, you should be making sure they aren't making everyone around them crazy. Just sayin'.

New Year.

2012-01-02T16:36:00.002-07:00

I can't believe it's been almost a year since I updated my blog! So much has happened, so I'll do a little update post right now.

The first few months of the year were pretty mellow. Just normal, everyday life. In April, I got a promotion at work, from cashier to Assistant Manager. It's a few more hours and a raise, but it's not too bad. Jenry and I also made a trip to New York City in April to see his family since we didn't go there over the holidays. We had a good time, catching up with his family and friends, and of course, taking in some new sights in the city. We went to the NY Mets home opener at Citi Field. It was our first time there since they closed Shea Stadium a few years ago. It was a nice place, but I still prefer the old stadium. We wandered around Times Square, went to Tim Horton's for the first time, went to a comedy club, saw a movie, and hung out with his friends.

In June, my closest friend here in Arizona, moved away. Her husband got out of the military, and they were planning on staying in the area, but he couldn't get a job. That was a really hard time for me, but luckily, my other two best friends, Ashley & Kelsey came to see me in July. I knew Ashley was coming, but she surprised me by bringing Kelsey along. We had a fun girls weekend (well, plus Jenry) and ate, drank, shopped, and just had fun.

In August, I went to San Diego, CA for the first time. I actually met a friend off the internet (sounds creepier than it is). We met on XBox Live a few years ago and became really good friends, so I went out there for his birthday and took in so many sights - San Diego Zoo, USS Midway, Sprinkles Cupcakes, Pacific Beach, Old Town San Diego, The Whaley House, and more that I'm probably forgetting! It was a fun weekend and I definitely plan on going back! Also in August, my friend who had moved away came back to AZ for her sisters wedding. It was 6 hours away from me, but I drove up to Snowflake, AZ and spent a day there with her. The drive up was so beautiful, so many mountains and canyons. It made me remember why I moved out here. We also adopted a dog this month, a girl German Shepherd whom we named Josie. She had some real issues (destructive and anxious), but she has improved a lot with medication and training.

In September, I flew out to North Carolina to help take care of my nephew while my sister had a c-section for the birth of my first niece, Fiona Lynn. I was nervous at first, because I hadn't spent much time with my nephew, but he took to me right away and I had fun playing with him and getting to know him. He is such a good boy, and so smart! Fiona was (and is) adorable. She's a good sleeper and eater and growing up so fast already!

Nothing much happened until December, when I went home to Michigan the week before Christmas to spend some time with my family. Jenry didn't go with, he stayed behind to work and take care of all the animals. It snowed when I was home, so that was exciting for me! I love snow! Jenry took the week of Christmas off work, and today is our last day before we go back to work tomorrow.

I hope to blog more this year.... I feel like I say that a lot, so who knows if I'll actually do it! Haha!

Update on Life.

2011-01-12T09:57:00.002-07:00

I haven't blogged in a long time, and let's be honest, no ones surprised. I've never been one to be consistent with blogging. Life is pretty much the same. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday's, Bronx and I make our way on post at about 9am, where we walk two or so miles with my friend Alexis and her bulldog, Sampson. After our walk, the dogs play for a few hours, and around 1pm, Bronx and I come back home, where I usually clean or do laundry until my husband gets home from work at either 3pm or 4pm, depending on his shift for the week. I'm still working at the thrift store on Tuesday and Thursday, from 9am-3pm. After I get off work, I come home, relax for an hour or so, then I start dinner. Weekends are usually low-key, the hubby and I usually hang out in our PJ's, or run errands. Sunday is my favorite day of the week - Date night! Every Sunday night after dinner, Jenry and I watch a movie on Netflix, followed by an episode or two of Quantum Leap (how he got me hooked on that show is beyond me).

This winter has been warmer than normal. We had one week of temperatures in the 30's, and even some snow flurries, but we're back up to the mid 60's. It's bittersweet though. I love the warm weather, but I still miss snow. As a Michigander, I'm accustomed to feet of snow - not inches.

Bronx celebrated his 1 year birthday in December, and we're thinking about getting another dog as a playmate for him, but we know it's a big commitment, so we're not rushing into it. We also plan to adopt a dog this go 'round. I definitely do not want another puppy. We're looking at medium sized dogs, and I would love a Corgi - they're adorable!

This past Saturday, my congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords, was shot in the head in Tucson, about an hour northwest of here. It has been a real shock to Southern Arizona and I can't really describe how it feels to be so close to such evil. I'm hoping the Giffords makes a full recovery, and it seems like she will.

Anyway, my life is pretty uneventful, which is exactly how I prefer it!

Meme - Day Twelve.

2010-10-27T13:27:00.003-07:00

Today I have to post a picture of the town I live in. I live in a small town of about 50,000 people in Arizona, called Sierra Vista. If you're not familiar with Spanish, sierra vista translates to mountain view - and boy, is this town full of mountain views, which is why I decided to share the following picture.

Photo via City-Data.

Those are the Huachuca Mountains, which surround my town. In the winter, they are always covered in snow, while we almost never have any on the ground here. I may live in a teeny, tiny, town - but the views are amazing!

Meme - Day Eleven.

2010-10-25T18:27:00.002-07:00

The topic today - What's in my makeup bag. I actually have a lot of makeup that I never wear, which I keep in my caboodle. Yes - a caboodle. I was excited when they brought these back. I bought one and put all my excess makeup in it and put it under my bathroom sink. I then have a smaller makeup bag that store my everyday makeup. In there I have:

-CoverGirl Concealer - My must have makeup item.

-Physicians Formula Mineral Powder

-L'Oreal Mineral Blush

-L'Oreal Mineral Finishing Powder

-L'Oreal Mineral Bronzer (I wear this in the summer)

-CoverGirl Eyeshadow - I almost always wear some shade of brown/copper.

-Eyeliner - In both black and brown, depending on what I'm wearing.

-CoverGirl Lashblast Mascara - The best mascara ever!

I don't wear makeup everyday, when I go to work, it's usually concealer, powder, blush, and mascara. Occasionally I will wear eyeshadow and liner. I also wear lip gloss, but I keep it in my purse. I know I could've taken a picture of this, but I'm lazy today :]

Meme - Day Ten.

2010-10-19T18:28:00.003-07:00

Okay, so I'm back. Don't judge me. I will try to be better.

Today I have to post a picture of my favorite place to eat. My all time favorite restaurant is...

IHOP

But it's very sad - we don't have an IHOP in the town I live in. So my favorite place to eat in Sierra Vista is Filiberto's which is the most amazing Mexican fast food ever. I usually get the chimichanga plate and some horchata:

It's the best and I L.O.V.E. it!

Meme - Day Nine.

2010-10-06T22:00:00.002-07:00

Okay, so I fell off track for a few days. I kept forgetting about it after I had a busy weekend. Anyway, I'm back on track now. Today I have to post a picture of the last thing I bought. Today I actually bought a few things - cat food, kleenex, zip-lock freezer baggies, two pomegranates, but my favorite purchase has to be my new coffee creamer. I usually drink cinnamon coffee and use fat free creamer & Splenda. I wanted to try something different, so I bought some regular coffee when I went grocery shopping and was waiting till I found the perfect creamer. And today was the day:

Sugar-free Hazelnut creamer! I love hazelnut and actually have some hazelnut coffee, but it's so strong that it requires a lot of creamer to tone it down. They don't make many creamers that are sugar-free or fat free (I prefer sugar-free since it usually has less calories), let alone one with an amazing flavor. I plan on trying it tomorrow and I hope it doesn't disappoint.

Meme - Day Eight.

2010-10-01T18:58:00.002-07:00

Today I'm supposed to share a song that matches my mood. I'm in a pretty good, mellow sort of mood today, so I thought I'd post a mellow song. It happens to be one of my favorite songs of all time and if you don't have this album, I highly suggest it. It's beautiful and every song is amazing.

Fallen by Sarah McLachlan

Meme - Day Seven.

2010-09-30T17:32:00.003-07:00

Okay, so I missed a day, but I did pretty dang good, making it five days in a row. The topic today is My Dream Wedding. My husband and I got married at the courthouse and there is only one thing I would change about that - I would've had some family there. But for the sake of this blog, I'll entertain the idea of my dream wedding.

So here's a picture I made at DavidsBridal.com:

I would have a small wedding on Lake Michigan with no more than 50 guests. I never got into that wedding stuff.

Meme Day Six.

2010-09-28T20:40:00.006-07:00

I almost didn't blog today, but it kept eating at me, so I figured I'd get on here and do day six since it's not a very labor intensive topic. Today I have to post A Picture of an Animal That I'd like to Keep as a Pet.

Let me start off by saying that I am a HUGE anima lover. I appreciate almost every mammal and find them all pretty adorable. I have a special spot in my heart for rodents - hamsters, beavers, mice, guinea pigs, etc. I have two favorite rodents and I couldn't narrow it down between the two, so I decided to post both of them. I hope I'm not breaking the rules ;]

Alas, here they are:

Squirrel

(via Flickr)

Prairie Dog

(via Scientific American)

How can you not love these little guys?

P.S. I never realized how much these two animals look alike!

Meme - Day Five.

2010-09-27T14:28:00.003-07:00

Today I have to share a photo of myself from two years ago. This time two years ago, I was living in Tennessee, attending Austin Peay State University, and awaiting my husbands' return from Iraq. I had just lost a total of 70+ pounds and was feeling pretty good about myself.

I've changed a little since this picture was taken - I no longer have bangs. My hair is a little longer. We now live in Arizona. I'm working.

But the best thing is something that stayed the same - I can still fit into those jeans. That is a huge accomplishment. Trust me.

Meme - Day Four.

2010-09-26T12:44:00.004-07:00

Todays topic is Your Favorite Photograph of Your Best Friend. And since Bestie did hers on me, it's only fair that I do mine on her :] Let's start out with the picture, and then I'll explain why I like it so much :]

So there is my best friend Ashley with her two dogs, Pixie and Louie aka Woo. Firstly, I love this photo because Ashley looks truly happy. Remember when you'd take a picture of yourself just for MySpace? Both Ashley and I were guilty of that, but this is a candid shot, not one where she took 10 pictures just to get the perfect one. And the smile on her face is not forced or fake. It's genuine.

I also love this picture because of the way Woo is looking at her. Being a dog owner now, I can understand the look on his face. You can see how much he loves her and how loyal he is to her. Then there is Pixie in the middle. If you knew Pixie at all, you would understand why I find it comical that she is in between Ashley and Woo. Pixie always wanted attention, whether it be by hopping on your lap, or by chewing up something, she wanted to be the center of attention.

Both dogs are no longer with us, but I hope Ashley can look back on this picture and remember the love they gave her and her family & friends.

Meme - Day Three.

2010-09-25T10:54:00.002-07:00

Today is day three and the topic is Your Idea of the Perfect First Date. I'm a really simple girl (for the most part) and I prefer simple dates! The whole dinner and a movie date sounds so cliché, but it's truly what I would prefer. But let me go a little deeper and be a little more specific.

I like to go out to dinner occasionally, but there is something special about a man who cooks! My husband cooks here and there, and can make a killer omelette, but he's never an entire meal for dinner. So I'd like to be cooked for. I don't think men realize how much it sucks to cook everyday, and on top of that, to actually come up with meal ideas. And it wouldn't have to be anything extravagant, spaghetti, bread, and a salad would please me :]

So after he'd make dinner (with a little help from me), we'd eat at the table, with candles lit and some music in the background. After dinner, we'd sit on the sofa and watch a movie - preferably a scary movie. Sure, I like the occasional romantic comedy, but I really love scary movies. Of course, we'd cuddle on the sofa during the movie (cuddling might be the best thing ever), and afterwards we'd go sit outside or go for a walk.

This felt so cheesy to write! I really prefer nights in and would much rather be at home with my husband, cuddling, kissing, and being sweet :]

Three days in a row - this might be a record!

Meme - Day Two.

2010-09-24T16:05:00.007-07:00

Today is day two of my 30 day meme series and the topic is A Photo of Something You Ate Today. When I woke up this morning, I knew I would have to photograph something that I ate, so before I ate breakfast, I thought I'd better take a picture of it before I forgot. So here is my grand breakfast:

A Cocoa Full Bar and some Lite Blueberry Pomegranate yogurt. A while back, my friend had ordered the Full Bars in an effort to lose weight, but they didn't really work for her, so she gave them to me the other day. They're like a cereal bar - and unlike her - they seem to be working for me. The idea is that you eat one 30 minutes before a meal and it's supposed to make you less hungry. I'm not dieting or trying to lose any weight, but I figured I'd eat them in lieu of the granola bars that I usually eat. Here's a picture of what the Full Bar looks like:

So you can see they're actually pretty big. After I ate it, I felt so full that I didn't even know if I could eat the yogurt! I posted on Twitter that I felt like I had just consumed a steak dinner! She also gave me some flavor packets for water made by the same company, but I haven't tried those yet.

Be proud -- I blogged two days in a row!

Meme - Day One.

2010-09-23T16:15:00.005-07:00

The Meme topic for today is A Photo of Yourself and a Description of How Your Day Was. Let's start with a photo of myself, taken today just for this blog. This is how I look most days - nothing special.

Now that we have the photo out of the way, lets get onto my day! I woke up today at 4:45 and made my husband his lunch and let the dog out, then laid myself right back into my comfy bed until 6:30am, which is when I actually got up for the day. I again let the dog out, got his breakfast ready. While he ate his food, I checked my Facebook, Twitter, and other important sites (Hey, Lamebook and Failbook are really important!). At around 7:20, I started getting ready for the day. All that means for me is brushing my teeth, getting dressed and putting on minimal makeup (i.e. powder, blush, and mascara). After I was ready, I took the dog outside to throw the ball around and get him worn out. After about 15 minutes of playing ball, I came back inside and ate a cup of peach & mango yogurt and gathered my things for the day. After putting the dog in the crate, I left for the day at around 8:20, stopping at Gas City to get a Diet Coke fountain drink. I then made my way to work.

When I got to work, I counted my money and waited for the store to open at 9am. Work was pretty typical, am a cashier and I just take peoples money, sounds exciting, I know. I get a 15 minute lunch break, which I usually take around 12:30. Today I ate a granola bar and some peanut brittle that someone had brought in to share. I spent the rest of my lunch break walking around the store, but I didn't find anything worth buying. The next 2 hours went by pretty slow and after the store closed, I counted down my drawer and left to come home.

My husband was home when I got here, he was outside watering the plants and cleaning out our fountain, after he had played with the dog. I started a load of laundry, mostly my husbands work clothes, and then I decided to write this blog. The rest of my night entails dinner at 5pm (I'm reheating a pepperoncini roast and making some mashed potatoes). Then I'll take a bath, and perhaps watch some TV and play some Halo Reach, and then head to bed between 10-11.

And there's my day!

30 Day Meme.

2010-09-23T16:06:00.010-07:00

I haven't been blogging lately, but with Summer winding down, I am going to try to blog more. I've used Meme's in the past, and recently my Bestie started a 30 Day Meme. I decided to be a poser and join in on the fun. Here's the list of the topics I'll be blogging on:

Day 1 - A photo of yourself and a description of how your day was.

Day 2 - A photo of something you ate today.

Day 3 - Your idea of the perfect first date.

Day 4 - Your favorite photograph of your best friend.

Day 5 - A photo of yourself two years ago.

Day 6 - A photo of an animal you'd love to keep as a pet.

Day 7 - Your dream wedding.

Day 8 - A song to match your mood.

Day 9 - A photo of the item you last purchased.

Day 10 - A photo of your favorite place to eat.

Day 11 - What's in your makeup bag.

Day 12 - A photograph of the town you live in.

Day 13 - Your favorite musician and why?

Day 14 - A TV show you're currently addicted to.

Day 15 - Something you don't leave the house without.

Day 16 - Your celebrity crush.

Day 17 - A photo of you and your family.

Day 18 - Something you crave a lot.

Day 19 - Another picture of yourself.

Day 20 - The meaning behind your blog name.

Day 21 - A photo of something that makes you happy.

Day 22 - A letter to someone who has hurt you recently.

Day 23 - 15 facts about you.

Day 24 - A photo of something that means a lot to you.

Day 25 - What's in your purse?

Day 26 - A photo of somewhere you've been to.

Day 27 - A picture of you last year and now and how you changed since then?

Day 28 - Your favorite movie.

Day 29 - Something you could never get tired of doing.

Day 30 - A photograph of yourself today + three good things that have happened in the past 30 days.

I can almost guarantee that I won't blog everyday, but I will try my hardest.

The Concrete Jungle.

2010-09-07T21:09:00.003-07:00

This weekend, I was on a quest for some queso de freir (cheese for frying) since the website I found for ordering was sold out, the hubby and I came across a Mexican store the reminded me of the bodegas in New York City. If you've never been to or heard of a bodega, it's basically a tiny grocery store, like the size of a gas station convenience store. It has all your basics, but then it has fruit, meat, beer...everything. Here's a picture of a typical bodega:

So the bodega didn't have my cheese, but we did buy some carne asada with marinade to grill out with. But it really got me thinking, about New York and how much I love it.

I can't even count how many times I've been to the City now, but every time we cross The George Washington Bridge into the City, it reminds me of my first time. Jenry videotaped it and I was just awestruck by the lights and all the buildings. The energy changes immediately after you get out of Jersey and into the City...I can't even describe it.

My husband always wanted to go back to New York, or even just the East Coast, but I knew he'd have better luck finding work out here in Arizona. We have discussed moving to New York, probably within the next 10 years. If he makes the same amount of money as he does now, we could afford decent housing there. He'd be home, I'd be closer to home.

And most importantly, I wouldn't have to look so hard for this damn queso de freir :p

Letters From Me.

2010-08-02T14:05:00.003-07:00

Sometimes I feel the need to say things to people, but instead of saying it to them, I think it in my head. I was inspired by Nicole to write them out, knowing fully that the recipients will never read them. Here we go.

Dear Next Door Neighbors,

Can you please pull your effin weeds? Geez. I've lived here for 9 months and you haven't pulled them once. It's an eyesore, and since both our houses are behind the mailbox for the entire street, everyone sees your grossness when they check their mail. While I appreciate how awesome you make my yard look, I can't stand to look at yours. While we're at it, you have a 3 car garage, is it necessary to have 3 cars in your driveway? Especially that bright orange truck with a flat tire and garbage in the bed. That one needs to be hidden in your garage.

Love,

Your Annoyed Neighbor

Dear Adults Obsessed With Twilight,

I've never seen Twilight and who knows, I might've liked it if you freaks hadn't scared me off. I'm not talking about all Twilight fans who are adults, but the ones who act like teenagers, you know the type I'm talking about. My sister bought me the first book, but I'm afraid to read it, for fears I might be associated with you weirdos. Seriously, if you have two kids and husband, do you really need to be swooning over teenagers and clogging up my Twitter feed with this garbage?

Sincerely,

Scared of You

Dear Parents Who Don't Vaccinate Their Children,

Personally, I plan to vaccinate any children I have when they are babies. I understand that some people don't want to because they think it will make their children autistic. Every person has their own thoughts about the topic, but understand you will make people mad. Don't tell a doctor that you're not going to vaccinate and expect them to not be concerned. Doctors are medically trained and might have a reason to be concerned.

Yours Truly,

Vaccinated & Not Autistic

Dear Fat People Who Eat Like Crap,

If you're fat and content, more power to you. If you're fat, unhappy, and eating a stack of oreos every night, then shutup about being fat. I was fat and I did something about it. I don't want to hear you complain about it anymore. Please, just stop.

Regards,

Formerly Fat

I think that's it for the day. If I offended you, I didn't mean to. These were all directed toward specific people who I don't really like to begin with, so I get more annoyed than normal.

Happy Monday!

Meme.

2010-08-01T13:26:00.006-07:00

Thanks to my Bestie, I discovered Meme's, which is basically like a blog prompt. I decided to investigate further, and came across this site - The Daily Meme. Since I haven't blogged in so long and I find it difficult to find any inspiration, I decided today I would try a meme. So today's meme says, "Post any photo that is straight out of the camera, in other words, not enhanced or tweaked in any way." Lucky for me, I took pictures of myself yesterday because I wanted a new picture for Facebook. So here is the totally raw, unedited image of me:

Of course, I like to edit my pictures a little bit using Paint Shop Pro or a cool website called Picnik. So here's the actual picture I added to my Facebook after editing.

I only used one effect called 'soften' which didn't change the photo drastically, but it did change it. So there you have it :]

I'm Boring.

2010-06-29T18:02:00.002-07:00

Which is why I haven't blogged in ages. Life is seriously so uneventful. I now have a job 2 days a week, so that keeps me occupied some of the time. The days I don't work, I go to my friends house where we take our dogs on a walk & then let them play. Yes, a playdate for dogs. But it seriously helps Bronx get out some of his energy! The hubby and I bought a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee 2 weeks ago, so now my husband drives himself to and from work - which is truly amazing if you know my husband! Since he's now driving, it is imperative that he makes his new ride cool - so this weekend he & some friends tinted the windows and bought a new CD player for it (he's driving the Vibe to work since it gets better mileage). The CD player is waiting on a mount kit to come in the mail since that car has the weirdest dash ever:

Notice the little 12V plug on the bottom right - I love that thing!

I talked to my parents on Sunday and they informed me that they're coming out west next Spring! They'll most likely meet us in Vegas and spend some time there, then drive down to AZ and hang out with us here for for a while. I am very excited!

Other than that, life is pretty boring - and boring is good in my book :]

Ding Dong!

2010-04-24T11:08:00.005-07:00

Since buying a house & moving into a subdivision, rings on my doorbell and knocks on our door have increased. I am the type of person who doesn't answer unless I am expecting someone or the person on the other side looks harmless. But due to the weather warming up, these knocks have increased and have the money in my wallet has decreased! Here's the knocks in a nice little list.

#1 - Girl Scouts. Okay, I'll admit I wasn't unhappy when they knocked on my door. I don't mind buying things from schools or organizations, especially kids. I remember being a kid, knocking on someones door, and feeling hurt when they turned me down. So when the GS came, I politely bought a box of Tagalongs and Thin Mints and my waistline hated it for me later :]

#2 - Republican Party. Okay, I am not a Republican, but I listened to this old guys speech and then told him I wasn't yet registered to vote in the state of AZ, so sorry pal, I can't sign your petition. I'm not going to sign it regardless - I know nothing about the guy your talking about. I'd like to research a candidate before I just sign my name to some piece of paper.

#3 - Cookie Dough. This was for the local high school's cheerleaders. Granted I'm probably not going to even make the white macademia nut cookie dough I ordered, I again remembered my childhood door knocking, and paid the $15 for it. Besides, they told me my dog was cute :]

#4 - Meat Guy. I knew I should've turned this guy away right when I answered, but I get suckered in everytime. Everytime. So I let him in and he shows me all these kinds of meats - for $400 or something. I didn't want to spend the money, but when you break it down, it really is cost effective. I bought 9.5 lbs of beef, 9 lbs of chicken, and 3lbs of salmon for $190. It sounds like a lot, but the beef is steaks (Ribeye, T-Bones, etc). I hardly ever buy beef because I for one don't really eat it. My freezer is stocked for the next 6 months I'd say!

#5 - Random Creepy Guy. Okay this one happened about an hour ago and I didn't answer. It's Saturday and my husband is sick and we're still in our PJ's. Anyway, he rings the bell and stands there for literally 5 minutes. No exaggeration. Then he knocks and stands there for another 2 minutes, finally leaving. It was creepy and he was old. I don't know what he wanted, and I don't really care. I swear he was peeking in my house too. This is our front door. It's hard to see in, but if you put your face close enough, you can see inside on certain parts of the glass.

So there you have it. I'm sure more will come and knock and I'm sure there are more who will be ignored or get my money. Sometimes I miss apartment living - no one ever bothered me there!

Spring!

2010-04-07T15:53:00.002-07:00

I love Spring and here in Arizona, Spring is only a month long before it's so hot you regret buying a black car. This Spring will be mine & my husbands first Spring as homeowners! Which I guess only sounds exciting in writing. In actuality, it means a lot of work! So far, we've pulled all the weeds and picked up all the leaves - and that alone makes my yard look a million times better! Weeds aren't normally a big deal, but since we have gravel instead of grass, they're way more noticeable, therefore I think the whole neighborhood looks at our yard with disgust (even though I know it's my next door neighbors yard that is truly the worst!).

Among the weed pulling & leaf pick-up, our trees have all started to blossom! Our two unidentified trees now have leaves again. Our peach tree has the prettiest pink flowers (I didn't even know peach trees had flowers before peaches), and our purple flowering trees look and smell amazing (too bad the bumble bees are always around them, freaking me out). To go with all our nice landscaping, we have to put new flowers in our flower box, hang our hanging tomato plant, and put a new plant in one of our pots - I'm waiting until May though, when I'm sure the threat of freeze is over.

Then of course, there is Spring Cleaning! The only area that we have to do is the garage since I keep my house pretty clean. We still have all our moving boxes, which we're giving to some friends who are moving in May, and giving them back their washer/dryer that we were storing. So that will clear up some space. I'm really excited. I love cleaning and organizing. It calms me :]

Hope everyone has a happy Spring!

All I've Got.

2010-03-17T09:03:00.002-07:00

"All that I'm after is a life full of laughter; As long as I'm laughing with you. And I think that all that still matters is love ever after, after the life we've been through. 'Cause I know there's no life after you."

-Daughtry

Have you ever come across a song that really hits home for you? Of course you have, who hasn't? The chorus of Life After You by Daughtry is one that I am just so in love with. It corresponds with how I view my marriage. My husband and I don't have a perfect marriage - who does? But we do laugh a lot. I still look at him and wonder how it's been almost six years of marriage already, I still feel like we're newlyweds. I brought this up to him the other day and he agreed. This is the kind of marriage I always dreamed of, one like my parents had. Of course all my memories of my parents marriage come from the perspective of a child, but I remember there being a lot of laughter in their marriage.

I met my husband when I was 18, almost 19, and while he made me laugh when we were friends, I never would've picked him for my husband. But then I got to know his heart, and honest to God, he has one of the kindest hearts of anyone I've met, to a fault sometimes. But I really think it was all the good laughs he gave me that won me over! Seven years later, we're still laughing.

I believe without a doubt, that laughter is the key to a good marriage.

I have no idea why I wrote this blog :]

Sports Nut.

2010-03-01T08:34:00.002-07:00

Growing up, I only liked one sport and one sport only: football. My father is a Detroit Lions fan and my mother was a Chicago Bears fan. Being a 'mommy's girl', that meant I too was a Bears fan. Somewhere around the ago of four, I also became a Buffalo Bills fan. I ask my dad how that came to be, and the only conclusion he could come up with was that I like the way their name sounded, which sounds like a four year olds logic I suppose. The Lions play every Thanksgiving, don't ask me how they earned that honor. Back in the days of Barry Sanders, it made sense, but as of late, I question it. The Thanksgiving after my mom died, the Lions played the Bills and my dad decided he's take my sister Heather and I to the game. The Bills lost, but I remember how cool I thought it was. We didn't have a lot of money back then, so going to a game, a Thanksgiving Day game no less, and staying in a suite at the Radisson was a real treat! Looking back now, I think of how my mom would've loved it - she was a die hard Bears fan and I can remember her screaming at the TV and screaming when they'd get a touch down. I have her Walter Payton pin and I look at it and smile, and realize how much I am like her. Only with a different sport.

When I met my husband, I was introduced to baseball. He is a lifelong New York Mets fan and I had only seen baseball once when I went to a White Sox game in middle school. To take interest in something he liked, I decided to pick a team and go with it. I made the unfortunate mistake of becoming a Yankees fan. That lasted about a day when I realized I didn't want to be some sort of bandwagon fan. So I watched a Mets game and realized why my husband liked them. I can't explain it, but they are the underdog team of New York, and I love rooting for the underdog. We went to a game in 2005 and I loved it even more. I picked a player - David Wright - who happens to be good looking and really good. I never imagined myself as a baseball fan, but I love it and I am glad my husband introduced me to it!

Then in 2006, I met Kelsey at school. She was a hockey fan, and even though I am from Michigan, I never cared about hockey and couldn't understand her fascination. She finally convinced me to go to a Nashville Predators game in 2007, a playoff game, which they lost and ended their season. I loved it though, the energy of hockey is unmatched by any other sport. The next season I went to more games with Kelsey and fell in love with it. The next year, I bought a half season and became slightly obsessed with the sport.

Which bring me to the Olympics. I was so happy that Team USA made it to the gold medal game, as no one really expected that. Even though they lost the gold, they won silver, which really is an accomplishment, and I was really proud. And it made me happy to hear people talking about hockey. I hope that game brought more people to hockey and maybe created some new fans of the sport. I was sad for the Olympics to be over, but I am happy that NHL will be back in action this week.

Seven years ago, I was football fan. These days, I am sports fan.

Just 2&1/2 years until Summer Olympics, haha.

Bronx.

2010-02-26T09:46:00.002-07:00

I have hardly had anytime to update - 2 weeks ago my husband and I got a puppy. My husband has wanted a dog as long as I've known him, while I am a 'cat lady'. I could live my entire life never owning a dog and be perfectly happy. We had 2 dogs and 2 cats growing up and I liked them fine, but I've just always liked cats more. My husband likes bigger breeds, particularly German Shepherds and Huskies, while I like smaller breeds, especially Pomeranians. Since I already have three cats, it was his turn to get an animal he wanted. We had contemplated it in the past, but we already had the max allowable pets at our apartment complex, and secondly, we didn't think it was fair to have a huge dog in a 900 square foot apartment. After we bought a house, it became possible to get a dog, but we wanted to wait until after the holidays so we could go home without worrying about a dog.

So for the past two months I have been scouring the classifieds and pet finder for a puppy. Normally I wouldn't mind adopting an adult dog, but with the cats, I wanted a puppy. We did find one Husky puppy for adoption in the next town over, but after doing some research, these dogs just really aren't good with cats, often killing them, so that was a no go. So I decided to try to find a German Shepherd. These dogs are impossible to adopt as puppies - they get adopted so fast. So buying one was our only option. I found some in Phoenix (3 hours away), but they were crazy expensive since they were AKC registered, something I really could care less about. I'm not breeding my animal, so why pay for a piece of paper. I finally found some pups in Tucson (1 hour away) and showed my husband immediately - and he liked them. They weren't papered, as the mother dog was not papered, but they were fully blooded Germans and that's what we wanted.

I called the owners and decided to drive up that day (Feb 11). The puppies were perfect - they were 10 weeks, had their shots, and had the black & brown markings we wanted. My husband took about 30 minutes picking out the perfect puppy and finally settled on one. We already knew we wanted to name him Bronx after my husbands hometown in NY. He was shy and scared the first day, but is already a great dog! He sleeps in his crate with no problem, the past three days he has not had an accident in the house. The only time he will have one is if we're gone for more than 2 hours (in his crate), but when we're home he goes and waits by the back door. He loves to play - he caught onto fetch after day one of being with us. He is still a little curious about the cats, but is learning to leave them alone. Leash training is a little more difficult, but he is getting better. And he just loves my husband, follows him around whenever he is home.

It's a lot of work, but I love him so much already and I think he will be a great dog!

Money $aver.

2010-02-08T15:22:00.002-07:00

I LOVE saving money. One of my biggest areas of not totally watching how much I spend is at the grocery store. I am always in search of a great deal and use coupons frequently - but my problem lies within the fact that I buy more than we need, averaging about $170 every two weeks on groceries.

The other day I was in search of coupons on the internet when I came across this blog - The Krazy Coupon Lady, and I'm telling you, this blog is filled with deals. My favorite part of the site is the grocery store match-up, where she posts advertised sales from leading chains with coupons she finds either online or in the paper, and tells you how much you're saving, etc. I shop at Fry's (which is also known as Kroger and Smith's, among other names) and today I sat down, looked at the match-up, printed coupons, and *gasp* - planned 14 meals for the next two weeks and made a list. So instead of my over buying and overspending, I spent $117. That's nearly a $60 savings, which if you break it down, is $63.50 a week. What I saved is a whole week of groceries.

She also posts match-ups for CVS, Target, and Walgreens. I've learned that I don't need to buy all my things from one place. Before I went grocery shopping, I hit up Target and used coupons I had to buy things they had on sale - cat litter and dish washer tablets. The tablets were on sale for $3.99 and I had a $1 off coupon that was mailed to me from here the Home Made Simple website. Every few months they will mail out a coupon book full with coupons for cleaning products.

One of the things I've learned since moving out to AZ where everything is more expensive - never buy anything that isn't on sale or you don't have a coupon for. It really saves you money in the long run. Another great thing about Fry's? For every $100 you spend, you get $.10 off gasoline. So I make sure I use that too.

Anyway, I was just really excited about my savings and since my husband seemed not so interested, I thought I'd blog about it. Have a great day!!

From Small Space to Large Space.

2010-01-12T07:33:00.007-07:00

If there's anything I've learned in the past three months since becoming a homeowner is that it's expensive. My husband and I went from an 800 square foot apartment to a house more than double that. And now I am finding I need more furniture. Yesterday the hubby and I made a stop at Lowes since we had a gift card from my parents as a housewarming gift. We'd decided long ago that we wanted an outdoor fire pit. We looked around, and a few caught my eye. But we decided to get a chiminea instead, which are very popular out here. Here is a picture of the one we bought:

So that's one thing off the list of things we need to buy! In my kitchen, there is a counter that overhangs into the dining room, so now we need bar stools. These are the ones I'm considering:
I like the red because that is the color theme we are going for in the kitchen, and I also wanted stools with backs on them. The material is microfiber, which I know is a good fabric for cat owners. While I like them a lot, the hubby is not sold on them (yet!).

Another piece of furniture we need - a table for the front entry way. It really needs one, it is so empty by the door! I really like this one from Target:

Nothing fancy - just something to put there!

There are so many other things we want to buy - patio furniture, a grill, and God knows what else. It's expensive moving from a smaller place to a larger place and buying the furniture to fill it up. I keep telling myself that it doesn't all have to happen at once. I can buy a piece here, buy a piece there, and one day it will all come together!

So Over It.

2010-01-05T08:45:00.000-07:00

After our experience this year, I am pretty much over traveling, or rather flying! On Sunday the 20th, the hubby and I headed up to Phoenix to stay in a hotel since our flight left at 6:30am the next morning and we weren't sure about traffic & making the three hour drive so early! The day started off fine, the airport wasn't too busy, security wasn't a nightmare, and we waited only a little bit before they started boarding. Then it got bad. Our flight took off 30 minutes late, but I wasn't too upset since we had a 2 hour layover in Minneapolis/St. Paul. About an hour into the flight, a flight attendant came over the PA and asked if there was a doctor on board. Apparently, a older man in his 60's had collapsed near the bathroom. He had an oxygen tank, and as he was walking out of the bathroom, the tubing got caught in the door, cutting off oxygen, and causing him to pass out & fall. The flight attendants and a nurse gave him CPR & mouth to mouth for about 30 minutes, when the pilot finally came over the PA to announce that we were making an emergency landing in Denver so the man could get medical help. Yeah, I was annoyed, but I couldn't be mad, it wasn't his fault. So we landed and proceeded to sit there for almost 2 hours while were waiting to re-fuel and be taxied onto the runway again. Long story short, we missed our connecting flight and ended up home almost 2 hours later than planned.
The time home was wonderful though! I got to meet my nephew who is six months now, and is oh-so-adorable. He is a a happy baby for the most part and has the cutest little grin! I love him so much already :] I also got to meet up with Bestie while in the Mitten. Her husband grew up about an hour away from me, so they drove down and we went to lunch. And it felt like we’d never been separated. It felt good to talk to someone who understands me and I can be myself around. And of course, her baby is becoming a boy! He will be two in February and he has changed so much since I last saw him! Along with that, it was good to be around my family, especially my sisters who I love dearly and miss so much.
As if getting my Michigan weren’t annoying enough, I would soon find out that the trip home would be 10x worse. Our flight was supposed to leave Chicago at 6pm, so we of course arrived 2 hours early, went through security fairly fast, and were waiting for the plane to arrive, when an announcement came over the PA: Our flight coming from Atlanta, was being diverted to Indianapolis due to the weather in Chicago, which wasn’t bad AT ALL. They said they couldn’t keep the runway clear from snow, which I don’t understand because it was barely coming down. As soon as they announced this, I knew we were in for a long night, as our we only had a 40min layover and our connection flight was the last one out of Atlanta to Phoenix that night. They immediately rebooked us for a flight out of Atlanta the next day at 1:30pm – a whole 16 hours later than our other flight. I was seriously annoyed, but what could I do? Nothing. We kept getting updates saying our plane would land in an hour, oh then another hour, and on and on. Our flight finally landed at about 10pm. But then the flight attendants had worked their allotted hours and we needed a new crew, who had to fly from O’Hare, which took and hour. It’s in the same city for crying out loud! After much waiting, we finally boarded the plane and took off at 1:30am, arriving in Atlanta at 3:30am. We hadn’t eaten dinner, because we didn’t know when we would board and didn’t want to miss the call to board, and when we got to Atlanta, of course everything was closed. We ended up sleeping on benches on the airport; it was pointless to go to a hotel only to check out seven or eight hours later. The only plus to our big mishap – we got to sit in first class on our 4 hour flight to Phoenix. Free movies, a meal, and larger seats – if I could, I would always fly first class! It was so nice. We finally made it to Phoenix and then had to drive 3 hours home, ate dinner, and went to bed since my husband had to be up at 4:45am for work.
I could understand having a traveling mishap on our way there, but to have such luck on both travel days? Like I said, I am over traveling…until next year :]
Hope everyone had a safe holiday, and here’s to a new year!

Home for the Holidays.

2009-12-14T07:01:00.004-07:00

In a week, my husband and I will be traveling to Michigan to spend the holiday with my family (we alternate every year). We will fly into Chicago on the 21st and take the train to Michigan City, IN, where my dad will pick us up. He usually picks us up from the airport, but my sister and her husband and baby are coming in that day too, and there won't be enough room in the car for all of us. We're staying until the 26th, so it should be a good time.

I am looking forward to the snow, even though people think I'm crazy for it! I love snow on Christmas. I hated it when I lived there, but when you live in parts of the country where snow is rare, you kind of miss it - and I do! I'm sure after a week of the white stuff, I'll be ready to come back to Arizona and 60+ degree weather.

I am also looking forward to being with my family! I haven't seen them since my sisters baby shower in April - and that was only for a weekend! So to be together for longer will be nice! I am also excited to meet my nephew! My sister Heather gave birth in May and that was around the time my husband was getting out of the Army, so I wasn't able to make it out there to meet Gavin. Also, my besties hubby grew up an hour away from me, so she's going to come down and see me for a day. I have missed her!

There is so much to look forward to, and just one thing that I know will drive me crazy - people asking me when my husband and I are going to have a baby. That question happens every time we go to either one of our families homes. I find the question rude and really none of anyones business. We're still in our twenties, for crying out loud. But I will do what I always do, just smile and pretend that it doesn't bother me :]

Copy Cat.

2009-12-01T06:55:00.005-07:00

I got this from Sarah, whose blog I love and I decided to be a copy cat :] This was actually kind of fun....and if you're just coming across my blog, my husband is Jenry prounounced Henry. The J in Spanish sounds like an H.

♥ What are your middle names?
Elizabeth & Jose.

♥ How long have you been together?
6 & 1/2 years.

♥ How did you meet?
I had gotten deployed to Iraq and he was already there with the rest of my unit. He was our units generator mechanic. We became really good friends and then it turned into more.

♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating?
Three months.

♥ Who asked who out?
We both liked each other so we just decided one day to be boyfriend & girlfriend (hey, we were 19& 20 years old, haha).

♥ How old are each of you?
Jenry is 25, I am 25.

♥ Do you have any children together?
Nope.

♥ What about pets?
Three cats, which he claims none of. He is not a cat person, but he's starting to come around.

♥ Did you go to the same school?
No.

♥ Are you from the same home town?
No. I am from St. Joseph, Michigan and he was born in the Dominican Republic and moved to New York City when he was seven.

♥ Who is the smartest?
Schoolwise- me. Useless facts - him.

♥ Who is the most sensitive?
We both are, but I probably am moreso than him.

♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple?
We don't eat out a lot, but we really enjoy an authentic Mexican restaurant here called La Casita.

♥ Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
Aside from Iraq to America, when we drove from Michigan to Arizona.

♥ Who has the worst temper?
I'd say I have the worst temper of the two of us.

♥ Who does the cooking?
I do almost all the cooking, but he will occasionally make things.

♥ Who is more social?
We are both homebodies, but he is really quiet until you get to know him, I can make friends with almost anyone.

♥ Who is the neat-freak?
Me, me, me! I am obsessive about cleaning and I enjoy cleaning. Jenry doesn't really care, although he likes DVD's, CD's, and books to be alphabetized.

♥ Who is the more stubborn?
Ohh, that's a toughie, but I'd say him.

♥ Who hogs the bed?
Neither one of us, we usually fall asleep cuddling and stay pretty close the whole night, he does steal covers every now and then.

♥ Who wakes up earlier?
We wake up at the same time on the weekdays, but weekends I am usually up between 7:30- 9:00 and he sleeps in till 10:00 or 11:00.

♥ Where was your first date?
We were in Iraq, it was not a standard dating situation, haha.

♥ Who has the bigger family?
We have the same size immediate family, but my extended family is bigger.

♥ Favorite memories?
Going to New Yok City for the first time and crossing the George Washington Bridge and when he took me to the Bronx Zoo. Also when he came home from Iraq, it was always exciting.

♥ Do you get flowers often?
Yes, and while I appreciate them, I tell him he doesn't have to spend $80 to have flowers delivered, just buy some at the store, haha.

♥ How do you spend the holidays?
We alternate Christmas and we used to go to my home for Thanksgiving since it was closer, but now we stay out here fpr Thanksgiving.

♥ Who is more jealous?
Him! Especially when he was in Iraq.

♥ Who eats more?
Him, even though you'd never tell by looking at him.

♥ Who does/ did the laundry?
Me. I could never trust him to separate the colors, haha.

♥ Who’s better with the computer?
Him with technical stuff, me with html type stuff.

♥ Who drives when you are together?
Me. Always.

♥ Who plays an instrument?
We both played the drums in 5th grade :]

♥ Do you share the same taste in music?
I like all his music, he doesn't like all mine, especially country.

♥ Who exercises more?
Neither one of us. Was him, but not since he got out of the Army.

♥ Who eats better?
Me, because I have to watch what I eat. He could eat anything and stay the same.

♥ Who's more romantic?
I'd say we're even steven.

♥ Who wears the pants in the relationship?
I think most women do :]

♥ Who snores loudest?
I don't snore, Jenry does if he's sick.

♥ Is there anything you both share/enjoy?
Lots of things, we have a lot in common.

♥ Who takes more pictures?
I guess I do.

♥ Who cries the most?
Me. PMS gets to me ;]

Holiday Weight.

2009-11-30T06:55:00.002-07:00

In 2006, I lost 30 pounds, but gained back 20 of them. In 2007, I was determined to lose those 20 pounds, and then some - and I did, about 75 pounds. After that weight loss, I gained about 5 pounds back and I try to stay around that weight. I used to be a compulsive weigh-er, stepping on my scale every morning. It was torture, since my digital scale shows ounces as well as pounds and weight fluctuates. Anyway, I didn't have my scale from June until we got our stuff 2 weeks ago - and I hadn't stepped on my scale. Not that I was scared to, but I'd gone 5 months without it and judging my weight strictly on how I felt. Meaning when I ate bad, I felt heavier and when I ate good, I felt better. I do a loose version of Weight Watchers - the program I used to lose all the weight. Basically I'll go a week of splurging a few times, and then 2 weeks strictly on Weight Watchers. I am trying to maintain, not lose anymore weight (as of right now).

But today I decided to weigh myself. I heard on the radio this morning that people tend to weigh themselves less during the holidays, for fear of what the scale might say, I guess. So I decided to not be afraid of the scale (even though Thanksgiving was just a few days ago). So I pulled out the scale and weighed myself. I gained 1 pound since the last time I weighed myself, which had to have been in May or June. But I was really proud of myself. I used to rely on that thing to validate my good feelings about myself - but now I know I don't need a scale to tell me how I'm doing. I can do it on my own! As a former fat girl, keeping the weight off for more than a year, this is a huge accomplishment.

I plan to not weigh myself for a while, because I don't need to. Not anymore.

It's the Simple Things

2009-11-29T13:42:00.002-07:00

I had the best weekend - and we didn't do much of anything at all! On Thursday, the hubby and I went over to Tyler & Alexis' house for dinner, and Tyler's mother came into town from San Diego to join us. We had a traditional dinner and of course desert. Then us girls watched The Taking of Pelham 123 while the boys headed to the theater to see Ninja Assassin. I was very happy that they went together so that I wouldn't have to go see it later, haha. Not my kind of movie. Afterwards, we came home and had a low key weekend. I watched hockey on both Friday and Saturday (and the hubby even watched with me on Saturday). The hubby also made us ommlettes on Saturday for breakfast. He can't very many things, but ommlettes he does amazingly at!

On Saturday night, after the hockey game, the hubby made the mistake of turning on GSN - The Game Show Network. I wasn't aware we had this channel and I happen to love it! So last night we watched a few shows on there and for some reason, it was really enjoyable.

He kept asking me what I wanted to do all weekend, and I would tell him I truly just wanted to be at home with him. I definitely did not want to face the Black Friday crowds and I'm perfectly content to sit at home, next to him. So even though we didn't do much of anything, I had a fanatastic weekend.

Hope everyone else had a great one too!

I'm Thankful.

2009-11-25T06:47:00.005-07:00

This year I have a lot to be thankful for.
My Husband

My husband is probably one of the greatest people I've ever met in my life. He is incredibly giving and kind, not only to me, but to everyone. I'm thankful for all the hard work he does to provide for us, which allows me to go to school. I'm thankful for his eight years of sacrifice in the military, to include three deployments, to ensure the safety of Americans. Most of all, I'm thankful for his love and companionship. He is truly my best friend, lover, and life partner.

My Family

My dad, my two sisters, my step mothers, and my three nephews are an amazing part of my life. My sisters are truly my best friends and my father is one of my heroes. My step-mother and I had a difficult relationship when her and my father married when I was 12, but we have come a long way and I love her. My family is very close, my husband often tells me he wishes his family were as close as mine is. I wish we all lived closer, but it is not a possibility and we make the best of it.

My Best Friends

I really don't know how I would survive without these three ladies in my life. Rachelle (bottom picture) and I met when I was 18 and she was 19. I had just arrived to my unit at Fort Bragg, NC and didn't know anyone. Rachelle showed up at my door one day and invited me to hang out. We were inseparable after that. We went to Iraq together and she is one of the reasons I made it through. Ashley and I (left picture) met when I was 21 and she was 19 - through MySpace of all places. I had been living in TN for almost a year and my husband had been in Iraq for the majority of it. I felt very alone and had few friends, but Ashley and I had a great connection and a lot in common and we became besties very quickly. We endured two deployments (as wives) together and spent many a nights together, laughing, crying, and supporting one another. The friendship between Kelsey and I (right picture) was completely unexpected. We met in January 2006 in a biology class. We sat at the same lab table and when I made a stupid error with a gradulated cylinder, she made fun of me - not even knowing me. After a few more labs together, we were school friends, until she invited me to a hockey game. I had never been a hockey fan, but that first game, I fell in love with it, and so our bond grew the more classes we took together and the more hockey games we attended. All three of thesee ladies hold a special place in my heart and I love them dearly.

There are many more things I am thankful for - comfy P.J.'s, reality t.v., video games, my cats, and the list could go on. But I believe there is nothing more important in this life than family, friends, and love.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I Miss Her.

2009-11-18T19:49:00.002-07:00

I always miss my mom around this time of year. Not only is it the 'holiday season', but December marks 16 years since she died. Today as my husband and I were driving, we were listening to Dr. Laura (as usual) and a woman with terminal cancer called in asking advice for how to tell her children she was dying. My husband looked at me and asked if I was alright since woman's story hit pretty close to home. I told him yes, and then he asked me to never die, because he doesn't know what he would do without me. I then told him that I often wonder how that must've felt for my dad - his wife of 16 years, dying and leaving him and three daughters behind. How does one live knowing their spouse will die? This of course made me cry out of sadness for my dad and out of admiration for his strength during it all.

I often tell my husband about my mother, the things I can remember in my nine years of knowing her. Mostly I tell him of her laugh, how contagious it was. How down to earth she was and that she would've liked him a lot. It makes me sad that he never got to meet her, that my future children will never know her, that she had to die so young, that my grandparents had to bury their daughter, and that I never got to know her as more than just 'mommy'. Sometimes I struggle to remember things about her, it seems so long ago and like yesterday at the same time.

As I was crying telling my husband things about my mother that he has heard before, but I tell him again because it's all I remember, he told me he doesn't like to see me upset. I told him some were tears of sadness, but others were tears of happiness remembering the greatest woman I have ever known. My mother was not perfect, but to a nine year old, your parents can do no wrong. My mother died being my world & perfect in my young eyes.

I miss you, Mom.

Oh Yeah, I Live Here Now.

2009-11-04T21:20:00.002-07:00

My husband and I only have one vehicle, which is my car I bought before we got married after I totaled my other car. Anyway, it doesn't really bother me that we only have one vehicle, as my husband HATES driving! You may find it odd - I did for a long time, but the fact of the matter is he's never really drove (with the exception of military vehicles) since he grew up in NYC where people prefer the subway to cars. He actually didn't even get his license until he was 21! He did have his own car, but we ended up selling it because it had so many problems. So anyway, I take my husband to work every morning & pick him up in the afternoon. The other day I was pulled out of my driveway to pick him up from work and started heading down to the stop sign on the corner of our street. A woman in a mini-van across the street & a few houses down [i.e. kiddy-corner] decides to start pulling out of her driveway and into the street as I'm driving past her house. I literally had to drive on the other side of the street because I thought she was going to hit me - she didn't even stop at all. So me being me, I flash her a dirty smirk and carried on my way.

As I thought about this later in the day it crossed my mind that I live here now, as in for an extended period of time. As in I may see this woman many times over the next few years and perhaps I shouldn't be giving her dirty looks, no matter how right I think I am and how wrong I think she is. So I am going to attempt to not be such a snot to people who don't know me, I don't want to be known in the neighborhood as that bitchy lady :]

Update on Life

2009-10-24T15:24:00.002-07:00

It has been so long since I blogged, but I have been so incredibly busy! The biggest piece of news is that my husband and are officially homeowners! We closed on the scheduled date of Wednesday October 14. I had actually called our realtor earlier in the day to see if he had heard anything about us closing, and he hadn't, so I thought it would happen on the following day, but he called me a few hours later and told us to come get our keys because we had the house! I hadn't posted the pictures of the house because I didn't want to jinx it in some way, but for those who are interested, you can view the pictures here. So after we got the keys, we started transferring our stuff from our roommates aparment into the house. And then I had to drive a little over an hour to the airport in Tucson to pick up my friend Kelsey - so needless to say, I was very busy that day!

So the next day, Kelsey and I drove up to Glendale, which is a suburb of Phoenix, the go to a hockey game. Granted it wasn't my Predators playing, but I didn't care because I just wanted to see hockey, any hockey would do! So we watch the Phoenix Coyotes take on the St. Louis Blues (Kelsey's 2nd fave team). The Coyotes won in overtime, but it was still a good game, and great to see our former goalie Mason again - I heart him! It was also weird to see our former player Fiddler do well, haha. We drove back to Sierra Vista that night and were so tired we just went straight to bed. The rest of her time here, we hung out, ran errands, and finally felt connected to the world again when I got my internet hooked up, haha. Kelsey left on Monday and I was sad to see her go - it was nice to have one of my best friends out here, even if all we did was hang out not doing a whole lot.

So we thought the Army was going to ship our stuff out here free of charge, well we were wrong. They wanted to charge nearly $3000 to do it, and I really didn't want to drain my savings to do so. So the hubby and I are flying out to TN on November 11, loading our stuff into a truck on the 12th, and driving right back out here. Yeah it's going to be a lot of work, but the Army will pay us $7500 to do it, and I think we'll only be spending about $2000 to do it ourselves. As of right now, we have two new couches we bought and a new bedroom set, but other than that's it's pretty empty. Oh well, soon enough we'll have our stuff, not looking forward to driving that truck though, haha.

So that's my update. I feel like I wrote a lot, so I try to update more often so I don't have to write as much, haha.

Annoyed.

2009-10-08T12:10:00.003-07:00

When I woke up this morning, I looked at my phone and realized I had a missed call from my realtor and our mortgage broker. I immediately took this as a good sign, but I was wrong. I called our realtor first and he told me he had good news and bad news - which to me is always just bad news. He said that he wasn't sure if we'd be able to close by Wednesday because the mortgage underwriter was taking a long time. Something that should've only taken a week has taken two. So that was the bad news, the good news was that if they don't make the deadline, then they pay us $1300. Believe me, $1300 would be nice, that's essentially the rest of our closing costs, but I could care less because I just want to be in my home! Plus, my friend Kelsey is flying into town on Wednesday and I don't want her to have to stay in a hotel. So after I talked to the realtor, I call the mortgage broker back. He told me to go ahead and set up our homeowners insurance. I guess to make it go faster in case the loan does indeed come through this week. I was really hoping to close by the end of this week so we could go furniture shopping this weekend up in Tucson, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen.

Aside from that, my husband called the movers yesterday and they referred us to the Fort Campbell Transportation office. Who told us it would probably be 3-4 weeks until we got our stuff. Mostly because it takes 10 days to process the paperwork. Annoying to say the least.

So that's all that's new with me. Hope to have a better update next week!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

2009-10-02T20:05:00.002-07:00

Cancer in general is a very important cause I support since so many people in my life have suffered or died from it. My Uncle Mark died when I was 8 from lung cancer, my Grandma in 2007 from cervical cancer, and my friend Sarah had lymphoma. But I hold the breast cancer cause especially close to my heart. My Aunt MaryAnn beat the disease about 10 years ago, while my mother died from it in 1993 when I was nine.

I encourage every woman to do a self breast exam every month and when the time is right, get yearly mammograms. And if your doctor tries to talk you out of it, find a doctor who will do it! My mom requested a mammogram when she was 26, only to be told she was 'too young' to get cancer. 13 years later she found the lump and had cancer. Granted that doctor got sued for malpractice - it didn't make up for the cancer that had already come. I will be getting my first mammogram when I am 29 - 10 years before my mother was diagnosed.

I know everyone reading this has been affected by breast cancer or just cancer in general. Don't let it be YOU.

Almost There.

2009-10-01T19:45:00.002-07:00

When the husband and I first talk to our mortgage broker, he told us that we would need pay stubs from one months worth of pay, and we were told that my husband started during the beginning of a new pay period. Well, he got paid two weeks later, but it was only for one weeks worth of work, basically meaning that they're one week ahead with pay (if that makes sense). So we initially thought he'd have one months pay on Sept 18, but in fact he only had three weeks of pay. Our mortgage broker decided to try to submit the loan paperwork anyway and see if the lender would notice. That was last Wednesday. I called up there today to see if he had heard anything and he said he was just waiting on one last piece of paperwork - the approval of the mortgage underwriter - aka the last step in the loan process. I talked to our realtor too, and he think we should be in the home by next week! We scheduled our final walkthrough for Monday, to make sure everything we requested to be fixed was done accordingly.

I am really excited! I think I am going to call the movers from the Army tomorrow to schedule our stuff to be delivered next Friday (can always be changed if need be). The only other thing in our way is the cost this may entail. When one gets out of the Army, they will only move your belongings as far as your 'home of record' or where you entered in the service at. NYC was 900 miles from where we lived in TN, however AZ is 1500 miles, so we may have to pay whatever their price is for 600 miles. We do know one girl who said she never had to pay for her extra mileage, but we're not sure if we'll be as lucky.

Anyway, that's the latest news. I can't wait to get into the house & decorate and just make it my own. I will post pictures soon!

My Secret Identity as a Video Game Nerd

2009-09-19T23:16:00.004-07:00

When I met my husband in Iraq 6&1/2 years ago, I was not someone who played video games at all. Growing up, my sister and I had a Nintendo and years later a PlayStation. I also had a GameBoy when they first came out - yes, the big brick one! Most of these systems I hardly played myself, usually my dad or my sister played on them while I would prefer to read a book or watch TV. My husband on the other hand, grew up playing video games. He had more systems than I care to name. He and his siblings and friends would spend hours playing video games, and the amount of time played didn't change as he grew older. After we met, he tried to get me to play games with him, and sometimes I would, but I would never call myself a gamer.

After we got married in 2004 and we moved from North Carolina to Arizona, I was feeling very lonely since I was so far away from my family and had no friends. One of the hubby's friends kept talking about how Halo 2 was coming out. I had played the first Halo once at a friends house and actually liked it a lot. My husband asked me if I was going to get Halo 2, but I of course said no, I didn't play video games afterall. The day the game was released, I had this sudden urge to go buy it - and I did. I became so hooked on this game, it's not even funny. I would play it for hours when my husband was at work. This was around the time when XBox Live first came out, and I found myself making friends with these people on a game. They gave me companionship when I felt so alone and without friends.

A few months later, my husbands coworker introduced him to a new game - only this one wasn't a console game, it was a MMO (mass multiplayer online) game for the PC called World of Warcraft, or WoW for short. My husband was often play this game while I would play Halo 2 -talk about a couple of nerds! He tried relentlessly to get me to play this game too, but I had no desire. I thought it looked confusing with a million buttons. But one day he convinced me to sit down and watch him play. That lead to me making my own character and learning how to play. Again, I was hooked. When my husband deployed a few months later, WoW, school, and XBox Live kept me occupied, since we had again moved and I had no friends.

It's so funny to me that I play video games, especially since I used to hate them. In fact, it's killing me that we don't have our XBox right now and Halo 3: ODST comes out soon. I hate that I don't have my desktop and I have to play WoW on this not-made-for-games laptop. So yes, it's true. I am a girl gamer - and I never thought I would be.

Where Have I Been?

2009-09-12T23:42:00.002-07:00

Well, nowhere really, but I did take a slight blogging hiatus. Things have calmed down since my last post, thank God. And we did end up finding a house we both really like! It has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2.5 car garage, carpet & tile, and a huge backyard. I think my favorite features are the granite counter tops in the kitchen and that the master bath has a jetted tub and a separate standing shower. Anyways, on day two of our home search, we put in an offer on this home, which of course was counter offered, to which we accepted. We did a 60 day contract which puts us in the house by Oct 14th. We've done pretty much everything required - inspection (which the owners agreed to fix everything), termite inspection (came back good), and appraisal (still waiting for the report from the appraiser). We got pre-approved for our loan with an awesome interest rate (5.375%) and now we're just waiting for my husband to get a months worth of pay to finish the loan process, and then we'll be in the home! We thought we might be able to be in there by the end of the month, but when my husband started his job, it was in the middle of a pay period, not the beginning of one like we thought. So he'll get paid on the 18th and again on October 2nd, and then it's just a week or so after that (I hope).

It's really exciting and even though time is going faster since my husband started his job, it still feels like forever until we'll be in there. I never in a million years thought I'd be getting a home like this for my first one, but here we are. I think I am really excited that it's also move-in ready. I might paint one room, but other than that, nothing needs to be done. It's going to be weird being a homeowner, but also really amazing, I think.

Only sucky part - my bff Kelsey is coming out on the 14th and we might not have our personal belongings from the Army yet. So if it's really boring, I apologize in advance. Bring your new MacBook since we'll at least have internet, haha.

Anyway, sorry for not blogging for so long. I will try to be better. I'm actually going to head to bed here now, so I will catch up on everyones blogs in the morning.

When Your Back is Turned.

2009-08-12T22:47:00.004-07:00

If you didn't know, my husband and I are currently living with one of his good friends and his wife. They offered to let us stay here rent free until the hubby got a job. Now, we're not moochers, we pay for 1/2 the food and all that. We offered to give them money for rent, but they said no. Last week, they got their electric bill (the 2nd one since we've been here) and it was like $250 or something. Apparently they weren't expecting that much of an increase. I offered right then and there to give them money for the bill, but they again said no, so I didn't think anything of it. My husband happens to be really good friends with Alexis' sisters husband and he called last night to talk to the hubby. Apparently, she was bitching to her sister about how the increase in the electric bill was our fault, since we stay up later than them and use the light and have the TV on. My husband didn't tell me about this conversation because he knew I'd be fuming. Well, when he told me about it this morning, I almost lost it. I sort of had a feeling they wanted us to pay for some of it when Tyler came home this afternoon saying he was going to get a second job to pay for the electric bill. I thought he was kidding, but apparently not. It just really irritated me that she went behind my back to talk about it, and then blamed it all on us. First of all, my husband worked on generators in the Army and knows quite a bit about electricity and the way it works. There is no way that 1 light and a TV could cause such an increase. The likely culprit? The fact that they leave their a/c on 70 all day and night when it's 100+ degrees out. I mean common sense tells me, if it's getting hotter and your keeping your a/c on the same temperature, it's going to take more energy to keep the house cool. Right? So I went to the bank, took out $100, and gave it to them. Whatever, how hard is it to ask? I would've had no problem, but when you talk shit behind my back, I don't appreciate it.

Another reason why this irks me? Tyler lived with us for a year and he paid $200 a month and helped with groceries. When he proposed, he bought a huge ring and then told me he couldn't pay the $200, and would have to go down to $100. He told us when we moved in here that we could stay for free because he owed us from that. I also buy random things for them. I bought that stupid baby test -- $40, and other random things, like the $75 dinner we paid for when the hubby got his job.

My bff Kelsey is coming to stay with us in October and we plan to be out of their apartment by then. Well, it was also said she thought it was rude I invited my friend out here when we might not have a house by then. I guess she thought my friend would end up staying here with them and us. Uh, I don't think so. If we can't buy a house soon, then we'll rent. And if it came down to it, I'd put Kelsey up in a hotel and I'd stay there with her. I would never just invite someone into their house. Seriously! So what did we do today? We went to the a realtor office to get the ball rolling. He told us that they usually like to have 2 or 3 pay stubs before they do all the loan stuff, but he was a realtor and not a mortgage broker. So he made us an appointment for tomorrow morning at 10am to talk with one. If anything, we can atleast get the ball rolling on our VA loan. And perhaps his offer letter with his salary can help us.

Sorry for such a long blog, but I was so furious today and found it hard to bite my tongue and not say anything. Living here was going well, but now I feel hurt and anger toward someone who I thought was so nice. So now I'm just going to be cordial and try to get the hell out of here.

Shut Your Hole.

2009-08-12T00:56:00.008-07:00

So my fellow Michigander named Sarah over at That's What She Said wrote a blog last week with a bunch of funny pictures, which she created at FaceInHole.com. I decided to check out the website today and make some creations of my own. Here's a few:

Me as Megan Fox

Me & Brad

Who knew I was so fit?

Mine really don't compare to Sarah's -- she did a lot more and they look so good. It's a fun site to mess around at, although you might have to look through quite a few of the pictures before you settle on on. And there is no need to worry about the skin tone/color differences of your photo and the 'hole' photo, as you can change the contrast/hue/brightness etc after you upload your picture. Now that I conqoured this, next I have to try that Yearbook Yourself thing. Perhaps in a later blog I will.

Intelligender.

2009-08-10T17:18:00.003-07:00

So today Alexis (my roommate & friend, who's 16 weeks pregnant) were sitting around when she got a call from her sister telling her she needed to go to Walgreen's and buy the Intelligender Baby Gender Predictor Kit. Emily (her sister) had seen it used on the show Kendra! the night before and said it was only $35. We had seen a similar product before, but it was $100 or something. We immediately went to Walgreen's only to find they were out and wouldn't be getting a shipment until Wednesday. They did however have paternity test home kits, which I found comical :] Since we had no luck at Walgreen's, we decided to try KMart since it was right across the street, but again no luck. After that, we decided to give up and just wait till Wednesday. Alexis called Emily to let her know, and Emily asked if we had a CVS. I had completely forgot about the CVS in town, so we hopped right back in the car and went to CVS, where we finally came across some luck and bought the kit. On a side note, CVS has keycard thing for discounts, which I didn't know, and so I got one of those too.

The kit itself looked complicated. You pee in the cup provided, extract 20ml with the syringe provided, then pour it into a cup with crystals, swirl it around for 10 seconds, and then wait to find out the sex. Murky green for boy, pee yellow for girl. Alexis' showed boy, but then again it is only 90% accurate. So even if it's wrong, it was a fun thing to do.

I'm not pregnant, but the hubby and I have decided that when we do concieve, we're not going to find out the gender. I really want my first one to be a surprise. I know it will be hard and I will be so anxious, I think it will make it really exciting.

Quick Update.

2009-08-09T14:05:00.003-07:00

Last week after my husband had his phone interview, they told us we should know more in the following two weeks. I felt that meant his chances were pretty low and I knew it was going to be hard to wait that long to hear something. Lucky for us though, because they called three days later and offered the hubby a job! We were beyond ecstatic and totally relieved. He starts on August 24th and in the past week had a drug test and physical. The time is going slowly now, because we have so much to look forward too. I am excited for him to start his job, and probably even more excited to start house hunting. Also, my bff Kelsey is planning on visiting in October. We had plans on hold until the hubby for sure had a job, but now he does, so it's looking more likely that she'll make an appearance. Anyway, that's my small update for now, hope to write more later this week.

I Need a Vacation.

2009-07-28T16:26:00.002-07:00

With my husband currently out of work, a vacation is not in the cards right now, but possibly within the next year. There are a few places now that I'm out West that I'd love to visit, but I'll save that for another day. Anyway, this thinking about vacation made me remember a vacation my family took when I was about six years old, possibly my favorite vacation ever.

For Spring Break that year, my family embarked on our first 'real' family vacation and we were going where every child dreams about going to: Disney World. However, that's not totally why this vacation sticks out in my mind, more so because this is one of the last times I remember my mom not being too sick with cancer. Granted she had been diagnosed, but she had finished her first round of chemo/radiation and her hair had started to grow back. She was my mom again.

Since my family didn't have a ton of money, we made the trek via car from Michigan to Florida. My sister and I kept ourselves occupied, even though back then DvD players, much less portable ones, did not exist. All I needed was a My Little Pony toy and I was set. After a few days in the car, we arrived in Orlando and made it to our condo - another big deal for us. It wasn't a hotel, but a 2 bedroom condo, complete with a kitchen, washer/dryer, pool, etc. I thought we were living large! Every day we went to the park, hitting up the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Typhoon Lagoon. We visited my mothers close friends who had moved to Florida to retire. We watched people bungee jump. We were carefree. My mom was happy.

It's funny how something so simple as a family vacation can turn into one of my most precious memories. I don't cherish this vacation because it was a childhood dream come true, but because my mom got to experience with me. She was able to see her children have fun and be kids without a worry for once. That's the mom I keep with me.

Time to Make a Change

2009-07-28T02:17:00.002-07:00

Only to my blog name :] My former blog name -Random Thoughts - was, well boring. I'm not creative in the least, but I kind of like the new name - not sure if it will stick, but it works for now. be sure to edit your gadgets if you follow me so it updates the new name.

Anyways, that's all the blogging I'm doing for tonight.

Adios!

Fingers Crossed

2009-07-28T00:51:00.002-07:00

My fingers have been crossed since Friday when my husband had a job interview with AAI Corporation, which is a UAV company which the Army has contracts with. The interview seemed to go great, and it really sounded like the hubby pretty much had the job. He was supposed to have another interview over the phone today with the human resources division of the company (based in Maryland) at 10am, but they never called, which pissed me off to be honest. I'm hoping it was just some clerical error and we'll hear something soon. The hubby is supposed to call the guy who interviewed him on Thursday if he hasn't called him by then.

I really hope this works out. I have been looking at houses out here, and while they're not my dream homes, I have found quite a few that I really like. If the hubby does indeed get this job, he'll be making almost double what he did while enlisted, so we can do things we've been wanting, for starters a house, secondly: getting the hubby the dog he's always wanted (we've decided on a german shepherd).

Perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself, but being true to my zodiac, I'm a dreamer, a hoper, a wisher, a seer of good things. My hubby tends to be pessimistic, which maybe a better way to look at things, but for right now, my hopes are high.

Sleepy Head!

2009-07-20T00:38:00.004-07:00

Since we made our move out west, I have been going to sleep fairly early (for me), usually being in bed by 12 or 1am (like I said, early for me) while my husband stays up until 3 or 4am. But tonight my husband went to bed at 9pm. If you know me or my husband, which I assume you do if you're reading this, then you know that bedtime is almost unheard of for him. What on earth could possibly make a night owl so tired? Spelunking. No, I didn't just make up some random word, my husband embarked on an adventure today called spelunking. Why it can't be called cave exploring, I haven't the slightest, perhaps because it just sounds cooler. But he didn't just walk through a cave, he climbed the inside of a completely pitch black cave with a headlamp on his forehead. Judging by the cuts and scratches on his arms and hands, spelunking doesn't appear to be for the average person. He asked me if I would like to go sometime. Aside from the obvious danger, I am pretty claustrophobic and really want no part in this activity. And even though it's not for me, I'm glad he got to go -- he's wanted to for a while. Now if I could just talk him out of urban spelunking.

Before I head to bed, here's a small update on life. The hubby had an interview on Friday and we're waiting to hear back from the company. He was also contacted by a UAV company for a job in Maryland. We're really hoping the Phoenix job works out, hopefully we'll know more tomorrow. Even if he doesn't get it, I am so proud of him for doing well on the interview because he is pretty shy and he was very nervous! Fingers crossed!

Definitely, Maybe.

2009-07-08T17:39:00.003-07:00

The hubby and I have been in Arizona now for a little over a month, and while we're enjoying staying with friends, we're getting a little anxious to find a place of our own, mainly for the sake of of poor cat Mitters who is terrified of their dog. Every morning, my husband wakes up, searches for jobs, applies for jobs, and waits to hear back from people. Right now, we have a few options. The first one is a generator job in Phoenix. The hubby has been in contact with someone up there for a while, but the person who does the interviewing has been on vacation, but he was asked if he could make it up there for an interview next week, so we should know more then.

The other option is a little more radical: Border Patrol. Today they opened up applications for the Northern border, which really wasn't where he (nor I) wanted him to do BP, but he went ahead and applied and has a test date for August 24th in Idaho. Yes, 1200 miles was the closest testing station for the northern BP. We're hoping the Phoenix job, or a different one opens up for him and we don't have to make our way that far just to test. Another downer -- the training schedule. It would require 5 months basic training in New Mexico, 15 months on the job training in the southern border, and then finally going to your job on the northern border, which we requested Eastern New York/Vermont.

In all honesty, I hope the Phoenix job works out. It's very affordable to live there, and the job pays well. And there is a hockey team near by, which isn't a necesity, but a definite plus.

I would like to apologize for my extended absence from blogging. My computer was sent in to be repaired three weeks ago and I usually get on my hubbys' computer every morning for a bit, but haven't even logged in here for a week or so. Anyway, that's all the updates I have for now. Hopefully I'll have good news soon!

Welcome to the Grand Canyon State!

2009-06-18T00:09:00.004-07:00

A week and a half ago, the Hubby, our three cats, and myself made the 1500 mile trip from Tennessee to Arizona. After our walk through with the apartment manager, we dropped off our cable box and got on the road at 11am. The first day was fairly uneventful as we traveled through Tennessee, Arkansas, and Texas. We stopped for the night in Dallas, TX. After I hit up WalMart for some cat food and stopped by Wendy's to grab some dinner, we watched some TV and went to bed. We woke up the next morning at 8am and loaded up the kitties and our bags again to continue our travels further west. I had never traveled directly from Tennessee to Arizona, so I took and unfamiliar route which put us in Texas for the majority of the trip, which wasn't so bad since the speed limit was 80 mph in some parts. After some rush hour traffic in El Paso, we were finally in the worst state in America: New Mexico.

I hate New Mexico so much and have never had good luck in this state, so why should I expect it to be any different this time? I had about a half tank of gas when we entered NM, so I thought there would surely be a gas station along the way. I saw a sign for a town and decided to look for gas with my GPS, but it said there were none close by. So I thought we'd just continue and find one...well, that never happened, so I had to turn around with intentions to head to a gas station 40 miles away. While heading to that gas station, we ended up in that small town where there were supposedly no gas stations, only to find a gas station there. I was annoyed, but glad that we didn't go too far out of out way. After we filled up, we continued in New Mexico, which was right on the border with Mexico, we actually had no American phone service and the Hubby recieved a text from AT&T offering him a deal for international service, haha. I was really glad we did go back for gas because there wasn't another gas station for probably another 150 miles and we would've been screwed with no service. We did get to see some illegals being busted by Border Patrol though, so tha was interesting.

The cats faired alright -- Mitters barfed like he always does (car sickness, I guess), George had one accident on day 2 (we were driving for 14 hours, so I wasn't mad), and Lola was a little angel :] We arrived at our friends house at 10pm AZ time and took showers and went to bed, we were so exhausted!

Since we've been here, the Hubby has continued to look for jobs, submitted a few resumes, and is hopefully going up to a UAV company this week to talk to someone. Our roomates have been great, only asking us to pay for food. They have a bulldog, and while it was rough at first, the cats have gotten more comfortable around him. I hope the Hubby can find a job soon and we can get a place of our own, but for now, this works. I of course miss my friends, AZ just seems so far away from everything and everyone I love. Hopefully when we have our own place, then I can have some visitors :]

Sorry this was so long, I will try to keep everyone updated if anything blog worthy happens, but as of right now, life is fairly uneventful!

Ch-ch-changes!

2009-06-02T09:43:00.003-07:00

I don't update this thing because I find it more entertaining to read what others have wrote than post about my pretty boring life. Since I last posted, a few things have happened, most importantly, my husband got his citizenship and my sister had her baby. Both were pretty great days in the month of May. I also went to Atlanta with some girlfriends and got to witness 'ethnic trash' at its finest while at Six Flags. The biggest thing happening now is my husbands departure from the Army next week and our big move. The packers are coming on Thursday, picking up everything on Friday, and after I spend the weekend cleaning (which I am totally looking forward to), we'll do a walk-through on Monday and we'll be out of here. Last night, the husband and I decided officially that we'd go to AZ to stay with our former roommate and his newly pregnant wife. We're hoping that he'll be able to find a job quickly, that doesn't involve him going to Iraq. We talked last night and decided that overseas contract work was really something that we just don't want to do, it would be too hard. So now he's hoping a UAV position opens up, and if not, Border Patrol is something else he's looking at. It's really scary, but what can you do? I'm very grateful to have friends to take us in (we actually had multiple offers, haha), and we'll make the best of it while we have to.

That's it for now! I'll try to update more, I promise.

Getting Out.

2009-04-25T07:31:00.004-07:00

Yesterday, my husband didn't have to work and I only had one class, so we decided to take advantage of the military walk-in policy at the Nashville USCIS instead of waiting for his actual appointment on the 30th. We got there without getting lost, thanks to my Garmin. I love that thing, let me tell you, but that's for another blog, another day. So anyway, he got his fingerprints or biometrics as the government likes to call it, and now we're just waiting for him to have his interview date, and hopefully he'll be a citizen in no time!

After that was done, we decided to hit up Opry Mills since my hubby has never been there. Aside from going to and from the airport, in the 3 1/2 years we've lived here, he's never been to Nashville. Granted 2 years of his time here has actually been spent in Iraq, he still hadn't been. We didn't buy much, just a few books, some video games, and I bought a dress from American Eagle. Don't ask me how I managed to fit into a small, but I did. It's actually very cute & comfy and I think I'm going to wear it on Monday. We actually needed to buy new sneakers for the hubby, since he burnt his in a campfire during a fishing trip, but we weren't able to find anything he liked.

After three hours of walking around Opry Mills, we were pretty hungry. The hubs really wanted to try 'The Aquarium', and after browsing the menu, I thought it sounded good. I should've been prepared for the overpricing of the menu, but I wasn't and was shocked to see the most everything on the menu was $18+. After my shrimp scampi, his salmon, and 2 salads & soft drinks, our total was $68 (with tip). It's okay though, because it really was his first time to Nashville, so he's allowed to act a little like a tourist :] After dinner, we made our way home and of course the hubs fell asleep on the drive home (he does this frequently, haha). We both crashed pretty early that night, around midnight, which is our weeknight bedtime, not our weekend one.

I just had a wonderful day with my husband, outside our home, and I loved every minute of it!

I Wish I looked Like...

2009-04-20T09:48:00.010-07:00

This is another blog prompted by The Imagination Prompt Generator.

There is really no perfect person who I'd like to look like, but there are people who I'd take bits and pieces from to form the perfect person.

Hair
I would love to have long, thick hair like Kim Kardashian. Granted, I have the long part down, but my hair is not nearly as
pretty or well taken care of,
like Kim's.

Face
I love pretty much everything about Megan Fox's face. She has gorgeous eyes, perfect teeth, and nice facial structure.

Body
By far, Shakira has one of the best bodies. She's not to skinnyand not too big. Most importantly, she has a nice butt which is probably the only thing sexy about my own body.

The reality is, I'll never look like any of these women. I wish I were happier with myself, but I'm not. I still have a lot to work on with my physical self, and my own perception of myself. I hate to be the girl who complains about how she looks or how much weight she's gained, but I am that girl. Sometimes I look in the mirror and still see that size 20, 220 pound girl looking back at me. 75 pounds and 6 sizes smaller, I still struggle with my looks and my 'new' body. I wish I could see myself as my husband sees me.

2009-04-16T20:07:00.001-07:00

This is a test. I am blogging from my BlackBerry just to see if it works. I see this turning into a bad thing, haha.

There Goes That.

2009-04-13T13:02:00.002-07:00

On Friday, the Predators regular season ended and I'm sad to say, there will be no playoffs this year. I wanted them to make the playoffs more for myself than for anyone else, as I am moving this summer and won't be able to attend games anymore, so I wanted them to make the playoffs just so I could attend a few more games. Oh well, we gave it a good go and I have no regrets about this season.

I spent this past weekend in Michigan. My sister, my step-mom, and I threw a baby shower for my other sister who is about 8 months pregnant with a boy. I had a really good time hanging out with my family, especially my sister who I hadn't seen for almost a year.

My husband submitted his application for naturalization a few weeks back and we received a letter stating they have his paperwork and that they'll contact us within 365 days to set up his interview. Yeah, you read right -- there's possibility we may not hear anything for a year. I checked the Memphis ISCIS website, and they are currently processing applications submitted in June 2008. So yeah, who knows. He has joined a few job search websites and made profiles on them, and we're basically waiting to hear anything. Our last resort is for him to apply for a DoD job. I really don't like our last resort, but I guess that's what most last resorts are like.

As for me, I am still going to school and attempting to keep my sanity in this rather scary and nerve wracking time. I'll keep you updated.

Cool People Get Awards.

2009-04-03T18:31:00.006-07:00

I've been awarded with three more awards from Bestie. I'm not sure I'm deserving, but she likes me, so she give them to me anyway. Thanks friend! So here are my new awards!

Award 1:

Kreativ Blogger
1. List seven things I love.
2. Present this award to seven other bloggers.

ONE
My husband and my family. I think most would understand why, these people are the most important in my life.

TWO
My best friends. They know who they are and I am so grateful to have them in my life, whether they're near or far.

THREE
Sports. I am an avid hockey, baseball, and football fan. Some may find it silly, but they really play a big part in my life.

FOUR
Cheese. I freakin' love cheese, all forms and flavors. If you don't like cheese, you suck.

FIVE
Video games. I love playing with my husband or myself. It helps to keep my mind off things when I am stressed or hurting.

SIX
Animals. I love all animals and believe in their rights. I think animal abusers should have harsher punishments.

SEVEN
America. I am so thankful for the country which I call home. I feel so blessed to have grown up here.

Award Two:
Friends

“These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.”

Award 3:
Lemons to Lemonade

I do not have eight people to tag since I cannot tag the person who tagged me and a few people on my list have already been tagged. So here's my taggees:

1. Kelly @ Reality Continues to Ruin My Life.
2. Kelsey @ Breathe.
3. Jenn @ Mad Props and Good Times.

How sad. I need to find more blogs to read. I'm getting on it now!

Kicking the Bucket.

2009-03-24T12:53:00.002-07:00

So I decided to copy The To-Do List Queen with one of her lists she recently made: A Bucket List - or, things you'd like to do before you die. This is a short list, only 5, but alas, here are mine.

República Dominicana
I would love to travel to my husbands native country where he spent the first seven years of his life. I want to experience the culture, meet the people, eat the food, and gain a better understanding of where he came from.

Volunteer
I have volunteered before, but I would specifically like to volunteer for an animal shelter or rescue agency. If you know me, you know animals are very important to me.

Learn Spanish
I am well on my way, but I would like to become fluent in Spanish for my future children and so I can speak to my in laws. I think this would be a great accomplishment for me.

Tour Europe
There is so much history in Europe, I would love to go to Germany and the Czech Republic to learn more about my ancestry. I would love to see the Eifel Tower in Paris, Big Ben in London, and Stonehenge in the United Kingdom.

Summer Olympics
I love the Olympics, especially the Summer Games, and I would love to be able to attend sometime in my life.

This was actually pretty cool to think about, maybe I won't ever do any of these things, but it would be really neat and fulfilling to accomplish some of them during my life.

I'm a Hermit.

2009-03-23T13:46:00.003-07:00

Everybody has things about themselves that the dislike. I have a few, but on of the biggest things that bothers me about myself is my extreme homebodiness. Yes, I made up a word to describe my inability or lack of desire to leave my home. It's strange really, because I have amazing friends that I love to hang out with, but unless they invite me to leave my apartment, you can bet I'll be holed up inside. I don't know whether it's because I am lazy or because I can't think of anything to do, but I'm sure it gets perceived wrong. I can't think of a time recently where I have asked one of my friends to do something, instead, they ask me. I love it when they do, because like I said, I enjoy hanging out with them. I know I cannot be the only one who notices this, I'm sure my friends wonder why I never ask them to do anything, for this I am sorry and it is truly unintentional. I know I need to work on it, I just don't know how to when I've been this way for so long.

Friends, if you're reading this, please know I love to hang out and if I am not busy with school, which seems to be taking up larger chunks of my time than previously, then I would love to hang out.

Ugh. I'm in a funk, I need to drag myself out of it.

Back to Reality.

2009-03-16T20:54:00.003-07:00

Today was the first day of classes after Spring Break last week, and needless to say, it was an unwelcome return to the daily grind. I actually had a fabulous Spring Break, even though I didn't do much of anything. I saw Bestie a few times, which was really nice actually, I miss being able to hang out all the time. I also celebrated my 25th birthday on Friday the 13th. Hubby had the day off, so we did some shopping and had a nice lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant. We actually ventured out to purchase my birthday present, a new Coach bag I had been eying, but it wasn't at the PX when we got there. I may still purchase one from the mall or when I go home for Easter, but I'm in no rush. With it being a costly purchase, I like to make sure I buy one I really like, and not one just to have one. So even though I didn't get that gift, I got some other great ones. Kelsey got me a Legwand t-shirt which I couldn't find all season, Jenn gave me a puck signed by Legwand that she won at a game, Ashley got me the sweetest Willow Tree figurines, and I got money/gift cards from my parents, sister, and Grandma.

It's hard to believe that I am actually 25! I remember thinking when I was younger, all the things I'd do by the time I was 25, and I haven't done any of them. I have no children, which is something I thought I'd have by now, and honestly, I'm not even disappointed that I don't! I am a firm believer that things will happen when they are supposed to, I am not interested in doing crazy things to conceive. If it happens, I will welcome it, if it doesn't, it's not meant to be.

Well, this blog took a totally different route than I planned. I'm 25 and even though life isn't how I expected, it's a million times better than I could ever have hoped for.

I Hate This Part Right Here.

2009-03-10T13:02:00.004-07:00

Today, I went to my best friends house for probably the last time. I had to get mine and my husbands bikes that she so graciously allowed us to keep in their shed for the past 2 years. We hung out for a little bit, talking about people like we normally do. I left when the moving people came to do her home inspection before they packed her house on Thursday. It didn't really hit me until I was driving home how different everything will be in a few short weeks. Now, I will see her again, she's going to stay with her parents for a few weeks until they make their final move, but today felt like the beginning of the end. Someone who has been an important part of my life for the past three years, is leaving. We both knew it was inevitable, one of us would leave, if not her now, me this summer. But it doesn't make it any easier. When our husbands were deployed, we had each other. She was my family during those trying times, and no matter who else we befriended, in our hearts, we were still each others number one. Since she's had a child, and our husbands returned from war again, out friendship had changed, but in so many ways, we're still those young 20 & 22 year old smoking menthols on the back porch, sharing dreams, making fun of each other, and holding on tightly to one another, looking to the future. I know wherever we both go, we will make new friends, we'll have new best friends, but we'll still hold onto what we had here. She will always be one of my closest and best friends. I love you Mrs. Amazing ;]

Not So Grand.

2009-03-08T10:35:00.002-07:00

A few weeks ago, Kelsey and I were selected to play in a commercial break game at the Predators game. I won the game and two tickets to see Josh Turner and Carrie Underwood at the Grand Ole Opry. I of course asked Kelsey to go with me since we were both in the game, she however had plans to go to Philly to see the Predators play that day. So then I asked Bestie to go, but she had to cancel last minute. At this point, I was running out of friends to ask. I decided to ask Alexis, she is my husband best friends wife and her sister just moved away, so I knew she was probably lonely, and I really like her.
So we drove to Nashville, and spent 15 minutes trying to find a parking spot. It was a nightmare with so many people at Opry Mills and at the opry house. Anyways, we finally got into the Opry and bought some drinks and sat down in our seats, which were really good seats. The seats however, we not single seats, it was bench seating. Which was fine, but a little strange. Now the show itself is broken down into 4 half hour segments, with most performers singing one song, and most of the people on stage were old and wearing sparkly outfits. Josh Turner sang in the second segment, but only sang 2 songs! It was kind of a let down. Carrie Underwood was the last performer and she sang a whopping 3 songs. And that was it! I appreciate the opry for its history, but it really just wasn't my scene. I sat in that seat for 2 hours to hear 5 songs. I can now say I've been to the Grand Ole Opry, but I can honestly say I have no desire to go back. Thank God the tickets were free!

Twit, Tweet, Twat.

2009-03-05T14:17:00.004-07:00

Yes, I realize the title to this blog may be just a tad vulgar, ya know, with twat being so offensive. Aside from twat, those words are new to me. Yes, friends, I am now a twitter-er, if that is even how one would say that. In other words, I am now a member of the Twitter community. In a nutshell, it's a website where all you do it update what your doing...or so I think. That's all I've been able to figure out. It's almost a pretty Facebook status update page. I already have four people following my twitter updates, which are affectionately called tweets. People whom I've never met, except for my sister who decided to lose her Twitter virginity with me. I wouldn't want to be a twit all by myself, ya know. It's too early for me to get a true sense of Twitter and give a final verdict on it, but I have to say adding TinyTwitter to my BlackBerry has been a fun way to experience the site when I am bored inbetween classes. So for now, Twitter is okay in my book.

In case your interested, you can view my tweets here.

There are so many social networking websites these days, it's hard to even keep up.
MySpace - over it.
Tagged - A bunch of weird old men wanting to meet me.
Xuqa - Another 'college only' website gone public, and stupid before and after.
Facebook - Still going strong!

Anyway, that's it for today. Adios mi amigos!

Boooo!

2009-02-25T19:44:00.003-07:00

I admit, I am obsessed with all things paranormal. I am addicted to shows like Paranormal State, Ghost Hunters, A Haunting, Most Haunted, & Ghost Adventures. I often spend my free time looking for scary videos on Youtube, but I am running out of things to watch. I have no idea where this interest came from or how it developed. I remember as a child loving scary movies, going to haunted house, and just being spooked in general. I have played Ouija boards, I have went to cemeteries at night, gone into old abandoned houses, just looking for something paranormal, seeking something to scare me.

After all the time I've spent looking for ghosts, I've had very few personal experiences. I once saw a ghost/appartition when I lived in Arizona. It was a woman in a green victorian style dress standing in my kitchen, looking at me. It really did scare me, but I never saw her or had any other experiences in that apartment again. I've also had experiences with two separate 'people' on the Ouija board when I was about 10 or 11.

I have no idea why I'm writing about this, perhaps it's because I have very few paranormal shows left to watch, or because I'm bored and needed something to blog about. My husbands thinks ghosts are fake and that I'm silly...what do you think about ghosts?

Awarded!

2009-02-14T13:58:00.004-07:00

I got my first award today, well a while ago, but I finally have time today to accept it and post one here. I didn't even know I could be awarded by people, but Bestie thinks my blog is worthy. So here is my award:

1. Choose blogs that you find awesome in content or design

2. Put on your blog with a link and let them know you awarded them

3. List at least 10 honest things about yourself

So, onto my ten honest things:

1. I prefer to shop alone. I hate feeling like people are waiting on me, as I need to try everything on before buying it.

2. If I am at home, I can guarantee that I am wearing slippers, no matter what season. I have three different pairs, depending upon the season & I take them with me when I travel.

3. I don't have friends. I mean, I have acquaintances and people who I know, but the people who I let in my life, they are my best friends.

4. I hate people. Seriously, 99.9% of the people in this world I could care less about. I am very impatient and a little judgmental, and lets face it folks, people are effing annoying.

5. I hate when dogs sniff crotches. I know they don't know better and it's natural for them, but it's seriously disgusting and even if my crotch is freshly washed, I feel dirty.

6. I am super competitive, whether is be a game of cards or the clothes I wear, I feel like I have to win. It's definitely a flaw.

7. I hate talking on the phone most of the time. I call my parents weekly, and will talk briefly on the phone, but actual conversations make me uncomfortable. I don't know why. I also never order food, Jenry does.

8. I really want a new vehicle, an SUV or crossover. I love my car, but I'd have it for 5.5 years and I'm itching for something new.

9. I hate cooking. Well, I hate coming up with new ideas. I know my husband probably gets tired of the same 'ol thing, but I'm too scared to try new things because I fear I'll screw it up.

10. I cannot go #2 in public -- unless it's an emergency. If I am somewhere (restaurant, friends house, etc), I will leave to go to my apartment to use the bathroom. When I went to Iraq, I didn't go #2 for 2 weeks because I wasn't comfortable with it.

So there it is. I also bestow this award to:
Kelsey @ Breathe.
Kelly @ Reality Continues to Ruin My Life
Jenn @ Mad Props and Good Times.
Ashley@ Ashley Amazing.

Will update soon!

Weekends = Love.

2009-02-13T15:02:00.004-07:00

I am so glad the weekend has arrived. Every Monday morning, I wake up with a feeling of dread that another week has crept up on me and that another weekend has passed so quickly. This week was a little more stressful than the previous few weeks, as I had three tests this week. On Tuesday, I had my Geology lab test, which to my delight, I got a 97% on. Wednesday I had the test for my Geology lecture class, which I received a 75% on. Normally a C wouldn't satisfy me, but when 45% of the class got D's & F's, I took my C and ran with it. Science of any sort isn't my strong area, add the fact that it was over 4 chapters, I felt like I did okay. Thursday I had my Spanish test, but I won't find out those results until Monday. I am not good at that class and it really is hard to learn another language, especially since I took the first half online. But I genuinely want to learn, so I am trying my hardest.

Last night I went to probably one of the most amazing hockey games I've ever been to. We (Nashville Predators) played the St. Louis Blues. The Blue are in last place in the Western Conference, but we're were only ahead of them by a few points. Theoretically, it should've been an easy win, but for some reason, we suck against them. During the third period, the game was 3-2, STL. As the period wound down, I was becoming more and more certain that this would be yet another loss to the Blues, but some miracle must've happened, because with 3 seconds remaing, we scored to tie the game. That of course meant overtime, which isn't terrible, because we atleast get one point, either way. After playing for 5 minutes, the game was still tied and it went into a shootout. I was a little nervous, but to my amazement, we scored and ended up with the win. It was a great game & a great ego boost for the Preds!

Anyway, the weekend is here and I am rather excited to sleep in tomorrow (fyi: sleeping in now means sleeping till 10am, it used to mean noon, haha). One of the hubby's best friends is getting out of the Army and this is his last weekend here, so we're heading over to his house tonight to cook steaks on the grill & have a few drinks. I plan on buying some Mike Hard Pomengrate Lemonade to bring. I love thos things, best bottled girly drinks ever :] Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, but with it being a payday and a holiday, we don't intend to go out, we'll probably save it for another day when the urge to punch someone in the face won't come over me. I did however receieve pretty flowers today, which all three of my cats have attempted to eat for the 4 hours that they've been in my home.

This may have been my longest blog on here, I'm proud. I know my blogs aren't as insightful or creative as BFF's, but they're good for the people the matter. As for now, I'm off to fold some laundry (most dreaded chore, next to dusting), and wait for the hubby to get home from PetSmart. Hopefully I'll blog sometime this week.

Blah.

2009-02-10T23:07:00.002-07:00

The past week I haven't really felt well. I was super hungry, and then when I'd eat, I feel sick afterward. I've also been feeling a little queasy. I'm not sure exactly what it is, perhaps it's just the extreme change in the weather, who knows? Along with that, I've been super busy studying for school. I had a Geology lab test today, a Geology lecture test tomorrow (err today), and a Spanish test on Thursday. I already can't wait for the weekend! The hubby has to work a 24 hour shift tomorrow, so that should give me ample time to study for Spanish. Anyway, I'm off to bed, just wanted to update real quick, longer update this weekend.

Beep, beep!

2009-01-28T14:28:00.003-07:00

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.

2009-01-15T21:22:00.003-07:00

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

2009-01-14T14:20:00.002-07:00

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.

2009-01-13T21:17:00.002-07:00

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!

2009-01-04T21:03:00.005-07:00

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 :]

Prompt.

2008-10-28T22:51:00.003-07:00

Today, I wanted to write a blog, but I didn't know what to write about. So I turned to google in search of a topic to blog about and came across Imagination Prompt Generator. I clicked through the prompts until I found one that interested me, and came across one that I had been discussing with my bestie just earlier this evening.

Prompt: Did you have roommates or companions? Tell about them and the things you learned living with others.

I have had a few roomates in my single days as a soldier in the barracks in training & while stationed at Bragg, but none were as nightmareish as the friend of my husbands we took in after last deployment. At first, it was great, aren't most things in the beginning? He took my husbands to and from work since they were in the same unit, paid for half the groceries, and gave us $200 a month for rent. While we were too kind in the monetary arrangements, he was out friend and it didn't bother us.

But of course, it all changed. Shortly after the new year, our roomate became involved with another friends sister inlaw and they embarked on a long distance relationship. Our roommate turned almost into a completely different person. After a few months of dating, roomie decided to pop the question -- then it all changed 100%. He told me that he could no longer afford the $200 he had been paying and would have to cut down to $100 since he bought her an engagement ring. So let me get this straight, you're now getting housing allowance of $800 or so, and you want to pay $100 for rent, water, electricty, cable, and internet? But being the nice person I am, I said ok. One month it had been a few days past his 'rent dues' and I asked him for the money, and he got mad saying I was being rude. Uh, no. I don't think so. You can go buy her a big ring and pay double the amount of your car payment to pay it off sooner and then tell me your changing the amount you owe, but when I ask for it, I am in the wrong?

My husband and roomies friendship has never fully recovered. He is married now and no longer our roommate, but we hear he will be getting a roommate himself. I can only hope this guy is as much of a moocher as he was.

But He's Not Black.

2008-09-29T14:21:00.003-07:00

If you didn't know, I am an in an interracial relationship. I am Caucasian and my husband is Hispanic (Dominican). I've been told by people that we're not really an interracial couple because he's not black. While I am glad that line of race is beginning to blur in this country, it bothers me that people don't think my husband and I face the same difficulties as other interracial couples. We get stared at in public too. Our children will be bi-racial too, having to learn my American culture and his Spanish culture, and probably be bi-lingual too since the majority of my husbands family doesn't speak english. They will struggle with trying to fit in with both races. They will never be looked at as white. They will never be 'hispanic enough' to fit in with that culture.

So yes, he's not black. But he's not white either.

How Come...

2008-09-20T23:13:00.003-07:00

This is just a question about blogger, if anyone could answer, I'd appreciate it.

Can you write private blogs?

The reason I ask is because I am subscribed to people and I can read part of their blogs on on my subscription list, but when I click on the title of the blog, it doesn't exist. So what is up with that?

Blast From the Past.

2008-09-19T13:12:00.002-07:00

So on facebook, I'm in the Austin Peay network obviously, but I decided to join the United States Army network, since I am a veteran. Anyway, I filled out the info and they sent the confirmation e-mail to my ako (army email) account, and voila, I am now a part of that network. You're probably wondering why the hell I am telling you this, well I actually have a point.
I hadn't logged into my ako account in a very long time, so I had forgotten what I even had in there. I guess I had saved almost every email ever received to that account, going back to 2002 when I first opened it. Anyway, it was so funny reading all these old emails. Most of them were from when I was 18 or 19 -- and boy did I really sound like an 18 year old in these e-mails!
I read ones I had sent while I was in Iraq....to my boyfriend. Yes, when I deployed, I had a boyfriend who was in the Air Force and stationed in England. I actually met him while I was in AIT. We started dating about a month before I deployed & tried to keep it together. But alone with our own struggles, I was starting to fall for someone else, someone who I ended up marrying :) I broke up with Michael because of the distance, but somehow, he knew I loved Jenry. He knew I loved Jenry before I knew I loved Jenry. It was just interesting to read back on these emails and remember the struggle I was having between being faithful and following my heart. Ultimately, my heart won out.
Another intersting tidbit? Jenry first told me he loved me on May 26, 2003. I remember him saying it, but I never could've told you the date. Maybe I'm stupid, but I loved going back and reading stuff from my past & realizing how much growing up I've done!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

2008-09-15T14:28:00.003-07:00

Ahh, I finally have a moment to relax! I spent all weekend helping a friend with some kitchen renovations, but now that it's done, I'm back to my hermit crab self, haha. I'm not totally a hermit crab, but I would consider myself a homebody. It's not that I am anti-social or anything, I just prefer to be comfortable in my home, with my surroundings. Anyone is welcome to stop over if they wish :] Anyway, I know not many people read this, but if happen to look at my profile and see a blog called '23 Things', it's a blog I have to do for my educational technology course. It's a rather boring blog, but feel free to comment if you feel the urge.
Anyways, this week was a pretty good week! If you didn't know, I love hockey & the Nashville Predators are my team. I'm a fairly new fan and met two of the players earlier this year. Well, on Tuesday, two other players came up to Clarksville to do meet with fans at the Front Page Deli. I got to meet Shea Weber & Rich Peverly. They were both really nice, and rather handsome men :] So even though the week ended with a different sport low (my Mets lost to the Braves Sunday), it still started out pretty good.
Well, I hope to write more this week, until then, I'll leave you with the pictures from Tuesday.

Me with Shea Weber

Me with Rich Peverley

Eating Disorders.

2008-09-08T21:33:00.002-07:00

As sad as it is, eating disorders intrigue me. Whether it's anorexia, bulimia, or even compulsive overeating, I am very curious about the people with these disorders and their daily life. Using the google blog search, I've come across many blogs which encourage girls to be anorexic or bulimic, often called 'Pro Ana/Mia' sites. I find this extremely sad. I know the people running these sites are obviously sick themselves, but I don't know how they could wish the hardships of these diseases upon anyone. These people should be encouraging people to seek help, the help they wish they were strong enough to seek.
It's scary to think of the girl in the video. I think most women have body image distortion to some degree, but for it to be that extreme is so scary. I once watched a video on youtube of a women showing what she eats when she binges. Binging happens often for both anorexics and bulimics, both ending in purging of the consumed food. The amount of food she ate made me sick to my stomach. It was probably more than I could eat in two or three days.
It's a sad, sad illness with seemingly no end in sight for the women facing it.

Weighing Me Down.

2008-09-07T09:17:00.000-07:00

There is this really cool site called My Virtual Model where you can create an image to show what your body will look like at certain weights. Here's mine.

This is what I look liked when I weighed 220 pounds:

This is what I look like at my current weight:

And this is what I will look like at my goal weight:

There is also another site called Weight View where you can send in a photo and they will edit the photo to show you what you will look like at a specified weight, which is pretty neat.

This is the photo I submitted at 149 pounds:

And this is what they sent me back, with a 30 pound weight loss:

Just thought I'd share some cool weight loss related things I had found on the web.

I want a dog.

2008-09-05T13:34:00.000-07:00

I'm not really a dog person, but my husband is. He is a fan of larger breeds, like Huskies and German Shepherds. While I like those kinds of dogs, these are the kinds of dogs I like best.

Miniature Siberian Huskies
(seated next to a normal Husky.)

Welsh Corgi
Jack Russell Terrier
Pomeranian

Chances are that we won't be getting a dog anytime soon, we already have three cats. And when the time does come for us to get one, I'm pretty certain my husband will be choosing the breed since almost all the pets we've gotten together were ones I picked out. A girl can dream can't she?

Rain, Rain

2008-09-04T23:02:00.000-07:00

What is it about rain that makes you want to lay in bed all day watching old movies with your significant other? Most days I don't like rain; it makes me feel gloomy, tired, and cold. But today, I loved the rain. It matched my mood to a tee. Perhaps it's because I did want to lay in bed all day, but knew it wasn't a possibility. I'm not sure of the reasoning, but today I didn't want the rain to end. When I saw it was coming down harder as the day went on, it only comforted me more. Tomorrow, I am ready for the sun to shine down on me, but this day, I needed the rain to fall around me.

I'm a Blogger Noob.

2008-07-30T19:44:00.000-07:00

I really only read the BBDish blog on this site, but Ashley made a blog account on here, so I thought I would make one too. I blog in too many locations -- xanga, myspace, livejournal...and I probably have accounts elsewhere.

Anyways, my husband is home on R&R right now, so I don't really have anything to be crabby about...but I'm sure once he goes back to Iraq, I'm sure I will be back to my bitchy self.

Until then.