Week in Review

Finally sitting down to put up a blog. Hopefully I can mange to keep this one pretty short. Chance is on his holiday vacation as of the 18th. They had his Christmas party on Friday and it was fun. John of course missed it. He had to go all the way to NM to get a paper signed and that took like six hours. Oh well, I can't say that I am really surprised, but Chance still had a blast at his party. We've just been hanging out around the house trying to stay occupied. It's nice not having homework or studying but man oh man. I'm already all caught up with my DVR. Nothing new has been coming on (figures right?) so there's not much to watch on TV which is really fine by me. Watched The Hangover finally and it was great. Also watched Tropic Thunder last night. Way late on this one but I had been planning to watch it during our move, but I forgot to grab it out of the movies before the packers got to it so yeah, that didn't happen. It was hilarious and I think it's safe to say that Danny McBride is one of my favorite actors. He's from Statesboro, GA originally but he is a NC School of the Arts alum, so he gets a big A++ in my book. I figured I would use my spare time to catch up on fun reading but it's been slow going in that department.

Chance had his belt graduation ceremony on Saturday. He is now a yellow/orange belt. I can't wait for him to move up to the intermediate class. But he still has about 6 more months I think before that happens? The demo team did a martial arts adaption of The Grinch and it was hilarious. The kids all dressed up as "Whos" and sprayed their hair with crazy colors and wore silly socks. Since Chance was also playing the part of Max the rein-dog, we had him in a Madagascar Christmas shirt that had a zebra on it pretending to be a reindeer and it said "Reindeer Wannabe". Seemed fitting. I made him a Max styled reindeer antler and gave it some puppy dog ears and he was the perfect Max. The whole program was great. Everyone did awesome and they only had four short practices to prepare for it. For his graduation ceremony, they had him do his Universal 2, but not the entire thing. I could just see the look of confusion on his face when he didn't get to finish but the 7+ kids did. He told us later that he was a little mad about that because he knows the whole thing and has worked really hard on the last part to get it down. Ah well. His age sometimes works against him I suppose.

Here are the videos from the program:

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4


Youtube and their 10 minute rule is crap. But I got them all on there finally so yay for me! Still can't believe Christmas is just a few days away. It's hard to get into the Christmas spirit when I'm so far away from family. I mean of course I have John and Chance right here, but it's just weird spending it with just the three of us. We're making the best of it but it just hasn't felt much like Christmas this year for some reason. John just sent the boxes off today to family. I wanted to wait until I got the dvd from Chance's karate thing burned to put in the boxes before we sent them, so they'll be late i'm sure but hopefully only by a couple of days. Still have to buy a birthday gift for my sister, no idea yet what I want to get her. I have a few ideas but nothing definite. I want it to be something good since she did us such a huuuuuge favor by taking Lulu in for awhile.

Anyways, that's about all I have for now. Need to start getting Chance ready for karate. Seems I have to get there an hour or so before his class starts to get my usual spot. I'm not even going to start on that rant.

Bad day today!

Today I had my math final. That part I wasn't really worried about as everything on it came from our past exams which I have aced with flying colors. I did study last night just to brush up on a few things just to be on the safe side which I think paid off. I am expecting a 95 since I was having issues with just one problem. But anyways. I'm still trying to come down off of a serious panic attack I think. I knew the weather was calling for it to be "windy" today but I didn't really realize the extent of the "windy" they were talking about until this morning. I checked the weather advisory and it says winds up to 50mph. Okay. That's tolerable. Inconvenienced yes, but I have to get Chance to school, have to get myself to school, so it's suck it up and move on. John's usually home around 8am, so I opted to wait on him to come home and have him take Chance since his car is really low to the ground and not top heavy like my truck. Bad idea. The wind nearly blew off John's door because he wasn't holding on to it when he went to open it and forced the door back further than it's supposed to open denting the body of his car to the point where he can't open his door very well. Awesome!

So now I just have to get myself to school. Joy! I decided just to stay on the gateway and not get on 54, since I could drive slower, come to a stop if need be and wouldn't be as high up than if I were on 54. The drive to school wasn't horrible. Had to dodge a giant shrub going across the road, but that was about it. Listening to KLAQ and Duke said the winds on the northeast were up to 70-75mph. Made it to school and parked in the same lot I always do even though there were spots closer. I figured it would be a good idea to try and park away from everyone else just in case stuff went flying.

Went by my English teacher's office to pick up my research project. She informed me that she was pretty sure she had NEVER given someone a grade as high as the one I got on my research project before which was awesome. You can get a max of 500 points on the project and I maxed out. That along with my two critical analysis papers and quizzes puts me at a 99 for my final grade. So that's a welcome relief.

Took the math final, it was fine. Super easy. It would be such a shame if the idiots in my class failed it b/c really she couldn't have made it much easier. I get to go pick it up tomorrow. Sold back some of my books. Had planned on using that money towards John's Christmas gift, but now it will go towards fixing his stupid car I'm sure.

When I LEFT school, that's where the problems seemed to really arise. I really don't think I like the feeling of the wind "carrying" me to my truck. It really picked up when I started to walk back to my parking lot and more than once I just had to stop and turn around where the dust wasn't blowing right in my face. Once I got closer to a street sign, I actually had to grab hold and wait until the wind died down so I could walk again. Finally made it to my truck and noticed two vehicles in the row ahead of me, a van and an SUV had busted out windows. The van had an entire window busted out on the back drivers side, and the SUV...it looked like something blasted right through the back windshield leaving a perfect rectangular sized hole about a foot long and three inches wide. So a couple of someones are going to be having a very bad day when their exams are over. Checked all my windows and for now anyway, I'm good.

So I got back on the gateway and started the short trip home. The wind had definitely picked up but it's only a ten minute drive under normal circumstances. Made it to Transmountain and the light was red, so I came to a stop behind the other cars. I think there were two people in front of me, some behind me and no one directly beside of me. I notice the truck shaking pretty bad, happen to look to my left and all I can see is a huuuuuuuuuge sweep of brown coming my way. The truck starts shaking even worse, the light turns green but I slam it in park because I am really doubting how much good my foot being on the brake is going to do at this point, there's so much stuff hitting my drivers side window where everything is coming from that I just have to cover my head assuming the tornado drill position as best as I could and pray to God that my windows don't smash. How they didn't is beyond me. I couldn't even see the white truck right in front of me, that's how bad it was. No one moved for a good 15 seconds despite the light being green until it passed. I have never been in a tornado before, but I imagine that experience is pretty similar to being right in the middle of one. I had to drive the rest of the way home shaking like a leaf and trying not to cry because I was so freaked out. I'm glad I didn't eat breakfast this morning b/c the moment I made it in the house, I just started dry heaving. It finally feels like my heart isn't going to pound right out of my chest. My ass is not moving until it's time to go pick up Chance at 3pm. This weather is bullshit! Back in my neck of the woods, we call this a hurricane and they close school. I'm naming this Hurricane Chuy. People should not be out in this. I have heard sooooo many sirens since I got up this morning, it's scary.

That's been my day so far. How's yours been?

One more survey for tonight

and I'm going to bed! This one is all about John and I.

Copy this message and make a new note then answer the 20 questions about you and your spouse.

1. How long have you been married?
Seven years, two months, thirteen days

2. How long have you been together?
See above, and tack on three more months.

3. Where did you go on your first date?
Tripps for dinner, then to see The Fast and The Furious. First guy to take me to dinner and a movie.

4. Where did you go on your last date?
Hahaha, ummmm I guess that would be NYE when we went out with Tina and Pepa.

5. What's your anniversary date?
September 13th, 2002

6. Where were you married?
the courthouse

7. What was your best/favorite wedding gift and from whom?
Since it was so last minute, we were grateful for anything anyone bought us. We're still using the handmedown coffeemaker, microwave, glasses etc.

8. Where did you honeymoon?
Lol, well John went to Kuwait and Iraq but that doesn't count huh? We didn't get a honeymoon but we did take a nice vacay to Mexico a few years later (and no I don't mean when we moved to El Paso, we actually vacationed in Nuevo Vallarta)

9. What food do you like now because of your spouse?
Hmm, I don't think there's anything I eat now that I didn't before since I have very extensive tastes. Him on the other hand, he'll eat a TON of stuff he never would have eaten before me.

10. What type of music do you like now because of your spouse?
Oh geez. I am almost embarrassed to admit this but I used to LOATHE AC/DC. Hated them. I'm finally to the point where I won't change the station when they come on and John loves them.

11. What type of TV shows do you now watch with this spouse?
We have our own favorites but the things we watch together: Sons Of Anarchy, George Lopez, King of Queens, yes dear.

12. Favorite PG thing you like doing together?
Going to the bookstore!

13. Last gift you bought your spouse?
I bought him some workout stuff I think?

14. Last gift your spouse bought you?
He bought a new face for my watch. It took a mysterious dump and it wasn't worth it to send it off to be fixed, but I loved the band. So he found a new face for it.

no 15?

16. Something you disagree about:
Football teams. And who's better-sparkly vampires or zombies.

17. Book that you both like:
While we both love books, I can't say we read the same stuff.

18. Worst shared experience:
Something always seems to happen when he deploys. His dad had a heart attack, my dad had a heart attack, my dad moved out for awhile, the deployments themselves have been really rough, especially the last one....but I guess I would have to say all of the stress and worry when we were pregnant with Chance and the not knowing and the possibilities. But as you can see, that turned out A-Ok:-)

19. Best shared experience:
Marcus Chance, hands down.

20. One thing you want to do together in the future:
we've talked about going to Hawaii, who knows....we shall see.

21. How did you meet?
The old fashioned way. In a club. Greensboro is always crawling with Army guys on the weekends and I noticed him b/c he looked the furthest thing FROM a soldier with all that hair of his. Well I'll be damned he had me fooled lol. But it's all been worth it.

Survey to pass the time

First off, what's your full name?
If you're reading this, you should know it already.

Would you have sex with the last person you texted?
That's a little TMI but that would be a NO since it was my aunt.

What was the last reason you had for crying?
It was a few months back and I was ridiculously homesick and missing my friends and family back east.

Have you ever been caught skipping class?
No?

Have you ever kissed anyone who's name starts with an S?
That would be a yes. Eons ago.

Was the last person you hugged a male or female?
Male. About 3 1/2 feet, cute, often has a serious case of bedhead.

Do you wish you had an older, protective brother?
He might not be by blood, but I do:-)

What are you thinking about right now?
sleep

Do you mind sleeping on the floor?
uh yes. would rather not

Did you resolve your last big fight?
I wouldn't call it a "fight" per say, but yes.

When is the next time you will kiss someone?
I get Chance kisses all the time

Have you broken the law the last 3 days?
That would be a yes. I'm sure the things I said when the asswipe on 54 wouldn't move over, causing me to have to come to a complete stop on the shoulder were far from being legal.

Ever kissed anyone in your top friends?
I don't have top friends on FB, but in my friends-of course.

Have you held hands with anyone today?
no?

Do you think it's disgusting when girls get really wasted?
i'm too old to care, but it's their liver.

Have you ever received a love letter more than a page long?
absolutely

When the phone rings what do you say?
Oh gosh, usually nothing since I am really the worlds worst when it comes to answering my phone. It's really my weak point. I keep it on silent b/c of being in class and forget to put it on audible, so I never hear the thing.

Who was the last person you took a picture with?
ummm just me? I'm not big on being in photos.

Where was the last place you spent money?
john went to get milk at the gas station earlier since Albertson's closed early

Last night you felt?
grateful!

Other than your house, where was the last place you went to?
the karate school

Will you sleep alone tonight?
no

If your parents didn't like the person you were dating, would you lose them?
I was always really REALLY picky about who met my parents. So they only met a couple of people I dated, and one was really not by choice.

Who was your last text from? And what did it say?
from my aunt, telling me she was at jeanette's

Is confidence cute?
i guess? as long as they aren't outright obnoxious.

What is the last beverage you had?
water

Whose car did you ride in last?
My own

Do you drink energy drinks?
no, too much sugar

Do you like dark or light jeans better?
not picky


Have you ever kissed anyone who's name started with a "J"?
Lol, what if I said no?

Dont tell lies, is the last person you texted attractive?
Umm it's my aunt, but of course she is.

Do you drink bottled water?
If my life depends on it, otherwise no. I'll reuse my own water bottle.

Think of the last person who hurt you, do you forgive them?
sure

Have you ever slept on a couch with someone?
i imagine so

Did you wake up in the middle of the night last night?
i always do

Do you believe what comes around goes around?
oh boy do I ever!

Have you ever cried from being so mad?
Yes, it's another weakness I have.

What's your current mood?
I'm good.

Is it okay for someone you're "talking" to decide to have sex with some one else?
Ummmm if I think back to when I was like 18 or so, I am sure it PROBABLY happened, but that's not to say I would have been okay with it. I'm too old to care at this point though.

Are you giving up on someone?
I've recently been disappointed by a longtime friend, but I would never give up on them. I'm just so far away right now, I can't really do much about it.

What song are you currently listening to?
"War" with Henry Rollins....love him.

Do you spend more time on myspace or facebook?
this myspace you speak of sounds vaguely familiar....lol, FB hands down though.

Do you hide things well or do you have a guilty conscience?
I don't really have anything to hide.

Have you ever taken ballet?
I took dance in middle and high school but yeah that was about it

Did you kiss someone before you were sixteen?
yes

Do you wave when you see people you know?
sometimes, I'm not very good at being social these days

Do you like/love someone?
absolutely

What color are the pants you're wearing?
grey

How is your hair fixed?
hahahaha oh gosh. Wet, unbrushed, curly....it's in all its glory right now.

Do you care if your girlfriend/boyfriend smokes?
yes I do. but that's another issue entirely.

Is someone on your mind right now?
Henry Rollins?

Do you think you've changed over the past year?
I think I am making a strong effort to get back to the person I used to be. I'm really through trying to impress anyone or going out of my way to make friends. I'll do what I do and be happy with me the way I am.

Are you ticklish?
oh god yes.

How many hours did you sleep last night?
lots! I think ten. It was great.

One more day until Thanksgiving break!

Not that it's really going to be much of a break for me anyway. I get to spend my time cooking, studying, doing homework, getting Christmas decorations set up...all that fun. I did scale back the Thanksgiving menu since it's just the three of us and John doesn't eat anything really except turkey and bread. So making dressing, potato salad, and the whole shebang is really pointless unless I want my ass to expand even more than it already has. I'm going to make turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, dinner rolls, sweet potatoes, and whatever veg Chance picks out of the freezer. Then I will throw a Sara Lee pumpkin pie in the oven, and thaw out a chocolate pie for John and call it a day.

Friday John is going to attempt the Black Friday shopping. Apparently he had a really good time with me last year doing it and he wanted to do it again this year. I'm gonna stay home with the kiddo while he has all of the shopping fun. I may go later in the day to see if I can find what I want to get him if I can't find it online at a good price but we'll see.

I have one more full week of classes until finals. Can't even begin to tell you how happy this makes me. But I will also be having a math exam on Tuesday, probably a history quiz, and a sociology exam sometime next week as well so it's going to be a loooong week. The week after, I'll have a comprehensive final in math (yuck) and a non comprehensive final in history. No final in English, just show up and watch a movie, and no final in sociology unless I really bomb my next exam and want to take one to bring my grade up.

Amazingly, I actually managed to read a book the other day! It's been awhile so it was nice to finally pick something up and finish it for once, rather than read a page, put it down....read a page, put it down. It was a decent book. Ended pretty abruptly so it's one of those where you have to go get the next in the series if you are that desperate to know what happened. Luckily I'm too busy to be "that desperate" at the moment, so I can hold off for a little bit.

I think after Thanksgiving, I will start my food log again. I'm slowly trying to get back into the workout habit. I'd like to get back in the shape I was in when John came home from the last deployment. Or even better, I'd love to wear the size 6 jeans I was able to wear during deployment #2. It's funny though.....I spent so much time in the gym in 2008, and at the time really didn't see much of a difference and now I'm like "well damn, I guess I really was in shape". Now that's just a distant memory. Everything I lost came back and with interest. So I've started walking. Friday I did five miles. Maybe .25 of that was a jog. Didn't have any water with me so I figured I would save myself the embarrassment of either throwing up or passing out, so I had to ixnay on the running-hey. Sunday we did two miles, or maybe it was three? John had to work so I had to wait on him to get home before I could go and it gets dark sooooo early here, so we did what we could before the sun started to dip behind the mountains. Then today I did three miles but I also started using the Running Mate program. I happened to come across it the other day when looking for podcasts to load on my Zune that would help me pass the time at school between classes (on the rare days I actually get any time between classes). Basically it's a program for people probably much like myself who can hardly run if their life depended on it, to gradually work up to being able to run a 5k. Best part about it, it's free. Week 1 is a 27 minute program of warming up, 2 minute intervals of jogging, 3 minutes walking, repeating the process a few times, then a cool down. It's nice having a "coach" there even when I am by myself. We'll see how it goes. I'm going to keep resisting the urge to weigh myself and just go off how my clothes are fitting. We'll see how long that lasts. is the link to the program if anyone is interested.

The vitamins are helping. I got a decent amount of sleep but was yawning all day long. It wasn't until my 3rd class that I realized I forgot to take my vitamins. Lesson learned. Won't make the same mistake tomorrow. Have to go in at 10am to catch my math teacher to pick up my graded homework so I can study it for the exam next week. There's also a few things I wanted to go over with her to make sure I understand it for the exam. Then have Sociology at 11am. I hope the nice newspaper fairy leaves me another present tomorrow! The last two times I've been in Soc, there's been a newspaper on my desk when I go in. Love it! Since I only have the one class on MWF, and it's so late in the morning, I never manage to get a paper on those days. I actually enjoy reading the newspaper here in El Paso. Much MUCH more interesting than the paper back in Hinesville lol.

Will be so glad to be out of that math class. My teacher is the best, I just can't stand some of the students. Knowing my luck I'll be stuck in the next math class with them, but I wouldn't be surprised if most of them failed anyway. A couple of them dropped I think. Hmm, wonder why? Then there's one who wouldn't buy a damn book so she is always borrowing from someone to make copies of the pages. She was absent all last week so I thought she dropped (more like HOPED she dropped since she's one of the loud mouths who won't shut up during class). But I guess she didn't do any of the homework since she didn't have a book. She told the teacher she would borrow one and get caught up, but I don't think she should even accept the work since it says in the syllabus, late work isn't accepted since that's how she records our attendance. Anyways, I need to quit while I'm ahead with that rant.


Alright, time to get some sleep. Busy busy days ahead.

Karate tournament

Yesterday the karate school held an inner dojo tournament. Chance entered in three events which were forms, weapons, and forms with music. He worked so hard practicing all week since he hasn't really gotten to do his Universal 2 enough to be completely comfortable with it. I wish I had known he could have just made up his own form and performed it as it would have saved him alot of time and frustration, but he did so well. He ended up placing in all three events. There were only two people doing weapons, so he placed by default really-but he still did really well and I am so proud of him.

Here's a few pictures of him from yesterday.

Continued from the last blog

I ended that last one pretty abruptly but I tend to get long winded in these things, so I started another.
School for me is going well. I stay pretty overwhelmed most of the time but I am trucking along with it. Today I actually received my first "non A" grade on anything. I was pretty bummed but I should have studied more and one of those days we covered for this test, was the day I was home sick with Chance and I had thought I had gotten the notes I missed, but apparently I missed some after all. I still made a B, but I can't help but be disappointed in myself just a little bit since this is really the easiest class I have. Then again, it seems like in the classes where there's no real challenge-I do the worst in. Like when I went to GTCC, my psych teacher taught pretty much just like my sociology teacher now. Lectures and from the book. I got so bored with that psych class and I never showed up on Fridays...ended up dropping after my wreck since I was too far gone at that point to make up the days. Our Soc. teacher gives us a study guide, has questions from 3 chapters on it and then questions from his lectures. What's on the study guide, ends up being on the test. Sounds easy enough right? It should be, but the average grade on both tests we've taken has been in the 70's.
Anyways, enough of that crap. All of my classes are going really well overall. My average in math right now is 100.271 or something like that. History, I guess an A of some sort since I've made all A's on my exams and quizzes....all twenty seven of them. It seems like that many anyway since I feel like I am always studying for a test or quiz in there. English, not sure of my grade but I guess an A. When we did conferences for our project, she said her class should be the least of my school worries and I didn't even have any revisions to make on my paper. Whew!

I wish I had more exciting stuff to talk about, but I really don't. Finally after eight months of being here, I have made a few friends. Tomorrow we're headed out in town to do some shopping and take John out for a later Veteran's Day dinner and meeting up with a friend and her husband who just got back.

Ooooh, yeah I know! It SNOWED here the other week! In October! I wouldn't have minded so much if we had our heat turned on but the guy had said the end of October or beginning of November was a good time to have it turned on. So the Tuesday Chance was out of school for being sick, John called and they said they wouldn't be able to make it out until that friday. Soooo yeah go figure it would freakin SNOW in that time period. The mountains looked so beautiful. It happened that Wednesday because I remember being super duper beyond pissed off b/c Chance's school wouldn't allow him back without a doctors note. He ran a fever for two days (a low one) and the 3rd day he was fine but he had to be fever free for 24 hours so we had to keep him out on Wednesday too. Which is fine. But the doctors note thing was a pain in the ass. I couldn't get him an appointment on post b/c well, it was on post and they suck ass like Winn Army apparently. Finally after an hour on hold (literally an hour. Not even exaggerating here) I was able to talk to the tele-nurse. I explained to her the problem and that I did not want to drag my perfectly fine child out in the freezing cold/rain/sleet to the ER where he'd probably end up catching swine flu or some crap and be there all night so she was nice enough to refer him out to an Urgent Care on the west side and said it had a good reputation of being pretty quick. John took him and sure enough, they were back in about two hours. I had to resit the urge of writing a little note of my own, let me tell you. But the next morning, got up (freezing my arse off since there was no heat) and the mountains were WHITE. I'm still note sure how we managed to make it that entire week with no heat. We have this tiny $10 or $15 space heater I got from Walmart when we moved in here b/c I was TOLD by the property manager that they had already switched the heat to air (they hadn't) but some mornings it was pretty chilly, so I would use this tiny space heater when Chance and I came downstairs in the morning. So that was all we had that entire week. It helped. I mean heck, it was better than nothing. We had Chance sleep in our bedroom and I would turn the little heater on as high as it would go, close the bedroom door and let it do its thing for a good half hour. The bedroom would be warm enough that I could turn the heater off (I'm too paranoid to leave it on) and fall asleep before it got cold again. Getting out of bed in the morning sucked but eh....Go figure we have heat now and I think since it's been turned on, we've NEEDED to use it once or twice? Our electricity bill this month was only $54!

Alright I'm irritated at the moment. Not even going to go into it. But I am going to finish up this laundry and go to bed. Long day ahead.

Wow so it's been two months...

I guess it's time for a blog? I didn't realize how long it had been since I posted anything on here. There hasn't been a whole lot of excitement really, but we've kept pretty busy.

I'll start with Chance. He is doing great in kindergarten. He's learned all of his letters and sounds, he will count to 100, he loves to spell out words that he sees all around him, and read the digital clocks, and he's doing better with sounding out words. No behavior problems at all except sometimes it's hard to get him to stop talking (imagine that!), but he hasn't came home with a red card yet and as far as I know, has only had one yellow card. When I asked his teacher about it, I guess he was just so excited over something he wanted to tell her after she had asked everyone to stop talking and he just couldn't contain himself and just had to tell her anyway. So at least it wasn't for beating the crap out of someone or anything. I love his teacher but sadly she is leaving this week to take another job on post. Hopefully whoever takes her place is just as good with the kids.
He's actually been sick since Sunday. It's the first time in wow....well over a year that he's been sick like this. He never missed a day of pre-k except the day he had the surgery to remove his ear tube. He and I went to the park on Sunday to hang out with a new friend and her son and he was fine. Later on that night, he passed out around the normal time but didn't get a bedtime snack, but I figured he was just tired from the park since it was warm that day. I went to check on him when I heard him up getting water in the bathroom around 10pm and he was burning up. Thankfully he didn't spike a really high fever like he used to get every time he had an ear infection, and it didn't get over 102 so we kept him home from school Monday and Tuesday. He's been fever free since late Monday night so I think he'll be able to go back to school in the morning. I actually woke up the other week at 4am (which if you know me, you know this is not normal) but I was shaking uncontrollably...piled on the sweats, long sleeve shirts, thick socks, loaded up the bed with blankets and was still freezing cold. Ended up skipping class that day since I could hardly get out of bed. Ran a fever, but that was pretty much it except just feeling like crap all over. Whatever that was, it lasted 24 hours and I was fine to go back to school the next day. So it seems similar to what Chance had.
I had called the TMC trying to get him an appt and they didn't have any. So I weighed the pros and cons and figured we'd try to wait it out rather than risk a trip to the ER around who knows what. Still doesn't have his full appetite back, but I'm not rushing it.
Karate is going well for him. He got his yellow belt and is still doing the demo team. He's started doing cartwheels which is so funny. I'd like to put him in the X-Treme class which is a bit of gymnastics with the karate mixed in, but we might wait until the summer when things aren't so busy.

August 28th, 2009

Wanted to share a few pictures from tonight's demo team practice. This is his second practice and he did the back to back demos last week so it's still very new to him. Tonight they did things alot differently than last week and it was so fun to watch. Maria wanted them to work on their splits and I am sure that before tonight, Chance didn't even know he could do a split, but he surprised us all and owned it! I'm so proud of him.

So here are the pictures and a video I took with my phone (which explains the poor quality, next week I will take the video camera or something else)

This is one of his first attempts at doing it.


Then later on after about the 20th time or so lol.


And here's the video. Chance is in the front and in the middle. It takes him a little bit to get in position but he finally gets it down once he realizes what's about to happen haha.

Quick post

Posting this here for my parents to be able to see the video since my mom is dragging her behind at making a Facebook page. (HINT MOM)

August 9th, 2009

I've been kind of bad about updating this but there hasn't been a whole lot going on really. Things are finally going to start getting busy though. Chance starts school in a couple of weeks. Registration is this week, so hopefully everything goes well with that. Some days he is really looking forward to school and other days he says he doesn't want to go back. But usually those are the days when I am trying to get him to write his letters, or something like that. He's excited about making new friends though. I think we're about all set in the clothes and school supplies department. He might need a couple more pairs of shorts, and some thermal shirts to wear under his short sleeves when it gets colder, but there's no need for those now. Well, except the shorts. We're probably missing some stuff off of the supply list as well, but we bought a bunch of stuff and just hope he can use it since his school is in no hurry to put out a list it would seem.
I am also going back to school. The culinary thing wasn't working out with my schedule and Chance's schedule. So I had to opt for a different major that had more flexible classes. But it's finally all worked out. My financial aid is all taken care of, my schedule is good to go, I've gotten my supplies that I think I will need and I've started brushing up on my pre algebra some lol. I bombed the math part of the placement test, so I have to start with math 0301. Wasn't as bad as it could have been, since I don't have to take math 0300. I'm excited about going back I think. Jobs are limited in the area, especially if you don't speak Spanish, and with Chance being in school, it's hard to just stay home. I like being able to volunteer in his class, and go to all of his school things, so hopefully I can still do that. I was hoping to do school 3x a week, but they cancelled one of the classes I orignally signed up for which messed up everything. So I had to redo my entire schedule. So now i'm going five days a week, but only have one fifty minute class on mondays, wednesdays and fridays. That kind of sucks, but everything I was signing up for was already full. So now I know to do it earlier.

Tomorrow I need to go to the school to officially change my major, and get into the bookstore so I can get the isbn's from the books I need. No way am I buying them from the school. Way overpriced even for the used.

So that's pretty much it for now. John starts his combative class this week which he is excited about. Will be weird having him gone every day this week. But it only lasts a week so he'll be here for Chance's first day of school I think.

Nothing new...

I haven't forgotten about my blog. There just hasn't been much new going on really to write about. Getting ready to register Chance for kindergarten. Started picking up back to school clothes for him here and there and it's weird to be out of the 4T stuff and into the boys stuff. He's in that weird in between stage where the 4T is too small, 5T is impossible to find most of the time, and the 4 in boys can sometimes be too big but for the most part fits him well. He is ready to be going back to school b/c he is "ready to make new friends" as he told me yesterday.

Other than that-nothing really new to blog about. Have been working on the yard some and it's turned green but still some dead-ish patches here and there. Really need to mow it but ugh. First I have to put oil and gas in the mower and in my mind, that takes more effort than actually mowing. We put out a bird feeder...well, to accommodate the amount of birds that visit, it's actually our fire pit since we wont' need to use it for it's actual purpose anytime soon....but they have really taken to it. We bought a 20lb bag of food the other day and already it's over halfway finished. I found a cute, but small ceramic feeder to hang on the 'tree' as well. The finches tend to eat out of that one, but they aren't shy about going up against the doves and pigeons in the fire pit either. It gets a little crazy out there at times. In Georgia-we'd have three or four birds at one time at the feeder...here, it's crazy. There will be twenty or so on the patio eating out of the fire pit, drinking out of the dish or picking up leftovers that have been flung out of the feeder, then there will be a few dozen more across the yard under the small feeder. My mom said I should put out a hummingbird feeder, so I figured I'd give that a try to see if any came around. Never had any luck with them back in Georgia even though Tina did. I had bought the feeder and filled it up, just hadn't put it out yet. Ironically enough, I was watching out the back door when I saw a hummingbird go up to the 'tree' (I use the term 'tree' loosely since it's a very very dead tree and really just one bigass glorified perch now for all these birds.) So anyways, I figured that was my cue to put the feeder out there. Didn't see one go to it until about 5 minutes ago. I'd like to figure out a way to hang it off the patio instead of so far away on the other end of the yard. The finches have the ceramic feeder over there and the hummingbird one is hanging on the tree with it just a short distance away. I guess they think it's another perch for them and they use the hummingbird feeder to sit on. This is probably one of the reasons seeing a hummingbird is so rare...i'm sure it scares them away. Anyways, it's something to pass the time I guess. I think even John gets into it all. My only complaint is they think the patio table and chairs are there for them to crap all over. We have these cute little finches out there that are mostly grey, but have red chests and heads. Chance had went and brought back the little bird book we have (or he has I should say since he said it's his), found the bird in the book and said "I found the bird!" And he sure enough did! So i guess it's proving to be educational lol.

I've been reading a lot. Goes without saying I'm sure. Maybe one of these days I'll post everything i've read over the summer. I finished all the J. R Ward books until she comes out with another-which she needs to hurry up and do! So I started on the Sookie Stackhouse series since so many others had mentioned it. I finished up #4 last night and much to my disappointment, stupid Walmart didn't have the #5 one...but they did have #7, so I picked that one up-so today I will go on the hunt for 5,6,8 and 9. Those books are way too short. Two of the Sookie books are the size of one JR Ward, but yet the same price. So possibly a slight rip off, but ah well. There are definitely worse addictions to have.

Anyways, that's about it I guess. Need to go flat iron my hair, get dressed and go look for these books. My truck is on E and I have been putting that off as long as I could. I loathe putting gas in my truck or really anything that has to do with the gas station so this is quite a chore for me. I was holding out hoping the gas fairy would come but no such luck. But if I want to actually make it to target to look for the books-it has to be done. Need to get my eyebrows waxed bigtime. I haven't had them done since my birthday, so it's past that time. Chance has karate later and I had hoped to go see a movie afterwards but John has to study for his soldier of the month board or whatever it is. So I'll probably end up reading instead haha.

June 29th, 2009

I did my 5th workout Sunday on the EA Sports Active game. So far so good. I've managed to be consistent with it which is always hard for me. I haven't weighed myself since last Monday so I plan on weighing myself later on in the day (since it's technically Monday here)but yeah....I'll weigh as soon as I wake up in the morning. I'm not really anticipating seeing much change on the scale. The scale and I never really see eye to eye. I've been doing pretty well with my eating I think. Minus the trip to McDonalds on Friday but that was the first time in awhile that we've had it.

I've already reached two goals on the game. It's getting easier for me. The first night I thought I would die. I was thinking very mean thoughts towards my virtual trainer, but now-I breeze through the workouts without much of a problem. Of course I say that now, but watch her really throw a wrench in there this week coming up.
Tonight I was even motivated to go for a walk outside. Plus it was cooling off and there was a nice breeze. What started out as a nice breeze turned into serious serious wind on the way home. We walked to the park down the street, so probably a mile and a half total? Wanted to walk more, but it was lightening off in the distance, then with the wind picking up like it did-I knew we needed to get home pretty quick before the 'ish hit the fan. And it did! It's been storming pretty much all night. Still going too. I am so wishing I had already gotten fertilizer for the backyard! Perfect timing for mother nature to take care of the watering. I'll have to take a trip by the drainage things tomorrow so see the "river" that's built up from all the rain. No doubt that part of our street is flooded. I could see the water standing out there hours ago.

Monday is my rest day so I plan on catching up on some reading. I'm on book #5 of J.R Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood. I've already bought #6, but I'll need to pick up #7 once I finish with 6. Luckily Walmart carries that one I believe so I won't be tempted to go to B&N and spend way more than I plan on. So yeah that's about it. This week coming up, I believe we're going to go see Transformers finally and then next week maybe we'll go see Ice Age. Tuesdays they have $1 popcorn and $1 drinks-so you can bet I am all over that.

June 25th, 2009

Same old around here really. Figured I would update since I haven't in awhile. Chance is still doing amazing in karate. He is like a machine. I am sure it would seem like I am biased since it's my kid but he really is doing awesome. He gets called out in every class lately for doing something so well whether it's standing at attention, using respect, technique, etc. The other day Adam called Chance out to help him demonstrate Stranger Danger and I don't think he was expecting Chance to remember quite like he did. Chance busted out all the moves before Adam even had to show him how to do it. He actually got a round of applause from the parents and instructors for that. He earned his 3rd stripe on Tuesday so tomorrow he gets to attend the graduation ceremony for his new belt! He is very excited about this. I am hoping this means he'll be able to attend classes on the other days of the week, but I will have to check since I am a little confused on how their belt system works here.

Last Friday we went to see his karate school do a demo at the Diablo's game here. It's minor league baseball and it was John's first baseball game ever! He hates baseball and thought he would hate going to the game even though I have tried to tell him over and over, you don't have to like baseball to like going to minor league games. I don't know what it is, maybe it just takes me back to being a kid and going with the fam....but we had a great time. Which I am sure is partly why my ass has gotten bigger (more on that towards the bottom) but how can you not enjoy yourself with hot dogs, fireworks, and good company? Chance loved it even though it took awhile to convince him that HE wasn't going to be playing baseball. I had him bring his glove so I can see why this would be confusing. The karate demo was soooo short. I wish it had been longer. It was also too early I think. The stadium was almost empty still when they did it. Anyways, when it was all said and done-we all had a great time and I got to meet a guy in John's platoon whose wife also does karate at the school so that was nice. John ended up really enjoying himself much to his surprise. Lol, he told me the other day that he asked one of his SFC's to get us some of the free tickets he's always talking about getting so we can go again. He even asked me when hockey season started so we can go to the hockey games here. THAT should be fun! I can't wait.

Saturday the neighbors invited us over for dinner along with two other couples. I had a blast and they were so much fun to be around. I wasn't uncomfortable like I had anticipated. Hopefully that's something that we can keep up. It's just so freakin hot right now, I try to go outside as little as possible but I could really use the sun so I might just suck it up and deal. I need to be more social. I know this but it's so hard.

Other than that, I've just been reading a ton as usual and started working out again since my ass continues to grow which is my own fault. So that's it for now. Going to go read for an hour or so and then go to bed.

June whatever day it is 2009

Not really much to blog about lately. John made it home from Mississippi. Ideally he was supposed to get home the day after my birthday but the airport gods decided to crap all over him and bump him off his flight. So he ended up stuck in Houston, a matter of hours away from his family in east Texas-overnight. And didn't even get to see his family. That was a long 11 days. After the incident the day he left, I was so paranoid. So much so that I made Chance sleep in the bedroom with me and I locked the bedroom door and slept with the TV on.

Didn't do much for my birthday really. John sent flowers, I got my eyebrows waxed, took Chance to karate that day and then he and I went to see Night At the Museum 2. Cute movie. Then on Saturday, John brought home an ice cream cake and a Happy Birthday Build A Bear for me and on Sunday we went to Pho Tre Bien in town. I was a little skeptical since no Vietnamese food can ever live up to my standards of Saigon in Greensboro but I was pleasantly surprised. My dish was okay. the fried rice was not my definition of "fried" but it was good. John got this beef and chicken dish and the beef was to die for. Chance got chicken and shrimp vermicelli and it was pretty good. John seemed to like it, so I think we'll be going back in the future. Plus they had a little garden seating area. It was inside but kind of like eating in a greenhouse. They had pretty fountains, and streams, fish and turtles. So you can imagine this went over very well with Chance. Kept him occupied so John and I could enjoy dinner without him whining all the way through it for one reason or another. Then no day out in town is complete without a trip to Barnes and Noble. I did pretty well though I thought. I only bought two books. And reserved three lol. Monday I decided it was way past time for a haircut. So I called up a place that someone had recommended to me (they had a website, so the photos helped my decision to go there). They fit me in that afternoon and I got a pretty decent amount of hair cut off (my definition of alot and most peoples definition of alot are two very different things, so keep this in mind when I say "alot"). It's still "long" but when I told the girl how much I wanted taken off she said "No, you don't want that much taken off, so I'm leaving it long." Lol, okay then. But yeah, had I went that short (to the bra clasp) I probably would have been pissed about it later. I am very happy with the job she did. It is so much lighter! (in color and weight) So I guess that was a birthday gift to myself sort of. Along with the new phone. The jury is still out on if this phone is a keeper or not. We tend to be at odds with one another but I think it's b/c the little shit is smarter than I am. I mean they don't call them "smart phones" for the heck of it you know? They really mean it!

Anyways, I don't really know what else. Time to go start a new book.

Decisions decisions....

It's been a fairly mellow week. Last Saturday, at the very last minute-Chance was invited to the neighbors birthday party. Which was nice. He had a great time and we finally got to meet a few of the neighbors. They rented a big bounce house so you can imagine we didn't see much of Chance during the three hours that we were there and had to drag him home. (it started at 5pm and the only reason we left is b/c it started pouring down rain, which only ended up lasting for 20 mins or so) The house across from us, their son is having a birthday party on Sunday-so he was invited to that one as well.

I have definitely got to get myself to a chiropractor soon. My neck is still killing me, but not so bad that I am confined to the couch and heating pad like before. Today I figured it was a good day to get out and do something. So we spent the day out. Had a nice day. Went to Tinseltown and bought tickets for the 5pm showing of UP. Did a little shopping around that area and then had time to kill still. I was attempting to find a health food store over on Montwood but it wasn't exactly what I was looking for since it was more like a protein powder type store. John picked up a couple of things he has been needing though so at least it wasn't a total waste of a trip. We happened to drive by a self service car wash, so I whipped it in there and said we had to try spraying under my truck to get my brakes to stop grinding before it drove me insane. They have been making the most awful sound ever since we made it into El Paso. And I'll be damned if it's b/c I need new brakes since we shelled out $600 before leaving the east coast on new brakes on the front and rear of my truck, and a tune up. I think we left our water hoses in GA, and you aren't allowed to wash your cars in your driveway here anyway-so i've been putting off the chore for awhile now. But today when I was in the parking lot of starbucks and went to stop to let some people pass.....I guess the noise my brakes make are louder to those on the outside since the look the guy in the parking lot gave me was priceless. So anyways, we went to the carwash and John sprayed under it really well and wouldn't you know....no more grinding! I'm sure I had a bucket or two worth of sand all up in there. Gotta love El Paso! Now I just need to get an oil change. John went the other day and had it inspected and got it registered here, so that's good to go. Now we get to pay it off finally!!!! WHOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The movie was cute. Chance loved it. Disney does really good 3D. We weren't too impressed with the 3D on Monsters Vs. Aliens, but Disney does it right. It's a little sad that I am so excited for the G Force movie coming out. Yep that would be the movie about the gerbils. And then Toy Story 3 next year! After the movie, we went to Cheddars. This place is just awesome. Has an atmosphere like Chili's or Applebees but actually a little nicer, and it's soooooo cheap! John got the check and told me how much it was and I said that it had to be wrong. We bought an app, two entrees and a kids meal and it was $29! The service is really great too. We can never seem to eat for under $50. On the way home, I asked John if he wanted to go by the bookstore since ya know...we'd be driving right by it on the way and he just laughed at me and told me I already knew the answer to that question. I am thinking we probably should just get the Barnes and Noble credit card. Especially if they do rewards. We'd probably get a free vacation to Hawaii with the amount of money we spend in that place. I picked up another 4 books on my list. One of those being the first book in The Black Dagger Brotherhood series. I've long since finished Twilight, and I have heard these are good, so I hope they live up to my expectations. I did exercise some self control and didn't buy every single one in the series all in one go tonight. But I figure if the first one is good, then I probably will just buy the rest in one trip to save me the experience last time when I went to buy #4 in the Twilight series only to find that freakin Walmart only spld it in the Spanish version. I thought I would break out in hives and start climbing the walls. I ended up sucking it up, going across town a few days later and spending $22 to get it at B&N. Crisis averted! I had to order three books tonight that I am missing out of one of my other series' that I read and they should be in within the week, so I'll try to plan for finishing "Dark Lover" around that time, so I can pick up the others then too if I like the first one enough to continue on.

Chance is doing great in karate. He earned his green stripe the other week when the instructor caught him standing at attention so well. Then he got his first black stripe on Tuesday for his attendance, and then his second black stripe on Thursday. Once he gets one more black stripe, I believe he gets promoted to the next rank. I about fell out of my chair laughing though. of course this happened AFTER Chance got his green stripe for showing how well he can stand at attention...but they had turned on the music and while all the other kids were standing perfectly still....there's our child over there doing the robot, walking like an Egyptian...dancing his little butt off. I'm just waiting for Chance to get busted since he's so in his own little so you think you can dance world over there, he's not seeing me giving him the "STAND STILL!!!" look....well Mr Lance catches him and I was sure he would tell him to stand at attention but oh noooooo. He busts out laughing and looks over to make sure we are seeing this. Then Mr Lance starts busting a move right along with Chance. It was hilarious. I wish I had gotten video of that. On Thursday, Chance was trying sooooo hard!!! It was actually to the point of being comical. He was sitting cross legged, back straight, hands on his knees, had a serious face on....looking dead ahead...yes maaming....doing everything right. The instructor took notice of that and Chance got to wear the black belt for the entire class! And this happened before the official start of class. Most kids seem to come rolling in right around 4:15, which class starts at 4:15, but we get there around 4pm to get a seat in the front and that way Chance can play the silly games that the instructors play with the kids who actually get there early. Which usually only four or five of them are there before 4:15.

I have a couple of videos from last week and some pics that I'll try to post sometime this week. I'll have alot of time to catch up this week.

Hmm, what else? Oh, SCHOOL! Not really sure what's going on there. I went Tuesday to turn in my unofficial transcript and my paper to get in state tuition and they were going to let me go ahead and pick my classes. The very first class I need to take for culinary...she tells me the times and I'm like "I can't take that class! I have to get my son to school" This class started at 8am, it's about a 25 minute drive from here assuming traffic isn't crazy and Chance's school starts at 8:15am. So she tells me to look over the catalog and try to figure out what I want to do to make it work around Chance's schedule. I get home later that evening after karate and sit here for HOURS trying to figure out how to make this work. And it's just not going to unfortunately. The classes either start too early, or end too late....overlap, etc. There's really just no way right now. I thought about afterschool care at the Y for Chance and I'd just have to take the later classes that end at 4:30pm. But since those classes were on Tuesdays and Thursdays, what about his karate? We've already paid for 6 months of karate and it's something he really enjoys so I am not going to deny him that. After school care would have been another $100+ a month and I am sure gas is going to be back up to where it was last year. I thought about maybe just trying to go part time to school, but then I am not sure if I could get financial aid and well....to be honest....I was denied financial aid when I went to college the first go round and I divided up the cost with my parents and paid a decent sized portion myself and that sucked. So if I can get financial aid, I want it! But obviously culinary just isn't feasible right now. John goes on TDY's here, and I would be expected to start my 1st round of field training so its too much to take on with so many unknowns. There's no way I could finish up before we leave here. If I had a support system here, it might be more realistic, but I have no one here except John. So I guess I will keep dreaming that maybe we'll end up at Ft Bragg next and maybe I could do culinary there. I have family and a couple of friends there and Chance will be a little older. I looked at their course description and compared it to EPCC and I think I like the the Fayetteville one better.

I did look around at some of the other things EPCC offered and came across their massage therapy program. That is actually something that interests me and if the schedule I saw online is the right one, that's totally something that I could work with. All the classes start at 9am. And most end at 2pm. There's a couple of months of classes that end at 4:30pm, but if I went for it-I could still utilize after school care for Chance since it would only be a couple of months. It's not a degree program, so it's short. It's something I need to look more into, like finding out that if I did it-how difficult it would be, to be licensed in another state.

The kicker of all this....I finally realized I couldn't go back to school right now for culinary, was somewhat at peace with that and then today I got a letter in the mail telling me I am eligible for the max amount of financial aid. Soooo I guess I'll go back up to EPCC this week to turn in the paper I have to sign and ask about the massage therapy program. I mean something is better than nothing right? There's no way I can get a job here. I "no habla espanol" so that's pretty much a deal breaker right there.


Anyways, this has gotten way too long. And it's getting late. I'm having a bit of a homesick night. I tend to get that way everytime I go to the bookstore. Brings back a lot of memories. Came home and started looking at alot of old pictures which made it even worse. And now I'm listening to the music on my blog which most of these songs are circa 2000, so yeah. Gone are the days of being able to call up a friend at the last second and taking off to do whatever without a care in the world. I'm sure approaching another year older isn't helping at all. Chance keeps reminding me that I have "alot of birthdays". Wow. Thanks kid. As if i'm not already dreading it enough...I get to spend it alone. Again. Third year in a row. I think I am going to subtract all the birthdays John has missed and that will be my age. Which means this year I will be turning.....21.5! Lol, yes that's a half. One year he was in the damn field for my birthday and only came out way later on in the day when he was popped in the eye with some smoke grenade and they fubarred his eye all up. So that year gets a half. He was deployed for it in 03 (should have been home by then though, thanks Dubya!) he was in the field in 04 and that's the year I count as half, deployed in 05, deployed in 07 and 08 (if not for that 15 month bullcrap, he would have made it home for that one-again, thank you Dubya!) and he'll be gone for 09 as well, but really-who's counting? I think it's just the army playing their evil mind games. Like his R&R for his second deployment. He would have made it home in time for Chance's first birthday had the damn plane not broken down keeping him there an extra day. He made it home the day after. Go figure! Anyways, enough of that. It's depressing. It's just a birthday anyway. I've learned to not care much about it anymore. At least he was here for Chance's birthday this year. NOT having him in the shithole country of Iraq is all the birthday present I could ask for, so for that, I count my blessings.

Not much blogging lately

I've been dealing with a wonderful pain all down my neck and right arm for a week now, so I haven't felt much like doing anything really. Lots of laying on the couch. And sleeping. Last night I browsed on Bookcloseouts.com for some books on my mega book list and found quite a few, not to mention a hardback edition of The Notebook! They only had one copy, so I jumped on it before it was gone. It's rare to even find Nick Sparks books on there. Usually they have a couple of audio books, but that's about it. I bought thirteen books online for less than $50 before shipping! Then I managed to drag myself off the couch and away from my heating pad long enough today to go with John and Chance to the bookstore and I picked up a "few" more there. It's getting a little out of hand to say the least. But it keeps me occupied and away from the mall and outlet shops lol. Have a good chunk crossed off my list.

Anyways, so yeah....maybe this week I'll finally start feeling better and can get back to my food log.

May 19th, 2009

Today ended up being a pretty good day. John only worked a few hours and was home by 10am-ish. Then he and Chance went to the mall to pick up a game John had reserved. I opted to stay home (yes, I stayed home from the mall!! I must really be getting old) but I stayed home so I could go to the school to drop off my application.

I thought I would just drop it off, get the transcript request form and be on my merry way but oh nooooooo. I walked out of there with a card that had my student ID number, and EPCC email address on it along with an acceptance letter. So my next step is to get a form filled out by John's commander so they change my status to in state residency, and to turn in my unofficial transcript until my official one can get there.

So that is all exciting, but I am not gonna lie. I'm extremely nervous as well! But being nervous isn't going to get me anywhere, so I'll have to get over that quickly.

Another reason today was an awesome day.....Chance was on top of his game in karate today!!! He did amazing! Even his instructors noticed it. He actually earned a green stripe for standing at attention so well. Then they played a game where they had to try and snatch the belts off of one of three of the assistant instructors without getting bopped on the head with the pads (ideally they were supposed to use blocking techniques to avoid this) anyways, he managed to snatch the belt off of Instructor Nance who was the biggest one. I think only one other kid managed to grab a belt off of one of the teachers. Then they broke off into groups and he was with Mr Lance's group and they practiced high kicks by standing with one hand on the wall. We couldnt' see Chance from where we were, but the instructors commented on how well he was doing with his kicks. We had him show us when we got home how high he could kick and I was impressed! So yeah, he definitely had a great day overall in karate.

We ended up going to eat at Golden Corral and met the sweetest couple. The husband was celebrating his 85th birthday today. The lady came up to me and asked me why I looked familiar to her and then she just started talking to me about random stuff and invited me to join the NCO Spouses Club on post. They were too adorable. They came up and asked John if he would take a photo of them since it was his birthday. The man was in World War II as a medic if I heard right, and he ended up coming home after he was injured and stayed in the hospital for 14 months. They were just so cute and you could just see how happy they are.

That's about it for today really. Tomorrow we have an FRG meeting. Which I find to be odd, but I guess we're going.

5 Years Old!

So today was Chance's birthday! I can't believe he is five years old already. I think despite it being just the three of us and not being able to do a party for him, he had a good day. We went a little overboard on the gifts to overcompensate the situation this year. But he loves everything, even down to the t-shirt lol. Let's see if I can remember it all. He got a big Master Chief, a Star Wars Lego set, Star Wars gun thing he's wanted for awhile now, Star Wars action figure, an UP sticker book, Night at the Museum video game for the Wii, a shirt, bubble bath, HALO poster, and some new 'big boy' bedding for his bed. I baked a cake and John did all the frosting and decorating. Chance had requested pizza for dinner so I made pizza. Tried my hand at a whole wheat dough but yuck! Not that impressed. Chance even said it was "disgusting" b/c it "didn't have ranch dressing" on it. But he put some ranch on there and ate the rest so I guess it wasn't too horrible. I made a plain ground turkey for us but since I had enough dough to make two pizza's, I decided to get creative on the second one. I made a pizza for me with fresh basil, a TON of garlic, sun dried tomato, leftover brazillian chicken that we made last night for dinner, and artichoke to go along with the red sauce and mozzarella. It didn't finish cooking until well after we had already ate a slice of the ground turkey pizza, so I put it in the fridge and will try it tomorrow.

Not much going on around here. Chance's karate school had a military appreciation day on Saturday that we went to. It was alot of fun despite Chance whining and crying almost the entire time. It's cool that they do stuff like that, and on Thursday they are going to have an ice cream social.

Last night I was sitting here bored waiting for the Dane Cook special to come on and I thought "hmm, I have nothing else to do, so I may as well start the process for school" So I went ahead and filled out my FAFSA and submitted it and hopefully tomorrow I can go drop off my application for school and get the form to request my transcripts NC. Hopefully SOMEONE will take the form to GTCC for me and take care of that. I just want to know already if I will be going to school or not so I know if I need to get my hopes up. I got an email today saying that my FAFSA has already been processed! I hope that means I didn't mess any of it up.

Anyways, I need to get back to regular blogging. Or at least logging my food. I've definitely been bad since I haven't logged in a few days. Still haven't went and looked for bolts for my treadmill, but maybe I can do that tomorrow.

I'll try to post some pics from today and this weekend as well tomorrow. I need to get this kid out of the tub before he turns into a prune.

May 13th, 2009

Boring day today. Part of me is saying "let's go to the bookstore" but then the other part is saying "get in the garage and organize!" Not sure which side will win at this point especially since I already mentioned the bookstore to John. We do need to go to Target to return some curtains and a table we bought, but ugh. That would mean I had to put gas in my truck and drag Chance out which means he'll probably act a fool like he always does. I'm not sure I am in the mood to deal with that. Chance's birthday is in 5 days. Yikes! We haven't even been shopping or anything. I had planned on doing a party for him until John told me that the majority of the platoon would be out of town on a TDY. So that's out. I think we are going to surprise him with tickets to the circus to make up for no party.

Anyways, food log for today.

Breakfast-
John cooked, so I had a slice and a half of bacon (Chance stole the other half) and eggs.

Lunch-
strawberry lemon slush with flax

Snack-
frozen slim fast coffee concoction

Dinner-
abs diet guiltless chicken wings-which was chicken tenders tossed in a hot sauce mixture, garlic bread, mixed green salad with good seasons italian dressing.

Snack-
yogurt with berries and flax

A few photos

Here are a few photos from today's class. I thought it was going to go well since it seemed at first like it would be a small class, but instead-everyone seemed to show up right AT 4:15pm when class starts. So that went out the window. Cell phones were ringing, conversations were going on, there was a loud game boy behind me....it was a nightmare. The irony of it all, the instructor is sitting there telling the KIDS not to talk while he is talking....and yet the parents kept going on and on. Then again, I was in the front row and all but leaning over the wall straining to hear him talking to the kids, so the other parents probably couldn't hear anything. Maybe they should implement knuckle pushups for parents who can't keep it quiet during class? I bet then they would shut up.

Chance did okay. I can tell he is trying, but I know he can do better. He really needs to work on his listening. When they are supposed to be sitting down at attention, which is cross legged and hands on their knees-he'll be sitting on his knees. It was making me crazy. I'll give the kid credit for raising his hand when he wanted to talk, but he kept on and kept on and kept ON raising his hand when the instructor wasn't even asking a question. I am sure if they had asked Chance what he wanted to say, it would have been something completely random and have nothing to do with karate.

I'm just at a loss on how to handle him lately. It seems like he has such a horrible attitude and then the minute we get to his class, he gets his act together. Which is great for his karate instructors. But then the moment he bows out....he's literally whining or complaining about something. Usually it's him wanting to get something to eat and not at home. We got take out ONCE after a class and since then, he's whined about it every single time after class. I think I am just around him way too often. Hopefully he'll get better once he's back in school. Maybe then I'll be in school. Anyways-here are the photos. Would have gotten more except thanks to someone taking the camera out of my bag yesterday and taking random photos of pictures he colored....the battery went dead in the middle of class.

Here he is before class, notice how he is sitting.


Still before the official start of class. The assistant was just playing some games with the kids who were already there and he and Chance were a team, and the other kids had to try and knock them down. Don't think any of them managed to do it either!


During class

May 12th, 2009

Today is Tuesday! Which means karate day! Hopefully it will be bearable this time and not a loud cluster**** like last time. Anyways, I slept through breakfast again thanks to staying up until 3am to finish a book. I can't help it. When I get to a point in the book where there's only so many chapters left, I think "well crap, I can't put it down now....might as well finish it" and that's what I did. It was a cute book though. It was called The First Assistant, which was the follow up to The Second Assistant. They are easy reads. I'm in that kind of mood lately. If you are into the celebrity gossip thing, then they are worth the read. Have a stack of books still to choose from and then the other day I made out the mother of all lists to take with me next time I am in the bookstore. Which will be before the end of the week I am sure.

So I started using a few Burt's Bees face products the other day and wow! Already I can tell a difference! While they weren't the huge, mountainous red zits I am used to getting-my forehead was very bumpy just with the tiny zits that were easier to just feel than see. While the redness I used to have in my cheeks mostly went away when my doc Rx'd me something for my acne, I still have the redness issue on my nose. I have only been using these products for a few days and already my forehead is so smooth (meaning no more teeny tiny zits everywhere), the redness on my nose is almost gone (but with glasses-I expect there still to be some redness where those rest, but that doesn't bother me) and overall my face looks clearer.

Here are the products I am using-

Orange Essence Facial Cleanser



Peach and Willowbark Deep Pore Scrub



Herbal Blemish Stick


I will admit though, the herbal blemish stick smells like death. It smells like licorice which I am definitely NOT a fan of, but whoever said beauty was easy? I'll use it if it works though, so oh well. I think I mentioned the other day how awesome it would be if BB's made makeup. Well. I found out last nigh that they DID make makeup but have discontinued it and have no plans to do it in the future. Crap crap crap!!! Figures. So I'll have to keep looking I suppose.

I found a really cool site last night. You can check it out here. It's a cosmetics database. Quoting from their website-

Skin Deep is a safety guide to cosmetics and personal care products brought to you by researchers at the Environmental Working Group.

Skin Deep pairs ingredients in more than 42,000 products against 50 definitive toxicity and regulatory databases, making it the largest integrated data resource of its kind. Why did a small nonprofit take on such a big project? Because the FDA doesn't require companies to test their own products for safety.

Fascinating stuff. Makes me really reevaluate what we are using in our home. It lists makeup, skin care, oral care, fragrance, nail care, eye care, hair care, and baby care products. They don't leave much out. This was actually how I found out that Burt's Bees used to make a cosmetics line.

Alright so that's enough of that. I'm going to try and be productive even though John has already did all the laundry today. Not that I am complaining. I know he's awesome.

Food log for today

Breakfast-
slept through it again

Lunch-
roast beef on whole wheat hoagie with swiss cheese

Snack-
blackberry kiwi slush with flax. Pure awesomeness.

May 11th, 2009

I didn't blog yesterday so I'm making up for it today. Yesterday was a great Mother's Day. John was home this year, so that alone made it even better. They woke me up with breakfast in bed, then we just lounged around for awhile and called the moms back home to wish them a happy mother's day. The boys had some gorgeous tulips delivered for me yesterday. Then John told me to pick out where I wanted to eat for dinner. We picked a japanese place hoping it would be as good as Masato's back in Savannah but no such luck. It was still a nice night out though. At least now we know to cross that place off the list of places to go in the future. We made a pit stop at Baskin Robbins on the way home.

The eating well went out the window yesterday but I'm back on track today. I think John's all finished up with the Bowflex, but now I just need to get in there and get everything situated where I want it. Right now there is no balance in there at all. The treadmill isn't where it needs to be, his weight bench isn't even set up, the bowflex is just in the middle of the garage, empty boxes everywhere, still bags and bags of packing paper needing to be taken to the recycle center.

So here's the food log for the last couple of days. Feel free to pass over the log for Sunday lol.

Sunday

Breakfast-
bacon, eggs, turkey sausage, french toast

Lunch-
mixed green salad with good seasons italian dressing, whole wheat bagel with capers, whipped cream cheese and smoked salmon.

Dinner-
steak and chicken hibachi, vegetable broth soup, ginger salad, shrimp app, grilled vegetables, fried rice. Honestly though, I ate three bites of soup, a few bites of salad...I did eat most of the zucchini, and most of the rice. But left most of the onion and meat. So maybe I didn't kill the diet all in one sitting after all.

Snack-
kids scoop of jamocha almond fudge from BR.


Monday

Breakfast-
ummmmm whoops, didn't have it

Lunch-
strawberry melon slush with flax

Dinner-
roast beef on whole wheat hoagie with grilled onion, bell peppers, flax, swiss cheese and salsa.

Snack-
organic french vanilla yogurt with blackberries, all bran and a blob of cool whip free

May 9th, 2009

I slept sooooo late today. Which is weird since I actually went to bed earlier than usual. So I ended up sleeping through breakfast. So I ended up making a smoothie to take with me to the grocery store. So here's my food log for the day. Forgot to take my vitamins and supplements today as well, but i'll make up for it tomorrow.

Breakfast-
nothing

Lunch-
pumpkin smoothie with flax

Dinner-
marinated skirt steak, chipolte garlic bread, salad with good seasons italian dressing

Snack-
strawberry mango slushie

May 8th, 2009 pt 2

Today was a pretty nice day. John was home and we ended up going to Target to get some more curtains and curtain rods for the game room. I realized only after the air was FINALLY turned on, that there are no vents in there! Which blows my mind since it has huge vaulted ceilings, and five windows. It gets a little warm in there, even with the air finally on.

I had to practically beg just to get them our yesterday to turn it on. They were stuck on the east side on a job and weren't sure if they would make it here or not. Thankfully they showed up right before 3pm and got everything taken care of. While it's far from being central air, it works okay for now. But he told me that in July and August, it probably won't seem like it is working well-but that is just how these systems work. I actually got to use a blanket last night when I went to bed! It's amazing the little things we take forgranted haha.

Chance had karate yesterday as well. I was really really bothered by how much the other parents seem to completely disregard the fact that the children are IN CLASS. The waiting area is so loud! I am straining to hear what the instructors are telling the kids and as it is-they are yelling as loudly as it is already. It has to be a distraction to the kids. I am hoping to bring it up to the instructors somehow and hopefully they can do something to calm the madness in the waiting area so the kids can concentrate and the parents who are actually there to WATCH, rather than join in social hour.....can do so.

John's working on putting together the Bowflex. I had gone upstairs to read my book and ended up falling asleep. Came back down a couple hours later and he had started on it. So far, so good he says. Just looking in the book at all the exercises you can do was enough to make me tired.

I was looking the other week for some new shampoo and conditioner since my hair and I have NOT been getting along lately. I was looking for something organic but I ended up getting these:



I am late coming into the Burts Bees products. I have some lip products from them but that's about it. However, the shampoo and conditioner is enough to make me a loyal customer! I looooove this stuff. It's not organic, but they don't use any sulfates and they put that informative little ribbon on every product stating how much of the product is made up of natural ingredients. I liked the shampoo and conditioner so much so, that I picked up a deep conditioner today at Target along with a facial cleanser. Target seemed to have a pretty wide selection of their products. I'm already window shopping on their website to see what my next BB purchases will be. I'm thinking they will replace my bath and body works addiction. Annnnnnnd another reason to buy these awesome products-they are made in North Carolina. I wish they made make up. I've been using the physicians formula stuff, but it seems like it's either way too dark, or way too light and no in between. The little things that excite me these days.

Anyways, I guess that's about it for now. It seems like there was more I wanted to post about but I'm drawing blank.

May 8th, 2009

Plan on blogging more later-just starting my food log before I forget.

Breakfast-
slim fast shake

Lunch-
leftovers from last night. But I took the buffalo chicken breast off the bun and just ate the meat.

Dinner-
turkey and cheddar pita wrap from Target with a Nantucket Nectar lemonade.

Snack-
4 kashi stoneground wheat crackers with whipped cream cheese and smoked salmon

May 7th, 2009

I'm in a foul FOUL mood at the moment thanks to this air conditioning (or lack thereof) drama, so I am keeping this short to just the food log to keep this blog pg rated.

Breakfast-
slim fast shake

Lunch-
lettuce wraps with guacamole

Dinner-
was in one FINE mood after Chance's class *sarcasm* and we ordered Chili's to go.
ate a few bites of loaded mashed potatoes, one beef slider, one buffalo chicken slider, and a few boneless buffalo bites from the triple play app we were sharing and by that time I was too full to touch the sandwich that was my actual entree. Def did not eat well, but tomorrow will be better I hope.

May 6th, 2009

One more day and we'll finally have air conditioning! It can't get here soon enough. Today I guess I have to get back in the garage and get the rest of those boxes out of there since the Bowflex will be here tomorrow. That's going to be a blast.

Anyways, not much to say today. Baby Taylor arrived yesterday sometime right after noon. He weighed 6lbs 13oz. Still waiting on pictures though.

Food log

Breakfast-
frozen slim fast shake

Lunch-
Totally not the best choice out there, but we were out in the garage bagging paper and breaking down boxes and John said "Let's go eat" to which I responded "like in the house?" and he said "No, we're going somewhere else" lol. Okay. We ended up going to The Hamburger Stand and I had an all beef hot dog with kraut and mustard. No mayo!!!! I am so proud of myself. Just say no to the mayo! I should have just said no to the bun but oh well. I didn't get fries or anything. Just had a strawberry lemonade with it.

Dinner-
one grilled chicken breast. was too lazy to throw it on top of a salad.

Snack-
a slush with strawberry, pom, kiwi, plum, and flax. Didn't finish it or even come close b/c I wasn't feeling it. It was really bitter for some reason.

Snack 2-
gonna slug down my last v8 before i go to bed to get my GSE in for the day. I haven't had any yogurt today, or my cereal-so I really need to at least get the GSE.

Our Karate Kid

Quick post with pictures!

I'll post a couple of videos tomorrow. Think I've pretty much overloaded my blog today.

Candida

Alright so here goes. Over the years, I have always thought of myself to be pretty healthy as far as not having very many heath issues go. I don't know if it just comes with marriage, or having kids or what-but it seems like once I had Chance, my health went out the window. I swear these kids really do suck the life out of us. My memory is crap, my energy level is crap and over the years is has just gotten substantially worse. There was that 8 month period that started in March 2006 and lasted until November or so when I was constantly sick with those stomach issues that would literally wake me up out of a deep sleep. Never did get an explanation for that after a million and one trips to the doctor (lol, well I take that back. A Nurse Practitioner said it was probably a stomach virus. Um yeah, a stomach virus that lasted eight months. Okie dokie then) , but the pains have only showed up maybe three or four times since then so whatever it was, it's not really an issue anymore. That's just one example. More recently I have had an issue with my legs. I remember exactly when this started. It started after I came back from North Carolina back in summer of 2007. I've gotten no relief at all, it's gotten worse since when it first started. Not really any answers from a doctor. I was given a referral to have a nerve test done but it involved sticking a bunch of needles in my legs and shocking me. Which sounds as appealing as a lobotomy so I opted to forgo that test after discussing it with a few other people who have a little bit of medical knowledge. But you can imagine after almost two years of dealing with the problem, it has gotten a bit annoying. I wouldn't know what "normal" felt like anymore. I only know this tingly, crawley, burning feeling I have every day. It's hard to explain. But the best I can do is that they are "on" all the time and they never turn "off".

So I have spent endless hours googling my little heart out trying to self diagnose what this could be since I have given up on doctors.

No idea when but I came across something one day about Candida. Not sure of the exact page I read-but i'll just quote from one I just found.

Symptoms vary from person to person and fluctuate in severity, or may come and go. Most symptoms are invisible, which makes it difficult for others to understand the vast array of debilitating symptoms with which we contend.

The most common are:

* an incapacitating fatigue
* problems with concentration and short-term memory
* flu-like symptoms such as pain in the joints and muscle
* extreme tightness in the shoulders and neck
* hyper-acidity/acid reflux
* brown colored mucus in the back of the throat
* blisters in the mouth/tongue/throat
* either white or "blood blisters"
* un-refreshing sleep
* sore throat
* white coated tongue
* dark circles under the eyes
* an aversion to being touched or jumping
* "crawling" skin
* chronic sinus problems and headaches including migraines
* chronic dental problems

Visual disturbances may include blurring, sensitivity to light and eye pain.

Psychological problems may include:

* depression
* irritability
* anxiety
* panic attacks
* recurring obsessive thoughts
* personality changes and mood swings (irrational rage or crying for no reason - fear of talking to people, any kind of confrontation, isolation)
* paranoia

More of the physical symptoms may include:

* chills and night sweats
* shortness of breath
* dizziness and balance problems
* sensitivity to heat and/or cold
* alcohol intolerance
* gluten and/or casein intolerance
* irregular heartbeat
* irritable bowel
* constipation and/or diarrhea
* painful gas and abdominal bloating
* low-grade fever or low body temperature
* numbness, tingling and/or burning sensations in the face or extremities
* dryness of the mouth and eyes
* difficulty swallowing
* projectile vomiting

Also:

* menstrual problems including PMS and endometriosis
* recurrent yeast infections
* recurrent ear infections
* rashes and dry, flaking skin
* eczema
* dermatitis
* acne
* skin discoloration and/or blotchiness
* dandruff
* jock and rectal itching
* chronic athlete's foot
* chronic toenail and fingernail fungus
* ringing in the ears (tinnitus)
* allergies and sensitivities to noise/sound, foods, odors, chemicals
* anemia
* weight changes without changes in diet
* light-headedness
* feeling in a fog
* fainting
* muscle twitching and muscle weakness
* restless leg syndrome
* low sex drive and/or numbness in the genital area

These are only the symptoms most commonly reported and documented.

Not even going to bother naming off all of those symptoms that I have, but it was enough of them to make me stop and say "whoooooa". The crawling skin thing really made me wonder if this was it!

If you want to read more on it, here's a good article:
http://www.womentowomen.com/digestionandgihealth/candida.aspx


So once John and I decided it was time to shed the weight, I also decided it was time to once again battle with the Candida. There's a simple test you can do at home that is supposed to be as accurate as it gets, but I have yet to try it. I really should do it, and I might still give it a try-but for now I'll just post directions for the test if anyone is curious.

The Spit Test
Might I have a problem with Candida Yeast?

You can try this simple test to find out.

First thing in the morning, before you put ANYTHING in your mouth, fill a clear glass with room temperature Bottled Water. (*apparently it's important that it is NOT tap water)

Work up a bit of saliva, then spit it into the glass of water. Check the water every 15 minutes or so for up to one hour.

If you have a potential problem, you will see strings (like legs) traveling down into the water from the saliva floating on the top, or "cloudy" saliva will sink to the bottom of the glass, or cloudy specks will seem to be suspended in the water.

If there are no strings and the saliva is still floating after at least one hour, you probably have Candida under control, and have nothing to worry about. Congratulations.

If you want to see an illustration of what the result may look like-you can check it out on this page: http://www.adhdrelief.com/CandidaTest.html

Anyways, I guess I have been taking the grapefruit seed extract regularly for about a week now. Before that, I would forget and not take it every day like I should. Then on Saturday, I started taking my probiotics again. Along with that, I try to eat some *organic* yogurt daily. I am picky about my yogurt. I don't bother with that crap Jamie Lee Curtis is slingin', but I use Stonyfield Farms only. It has all of the good bacteria you need to kill off the bad. They have six live cultures in their yogurt, it's gluten free and it's ORGANIC! I'm not even gonna step up on my organic soapbox for now, but it's really the way to go and i'll leave it at that. To my yogurt, i'll add some fresh fruit. We went to Costco the other week and loaded up on fruit! I came home and washed everything, then cut up what needed it and put it in the freezer. So now I use this for my yogurt or when i want to make a slushie. Lately I have been adding All Bran and flax meal to my yogurt. Just to give it that extra little something. Usually when I cook, I always add an insane amount of garlic to whatever it is I'm making which helps as well. If a recipe calls for "one clove" of garlic that translates into my head as "at least four cloves" lol. Can't get enough of that stuff. But I haven't cooked much lately due to the heat so that doesn't really apply to my regimen this week.

So I haven't really changed things much. Some of the things I have read say to eliminate all carbs while you are getting rid of it but I'm still eating fruit. However, I have actually noticed over the last few days that I am not really craving bread or sweet stuff at all. I had Subway the other night for dinner but I can't say it was a dire craving by any means.

I can tell my efforts are working. The die off symptoms can be a real drag but that's just my body telling me it's working. My body hurts, especially my lower back and my knees....my head is cloudier than usual and I just have an overwhelming feeling of overall BLAH. They say that die off feels alot like the flu which is somewhat ironic at the moment haha. Although, I might want to knock on wood since John hasn't been feeling well last night, and still feeling bad today. Chance even seemed warm to the touch earlier before karate but it's 90+ in this house so I figured that was why. I will definitely keep an eye on them both though and myself just to be on the safe side.

So yeah, that's all I am really doing for now. Not working out yet, but the Bowflex will be here in two days and I plan to start once that is put together assuming the die off subsides a little. Who knows if this will really help me in the end, but I am all for at least trying. So far I have lost some weight, my stomach is not so bloated as before, not getting giant zits like before and a few other improvements. Who knows if it would work for anyone else-but this is just to clarify what *I* am doing to try and feel better overall.

I've also talked to John about maybe visiting a chiropractor to see if that could possibly help as well. He said he would go with me and give it a try as well, just need to find someone in the area who is reputable but also reasonably priced since our insurance doesn't cover them at all.

Alright so that blog took all day. Had to stop on and off all day to tend to laundry, making Chance and I lunch, go to karate etc. Lol, so no I didn't type this all out in one go.