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.