That [Officer's] Wife

Deployment Progress

2011-11-25T20:33:00.000-07:00

Well.. two months down... four months to go. I haven't lost my mind, so that's always a good thing! ;)

Between full-time classes, an internship, and four attention-hungry pets, I've been able to stay busy almost 24/7! The only bad thing about being so busy is that one week feels equivalent to two weeks. Thanksgiving break came at the perfect time. Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike group work? Let me clarify. I love group work when each member of the group puts forth equal amount of effort. At least then it is fair and you can always trust your team mates to work as hard as you do. I'm involved in two different groups this semester; one small group, and one larger group. So far, I have carried the majority of the work in each team. And I'm tired. Very tired.

I've always (well, not always.. but most of the time) given 110% on assignments and exams, and I'm usually a favorite of my professors (I know, I sound like one of those lame teachers' pets). Unfortunately, my team mates picked up on this early in the game. My grades are strong enough that if I gave up now, I would probably still have strong grades at the end of the semester. It's tempting, I must admit. The Hermoine Granger in me just won't allow it though. At this point, I'll just focus on one day at a time; do the best I can, and then crawl into bed at night.

On the brighter side of things, I only have three weeks of my last semester of school left! Hallelujah!! I can't wait to be done with school. It will be nice to go home and spend time with the family. I'll finally get to cuddle with my numerous nieces and nephews! Finally get to eat my mom's awesome food. Finally not have to worry about due dates, reading assignments, exams, and making sure my team mates are getting their work to me on time, etc. And I'll actually have human beings to hang out with every evening. It will be an adjustment to not be alone all the time!

A big thank you to Starbucks, for getting me through the rough days of class =). Thanks to my fur kids for keeping me company in the evenings (I'm sorry you haven't been getting the full attention you need!). Thanks to my sweet Mr. Air Force for making me feel more loved than ever. And thanks to God for keeping me going on days I thought I'd rather give up than keep fighting.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-09-28T17:57:00.000-06:00

Hannah Noel

The One Where I Mostly Ramble

2011-09-20T14:03:00.000-06:00

Well, I have a new background! That's about it =). I'll eventually get time to work on the header.. if nothing else, I'll at least put in a new picture! And I think I'm going to change the name of this blog to just "Hannah Noel." I feel like labeling it a "military" blog means that that's all there is to my life, and I feel like I'm expected to only write about military-related topics. There is way more to my life than being a military wife though. It's an identifier, yes, but it's not my sole identity.

I'm also that: Christian, horse lover, wanna-be-famous singer, a sketch hobbyist (did I just make up that word?), a soon-to-be Public Relations consultant, a lover of Oklahoma, a Preacher's Kid, a Harry Potter addict, a Vamp. Diaries nerd, a conservative, and many, many other things.

So, as I said, I'll eventually be re-naming this blog "Hannah Noel" to encompass ALL of me. Aren't you just so excited? *note sarcasm*

Not much else happening on the home front. Trying to finish a few "I-need-my-husband's-help" projects before the Big D. Staying on top of homework. Mentally preparing myself for the next six months-- though, is that even really possible, or am I just kidding myself?

After my post asking for advice on grocery shopping for a single gal, I still haven't had much luck. I think that will be a blog goal for the next couple of months. I'm going to try to come up with a budget-friendly grocery list for a single gal. I've figured out I can't keep up my traditional shopping habits. Normally, I try to only make one or two big Walmart runs every month. That's a lot harder to do when you're shopping for one. I think I'll try to set a grocery budget for myself, say $30 per week, and then go grocery shopping once a week for what I need. My next big problem is making a list and only buying what is on the list... not adding on a bag of Mint Milanos after I'm already at the store!

Time to Revamp!

2011-09-14T09:41:00.000-06:00

Does anyone have good recommendations for sites with free blog templates/layouts (the key word there is free)? I've had this one for quite a while now and feel like I need to change things up =).

Pretty please? Thanks!

Time Period

2011-09-09T12:51:00.000-06:00

Am I the only one who often measures time passing by my birth controls packs? For instance: I realized today that Mr. Air Force will be officially headed for the desert by the time my current pack ends. What horrible timing!

Guess I need to start stocking up on chocolate now! Time is passing too quickly for this Oklahoma girl.

Twit.

2011-09-06T20:55:00.004-06:00

I have created and deleted a Twitter account twice now. Actually, I just created one for the third time. I think there's a commandment in the Public Relations Bible that says "Thou must be a professional Twitter-er." I'm jumping back on the bandwagon for the sake of my future career!

So there you have it. I have zero followers =). Not that I'll be posting much any time soon (only if I have extra time.. hah.), but in case you want to follow, I posted the new button to the left on my blog!

:::EDIT::: I thought I knew how to post a Twitter button. I followed the steps, but the link doesn't work! if anything else, I'm @hannahnrigby.

It's almost time.

2011-08-26T18:14:00.000-06:00

Time for a break in the silence that is my nearly-abandoned blog!

Summer flew by so fast! I really enjoyed my internship at the Humane Society, and I learned a lot! My LAST semester started this past week-- woo hoo!! I'm taking 12 hours of lecture and three hours for another internship. Already I am super busy. I know I'll be able to handle it all, because nothing beats the trauma of my freshman year at college!

Mr. Air Force is visiting his family in Mississippi and he'll be home later this week. He'll have enough time to unpack, wash his clothes, repack, and board a plane for a week-long TDY. He leaves on deployment soon afterwards, leaving me running to Walmart for chocolate and junk food.

Does anyone else have a Go-To Food they munch on when the hubs leaves? I almost always grab Pepsi, Ruffles, French Onion dip, and something chocolate (I love dark chocolate M&Ms!). I eat that for a day or so to get the 'down in the dumps' out of my system, so that I can move on to being a real person again, lol.

The first three months of the deployment will probably fly by because I will be SO busy with school and taking care of our fur kids. After Christmas though, unless I have a job lined up, things will slow down incredibly. Maybe I'll finally have motivation to finish the projects around the house!

I'm hoping to get better at blogging more often again, but only if it fits in my schedule. When I have THIS much stuff going on at once, I kind of become an organized, must-be-on-a-schedule freak. It's like survival mode or something. If I don't become like that, then my grades drop, I don't get anything done and I get stressed out all the time.

What about you? Any special routine or habits you pick up while your spouse is gone?
How about advice on food and cooking?? I haven't figured out how to grocery shop as a single girl. When there are two people in the house, I can cook full meals and know how to shop for two. But when I'm by myself, I HATE cooking. It seems like such a hassle to dirty all of those dishes just for one person. But I don't necessarily want to eat Kraft Mac & Cheese every other meal either! Tips? Anyone?

Home is where the military sends you

2011-05-28T19:34:00.000-06:00

I'm surprised I still have any followers at this point! I'm such a hit and miss blogger these days! lol

Between finishing this past semester of school, my sister's water breaking 3.5 weeks early, going to the San Juan islands for our second anniversary (really? It's only been two years?? ;)), and working on projects around the house, I have barely had time to relax with our Netflix dvds!

We have around four months to go until our first D-day. We have a list of "projects" around the house that we'd like to have done by the time Mr. Air Force deploys. Right now I'm working on painting the garage (trust me, it needed it), and Mr. AF is out in the yard shoveling dirt. The previous owners of our home lined ALL of the fence with a thick layer of pine bark as landscaping. Unfortunately, we do not like it and the dogs eat it, so we decided to get rid of the bark (that was a project in itself!) and put dirt over top to let the grass grow back.

On the bright side, the dogs haven't had any epic escapes ever since I put the electric fence up! Except the charger quit working so Tucker has begun digging at the base of the fence again. Time to buy a stronger one!

Left on our list of "projects" is:

Replace doors that were broken by our first dog (Brie the Great Dane-- remember her?)
Replace the deck railing initially chewed on by Brie and then continued by Tucker and Jackson
Paint the living room and guest bedroom
Finish my landscaping in the front yard, which includes putting up shutters on the front of the house =)

We need y'all's prayers about what we are going to do with our house in the next year or so. As everyone knows, the housing market (especially in our area) is not so great. We will probably get our next orders in about a year or so, and we need to figure out what to do. Neither of us are keen on renting our house out (too terrified of the nightmare-renting stories we've heard!), but we also don't want the house to sit on the market for a year :S. Please pray that we have open ears for God's instructions on how to handle this situation and that we make the best choice for us!

While the hubs is gone, I'd like to put it on the market for sale to see if we get lucky. I have 100% faith and trust that God is going to take care of us, I just always get frustrated not knowing exactly how He is going to do that, haha. He will though, nevertheless. That's all that matters! I'm just praying that at this very moment the perfect renters or home buyers are getting ready to head our way =).

I will prevail!

2011-04-15T21:20:00.000-06:00

Cribbing solution (used for horses) and an electric fence along the base boards. If THAT doesn't stop the dogs from destoying my deck and fence, I don't know what will!!

The Terrible Two

2011-04-13T10:20:00.001-06:00

I am getting SO frustrated with the dogs!

I came home last night to find that there were two new holes chewed out of our fence. Luckily both dogs were in the backyard (though digging in the flowerbed in the front yard indicates that they didn't stay in the yard all day). I don't have enough boards to replace all the bad spots now, so I have to go buy more. But will that stop this from happening again? Five times now they have chewed through weak boards in the fence. My eventual goal is to replace all of the weak boards (there are a lot), but that's such a huge project! Today my goal is to finish replacing the broken boards along the back fence, then I'm going to try putting our electric fence back up along the base of the boards. No idea if I can do that, but (with the help of a couple great friends) I'm sure going to try.

I feel like I can't let them out of my sight for 30 minutes without worrying they are tearing something up! And before anyone asks, yes they have quite a few toys (balls, ropes, kongs, etc.). I spend time with them and am trying to work in a long walk with them every day. It kills me that Tucker never did crap like this until we got Jackson :(. Not that I'm blaming Jackson, because I'm certain that Tucker starts all the mischief.

Can anyone else relate and give me any awesome tips on breaking this bad behavior? Tuesdays are obviously the worse days because that is when I am gone all day. Hopefully when Mr. Air Force comes home, things will get better.

Edit::: I put cayenne pepper mixed with vinegar on our deck to keep the dogs from chewing, and it seems to work, but it's been raining so much that I can't keep it on all the time (I'm going through a lot of pepper! hah). I'm considering buying some hot sauce, I've heard that works. Also, both of our dogs are crate trained, but on Tuesdays I just can't leave them for 14 whole hours in the crate while I am gone :(

Big Girl Panties: Check

2011-04-08T22:18:00.000-06:00

I'm having a not-very-good evening.

To start out, I'll need to tell you what happened on Tuesday. Tuesdays are extra-long days for me. I get up at 6:00 a.m., leave the house by 8:00 a.m., have class on and off all day until 9:00 p.m., then I have an hour commute (depending on the traffic), so I usually get home by 10:30 p.m. This last Tuesday was typical, and I got home by 10:30. I opened the sliding-glass door leading to our backyard to let the dogs come in, but only one dog came in. Jackson (our newly adopted German Shepherd), came bounding into the house, dancing in circles for his dinner. I hollered for Tucker, but he didn't come; that is never a good thing.

I walked onto the deck to find that the bottom of three boards in our privacy fence had been chewed off to form a hole just big enough for Tucker to squeaze through. Of course I panicked, left a message at the animal shelter, then drove around looking for him. I just knew that someone would find him and decide to keep him for themselves, or maybe he was hit by a car and lying on the side of the road all alone without me, his mommy, to rescue him. (Yes, I can get a little dramatic when it comes to my animals. But he's my baby boy!).

After a terrible night of sleep, the shelter finally called at 7:45 the next morning to say that he'd been there all night! Thank goodness! I bought some boards to replace in the fence, but I decided to wait until Mr. Air Force got home to put them up (because I would probably do a really craptastic job).

Today, I came home to find that Tucker was once again missing from the backyard. Luckily, this time he had not gone very far. Unluckily, he had broken a board leading into our neighbor's backyard and was having a hay-day playing with their daughter's toys in the sandbox. Our neighbors are military and they PCS'd to Hawaii, and their house is vacant and for sale. Once Tucker came back through the hole, I put some cement-blocks against it to keep him from going through it again (hey, it worked for the other big hole he created). After dinner this evening, I turned the dogs back outside to have some fun. When things got eerily quiet though, I knew something was wrong. They had somehow taken out two whole boards from the neighbor's side of the fence and were both in their yard romping around. They are aware of how many cool toys are in the neighbor's yard-- why wouldn't they want to destroy our fence to get over there? Right? sheesh.

I ordered them to bed early, then tried to figure out how I would fix the fence.

This is the part where self-pity comes into play. My husband has been TDY for almost two months. They always, always tell you that when your husband is gone, everything that can break will break. We've had other mishaps this month while he's been away, but most of them I've been able to manage a quick-fix until he can really fix it. I know that two months is not a long time for him to be gone in the military world. In the fall, he will go for his first six-month deployment. While I am not looking forward to it, I know there are plenty of brave and strong women out there who make it through much longer deployments than that. I am very blessed in this life and wouldn't trade it for the world, but tonight I had to cry a little bit. I couldn't find anyone who would help me with fixing the new disaster, I missed my husband, I'm pmsing to boot, and I just needed to cry a little bit. Realizing that these two months are just a small taste of what the six-month deployment will be like made me cry a little bit.

And then I reminded myself that there are others who have done this before and have had to deal with much, much worse. I mean, it's just a fence. And hey, I fixed it all by myself-- power drill and all! So, I told myself to get over it, I popped some tylenol and now I'm drinking a big glass of extra-chocolate milk.

On the bright side, I got to see this little beauty today... Isn't she darling?

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need some more chocolate in my milk.

Goodnight =)

A few touches

2011-04-05T06:00:00.001-06:00

So, my house currently looks a little drab in the front yard. When we bought the house, there was a great big willow tree hiding the majority of it, so I didn't really notice how plain it was. But then, said tree's roots snapped one of the sprinkler pipes, so Mr. Air Force got mad and chopped it down. Now the front of our house looks like this: Meh

To spruce things up, I would like to add a few little touches to make a big difference! (thank you Paint and Picnik for allowing me to visualize it all!)

Shutters, window flower box, and more flowers.

Any other suggestions?

Green Thumb Gertie

2011-04-03T21:55:00.000-06:00

Well, I finally decided to beautify our front yard. It needs serious help! For starters, take a look at the flower bed...

I haven't touched the flower bed since we moved here just over a year ago. The person who had it before us did a very random job when they planted the flowers and bushes. And the bushes SUCK because they are sticker bushes. I hate those! It was time for them to go, SO I got to work!

Below: Dug out the nasty bushes and half of the grass has been dug up.

That is tough work!

The rest of the grass is gone! yay!

Now for some quality soil and compost!

(yes, I shoveled ALL of that by myself! With my creepy male neighbors watching)

Finished! It'll look better once the soil settles.

So now I'm waiting for my baby seeds to grow up a little bit, then I'll plant them in the flower bed too! Hooray for my first flower bed!

Help please!

2011-03-21T10:16:00.000-06:00

These two pups are very serious about the game of tug-a-war. They destroyed the brand new pull rope I bought them on Day One. They have other toys like Kongs and rubber tires, but it's just not the same as the pull rope. They quickly discovered that collars work just as good as a real pull-rope. RIP Tucker's bright red collar. Now every time I look up, Tucker is biting at Jackson's collar (oh yeah, the hubs re-named him!). I hollar "NO!" when I catch him doing it, but it only temporary puts an end to the collar-terminating.

The only solution is to find a pull-rope that isn't as easily destroyed as the last one was. Any suggestions?? Please?

Love my fur-babies

2011-03-18T18:22:00.000-06:00

Well hi there. Long freakin' time no talk!

The hubs is on a 2+ month TDY, so I have been trying to keep myself busy. Good practice for D-day in October (yes, our first deployment is finally on the horizon!). This school semester is halfway over. I'm signed up for a 3-credit internship this summer at the Humane Society in Boise and I am so very excited! I think it's going to be a great experience.

We also have a new edition to the family! Say hello to no-name.

Isn't he beautiful? He a one year old shepherd I found at the humane society. He is so underweight. It is hard to tell in the picture, but he is skin, fur and bones. His hips and shoulders are so bony and his ribs are all showing, and his backbone is all ridges. His original family couldn't keep him anymore, so they left him at the shelter. A new family adopted him, but when he and their cat didn't get along, they brought him back the next day! The poor guy is pretty insecure (hence the weight loss). He is craving love and affection, and I am more than happy to oblige. He won't eat his food unless I am sitting with him. He and Tucker are getting along so well. They love playing and running in the back yard. He is doing well with the cats too! He is Mr. Air Force's dog, and we aren't sure what we are going to call him yet. His name is "Bomber," but it just doesn't suit him at all. Any name suggestions?

I'm having a good night. I have creamy potato soup in a bread bowl (yessssss!), two fat cats in my lap, and I'm watching the the "Christy" series (thank you Netflix!!!!). Did any of you watch that show when it first aired back in the day? I love Dr. Neil MacNeil =) such a sexy accent!

My sweethearts

2011-02-14T18:13:00.002-07:00

Mr. Airforce and me on our first date

(which also happened to be the first time we "met" in person)

Obnoxiously cute and cuddly, Fred

and my handsome, guard dog, Tucker.

He's almost a year old! Look at that smile =)

Dress envy

2011-02-13T19:47:00.003-07:00

First off-- my husband rocks. He went to the store and knew the exact box of girly products I needed, and then got a box of chocolate, double-stuffed oreos. He knows me so well!

Nothin' much to report on the homefront, hence the little to no blogging. I'm just sitting here watching the Grammy's and drooling over a newly discovered website called Mod Cloth. I love little dresses and I could spend hours making wish lists for this site. Here's a collage of the few dresses I picked out. If anyone would like to give me a gift card to this place, you'll be my best friend.

Hurry up Spring, I want to wear the dresses already in my closet!

The One where I see Pretty Colors.

2011-01-27T11:42:00.001-07:00

It all started Tuesday night, when I came home early from class due to crummy weather. I was bored, so I sat infront of the TV, creating Wii people for True blood and Harry Potter. The front door opened and my husband stepped through the threshhold, proudly showing off the ginormous bandage at the top of his forehead.

"What in the world happened to your head?" I asked him. He grinned and said, "I was taking a charge in our basketball game, and the dude's elbow came down and hit my head. And then *I* got fouled for it!"

After inspecting the wound, I announced that we were headed to Urgent Care to see if Mr. Air force needed stitches. He didn't put up a fight, but made it clear that he didn't want stitches.

"Well, we can just go and see what the doctor says. If he says you don't need stitches, then we'll come home. If he says you do need them, then you'll get them. Deal?"

We spent very little time in the waiting room, and I was happy to be allowed back into the room with him to see the doctor. While we waited for the doctor to give his two cents, we quoted the entire movie Elf (probably to the dismay of the nurse), and then we had fun squeazing our wrists to make our fingers move involuntarily (we are easily amused). The doctor finally arrived.

"Yep, I'd say about five stiches. Now, Wife, are you okay to stay here for this?" he asked me.
"Yeah, needles and stuff like that don't bother me. I just won't look at the stitches-part, cause they really gross me out."

He came at the hubs with a big syringe and I made a tremendously poor decision. I watched them numb him up. I say again, normally stuff like needles and blood does not bother me. Receiving shots and having blood taken is a piece of cake, and I usually watch the vials fill with blood. As Doctor put it though, "It's different when it's happening to someone you care about."

I cringed when they dug around his forehead with the needle. He refused to hold my hand while they numbed him up, but now I wished he'd held my hand for me. I needed to hold his hand! I quit watching half way through, I could not handle seeing the way they manipulated the wound to insert the needle at just the right angle.

30 seconds later, they finished and left us to wait for him to get completely numb.We chit-chatted about our experience with stitches, different scars we had, etc. Then I felt it. The knot forming in my stomach, getting bigger and more pronounced.

Oh this is not good, I thought to myself. What is this? I don't get sick around this kinda stuff. It'll go away. I surveyed the room for a trashcan, just in case. How convenient, there is one right next to my foot. Not that I'll need it. This kinda stuff never bothers me. Ever.

Never say never, right?

Seconds passed, and the woozy feeling spread into my chest, up the back of my neck, and into my head. I started talking more and tapping my feet against the floor, attempting to distract myself from the uneasy feeling crawling over me. I wish I had stayed in the waiting room. Oh, hubby's lap looks so good right now. I just want to lay my head in it for a little bit. I noticed the hubs voice sounded muffled. I looked up at him, smiled and said, "I feel like I'm about to pass out."

"Haha, really?" I could see a big grin across his face. He thought I was kidding. His smiling face faded away as the scene around me started turning white. Then I lost all muscle control and my head dropped forward. I stared at my legs, saying "Uh oh!"

Have you ever seen the movie "All Dogs go to Heaven?" If so, you know the scene where Charlie gets hit by the car and he travels through bright colors, tunnels and clouds to get to heaven? And there is crazy music playing in the back ground? Now, take that little travel-scene and repeat it over and over on fast forward. That is what I saw in those few seconds following the blackout.

Aware that my body was moving, I made my eyes refocus. A nurse in ABU's stood over me, moving quickly and speaking. My husband stood at the foot of the bed, holding my feet.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his voice on high alert.
"Yeah," I said.
"You just passed out!"

I learned that when I said "Uh Oh!" it sounded more like "Eeeerrrwww." Mr. AF said I put my head down and leaned backwards. He took a hold of my arm to see if I was ok and noticed my eyes were open, but competely unfocused. He caught me around my neck and shoulders before I could fall off the gurney we were sitting on, and yelled "Um! HELP! HELP!" I woke up seconds later when they were cranking my feet up at the end of the gurney.

Mr. AF said my eyes were open the whole time. That is so creepy and embarrassing!

Anyhow, I laid on the gurney for quite a while before I felt stable enough to move. I never stopped feeling queasy or shakey. Heck, I feel a little sick by re-telling the story!

They stitched up the hubs once the drama was over, and gave him a Snoopy band-aid. They also gave him a Dora the Explorer band-aid, but I don't think he has worn it yet!

Question: Why do they call it "blacking out?" I don't black out. I white out. I have *almost* passed out twice before. The first time, everything started going white, and the second time it resembled "white noise" from a television. Have you ever blacked out? Or redded out? (the hubs says he has done that).

The end. Time for homework. Yuck.

Humor me.

2011-01-24T13:29:00.000-07:00

The honeymoon phase with my bangs ended as soon as I took a shower. Sigh. Now we are going to counseling on Wednesday with the stylist who got us together in the first place to see if I can figure out how to work with them. I'm determined to make this work, despite my unruly curly hair (that I love dearly)!

Anyways, I was eating a reeses yesterday and thought about the way I eat them. Everyone has their own unique way of eating reese's, right? How do YOU eat one? I find the thinnest/weakest part of the chocolate around the outside and take a bite. Then I try to bite off all of the peanut butter in the middle. And finally I eat the ring of chocolate that's left around the outside. It seems so natural to me, don't know when I started eating it that way or why, but now that I've written it out it sounds really, really weird! So, make me feel better by telling me your quirky reese's-eating habits.

Bang bang!

2011-01-20T20:35:00.000-07:00

I got BANGS!

And got my hair died red (again)!

Now that I have that out of my system..

2011-01-18T11:41:00.001-07:00

Haha! I just discovered I have reached "official" senior status for college! YAY!!

I had my first class this morning at 9:15 am (much better than my 7:40 am last semester!). It's Public Relations Writing, and I think I'm going to enjoy it. I don't have my next class until 1:40pm, and then my last class isn't until 6 pm!! It goes until 9 pm, meaning I won't get home until 10:30 on Tuesday nights. I'll be on campus a whole 12 hours! oh my word.

So, I need to get on a soap box for a minute. I'm not a fashionista by any means, but I think I have pretty good taste in clothes, and I dress well for my size and shape. I understand that everyone has their day when they dress like a slob, because frankly they just don't give a da**. There are also days when you may take a fashion risk and fail miserably. I openly admit that I have done all of the above, however, I also watch a lot of Stacy and Clinton, so I've become a strict critic of girls/women and what they choose to wear. Think Simon Cowell in fashion terms and you have me. There will (almost) always be an exception to every rule, but when I see girls who repeatedly wear clothes that are 50 times too tight and/or who wear clothes that say "Hey I'm easy! Sleep with me!" I tend to get my panties in a twist.

I saw a chick walking across campus today wearing leather tights (yes, they actually make those now). I think leather tights-- with the right fit and the right skirt or shirt-dress over them-- could potentially look cute and sexy. But, if you choose to wear them as your ONLY source of pants, then you have a problem! Only catwoman should be allowed to wear leather tights as pants and get away with it. I don't care if you are skinny as a bean pole or have more to love. Wearing tights without something else like a skirt/shirt to cover your bum is a big fat no-no! It is unattractive to the gluteus max! Be nice to what curves you have and make them look their best! Your future self and the people around you will love you for it.

Alright, I'm done now.

:::Edit:::
Not done yet! A blogger named Allison is giving away the book Unplanned by Abby Johnson. If you haven't heard or read about it, please click here to read the first chapter. It is not an easy piece to read, but it is so very important. Her story is powerful and her message is crucial. Go enter to win and spread the word! More people should be aware of this.

Eureka!

2011-01-16T08:00:00.002-07:00

Product review!

For those who have seen advertisements for the Instyler and wondered if it really worked or not, I am here to say that yes, it does!

I have extremely curly hair that hates to be straightened. When I do take the 3+ hours to straighten it (usually only once a year), it looks limp and flat. Not any more!!!

Before: super friggin' curly

After: Ooo la la!

The instyler is seriously my new favorite styling tool! (next to my diffuser of course). To just straighten it took a little less than an hour (but with practice I know I'll get faster). To do the style above took about an hour and a half, but, again, that was the first time I'd ever done it, so I think it will take less time the more I do it.

Warning: Do not put it on the highest temp! I assumed my crazy hair would need it to be ultra hot. Bad idea. My hair smelled like sunburned skin for days and my natural curls seemed warped until I washed it and deep conditioned it a few times. I used the medium setting for the pic above and it worked perfectly (and that style lasted me three days!).

I'm not one of those girls who has naturally curly hair, yet wishes she really had straight hair. I like me with curls better than straight-- it is nice to be able to finally switch up my hair styles without destroying my hair though!

2010 in pictures

2011-01-14T13:49:00.000-07:00

Ya, I know this is a couple of weeks late, but that is A-OK.

In January: We moved to Idaho

And bought our first house (I'm sure you all recognize this scene!)

In February: I went skiing for the first time

March: I cooked with my sister via Skype

April: George gave me a headless whistlepig.

May: I brought home a nine pound Tucker from the shelter

June: George did some sit-ups with a whistle pig

July: Family came to visit (and they love each other)

.....and we got so sick of shedding that we shaved the cats

August: We went to IRELAND!

.... and I went temporarily to horse heaven

September: Mr. Air Force got really dirty at the Warrior Dash

October: I was a porcelain doll
(with crazy Helena Bonham Carter hair)

November: The hubs was an angel *cough*

December: Someone fell asleep waiting for Santa!

Hi, my name is Hannah.

2011-01-13T21:51:00.000-07:00

Surely you remember me. Maybe not. It has been a while!

I got in a blogging-funk a few months ago for a number of reasons. School was stressing me out, being a realtor was stressing me out, my grades were steadily going down, and I was working every single day and not getting a paycheck. And then we had several hundred dollars worth of dues and insurance for my job due all at once (just in time for Christmas!). The hubs and I prayed and consulted both of our families on what to do. In the end, I knew that family came first. Second, I knew that I couldn't afford to re-take my classes, and that I needed to get the best grades possible. That left my job. Financially, we came to the conclusion that we couldn't afford for me to stay in Real Estate. The market is just too bad for a new realtor to make enough money to cover the dues and come out on top!

Since then, I raised my grades to A's and B's (made the Deans List!) and I'm much less stressed out!

We went to good ole' Oklahoma for Christmas, had a great time with family and friends, and finally made it back to Idaho. Next week I start back to classes and I'm also looking for a part time job. If nothing else, I might try subbing again (I said might).

Ummm... that's about all I have to say right now. Oh ya, one more thing-- Tucker is shedding his super thick under coat and it is NASTY. I can literally grab a chunk and pull it right out. It's gross.

The end.

Dear Fashion and Beauty Magazines

2010-11-12T12:55:00.000-07:00

Fashion and Beauty magazines, lend me your ears! Hear what I have to say!

To whom is should concern,

I've always loved looking through your how-to hair articles and checking out the latest styles, but they almost always leave me feeling in-adequate. You see, I-- like two of my sisters-- have extremely curly hair (see pictures below).

I know it is more common to have straight or wavy hair, so that's what the majority of your articles focus on-- which is understandable. However, I would be thrilled if you started centering some articles around curly hair.

I wouldn't suggest sending a straight-haired person to do the job. Even when it comes to salon professionals, I've found only naturally curly-haired stylists truly know how to work with curls to make them look their best, and I imagine the same would be true for your magazine. And how about styling tools and products? Curly hair can be high-maintenance, and it would be great to have more tips specifically for this type of hair.

If you do eventually do a feature for curly hair-- trust me-- we naturals will know if the person in the picture has curling-iron curls or a perm. We can always tell the difference. Get some Au Naturales for your pictures-- it would be a breath of fresh air.

I love my hair and get compliments on it all the time, but I feel stuck in a style-rut. I cannot pull off 99% of the looks you suggest, and it takes too long to straighten my hair so that I can do them. Besides, continued straightening is terrible on the hair, and I shouldn't have to always straighten my hair to pull off a sexy look. So, this is me asking-- on behalf of all curly-headed people-- could you give us some support and notice too?

Sincerly,

Hannah Noel

The Oprah Effect

2010-11-09T14:07:00.001-07:00

Hey! Long time no talk.

I'm writing a paper about Oprah and would like your opinion on something.

Do you believe that viewers and audience members have an illusion of an intimate relationship with Oprah? Why or why not? If so, how does this illusion of intimacy happen? How is it created? Lastly, how do YOU personally feel about Oprah and why?

Could use as many opinions and thoughts as possible :) Don't be shy now!

2010-10-21T10:31:00.000-06:00

Never have I been SO happy the weekend is finally here! (alright, that's an out right lie, but I needed to emphasize how thrilled I am). I'm excited! see?

Finished my big exam (feel pretty good about it, we'll see), and finished my big paper at 11:38 pm last night. I woke up on the grouchy side this morning and ended up texting an apology to Mr. Air Force for being such a pain. On the way to school, Kidd Kraddick in the morning cheered me up, especially when Big Al sang about scars. Does anyone else listen to the show? I would fall asleep driving if it werent' for them (I'm up at 5 am on those days and hit the road by 6ish).

I'm waiting patiently for my classes to end. I'm going to go home, take Tucker out for #1 run of week #2 Couch to 5 K (yes, I got a late start this week, but I'm not going to just stop!). Then I'm going to CLEAN, because after this past week, my house looks like a royal MESS! Then I want to actually COOK a real meal! Look at me going! Where did all this energy come from? I don't know, but I'm really happy its here.

Actually, I do know where it's coming from. This week (as noted in previous posts) has been tough. I've been struggling with planning the future, figuring out how to make life work, and all that jazz. Whether it be through songs on the radio, my verse-of-the-day emails, or things friends or co-workers have said to me; I am constantly being reminded that GOD is in control and has everything planned out. So why should I worry? yes, I like having a road map of my day to day life. Yes, I tend to get stressed when I can't see past what is happening tomorrow, but that is A-OK, because I don't need to. As long as I truly trust and believe that God has my best interest at heart, then everything will work out for the best. So, with that in mind, today after I got over my grumpyness, I chose to be joyful. Yes, I believe joy is a choice, not just a feeling.

I hope y'all are also having a very happy and joyful day, because tomorrow is Friday! And God is taking care of all of us :)

The Big Picture

2010-10-18T13:17:00.000-06:00

Seeing the big picture can be so hard sometimes.

I'm working hard to keep school from kicking my butt, but I honestly don't know where I stand in all my classes, grade-wise. I was originally wanting all A's, then decided I would be thrilled with B's, but now I'm going to feel extremely grateful if I can pull off a C in two of my classes. They are that hard!

The last couple of weeks I have been whining and complaining so much to anyone who will listen. School is so hard! If only I weren't working too. Work takes up so much of my time! I can't put work aside for school, so my grade suffers! Ugh, I hate school! I don't wanna do it anymore!

Earlier this week, I allowed myself to contemplate the idea of not finishing my last year of school. For about five minutes. Then I reminded myself that in two years from now I would regret it. In two years when I could have sighed and said, "I finished!"

Yes, things are hard right now. But it's time to put my big girl panties on and take it like a woman! So what if I have to go an extra semester in order to keep my sanity, instead of overloading myself to get done early? It's okay. I would rather take my time and do things right the first time, rather than risk failing a class because I had too much on my plate.

Speaking of (not) failing, I have two quizzes to study for my class tonight. Then an exam to study for my class tomorrow. Then a paper that's due on Thursday. SMILES!!!!

It was kinda gross, but I did it

2010-10-12T12:12:00.000-06:00

After watching other bloggers out there for the past two years do the Couch to 5K program, I finally threw my hands up and said, "Alright already! I'll do it, I'll do it!"

But then came the problem of actually doing it. I go walking (and occassionally jog for about 30 seconds or so) with the pup, but I've never committed to actually doing the C25K program. I've been tellings the hubs over and over for weeks now, "I really need to do the Couch to five k program." So yesterday, I decided Today is the day!

I grabbed my old school mp3 player, leashed up Tucker and headed out the door. I recognized two problems right off the bat: It was really, really windy and chilly outside, and my mp3 playlist wasn't designed for running. I spent the first five minutes of the *brisk* walk trying to find a song that had a decent, motivating beat. I settled on "Ticks," by Brad Paisley, only because I'd already skipped through five or six other songs. The first 60 seconds of jogging was a piece of cake and the following 90 seconds of walking blew by no problemo. Then I turned a corner and was going uphill and against the wind. I tried breathing through my nose, but the cold air made my nose hurt. I had to breathe through my mouth, at least for a little bit. My nose began running like crazy, then the spit at the back of my throat got really thick (can anyone explain that part to me??), so I was constantly hacking and gasping for a full breath of air. I could imagine my husband telling me to just hack it up and spit it out as I ran, but I just knew if I did that, I would end up trailing a rope of spit behind me, or the wind would catch it and throw it back in my face, or it would end up all over Tucker. Gross. I don't hack unless I'm on a farm where no one can see or hear me.

When I was one more jog and a walk from the house, I got a stitch in my side.... so I extended my 90 second walk to a 120 second walk before I finally jogged. Then Tucker stepped on a grasshopper and it scared the bejeezus out of him, so he lurched sideways into my feet. But I didn't trip! (hooray for me).

When I made it back into the house, I was pink, snotty, in pain, and sounded like I had smoker's cough, but ya know what? I did it! That's all that matters! and I'm gonna do it again tomorrow. Beat that, snot!

New perspective

2010-10-09T17:03:00.000-06:00

I had the day off yesterday, so I took the time to get a head-start on a paper while the cats cuddled up in my lap to stay warm. I'm not sure what made me think of it, but I decided to go and check the mail. I opened the front door to find a Jack Russell in the front yard. Thinking it was our next door neighbor's dog, I called him to me so I could put him back in their yard. When he came closer I could see that it wasn't the same dog, so I read his tag and saw that his name was Snoopy and he lived a few houses down from us. I recognized his owner's name because we have been getting a lot of their mail, though I didn't realize they were our neighbors. Before I could get a good hold on his collar, he took off down the road.

I went inside for Tucker's leash and some treats, and by the time I came out, Snoopy was already a block away. I went to his owners house and knocked at the door. A woman peeked through the glass before opening the door. Her nose was pink, and blackened tears were streaming down her cheeks. I told her that Snoopy was out. She thanked me and came outside to look for him. Since I already had a leash and treats, I figured it was the least I could do. We walked down the block, and after enticing him with treats, I finally got the best of Snoopy and brought him back to his owner.

By now, she had even more tears pooling in the smile lines under her eyes and spilling down the sides of her face. Her eyes looked so sad. She thanked me, and I asked her if there was anything else I could do to help. I learned very quickly that she really just needed somebody to listen.
There we stood for thirty minutes or more as my neighbor poured her heart out to me. Her husband had been laid off, and she had literally just quit her job at a local hair salon. She was feeling the pressure to make money to pay the bills, but the women at her work were bullying her as though they were in high school all over again. She felt guilty for quitting, but she said she just couldn't take the ridicule and humiliation anymore.

This beautiful young woman was so stressed and tired. She just needed somebody to talk to. I felt terrible that all I could offer to do was make her some cookies in an attempt to make her feel better. The last thing she needed was a stranger giving her advice about something as serious as this, so I kept my mouth shut. When she was finally more relaxed and no longer crying, she apologized and introduced herself to me, and I to her. I told her she had nothing to be sorry about and if she needed somebody to talk to in the future she could come knock on my door anytime. I think I'll still make her some cookies.

The point of telling you all of this, is that I was very humbled when I finally came back home. I have so much to be thankful for. I have a very loving husband who has a steady job. I am finishing my degree without so far being in debt. As a family (including pets), we are healthy. No extra medical bills or vet bills to pay for. I have a job as a Realtor that I know will eventually produce a paycheck, despite the housing market. We have a good home and we can afford to make the mortgage payment. The rest of my family who live on the other side of the country are all healthy and happy. I have great friends and a great God. Despite my occasional venting post (which seems to happen a lot, sorry), I wanted to let you all know that I am very thankful for the life I'm living. I don't have a perfect life, but I do have a good one. It's so easy for me to focus on the stress and the bad things that happen week to week or day to day, and completely ignore all the daily good things. I'm going to try to do better.

My mood-lifter

2010-10-05T20:51:00.000-06:00

My little man is all grown up! Well, almost :)

After much googling of different rottweiler mixes, I think he's a Rottweiler German Shepherd cross.

What do you think?

Happy six months of life! :)

Thursday, Friday, Happy Day!

2010-10-01T18:47:00.000-06:00

I got to snuggle with my husband last night :) :) :)

And now he's cooking us dinner while we watch the Best of SNL commercials on Netflix!

Thanks to everyone who showed support during my sad post! I got a lot better. I didn't get used to him being gone, but I got used to being alone-- does that make sense? lol
I'm off to enjoy the awesome weekend! Have a good one!

"Free Falling" no more, please!

2010-09-21T12:06:00.000-06:00

Alright ladies, listen up. Listen and obey.

I don't care how old you are. I don't care how big you are. I don't care if you are 19, 30, or 55 years old. I don't care if you weigh 110 lbs or if you are 200 lbs. I don't care if you have the best self esteem in the world, because that isn't a good reason either.

If you are out in public, for God's sake, WEAR A BRA!

Wimp of the year

2010-09-18T10:02:00.000-06:00

Well, I tried to be strong all week without Mr. Air Force. I tried to not let things get to me (figuring out the coffee stuff helped lol). I made myself find joy in the little things so that the big things didn't bother me so much. And then yesterday happened, and I melted.

Nothing bad happened yesterday, just a ton of little things here and there. Plans changing, intimidating people, stress level at work, getting chocolate and flowers from the hubs (thanks sweetie!). One minute I was on cloud nine, and the next I was telling myself, "It's no big deal, it's okay."
I was hanging out with our usual group of friends, but without Mr. AF, I felt really lonely. Plus, I was already at the end of my rope in the energy/emotional department, and somehow being with the group was draining me further, rather than filling me up.

I wanted to go home and call my husband. That's all I needed and I'd be okay. I left for home and was crying before I reached my car. Don't you just hate that? When you had no idea you even needed/wanted to cry, and the next thing you know you are a blubbering idiot? I wasn't even sure what I was crying for. Hadn't I just been laughing with my friends two minutes ago? I pulled out the cell and dialed the hubs, but it went straight to his voicemail. Crap.

The tears went on overload for the next hour as I frantically kept dialing Mr. AF, over and over. I calmed myself down, reminded myself that he was okay. He probably just had bad cell reception or his phone had died. He wasn't killed in a car wreck or something else like that. But at the thought of him in a car wreck, I would burst into ridiculous tears again. Then I wondered if I'd have to go to sleep without getting to talk to him, and the sobs really hit high gear. Is there not a crying peak? Does it just keep getting worse and worse? lol

Seriously, what was that? I'm not the crying type. I can't remember crying that hard in years and years. It just doesn't happen. And then I turned into a big baby and put all you other wives to shame! I went a total of four days without him before I had a break down. How in the heck will I survive a six month deployment when I won't be able to hear his voice before I fall asleep at night? I just will. I've heard people tell me that before. You survive. It's not a matter of how, you just do it, right?

Anyways. I'm hoping I'll get over it and turn back into my normal, sarcastic self before too long. I have a house-showing today, so wish me luck! Oh, by the way, I did finally get a hold of him. I was right, his phone had died!

:)

2010-09-16T10:37:00.002-06:00

To the blogger who told me to try a caramel latte instead of a macchiato: GOD BLESS YOU!

Sad face

2010-09-13T21:35:00.000-06:00

First TDY.

I royally suck at making my own coffee.

My puppy Tucker is on edge, because I am on edge, because I am a baby when it comes to staying/sleeping in a house by myself (every horror movie I've ever seen comes back to haunt me!), so he is barking and growling at imaginary people right behind my shoulder.

Oh, and I can't get any of my favorite TV shows via instant play on Netflix. I only got the durned thing so I wouldn't have any free time to think during this TDY.

I asked the starbucks lady to make my macchiato upside down and she gave me the "speak english" look. Then I asked her to blend it, and she informed me that that term is used only if it's a frappachino (sp?). So I asked her to stir it all up and for the love of God no foam on top! I guess the milky stuff they pour in already has foam in it, and they still put the caramel on top. And they jipped me a shot of espresso. This is ridiculous!

Oh, and the Red Baron is flying... The Red River is Raging... The Red Badge of Courage is underway... Auntie Muriel is visiting. Whatever you wanna call it.

Did I mention I have a case of the grumpies?

And George the cat won't shut the H*** up!!

Coffee coffee coffee!!

2010-09-07T10:18:00.000-06:00

This is a pretty silly/petty post, but it's something I must painfully endure every Tuesday and Thursday morning before class (please note sarcasm).

Here's the thing. I love my Caramel Macchiatos from Starbucks. Iced or hot, I love it both ways.

What I don't love is when they put steamed milk on top. Why? Because they put all of the caramel goodness on top of that. Then they put a tight fitting lid on top of the caramel and it all gets stuck to the underside of the lid, preventing me from stirring the sweet taste into my coffee which makes it just a "macchiato," and no caramel.

I have to take my cup to the sugar/stirring stick stand, peel off the lid, attempt to scrape the caramel into the coffee and stir it up (stirring the foam/steamed milk is nearly impossible). I end up having to put sugar into the mess to get it to have a hint of sweet. Why not just get a regular coffee then, you ask? Beause I looooove caramel in coffee. They were meant to be.

So I got this genius idea: I will ask them to skip the foam and pour the caramel directly into the coffee!

Attempt at genius idea #1: I asked the guy behind the counter if he would skip putting anything on top and just put the caramel in by itself. He nodded his head and said, "Sure," while giving me a judgmental look. He handed me the drink with the lid secured, and I could tell by the look on his face that he knew he'd messed up, but was hoping I wouldn't notice. I took the lid off and the caramel came with it, because of the inch of foam on the top of the drink. Rather than demand a re-do, I knew it was no big deal and just went with it. I licked the lid clean and then poured in some sugar.

Attempt at genius idea #2: I asked the same guy behind the counter, "Will you please not put any foam on top? I just want the caramel." "Sure thing," he responded. I knew something was wrong when he handed me the cup. He had that furtive look in his eyes again. I peeled off the lid along with the caramel to find two inches of whipped cream instead of foam. Le Sigh.

Attempt at I-just-want-my-coffee-the-way-I-want-it #3: This time I was working with a woman. "Will you please not put any foam or whipped cream on top? I just want the caramel directly in the coffee." She gave me a skeptical look before she said, "Okay," and continued on. I saw her making, what looked like to me, the steamed milk. "No foam, please," I reminded her as nice as I could. She gave me a look that said, "I'm not deaf, I heard you the first time," and nodded her head up and down so that I could clearly see she understood. She handed me the drink and told me brightly to "have a nice day!" I took the cup and as I began walking away, I noticed the dark swirls stuck to the underside of the white lid. You have got to be kidding me.
For an instant, I imagined myself going crazy and demanding that she give me some more caramel to put in my coffee since she insisted on putting foam on top, despite my polite request (imagine the bald guy in Brad Paisley's "Celebrity" video, or maybe Jack, during his coffee-addiction on "Will and Grace"). Then I reminded myself, Hannah, it is early in the morning and you are in your irrational state between sleep and awake. It is just coffee! no big deal!

That's it, I'm getting a coffee maker so I can make it the way I want it. Take that $3.13 tall caramel macchiato from Starbucks! Keep your steamed milk and whipped cream!

I seriously need to get more sleep.

Ummmm

2010-09-02T09:42:00.000-06:00

So, I actually started this post two days ago and hit the "publish" button, only to realize my internet had frozen halfway through my writing, so I lost more than half of the post. I hate when that happens. Today I finally got the inspiration to re-write the ending!

If you even bother clicking on my blog anymore, then I'm sure you've noticed my posts are getting farther and farther apart.

I blog for me. As much as I appreciate and enjoy reading comments and hearing what others have to say, I don't blog for that purpose, as I've said before. Lately, I've just been too danged busy to even want to blog. I'm not necessarily apologizing for that, but I thought I'd just throw it out there that it's probably going to stay pretty quiet around here for a while! :)

I have class all day two days a week, and I have work on the other days. Even when I'm not scheduled to work, I end up going to work anyway to work some more. For those of you wanting to get into Real Estate-- I would wait until you are finished with school. Unless you are an amazing multi-tasker who can handle a fulltime job that requires you to continue working after hours, a full-time class schedule with professors who insist you refer to them as Dr. so-and-so and expect you to devote 6-8 hours to each class outside of actually attending the class, and a full-time marriage that can never afford to take the back seat in your life. Oh yeah-- did I mention laundry, cleaning the house, walking the dog and cooking meals? My poor puppy has had to settle for a five-minute game of catch, my laundry has been sitting on top of the dryer for almost two weeks, dinner is still sitting in the freezer and pantry, and my poor husband feels like Mr. Mom when it comes to cleaning the house. He's such a good guy. I think I've scrubbed the kitchen once since we got home. Yup, that's it.

I seriously need to step it up!

Speaking of stepping it up, how, and I mean this with all sincerity, how do women manage to have perfect hair, make-up, figures, clothes, nails and walk in high heels to class every day? No, I'm not talking about the freshmen who have 80 layers of makeup on, wear mini skirts and barely-there tops with some "do-me" heels (trying to keep it at least PG-13 here, folks). I'm talking about those who have transitioned into looking put-together, ambitious, refined, classy, like they could take on the world all day and still feel and look fresh enough break every guy's heart and leave women in awe and envy.

I could so pull that off ... once or twice, that is, before I'd remember how precious my sleep and feet are. Then I'd be back to sleeping in as long as possible before I had to get up and I'd wear my tennis shoes and comfy pants to class (like I'm doing right now). Is there a secret ingredient I'm missing?

And while I'm talking about clothes (wow, didn't realize how many tangents this blog would entail, sorry about that!), someone seriously needs to school these young college girls on how to dress. Yes, I know this is your first time away from home where there are boys galore and no dress-codes, but that doesn't give you a good reason to look nasty! I've seen some girls who can really pull off the current trends (and no, they aren't all stick-skinny with chicken legs!). But some girls... sheesh. Where are Stacy and Clinton when you need them? I'm seriously considering emailing the show and explaining the situation.

For instance: today I saw a curvy girl. Now, I am all for curves as long as whoever has them is happy and healthy, but this chic was wearing bright, neon-hot-pink tights *shudders* that were a very thin material *cringes* about two sizes too small *winces* with a shirt that wasn't even long enough to go past her belly-botton *runs away screaming.* I don't care how beautiful and smooth your figure is, if you are wearing something that's way too small for you and screams "LOOK AT MY BUTT AND THIGHS," you are not going to look good, period. Even skinny skinny girls need to wear clothes that fit them in order to look good. And you should never wear panty hose as pants!!

Alright, I'll get off my soap box. For now.

Compilation

2010-08-17T20:59:00.000-06:00

Here is a compilation of my favorite Ireland pictures!

Warning: there are a lot! So I'll try not to talk much :)

Lily, who apparently tosses you in the air if you don't give her a treat!

A street performer in Dublin

Boys will be boys..

Trinity College, Dublin

Waterford Castle

Somebody let the water out!

The Cliffs of Moher

Aka: The Cliffs of Insanity, for you Princess Bride peeps!

The Ballyseede Castle Hotel

Arthur the ~~guard~~ dog

Dingle, Ireland

Killorglin, Ireland

King Puck, Killorglin, Ireland

Horse fair in Killorglin!

My version of heaven :)

Sheep puppy!

This man met Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson while they were filming Marley and Me!

They used his sheep for the movie-- crazy huh?

Kylemore Abbey near Letterfrack, Ireland

Connemara Filly at Connemara National Park

First experience riding an English saddle!

(and wearing a ridiculous looking helmet)

Budweizer the horse :)

The end! (for now!)

Gonna go back to my roots!

2010-08-03T20:15:00.000-06:00

Day after tomorrow, we board a plane at the crack of dawn to head for IRELAND! You have no idea how stankin' excited I am for this. I've been wanting to visit Ireland for ages and ages! Today was my last day at work and now I'm just doing laundry. I'll eventually start packing... probably tomorrow night.. lol. I'm so terrible.

I can't wait to take lots of pictures and have the time of my life. We're going to see RIVERDANCE! -- another childhood dream! :) And at some point, I'm going to find a place where we can ride horses along the shoreline, because that would just be perfect!

Anyways, I hope y'alls' August is going great so far. I can't believe it's August! Classes start in 20 days! That means I'm that much closer to having to pay school fees, yuck.

Btw-- for you Trueblood fans out there. What do you think of this season so far? There are parts I like and parts I don't like. I'm not a fan of the direction they are taking with Eric and the King of Louisiana, but I can deal with that. What I really don't like was la-la-fairy-land inside Sookie's head with Claudine. Seriously? Where do they come up with that? I loved Claudine in the book, but I soooo did not picture her looking or sounding like the chick on the show. *sigh*. oh well. I'm not the director/writers am I? lol

See ya when we get back!

Surprise Ending

2010-07-26T13:52:00.000-06:00

We had a fun filled weekend of traveling around the local area. We took Tucker with us this time, and he made it so much more fun!

On Saturday we went to the Dunes again, a 30 minute drive.

On Sunday, we drove 30 minutes in the opposite direction from Mtn. Home and we found this!

So beautiful :)

Finally we took a dip in the cold water for Tucker's first big swimming experience.

Poor guy-- gotta watch the end to see why!

(Pardon my yelling into the camera!

Somebody let me know if the video doesn't work,

I've never uploaded it through blogger like this before.)

Money You suck.

2010-07-23T20:41:00.000-06:00

Uggghh.. Now I know y'all can relate on this topic.

I have two house listings now, yay! But, since I work on commission I don't have a steady income, and with the market like it is right now-- well, let's just say I'm crossing my fingers and toes :).

I would totally get a second job just to keep some kind of check coming in, but once we get back from Ireland I will be starting back to finish my degree (Ahhhhh!). I've always been good at handling school and two jobs, but Real Estate takes a lot out of you! I'll see how well I balance school and work and then see about taking on a minor/part-time job here in town. Again, crossing my fingers!

And then all the jazz with MyCAA... Sigh. This will be my first semester to ever use their program, and I am very thankful for it, but after this semester I will no longer be elligible thanks to their new guidelines. :(
I've been denied dozens of scholarships, and Fafsa said my husband makes too much money for me to get any form of grant. I love when people try to tell me how much money my husband makes :). Oh yes, we are just rolling in it. Heck, we can't even afford basic cable! lol

I talked with my MIL a few times about it throughout the week though, and I finally came to the conclusion that all of that doesn't matter. Why? Because God's never let me down before, so why should I think He will now? I barely got my first three years of college paid for, but it was paid for nonetheless. I'm debt free and I plan on being debt free when I graduate. He'll take care of Mr. Air Force and me one way or the other, just as He has before. Maybe I'll be able to handle a second job for the extra money, or maybe I'll miraculously get a scholarship that will help out. Who knows?

Happy Friday, everybody! Be safe.

A picture worth a thousand words

2010-07-19T17:42:00.000-06:00

My niece and nephew showing some love :)

Is it Friday yet?

2010-07-14T14:16:00.000-06:00

For real, this week is dragging by so ridiculously slow!!

Monday afternoon I was already mistaking that it was Friday instead. Every day this week has felt like it should be Friday. For one, my work schedule has been pretty full this week and I've been working on getting my first listing (done!). Usually when I'm really busy, time flies, but this week is has dragged. Second, my parents are coming for the weekend with my nephews Isaak and Asher, and my niece Ellie (her baby "brudder," is too young to come too).

I haven't seen my family since January, so you can imagine how anxious and impatient I am to see them all! I just wish I could go home to see the rest of my family too. That's why I fully intend on becoming an amazing realtor, so that I can afford to visit the people I love on the other side of the U.S.! :)

Anyone else's week crawling along at the speed of a drunk snail?

So Photogenic

2010-07-10T22:28:00.000-06:00

I took Tucker to the park today and couldn't resist capturing this shot!

He is getting so big!

Happy Saturday!

Sounded like a good idea at the time.

2010-07-03T21:23:00.000-06:00

Poor George...

We were going for the "Lion cut" but we got Edward Scissorhands instead.

It's not funny! I will keel you!

Fred looks clueless as normal.

This is actually not a picture of George.

It's a picture of my ripped husband doing handywork around the house because he loves his wife :)

Grin

2010-07-01T23:32:00.000-06:00

Uber short post here, but I just had to tell you.

Mr. Air Force just shaved our cat, George. It started out as a simple trim and it somehow turned into a shave. At least he now has a lion mane to match his personality. Oh yes, pictures will be coming soon, very soon.

Did I mention because of this I feel like a horrible parent?? George is still happy and arrogant though, so that's all that matters!

Complications

2010-06-30T16:24:00.003-06:00

If only I'd known the implications I was making when I came up with my blog title.

"That [Officer's] Wife," seemed like such a great idea at the time! It was cute, catchy, and represented my husband too (since he is definitely a big part of my life, thus a big part of this blog). I came up with the blog title before I was really a part of the military life; before I even knew the difference between Officer and Enlisted.

I will probably make a longer, more explained post about this in the future when I've had more time to really gather my thoughts, but for right now I was curious to know your opinion.

No one in blog world has ever made snide remarks to me or anyone I know (that I know of) about Officer vs. Enlisted. There are definitely two sides to this-- what do I even call it?-- an argument? Us vs. Them? Whatever it is, sometimes it feels very ridiculous. If I become best buds with someone whose husband is enlisted, does that automatically make me better than her? Heeeeeck no, not in my opinion. I understand that there are some officer's wives out there who do make a show of their husband's rank and title, and I've always been bothered by it. Just the same, I've had some enlisted spouses on different occasions make almost rude remarks to me the moment they found out that Mr. AF is an officer. "Oh, you're an officer's wife." No, we're not rich, no I'm not "special," and I'm certainly not better than you. Actually, I was looking forward to making friends with you, if you'll have me and accept that there's no difference between the two of us as people. Again, it wasn't anyone in blog-land, and I'm not pin-pointing any one person, as this has happened several times.

So I'll leave it at that-- I'd really love to hear feedback on this from anyone willing to comment. Has an officer's wife ever put you down as an enlisted spouse? As an officer's wife, have you ever felt pressure to consider yourself above others? Have you ever become good buds with an enlisted/officer's spouse?Whatever experience you've had, I'm interested to hear it. I'm not wishing to make judgments on anyone (that's not my job!), but I want to understand this from everyone else's point of view, not just mine. Any takers? I know this is a controversial topic in some aspects, so please no rude comments or throwing of rocks :)

:::Edit::: For the record, I'm not considering changing my blog title. I do still love the blog title, I just wish I'd known what potential statement I could be making to visitors who might perceive it in a negative way. I still want to represent my husband, not by wearing his rank, but representing who he is. My whole life is dedicated to supporting him and his job, so yes I am extremely proud of my husband and I am proud to be an officer's wife, just as I am sure many of you are bursting with pride to be the wife of an enlisted man. Cheers to everyone ;)

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In

2010-06-25T19:03:00.000-06:00

I saw this at Hellcat Betty's blog, started by Wife of a Sailor, and thought I'd join in for the heck of it!

1. How did you and your spouse/significant other meet?        Online. Go ahead and roll your eyes, I'll wait. Hold on, I've met all of YOU online and there's nothing wrong with that, is there? Hah, I win! We met at a place called Christian Cafe. He told me that his family sends their old horses to the dog-food factory. If I could have smacked him through the computer, I would have.

2. What is the best thing about being a MilSpouse?
        Well there are things like traveling, getting to see and do fun/exciting things that you'd otherwise never get the opportunity for. The healthcare has been one of the best things for me and the hubs. It's saved us a fortune! Military discounts are also great when you can find them!

3. What is the hardest thing about being a MilSpouse?
        My personal biggest dislike about it is when Mr. Air Force comes home SO incredibly stressed out and wound up tighter than a knotted piece of thread, and there is absolutely nothing I can do to make him feel better. That is the worst feeling ever :(. Next to that, being so far away from all my friends and family is really tough.

4. What is your favorite dish?
       Gosh... My family's biscuits 'n gravy. We cook it the real way with bacon grease and flour!

5. If you could change one thing in this world, what would it be?
        I'd make everyone understand and appreciate the value of human life so that we'd all take better care of each other worldwide.

Proof that God listens

2010-06-23T10:58:00.000-06:00

I don't have much time to write, because I have a laundry list THIS BIG of things to do today, but I wanted to point out that God is always listening to us! I kept reminding myself after my last post to be thankful for what God HAS given me.

I got to work the next day and was talking with one of my new co-workers when she invited me out to go ride horses with her and check on cattle. For those of you that don't know, I am a horse NUT. I also used to love helping my grampa feed and work cattle when I was little (heck, I still do). So the combination of checking cattle while riding horses while making a new friend was just too good to be true! So last night we loaded up the horses and drove out to a beautiful valley where the cows were grazing and we went for a great ride! I made a new buddy.

Thanks God :)

Count Your many Blessings (Name them One by One)

2010-06-19T23:33:00.000-06:00

I'm hitting a low-point in being a military spouse. We've been in Idaho now for nearly six months and the only real girlfriend I've made doesn't actually live here yet! I see her once every few months when she comes to visit her fiance (who happens to be good buds with my husband). Once she gets here I see visions of girly drinks, Sex and the City, everything Twilight, make-up parties, pedicures, girl talk and lots of laughing.

Right now though, I'm admitting to myself that I'm lonely. Don't get me wrong-- I love my husband very much. He is, of course, my best friend and I wouldn't trade him for anything (even Hugh Jackman). But it gets lonely, ya know? Of course you know. I know you know what I'm talking about. This moving to a new location sucks in the whole friendship aspect-- at first anyway. You move somewhere new, have to start from scratch in the friend-department, finally find someone that *gets* you, become bosom-buddies with the person, and then you both move to opposite ends of the country (literally).

Like my friend Leah and Maylee (shout out to you, Leah, if you happen to read this!!). We met at Goodfellow and they were a LIFESAVER! We worked out together, went to the pool together, had lunch, dinner and movie nights, and we just had good girl-bonding time! In other words, we kept each other sane while our husbands were going through 150% stress in Intel training. Now Maylee lives in Florida and Leah in Charleston. And I'm clear on the other side missing our days by the pool.

Yes, I know I'm completely throwing a pity-party for myself, and I know I'll get over it in a day or so, but I also know I'm not the only one out there who goes through this. I'm a girl. I like to talk about my problems and relate to other women. I'm going to guess that there are several other women out there who feel the same way. I know several bloggers have just recently PCS'd (or are going to very soon). Is it easy for anyone of you to jump in and make new friends?

I never really had too much of a problem making friends. My dad is a pastor, so we moved a few times while I was growing up. I always seemed to be able to throw myself in with a group of strangers and walk out with a good buddy (ranging from seven to eighty years old). Here it's harder. Here I've been volunteering at the thrift shop for months, but I still don't really feel like I fit in anywhere. Sure, I can have conversations with all the sweet ladies, and we can have laughs here and there, but there isn't anyone there I could call up and say "Hey, let's eat brownies and watch Sex and the City together!"

I made a few good friends in my Realtor class, but class is over now. I'm meeting up with them later this week for a "we all passed the exam!" celebration and I can't wait! And in a few weeks, my parents are visiting all the way from Oklahoma (and bringing my nephews with them!), so I have that to look forward to. Just a week after that, my future-bestie will be here visiting her fiance and we already have some girls nights planned (praise God!). Then after that is our HONEYmoon (hallelujah!). Then after that my future-bestie will officially be moving here (Amen!) and classes at BSU will start (surely I can make another friend or two there!).

So yes, I have a lot to look forward to and I am counting my blessings and naming them one by one. I feel a little better now that I've written it all out and vented, but the phrase "Hurry up and wait," is ringing in my ears! Patience is a virtue, right? Right? Anybody?

Goodnight people :)

A little advertisement

2010-06-19T13:11:00.000-06:00

Did I mention I'm a Realtor now? ;)

If you or anyone you know is moving to the Mountain Home, Idaho area I'd love to help them find their new home. I'm a new agent, but I'm working hard to educate myself and to take the best care of my customers and clients. I have a great staff backing me up here at Century 21. My Broker (the Boss Lady) is so incredibly helpful and she is here to answer any of your questions that I cannot answer myself.

Click on the pic if you want to read it!

Spread the word! :)
Happy Saturday!

TGIF!!!

2010-06-17T21:47:00.001-06:00

Look how big my boy is getting!!

This seems to be his permanent position. He is constantly looking up for instructions.

I love it!

I'm a happy boy!

We decided he's not a Rottweiler mix (pretty obvious at this point!). After doing lots of Google image research, I've decided he's a German Shepherd/Labrador mix. Which is great, cause German Shepherds are my husband's favorite dogs! He's getting some longer silver hairs around his chest (the puppy, not my husband), and his neck/ears/eyes are getting lighter hair too. It's going to be interesting to see how he turns out. I know this is so incredibly interesting to you guys! haha.

He's also learning a lot. He officially knows how to play fetch (and LOVES it), he knows "Sit, down, stay, come, wait, outside, inside, up, off, get-the-toy, and crate." We're still working on all of the above to make him REALLY good at it. He knows hand signals with most of the words. Once he has everything else down, he's going to learn to shake and give high-fives. I have no clue how to teach a dog how to "Speak!" though-- any suggestions??

Alright, I'll shut up about my proud, fur-mommyness.

I've been training at Century 21 all week, and tomorrow and Saturday I get actual floor time (i.e., I'll have the potential for walk-in customers! Holla!). I love my boss, she is such a sweetheart and is very good at instructing. So far I like my co-workers too, so that's a plus!

Other than that, nothing has really been happening in my life. I've been busy busy with learning the job, volunteering on base, keeping an (almost) clean house, cooking and training a puppy. Oh-- and lovin' the hubs inbetween :).

I hope everyone has been having a great week, and I hope you have a happy Friday too! TGIF!

Oh-- and by the way-- how many of y'all remember watching TGIF on Friday nights? You know, with Boy meets World, Teen Angel, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, etc. Gah, what other shows were on that night? I LIVED for TGIF. Why did they ever stop??

Yowzas

2010-06-05T11:19:00.001-06:00

First off, a big "Hello!" to all the new followers. I don't know how I'm getting them when I've been doing such a sucky job a writing in the last two months! I've been going through one of those phases where I just didn't feel like writing. I've tried forcing myself to write in the past during times like that, but I've learned that it makes me feel burnt-out on the whole shebang. I think it's important to remind myself that, although I truly enjoy reading your comments, keeing up with your blogs, and in several cases your friendship, I don't write here 100% for you. It's original purpose was for me, and the day I start writing to please other people will be a sad day!

With that being said, I'm starting to get "that lovin' feeling" back and I miss keeping up with everyone! :D

Oh yeah-- I totally passed the National and State exams for my Real Estate License yesterday! HALLELUJAH! Praise Jesus! It was such a huge weight off my shoulders when the lady handed me the paper and said "Congratulations!" I nearly cried on the way home, I was so happy! The last two months of class have been stressful and fun. I learned so much information, made some new friends, almost let my house go to crap and only God knows what else! And no worries-- I cleaned my whole house when I got home from taking my exams! haha. I felt so good that I wanted my house to look good too!

Then I made extra-sweet tea, chocolate chip cookies, salmon cakes, and watched "The Ringer" and "Sweeney Todd." It was a good day :)

Here are a few pictures from our anniversary dinner:

The night before: Cotton Candy and a movie. And I mean REAL cotton candy from a REAL Carnival!

My sexy black dress :)

The Handsome Hubs in his wet suit and tie

The restaurant was so cool! It had cool lighting and live Jazz :)

And it freakin' snowed in Boise on May 23rd.

And a Memorial Day pic of my main man and our growing puppy!

Have a happy and safe weekend everyone!

Happy Anniversary Honey :)

2010-05-23T15:36:00.000-06:00

All Tuckered Out

2010-05-16T17:44:00.000-06:00

Here's a good reason for my busy-ness lately

Love at first site

Loves his daddy

George says: Watch your back. I got rid of the last dog and I can do it again.

Meet Tucker

Yeah, I know. I said it would be a long time before we got another puppy. But then I went with a friend to the animal shelter and he was there. I picked him up, and he snuggled into my neck like a little baby, and my maternal instincts kicked in; I was hooked. My friend didn't help much, lol. She said things like, "Aww he loves you! You're his new mommy!"

The next morning, the shelter called and said that he was all ours if we wanted him! So I picked him up, gave him his first bath (he was so dirty!), and the hubs dubbed him "Tucker."

We've had him for almost three weeks now and we are so in love with him! He is the sweetest little guy, and he is extremely smart and obedient. We think he was seven weeks old when we got him, so he's around 9-10 weeks now. He's definitely a Rottweiler, but we don't know if he's purebred or not. Compared to pictures I've found from breeder's websites, he looks 100% Rottie, but I guess we'll know more when he grows up. He's a big 15 lbs now! He's getting so big! But he still likes to snuggle up into his mommy's neck to take a nap :)

And yes.. I talk baby-talk to him ALL the time (if you knew me in real life, you'd know I HATE baby talk, lol).

V.D.'s

2010-05-14T00:10:00.002-06:00

I KNEW Katherine was going to come back right at the end!! I totally called it!

Sorry.. I was a little excited.

Happiness thou art Mommies.

2010-05-09T10:41:00.000-06:00

Happy Mother's Day to all of the amazing mommies out there! I know there are a bajillion of you :). I hope one day to count myself as one of the gang!

Happy Mother's Day Mom! You are so beautiful inside (and definitely outside!).

The one where I talk about absolutely nothing of value.

2010-05-05T12:24:00.000-06:00

V@mpire Diaries. I'm impatient for the next one. Back in the day when I first saw a trailer for the show, I thought, "That is the STUPIDEST thing I have ever heard of. I bet it doesn't last through the third show before they take it off." One night while I was super bored, I decided to watch a few of the episodes online, and I got hooked.

For anyone else who watches it: I'm seriously starting to love Damon. I mean, I hated him in the beginning and kept wishing Stephan would kill him. But now.. I'm liking him more than Stephan. Maybe I'm just one of those girls that likes the Bad Guy. I mean, I do like Eric in TrueBlood more than Bill (but is Eric really a bad guy? He seemed to be in the beginning, but I don't think he is). Speaking of Trueblood, the next Sookie Stackhouse book just came out! I want to buy it and read it so bad! I need to buy the rest of the series too. I want to re-read them all.

Dang, I sound like one of those crazy teenagers who obsess over everything having to do with Vampires. I promise I'm not! :)

I keep thinking life is going to slow down a little bit, but more things keep coming up to make it busy! I told Mr. Air Force that I was going to paint the bathroom today (now that I've said it, I can't make an excuse to not do it!).
We finally finished painting the living room (did I already tell you that?), but it's in no condition for pictures yet, lol. While I was doing trim-work, George decided I made the perfect sleeping spot.

Yes, I know I look like crap here. It was almost midnight, I had dust all over my face (hence the two-toned nose!) and no make-up on. George didn't care though. All he cared about was that I stop moving so he could sleep!

Alright, well, I'd better go paint. Not that I'm in the mood for it, but it'd be easier to do it now on my week off than when classes start back up. Happy "Hump" day!

Busy little lady.

2010-04-27T13:26:00.000-06:00

Who's a bad blogger? I am, I am! Again-- with the organizing and being busy all the time. I don't know how you all do it! I thought after two weeks in, I'd have it all under control. I guess I gotta take into consideration that I've been using spare time to paint the living room. Who knew it would take this long?? I pretty much only have Monday and the weekends to do it. It's STILL not 100% complete. There are little places here and there that need to be re-done or just touched up before I will be completely satisfied. I'm determined to do it tomorrow morning though. My husband is tired of tripping over stuff when he tries to go the kitchen. Poor guy.

I have some exciting news though, I got a new car!! YAY!
Say hello to my 07 Dodge Caliber :)

Look what else I did this weekend:

My first time to officially re-do a piece of furniture! I bought the table and bench for $5 at the thrift shop, and the paint was about $7. Did you know there is a discounted paint shelf at Walmart? Yeah, it's of all the rejects that people returned. They get rid of it when it's expired, so you don't have to worry about bad paint. I got a whole gallon of blue paint for our bathroom for only $11!!! What a way to save money, huh? It normally would have cost $30-40. Yeah, I feel pretty Bad-A about it. :)

Next week I don't have class (yay for a mini break!) so I will FINALLY have time to sit down and catch up on Google Reader. I miss you all! Happy Tuesday :D

Curious Georgie

2010-04-19T23:45:00.000-06:00

Pretty sure I have the cutest niece in the world.

In some sad news, we are having to quarantine poor George (one of our cats, see picture to the right). We have rodents out here called "whistlepigs" or "sage rats," and sometimes they carry rabies. Well, good ole George came bounding into the house this afternoon and tossed a headless whistlepig at my feet. It was headless. On my kitchen floor. Headless. Yuck.

After I called my hubby freaking out that there was a bloody, headless rodent on my kitchen floor, I mustered up the courage to pick it up with plastic bags and put it in our dumpster. Then I scrubbed my hands and kept shivering and gagging. Would you like to see a picture? Because I had one of those "Blog it!" moments so I snapped a picture. No? You don't want to see it? Then close your eyes!

Okay, I fixed it so you didn't actually have to see the bloody headless part.

George was obviously proud of himself and wanted to give me his trophy, because that's what cats do. He didn't want to eat it-- he wanted his cat food instead. I don't get it, personally. lol.

The kittens haven't had their rabies shot yet (one of those things that I've "been meaning to do" for three months now), so poor Georgie gets to be quarantined for the next 10 days. He is NOT happy about this at all. And it makes me not happy because he yowls his head off in protest.

I was able to paint most of the living room today, but I ran out of paint, so there's a big blank patch and lots of trim work to be done, but it looks great! -- pics soon, I promise!

I also met with the broker from Century 21 today, and it looks like I'll for sure be working there once I get my license! YES! She was a very sweet lady (especially considering, like an idiot, I forgot about our appointment and was almost an hour late. Seriously, I'm not a late person. Why did TODAY have to be the day that I let it slip??). She was completely cool about it and was very encouraging, such a sweetheart!

Our living room looks so cluttered right now, since I moved everything to the middle to paint. It's driving me nuts! I want everything back in it's place and all the decor back up on the walls! Hopefully Friday I'll have time to tie it all back together (crossing my fingers).

I'll leave you with a video of George being pitiful and flirting with all his might in an attempt to get me to let him out of his prison.

Motivation. I needz sum.

2010-04-16T11:33:00.000-06:00

Wow, where did the week go?

Real Estate class started this week. I'm taking the evening classes and they are from 6-10pm on T W TH and 9-2pm on Saturdays. So far I'm enjoying the class, but it's made me realize how unorganized and lazy I have become. I'm pretty good about keeping the house clean during the week, and I'm good about making dinner, getting the grocery shopping done, doing laundry, and then volunteering two days a week at the thrift shop. This week was a little on the crazy side.

Monday I had to make a quick trip to Boise to pick up my school books and then made it home in time to make dinner. I cleaned up the kitchen, but that's about it. Tuesday rolled around and I worked all morning at the thrift shop, came home and showered, then headed to class (an hour commute). Wednesday, I woke up dog tired so I let myself sleep in an extra hour. I knew I didn't need to leave for class until 4:30, so I had plenty of time to clean the house, shower and make something for dinner. Before I knew it, it was 2 pm and I remembered I had three chapters to read before class! Then I had to rush through my shower, eat some instant mashed potatoes and head out the door.

Yesterday I was at the thrift shop all morning and into the afternoon, then had doctor appointments and didn't make it home until after 3:30. I had enough time to throw a pre-made lasagna into the oven so the hubs wouldn't go without dinner. Didn't have time to read my chapters before class.

Today is finally FRIDAY. I have several chapters of homework to read, grocery shopping to do, LOTS of cleaning and laundry to get done, and I still haven't even taken a shower. I'm gonna have to start getting up earlier and managing my time better-- cause this is just sad! I need to do better.

Anyways, so there's my very lame update on why I've been busy this week. I'm sure next week will be better once I get a routine worked out and maybe I'll actually have something interesting to blog about! :)

Here are some pretty pictures though!

Hope everyone has a GREAT weekend!!

And the winner is......

2010-04-14T13:36:00.000-06:00

Drumroll, please....

Congrats Becca!
Take your pick for a $25 gift card from one of the following:

Olive Garden

Macaroni Grill

Sephora

Barnes and Noble

Starbucks

Ross

Target

Pottery Barn

Also, send me your mailing address please :)

The winner of Rachel's giveaway is...

A big "THANK YOU!" to every one who voted!
She couldn't have won without every one of you :)

YES!

2010-04-12T20:04:00.000-06:00

SHE WON!!!

Thanks to everyone who voted!

I'll announce a winner soon!

A Message from the Kittens

2010-04-11T22:30:00.001-06:00

Fred says: Vote for my Aunt Rachel, please!

George says: I COMMAND that you vote right NOW!

Don't forget to enter the give-away if you vote or tweet/blog about the giveaway! One comment per vote, per tweet, per blog-post!

MONDAY is the day we find out!

(for most of you reading this, that would be TODAY).

This is your last chance to vote and help my sister! EVERY vote counts!

Voting ends at 7 pm Central time!

Thanks so much! Good luck Rachel!

Happy times

2010-04-10T12:58:00.000-06:00

Hope everyone is having a very happy Saturday! We are lazin' around and enjoying the quiet and relaxation time :). I feel like showcasing this week in pictures, so here goes.

Snagged this beauty for a dollar!

Snagged this not-so-beauty for 50 cents, but when I'm done with it and it's holding wedding pictures, it'll be awesome!

Baker's rack for $8 -- heck yes!

And this is some China my gramma gave me.

I guess it's nothing special really, I researched it and it's from the old Sear's catalog from the 60s. But, it's special to me. I love the pattern and I love things that have sentimental value!

Here are our new friends, Kurt and Ashley.

I love her!!

Not the best picture in the world, but oh well! haha

Kurt was taking the picture and doing his best to make us laugh. It worked!

I have a few other thrift-shop projects I bought, but I didn't take pictures of them yet. I'll post before and after pictures eventually :)

Oh-- and don't forget to go to Mamavation and vote for my sister "Rachel_L" :)

Then go here to tell me you voted (one comment for each time you vote, and one per tweet/blog about it).

Only a few days before the voting ends! It's frustrating that the voting widget doesn't say who's winning so far! But keep voting! Thanks so much!

She fell to pieces. Oy ve.

2010-04-08T09:41:00.000-06:00

Well. It's happened. Rachel has lost it. At least she sounded good in the process. I'm officially no longer claiming her as kin. Totally not related to this chick.

Please--- for her sanity, VOTE! Select "Rachel_L" in the white widget along the right side of the page.
And then please don't forget to submit one comment per vote/tweet/blog-post HERE. Remember, I need separate comments for each entry!

I seriously appreciate all of the votes you all have been casting! Just three more days of voting left! Let's help her win so that one of you can win an awesome gift card to an awesome store! For a list of the available stores, check out the Give-Away post. Don't forget-- Rachel is having a giveaway at her blog too! You have two chances to win :)

As for me-- I'm headed to volunteer at the thrift shop again. Me working there is dangerous. It's so hard to resist little finds here and there. Yesterday I bought a baker's rack, a HUGE picture frame for wedding photos, and another gorgeous framed picture for the living room. I'll post pictures tomorrow :)

Happy THURSDAY! Tomorrow is FRIDAY! yay!

Oh Joy.

2010-04-07T10:54:00.000-06:00

I'm taking a personal day-- i.e. eating chocolate, taking tylenol and watching chick flicks while curled up on the couch. You do the math! :)

In the meantime don't forget to put in your daily ENTRY for my "Favorite Things Giveaway (If Rachel Wins!)"-- and you can only do that by VOTING! Please go vote for "Rachel_L" along the right side and you'll be my bestest friend (well, that is, if we have a lot in common and don't irritate each other to death).
Go Vote! And then leave your entry at THIS post! and I decided to give extra entries if you blog about it too! Just be sure to leave an extra comment for your extra entries, leave the link to your post about the giveaway and please be sure to mention Rachel!

Here's the Twitter/Blog message: Help Hannah Noel's sis become a HEALTHY MAMA! Vote for "Rachel_L" http://tinyurl.com/y9nq9f4

Happy Wednesday!

Not much.

2010-04-06T09:22:00.001-06:00

Well, I had a fairly eventful day yesterday. I went to the doctor's, ran some errands, cleaned the main part of the house, watched a movie and started watching the 20 hour long BBC version of Pride and Prejudice (yeah, 20 is probably not the right number). I also cooked some Monterrey Chicken Quesadillas. Note to Self: If a recipe calls for BBQ sauce, for the sake of your taste buds, do not buy the cheap stuff!

Today I'm off to volunteer at the thrift shop again-- yay! Women! One can only take so much of her husband's testosterone day after day. :D

Also-- don't forget to VOTE for my sister Rachel_L !! She needs your help to win the Mamavation competition so she can get her health and weight in gear and raise a healthier family! Go HERE to vote (In the right hand side-bar, click "Rachel_L"), and then go HERE and tell me that you voted so you can be entered to win the "My Favorite Things Give-away (If Rachel Wins.)" Remember, for each time you vote, you get ONE entry (and you can vote every day!), and for each time you Twitter you also get ONE entry. Make sure you enter each entry as a separate comment on THIS post! Confused yet?

Here's the Twitter Message:
Help Hannah Noel's sis become a HEALTHY MAMA! Vote for "Rachel_L" http://tinyurl.com/y9nq9f4

And that's it! Easy as pie :)

Oh yeah-- and Rachel is doing a give away at HER blog too so you have two chances to win!
Hope y'all have a great day!

P.S.-- if you already voted yesterday, you have to wait a full 24 hours from the time you voted before you'll be able to vote again. Thanks for all your help!! Much love.

The Help My Sister Get Skinny GIVE-AWAY!

2010-04-05T14:23:00.002-06:00

Congratulations to my sister Rachel_L for being one of the Mamavation finalists! YES!

Mamavation is an eight week BOOT camp for moms to get their booty and health in gear.

Here is where you come in: She needs your online VOTES! Everyday Once a day until April 12th!
She needs every single vote she can possibly get, and I know you will all do it because you love me so very very much and want to see me happy. :)

What? Wanting to make me happy isn't enough incentive? Ugh. You people disgust me. Oh alright, FINE. I'll do a GIVE-AWAY too!

Here's the deal I'm willing to make: If Rachel wins this competition I'm doing my first ever give-away, and you can only be entered if you VOTE. That's right. I'm ruthless, just like my sister.

So . . . how does one vote?
Click HERE and look for the voting widget in the right sidebar. Select “@Rachel_L.”
Was that too hard? Nah.

Now you just gotta remember to do it every day!!
The voting widget is open for votes now through April 12th. You may vote once per day (per IP address).
This means you’ll be voting for her 7 times (per IP address . . . hint, hint).

* * * * * * * * * * *
GIVEAWAY!!!

Now for the details you are all eagerly waiting for:

My sister, Rachel (from Following in my Shoes), and I are BOTH going to be hosting a “My Favorite Things Giveaway . . . If Rachel Wins.”

Huh? What? I'll let Rachel explain:

Here’s the deal. I want votes — your votes, your husband’s, your mama’s, even your dog (if he has his own computer). In an effort to encourage lots and lots of voting . . . and to encourage you to spread the word to others, I’m having a giveaway — the only condition is that I MUST WIN IN ORDER FOR SOMEONE ELSE TO WIN!!!!!!!

Yep, I’m ruthless like that.

If she ends up being one of the Official Mamavation Moms, we will use random.org to pull a winner. That winner will get to choose a $25 gift certificate from one of my favorite stores/restaurants:

Olive Garden

Macaroni Grill

Sephora

Barnes and Noble

Starbucks

Ross

Target

Pottery Barn

Did you notice how many UH-MAZING stores I listed there? Maybe you should go back and read again. All you have to do to enter is VOTE! Each time you vote, leave a comment on THIS post.

That’s it. Vote — then leave a comment here. Vote — then leave a comment here. Vote — then leave a comment here. (oh, and make sure I have a good way of contacting you (i.e. EMAIL ADDRESS!).)

You can do this once per day from now through April 12th (or more, if you have more than one computer!!!!)

Rachel? She’s doing the EXACT same contest on her blog, except she is varying a few of the stores. She's more into mommy-related stores than I am.

So, technically, you could win both contests! WE don’t care!!!!!!!

Want extra (unlimited) entries?

Just tweet about what’s going on.

Here, I’ll make it easy for ya — just tweet the following message:

Help Hannah Noel's sis become a HEALTHY MAMA! Vote for "Rachel_L" http://tinyurl.com/y9nq9f4

After you tweet, make sure to come back to this post and leave another comment.

The contest will end 7pm (central time) on April 12th, which is when the Mamavation Launch Party kicks off.

IF SHE WINS THE TITLE OF MAMAVATION MOM, I’ll pull a winner and announce it on my blog.

Got it? Good — now vote and spread the word!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Remember: each vote or tweet need their own individual comments!)

I (heart) Spring

2010-04-02T21:29:00.000-06:00

I LOVE spring. Which is why I wasn't too thrilled when it started SNOWING this afternoon. That's right. Snowing. Within five minutes after it started, the back porch was covered. These were the biggest snow flakes I had ever seen! I wouldn't even call them flakes. More like clumps of falling snow. It looked like someone was having a pillow fight in the sky. Some of the flakes were the size of my hand! They were falling so hard because of how heavy they were.

I decided it wasn't too bad though, because I happened to snag this picture...

Things Not to say to a Mil-Spouse Vol. 1.

2010-04-02T00:05:00.005-06:00

I was speaking with someone recently (non blogger-world related). They were complaining about their job, and they felt the need to say, "You're so lucky your husband has the kind of job where you can stay home and you don't have to go to work. I wish I didn't have to work."

Now, I felt really odd after hearing this, and I sputtered a "thank you" out, but I wasn't really sure how to take it. Later, the more I thought about it, especially after talking to my husband about it, the more it bothered me.

First off, just for the record: I've been job-hunting since we moved into our new house. I have applied for several job-openings and have either a) heard nothing back, or b) received a "thanks, but no thanks" letter, phone call, or email. In two weeks from now, I start Real Estate school. I will be finished in a month and a half, will hopefully secure a job with Century 21, and will then work vigorously to become the best agent I can be so that I can help support our small family.

With that being said, I want to explain just why you should never tell a mil-spouse (at least, not this spouse, as this is simply my opinion) that she is lucky her husband's job allows her to stay home, especially when you are complaining about your job.

Dear Civilian, do you know much about my husband's job? My husband's job requires a lot of him. Sometimes he comes home so stressed that there's little I can do to make him feel better, which in turn makes me feel helpless. He is gone before the sun rises, and sometimes doesn't get home til the sun goes down. His job also happens to require him to move around the country every four years or so. His work-place is literally a locked and sealed vault with no windows.
While you get to live in the town you choose, close to your friends, family, and everything else you have ever known, my husband is told where to live. Sure he gets to have some say in it, but the military makes the initial and final decisions on the matter.
His job also happens to require a deployment. A deployment in which he could return home more stressed than he's ever been in his life. He could come home with an unsound mind. He could come home with bullet holes, missing a limb, or even missing his life.

Lucky me, I get to stay home and worry about him through out all of this. And how lucky for all the other spouses, especially those whose husbands are gone for a year at a time, and some with back-to-back deployments; whose husbands miss pregnancies, births, birthdays, deaths, and other major life-events, all because of their job.

Yes, this is a life I have chosen. I am so proud of my husband and his profession that I could burst. I support every military branch and stand behind them 100%. I understand the occasional consequences and inconveniences that come along with marrying a man in the military. I also know there are a million benefits and reasons to feel very blessed with this life. I would marry him again in a heartbeat, over and over. I never doubt that. I love him.

But, please, despite your need to complain about your bad day at work, do not tell me I'm lucky because of my husband's job. Trust me, if you bring this topic up with me again, you are bound to get an earful.

The end.

Has any one else run into something like this before?
I've had some people say, "At least your husband is already gone alot; you're already used to him being away, so it's not as hard for you," when their boyfriend/fiance/husband leaves town for a mere few days. I've read other mil-spouse blogs where people have said similar things to them.

I understand people don't always realize the depth of their statements when they say things like that, but, seriously, have a heart! Alright. My rant is over. Good night! :)

::edit:: by the way, I am in no way trying to undermine any non-military jobs in any way, and I also don't feel "holier than thou," so I apologize if it came off that way. I know there are a lot of other jobs out there that are just as hard and risky! This is the life my husband chose and I support him in it, and as stated before, we are blessed in many ways with the life we have chosen :). But, as always, this is my blog and what I state here is my opinion and mine alone (especially when I'm venting!). I understand that not every one will agree with me, and that's good-- because if everyone thought the same thing, our lives would be incredibly boring! :)

Help My Big Sis Get Smaller!!

2010-03-31T22:28:00.000-06:00

Haha-- I love my title.

My oldest sister, Rachel L from Following in my Shoes, is ready to make a big change in her life. She's gained 90 lbs in the last ten years (don't worry, she announced this first, so she can't yell at me for simply re-peating it!), and she's ready to LOSE IT! (physically, not literally).

She wants to be one of the next "Mamavation Moms." Confused? Yeah me too.

It's a group of Mom and other women who band together to change their weight, lives, eating habits, etc., to live healthier. They use stuff like Twitter, blogs and other social media to help motivate each other. They're not only doing it for themselves, but they are doing it for their family. As Rachel put it in her application video, she wants to set a good example for her little girl (and the cutest niece EVER, by the way). She doesn't want The Little Lady to grow up with a negative self-image because her mother had one. She wants to be a good influence and teach her how to love her body and eat healthy/exercise and all that jazz.

This is where YOU come in. Got a Twitter account? If you're like me, you had one, said "foo-ey, you're too boring and I never check you," then you deleted it, and now you'll get a new one. Why? Cause my sister needs you! In order to become a part of Mamavation (which, by the way, includes hands-on support, tools, help and planning from a doctor and fitness experts), she needs VOTES via Twitter.

If you do have an account, I'd super appreciate it if you could tweet the following:

Hey @bookieboo I want @Rachel_L to be the next #Mamavation Mom. She has my support!

Yeah, bookieboo is a weird name, but that's just how the cards were played.

I don't usually advertise or give huge shout-outs like this, but she's my sister. I love her, look up to her, and have always thought she was beautiful, and I want her to feel the same! So please help. She's really ready to make this change, not only in her, but in her family as well!

Tweet and re-tweet til you just can't stand seeing the message anymore. And then do it one more time.
Oh, and I made the mistake of telling her that if she won, I'd match her for every exercise she did. Sooo... wait-- why am I advertising her to win? Nevermind. I'd rather continue my couch-potato days. *cough*

Go to Twitter! please :)

The Bittersweet One

2010-03-30T14:54:00.000-06:00

Remember not too long ago when I posted about getting a new Great Dane named Brie?

Well, since the day we adopted her, we've been struggling to get along. My husband and I both love animals, but something between us and Brie just wasn't clicking. I guess you could say our personalities were clashing. We're not entirely sure if it's the Great Dane breed in general or Brie in particular. I still love Great Danes, we've just realized it is not the breed for us :(

Luckily, we knew of a woman who'd recently lost her nine year old Dane, Alex, to bone cancer. She came by the house with her lab-mix named Dodge to meet Brie. It was love at first site. She loved everything about Brie, including all of her quirks and attention-cravings. She offered her home to Brie!
We went to visit her home a few days later to make sure it was a good place for our puppy. It was PERFECT! She had two extra large doggy doors, a big container full of toys, lots of treats, and she even lets the dogs on the couch and on her bed. (Brie was always heart broken that she was not allowed on our couch/bed!).

When we'd considered giving up Brie, we both felt very guilty. We never imagined adopting a dog and then giving it up. It never occurred to us that we might not like a lovable dog, especially considering we have both grown up with them! But, after we saw how much of a blessing she was to this kind woman, we knew we were making the right choice for Brie and for us. We offered to let her keep Brie and she laughed and cried and thanked us a million times. I'm just so happy it worked out perfectly!

That was on Sunday, and she's been sending me email updates every day to let me know how Brie is doing :). Maybe we'll get another dog (in the distant future of course), but we'll be much more cautious this time! Mr. Air Force wants a German Shepherd, since he is already used to them. We'll see :)

Happy 101

2010-03-29T16:46:00.000-06:00

A special thanks to miss JG at Me and my SoldierMan for giving me a cool award! :)

The rules for this award are as follows:

1.)When you have received this award you must thank the person that awarded you this in the new post.

2.) Name the 10 things that make you happy

3.) Pass this award onto 10 other bloggers and inform the winners

Well, I already thanked her, but I can do it again-- thanks JG!

Ten thing that make me happy:

My hubby, our cats, family, chocolate, butter, good hair days, clear skin, a good night's sleep, a great book, and a movie that leaves me feeling bubbly.

And before you started to wonder--no I don't sit around eating sticks of butter. I just love to cook with it and slather it on my corn on the cob!

And I tag....... hold on.. lemme think.

Becca at .Lovely Yellow Ribbons.

Elle at Bubbly Moments

Rachel at Following in my Shoes

Sarah Eileen at Faith, Hope and Love

New Girl at New Girl on Post

Alison at One Lucky Monkey

Expat Girl at The Sand is Different Here

Sarah Ann at Misadventures in Matrimony

D.A.R. at Just another Day in {our Midwest} Paradise

Happy Life as an Army Wife

These lovely bloggers are just a few of my favorites, and I randomly picked them.

Go check 'em out!

And now I feel like I have a little explaining to do. I thought I was out of my "blogger's funk," but I guess I'm not quite there yet. Part of it is due to frustration. I've been frustrated with something the past week or so, and when I get in that kind of a mood, I just can't write. If I made myself do it, you'd all be frustrated by the time you finished reading the post, because some of my frustration would rub off on you. And I shouldn't have to force myself to write anyway, where's the fun in that?

I haven't really explained that much have I? haha. Well, that is for another post. It's a bittersweet story and it made me feel very sad (not to mention guilty), but it was for the best. No worries-- the hubs and I are just fine! :)

I'll explain all in the next post!

Time flies when you're havin' fun :)

2010-03-26T23:55:00.000-06:00

In less than two months, I will be celebrating the first anniversary of this

Time flies so quickly.

Home made Poptarts

2010-03-24T09:00:00.001-06:00

I'll post pictures first and a link to the actual recipe at the end! I found this at Once a Month Mom.

(I used Great Value)

picture source

Here's the link to the actual recipe. These were SO SO SO GOOD!! Especially with the powdered sugar icing on top :) :)

Out of my funk :)

2010-03-22T19:05:00.017-06:00

Well this past week or so, I just haven't felt like blogging, so I didn't. But now I feel like it, so here I go!

Thanks to Skype, I was able to cook with my sister, Sarah, this morning and all afternoon! It was a lot of fun!

We are trying the idea from Once a month Mom (hopefully it will save us some money and I'll become a better cook!). Yesterday I made breakfast smoothies and tortilla soup (LOVE this stuff), and today I made home-made pop tarts (they are delish, a "how-to" will follow tomorrow!), Curried Chicken and Tuna Noodle Casserole. It is now all in my freezer waiting for me to pop it in the oven when we're ready to eat it! Tomorrow I'll make a few more dishes. I'm becoming a pro at this cooking thing ;).

In other random fun updates, I'm pretty proud of myself! I have a few vases around the house and they have no flowers in them! So on Sunday, I hit up Hobby Lobby to take advantage of their constant 50% off of flowers. God Bless'em. Here's what I made!

For the kitchen (pottery from PB!)

For the living room:

I also bought a writing desk this week, and it matches my kitchen table and chairs! I'm so excited :) :)

And last but not least, I gotta throw in some pics of the kiddos..

Fred says: Thanks for the dinner, Mam!

We are Siamese, if you please (Ba-dum-bum-bum!)

And pretty Brie :)

On this edition of Crazy things People Google"

2010-03-15T20:14:00.000-06:00

"man pooping on another man" -- oy vey. I need to be more careful of my post titles.
"pictures and images of a man pooping on another man" -- ....... vomit.
"sexy army officers wife" -- Well, you are at the wrong blog. But, if you look along the right side of my page, I'm sure you will find many sexy Army wives :)
"suck officer wife" -- Um, excuse you??
"What's a good gift for an officer's wife?"-- money, clothes, chocolate, gift cards, a girls night out, a hot date, dinner and a movie, Olive Garden, a good drink, .. need I say more?
"What does an officer's wife do?" -- Whatever the heck she wants.
"ask hannh noel" -- ask me what? Oh, and it's Hannah*
"hot officers wives" -- yes, you can find one of those here, and you can find a lot more if you look at my blog roll :)

PSF- The one about.. well, you'll see.

2010-03-12T09:00:00.001-07:00

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

It all started when we visited my sister, Rachel, in Houston on our way to Mississippi from San Angelo back in December. We had agreed to do our own little Christmas celebration and exchange gifts (since we couldn't all be together for Christmas). Rachel had warned me that her Hubby had bought something a little gross for Mr. Air Force. Actually, she said it was really gross. Disgusting. Vomitous. She was so embarrassed that he'd bought it in the first place. I promised her I wouldn't let on to Mr. AF about the present, and I'd just let him be suprised.

It turns out, her Hubby bought him soap. It actually smells really good and fills the whole bathroom with its scent if you leave the door closed for a little while. The only problem is that it doesn't look like your typical soap. It looks more like, well, something you'd never, ever, ever consider washing your hands with. It looks like this:

Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, it's soap in the shape, color, and texture of.... Oh, do I really need to say it? No. You see the picture. It's a very detailed bar of soap. Is it really considered a bar? Ugh. I didn't realize how uncomfortable writing this could be. Mr. AF has kept the soap in our guest bathroom, and for weeks I have been telling him, "Honey, this has to go somewhere else. It just cannot be in our guest bathroom. It just can't!"

Fastforward to last week, when the internet-guy came to install our internet (God bless him). He had been working for a little while when he said, "Do you care if I use your restroom real quick?" "Sure," I said, "No problem!" No sooner had the words left my mouth when little alarm bells started ringing in my mind.

THE SOAP! I wanted to run after him yelling, "NO! Don't go in there! You won't understand!!"
But it was too late. The door was closed and I heard the clang of the toilet lid. Crap. "What do I do?" I thought to myself, "Do I try to explain it when he gets out? Do I ignore it and hope he never noticed it? What if he comes running out demanding to know 'What kind of people are you?!'"

After washing his hands (luckily, we also have a regular soap dispenser), he came out of the bathroom looking very awkward and embarrassed. I chose not to make any further eye-contact with him and decided not mentioning the incident would be the best route. He must have come to the same conclusion.

The one where I kick myself.

2010-03-10T17:46:00.003-07:00

Friendly disclaimer: This is a women's-eyes-only post. It contains scenarios and terms which might make you uncomfortable, so if you think it might, then you should probably go ahead and exit out. I'm sorry if I offend anyone with TMI, but at least I warned you.Thanks! (oh, and I had to replace some letters in certain words with @ or ! because I was getting some crazy-weird searches on my blog!).

EDIT: After talking to Mr. Air Force, he agreed that I should file a formal complaint. We took care of it today (Thursday) at lunch.

Remember a week or so ago when I posted about my future GYN-visit with my doctor on base? If not, quick recap: I found out my PCP (my regular doctor) was also my gynecologist. I had a minor freak-out, because I've never had a guy doc before. I requested a woman-doctor for that oh-so-special visit, but he hinted that he wasn't comfortable with letting her do it and would prefer to do it himself. And now, unfortunately, I know why.

A few days ago, I was trying to get the exam scheduled with my doctor. His nurse called me and asked if I would be comfortable seeing the nurse practitioner instead, because she happened to have an appointment ready this week. Yay, I thought, now I won't have to see a man!

Well, today was said appointment. I came home and soaked in a hot bathtub while eating a solid chocolate bunny. How do you think the appointment went?

As I strolled into the doctor's office, I had no fear of what was about to happen. I had complete faith that this would be just like any other old appointment I've been to (and I've been to my fair share of them).

I sat down with a nurse who took my vitals and I answered "yes," and "no," to a lot of questions. She told me to change into the open-in-the-front gown while she left to ask the Nurse Practitioner a few questions. A minute or two later she came back and said, "Do you want her to do a p@p smear?" Huh??
"I'm sorry, what?" I replied.
"Well," she said, "we don't have to do the p@p smear, unless you really want to, so we're giving you the option. Actually we don't even have to do a bre@st-exam or pelv!c exam, since you just want her to write you a prescription. If you don't think you want any of that, you can just put your clothes back on."

Wow, I thought, okay! So on went my clothes as I waited for the N.P. to come see me. About five minutes later, the young nurse popped her head back in the door.

"I'm sorry," she said, "you're so gonna hate me, but the N.P. decided to go ahead and do the full exam, you know, just so we can have it on record."
"Oh, um, okay!"
"So, go ahead and take your clothes back off and hop up on the table," she said. "So sorry for the confusion!"
"No," I replied, "you're alright, it's no big deal!"

Off went my clothes again, and I climbed onto the table again. Another five minutes or so passed before the N.P. came into the room. My first impression of her was good. She seemed to have a very big personality (think Bette Midler in First Wives Club) and she also was very out-there and frank. I appreciate these qualities and enjoy friends who have them. I learned, however, that I do not appreciate and enjoy them when they are a part of the person in charge of handling my lady bits.

As I was sitting up on the table, she de-gowned me, took one look at my chest and said, "One of your bre@sts is lower than the other." Thank you captain obvious!
"Yep," I said, "aren't most women's?" There's nothing wrong with my chest, you jerk!
"Well, yes," she said. "I guess I could have said one was bigger than the other, because that's really what the problem is." I officially don't like you anymore. And it's not a "problem," it's normal!

She spent a good two minutes examining each side (seriously, she took For-Ev-VER), and then mashed my stomach to death. She was really rough! Finally it was time for the most-dreaded part of the exam. She called the young nurse in to assist her. "Here," said the young nurse, "let me guide your feet into the stirrups." Umm, thanks, I think I can manage on my own. Dang these things are really far apart. Holy cow, my hips don't work that way!
Now, I don't know about y'all, but I'm used to: Feet up, small specu1um in, a quick swish swish, and you're done! There might be minor pressure/pain, but nothing that makes you wanna cry, right? And the doctor doesn't grind your insides to pulp during the pelvic exam, right?

The N.P. had other ideas. After grinding away at my bladder, ovaries, and saying "Does it hurt when I push your cerv!x around like that?" she used the biggest specu1um I'd ever seen (it made an awful cranking-noise). For the next five minutes (yes, she left it in for THAT LONG, if not longer), I was in pain. Bad pain.

"Alright," said the N.P., "just gonna clean your cerv!x first. It'll probably sting."
Owwwwwwww!! Ow ow ow!
"Hey young nurse," she said, "You wanna see her cerv!x? Take a look."
WHAT THE HECK?!?!
"Oh cool," said the young nurse, "Nice. People say my butt looks like a cerv!x."
Oh my gosh, what is wrong with you people? And why are you still messing with me? This should have been done in 30 seconds, and it's been two minutes!
"Alright," said the N.P., "I'm gonna take the sample, you're probably gonna feel a pinch."
OUCH!!!! ouch ouch ouch! holy crap!
"Yep," she said, "That would be the pinch. You have a very friable cerv!x."
"I have a what cerv!x?"
"Friable. You have a very sensitive cerv!x. It's bleeding, so you may be spotting for the rest of the day."
You freaking made me bleed? What is wrong with you? I think the problem here is you, not my cerv!x!

The nurse left, and the N.P. walked away from the table to throw stuff away and take care of everything else, leaving me on the table, trying not to cry because I was still in pain, with the specu1um still in place. She finally decided I'd had enough torture and after taking the wretched-device away, she left me alone to wallow in misery.

Needless to say, next time I will gladly go to my male-doctor. He is very gentle and I feel very comfortable with him. I will NEVER go back to this Nurse Practitioner EVER. I've had eight exams before and not one of them was even close to being as bad as this exam was.

Alright, I'm done. Sorry for potentiallly grossing you out or giving way too much information, but I had to vent. And it's my blog. And that's what it's here for. Now I'm going to go eat some more chocolate.

Makes me smile.

2010-03-09T19:04:00.000-07:00

If a picture is worth a thousand words,

What'd'ya think this one is saying?

George says: (fill in the blank)

Have a happy Wednesday everyone!

Oh yeah, Moovin' Monday!

2010-03-08T19:41:00.000-07:00

I totally almost forgot about Get Moovin' March.

My first week didn't turn out as great as I planned.

While I did manage to obstain from fast food, I only got two walks in with the dog before I got hit with a semi-plague and was too sick to get off the couch. I did clean the entire house the day I got sick though. Does that count as the third work out? It sure felt like one. It's actually what caused my sinus infection. Dust stirred up from the vaccume and pledge. I'm officially counting it.

Anyways. This week, starting tomorrow (because today was freeeezing and rainy) I will walk Brie every day, and even try to throw in an ab work out here or there. As soon as she gets a little older I am going to try my legs at running again, and I need y'all to hold me to it. I really need new running shoes too. The one's I have are over three years old and falling apart on the inside! They're pretty nasty.

We're going on our honeymoon in August (unless the AF decides we don't need a honey moon, of course), and I want to look good! As soon as short season comes around, I'm going to shave my legs every day (since my legs are currently giving Mr. Air Force a run for his money), use that anti-cottage cheese thighs/butt cream (thanks, Mom), and use gradual tanning lotion. I'm going to do it. I mean it. I want to look dang sexy and deliscious for my honeymoon!! If only I knew where we are going. I could better prepare for it. Mr. AF won't tell me. *sigh*

I bought a ham today. With honey glaze. Is your mouth drooling yet? Cause it was gooood :)

Peeved.

2010-03-08T09:41:00.003-07:00

EDIT: Hah! She removed my picture and put one of her own up. BOO YAH GRAMMA!

Dear selller number 15253 of Pre Owned Wedding Dresses.com,

Would you KINDLY remove MY picture of ME in MY wedding dress that I am using to advertise MY Selling of the dress off of YOUR advertisement for the same dress? That's ILLEGAL and SO not cool. Did you honestly think if you chopped my head out of the picture that I wouldn't notice it was ME in MY dress if I happened to come across your advertisement?
For you information, I emailed the website about it and I hope they kick your butt off of their site.

Sincerly, Peeved Seller who doesn't appreciate people stealing her photos that she worked her butt off to edit.

Here is the listing if anyone would like to see it :)

New With Tags Other Forever Yours 36126 Wedding Dress | one of 4524 gowns for sale | PreOwnedWeddingDresses.com

Prayer

2010-03-06T20:38:00.000-07:00

To anyone who reads this blog, if you haven't already heard of Layla Grace, please go read her story and pray for her and her family. She is just a little girl who is losing her battle to Neuroblastoma cancer. She is home now, with her family, waiting. They need all the prayers you can give.

http://laylagrace.org/

My nose hurts.

2010-03-06T00:12:00.003-07:00

My nose hurts from all the blowing and shooting up of nasal decongestant spray.

I went to see my soon-to-be-very-familiar Doctor today for my sinus-crap.

Even though I've had a million sinus infections and ear infections and know what they feel like, he assured me I have neither. "It's just a cold," he said. Huh. Interesting. Tell my right ear that. You'll have to speak up. It's completely blocked and is in a lot of pain.

Then again, I realize I am definitely not a trained professional. I just have a low pain tolerance, I guess. I can only imagine what I'll say to my doctor the first time I have a child. "Oh, your contractions aren't that bad." PUNCH. KICK. HIGH-YA! "What doctor? Oh, broken noses don't hurt that bad. Trust me, I've had one before."

Actually, I have had one before. Funny story. It is also the reason why I will never own a trampoline.

It was November of my Freshman year of college. My 18 year old self was going through a nasty break up with a 24 year old man. I was with some friends watching Monday Night Football, and said 24 year old happened to be there also. Not wanting to stay in the house, I went outside with some of my girl friends and we spotted the trampoline. POPCORN!!

You know the game, right? One person is in the middle, curled up in a tight ball, while everyone else jumps as hard as they can to "pop" the person in the middle? Well, I was the "kernel," and I was determined not to get popped. I was so determined, in fact, that the girls were starting to tire from their attempts.

Yes, that's me.

It was all fun and games.....

until....

Take a close look.

Does my nose look a little.. off to you? Yeah. I thought so too.
The girl on the left in the white shirt, Michelle, lost her balance and her ankle collided with my nose. I remember hearing a big "POP" and thinking "Dang that was a hard hit!"
It wasn't until after I sat up, laughing, that realized my nose was bleeding. I let myself fall back against the trampoline, felt my nose and realized it was not in the same place it had been 30 seconds earlier.

I called my dad on the way to the emergency room, and the instant I heard his voice, I lost it. I started bawling and blubbering. "I... sob, sob I b-b-broke by d-d-doze... sniff."
"You whaaat?" Dad said. "I b-broke by doze on a trampoleed! more blubbering."
"You broke your nose? On a trampoline?"
"Y-y-yeah... sniff, sob, choke"

I don't know what it is about hearing your dad's voice when you're hurting physically or emotionally that makes you feel weak as a kitten who needs protecting. At least, that's how I feel every single time.

Michelle, who ironically turned out to be Maid of Honor at my wedding, felt so bad for breaking my nose that she drove me to the ER, even though hospitals make her sick. I, in turn, felt bad for making her feel like she needed to put herself through misery to take me to the ER. So, I started cracking jokes the whole way to the ER to take her mind off things. I was able to keep it up until my dad arrived to relieve her of her duty, and then I became miserable again.

Luckily, my nose wasn't broken, only fractured, so they couldn't do anything to correct the tilt to the left that it now has. Most of the crookedness in the picture was due to swelling. I had black eyes and a very swollen face for about a week. There's just some things that make-up can't hide.

Oh yeah-- and those pictures? They were taken by the 24 year old guy I was trying to get over. Such is life!

Sore throat enchiladas. Ew.

2010-03-04T09:58:00.000-07:00

If you saw yesterday's post, you might remember me mentioning that I'd been having sneezing fits all day. Well, they irritated my sinuses really bad and I woke up with clogged ears and a really sore/swollen throat.
PLEASE, dear God, don't let me get a sinus infection. They always lead to ear infections and those are the WORST.

I got this recipe from a cooking-blog somewhere, and I was super smart and didn't copy the blog address down, so I can't credit this recipe. If you happen to recognize it and know where it came from, PLEASE don't hesitate to let me know!
I also didn't follow the exact recipe, so I tweaked it according to what I did.
Mr. Air Force LOVED them!

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas
6 tablespoons honey
Two-three limes (I only used two med. Limes, but wished I had used more)
1 tablespoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 pound chicken, cooked and shredded (I used 1 lg. and 1 med. chicken breast)
8 Lg. flour tortillas
1 pound Monterey jack cheese, shredded
10 oz. can of green enchilada sauce
1 cup heavy cream (or sour cream, to lighten them up)

Mix the first four ingredients and toss with cooked/shredded chicken.
Let it marinate for at least 1/2 hour (I just put mine in the marinade-bowl as I shredded it).

Pour about 1/2 cup enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 9X13 baking pan.
Fill flour tortillas with chicken and shredded cheese, saving about 1 cup of cheese to sprinkle on top of enchiladas.

Mix the remaining enchilada sauce (I only used about ½ cup or more) with the cream and leftover marinade.
Pour sauce on top of the enchiladas and sprinkle with cheese (I didn’t use all of the sauce because I was worried it would turn out soggy).

Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, then remove foil and bake an additional 15 minutes, or until brown and crispy on top.

*This is also a Freezable Meal: Freeze prior to baking. To bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake enchiladas, covered (without thawing first), for 1 hour. Uncover and bake 30 minutes longer, until brown and crispy on top.

Next time, I plan on doubling the chicken/marinade recipe, and freezing half of the chicken so it is ready the next time I need it. I won’t necessarily need the marinade for the top of the enchiladas. You can just mix the enchilada sauce with heavy whipping cream and still get the same effect (add a little bit of chili powder if you want). Both Mr. AF and I thought they were great, but we thought it needed more lime in the chicken to bring out the flavor. They still tasted great though!

Enjoy :)

A book of nonsense

2010-03-03T17:58:00.000-07:00

I took Brie for a walk yesterday and today. Now I don't feel so bad about eating half of the brownies I made yesterday. I fully intend to eat the rest by tomorrow night.

I told Mr. Air Force we HAVE to get cable by March 22nd, so I can watch Dancing with the Stars. And I'm crossing my fingers that Kate will be the first to go.

I have come thisclose to sneezing my head off today. I don't know if the pollen count is starting to shoot up or what. It's getting BAD. My eyes are puffy/dry, my nose is all itchy. Yuck.

I'm going to make Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas. I'm determined that they will be awesome.

I killed a scary Fiddleback in my bath tub today. I HATE those things. They give me the worst creeps! I sprayed it with Lysol first, so it couldn't scuttle away. I hate when they do that. Then I smashed it with the cat's shampoo bottle and washed it down the drains. *shivvers*

Great. Now the next time I take a bath I'm going to have visions of it crawling back up to seek it's revenge upon my toes or booty.

Get Moovin' March

2010-03-02T10:29:00.000-07:00

I saw this first at Via's blog, Cloud Nine and Counting, who discovered it at Casey's blog, The Ever-Changing Life of a Military Wife.

You definitely need to get on the bandwagon, because it'll make me feel like I have a workout buddy!
Here's the skinny (from Casey's page):
1. Put the button on your blog or in your posts (you can find the link on her blog!).
2. Commit to cutting out fast food for the month.
3. Commit to exercising in some form 3+ days a week.
4. Post your progress each Monday and link up on Casey's blog.

Mr. Air Force mentioned last night what our credit card bill for the month was. It kinda made me want to spit out the food I was eating and take it back to the store. Of course, a lot of the things we've had to buy in the last month or two are one-time buys (desk, bathroom accessories, nails, dog bowls/leash/collar/bed, curtains, trashcan, laundry basket, etc., you get the picture!). Next month's bill should look a little bit nicer. I figure cutting our fast food will help though. I mean, I don't necessarily eat it a lot, but $5 here and there can really add up fast.

Lately I've been making soups and other meals that will last us the whole week. I made Tortilla Soup last week (a recipe from my lovely mama) and it was soooo good! It's a very creamy soup that looks and tastes cheese-based, but it's really not. You eat it with baked tortilla pieces. Man, I want to make it again now just because I was talking about it. I meant to take pictures, but I forgot! Hmm. maybe I'll just have to make it again so I can show you all how it's done. Mr. AF told me he really liked it.

Last night I made Chili, and made a big mistake that almost ruined it. As I was making this recipe that's so easy only a fool could mess it up, I decided to add an extra seasoning just to see how it affected the taste. It's a creol (sp?) seasoning that Mr. AF loves. Unfortunately, I didn't realize it's a salt-seasoning. Nothing is worse than food that has been over salted. And that's what happened to my Chili.
Oh well. You live and you learn. I'm going to take Brie for a walk soon, she keeps looking at me with those sad puppy eyes that say "Won't you please play with me?" Hey look at that-- I'm already fulfilling day one of my weekly workout! A walk counts doesn't it? Especially considering it's a big Great Dane that doesn't know her own strength?

Tagged/Awarded/Out of Breath

2010-03-01T21:49:00.001-07:00

I've been tagged by Tania over at Journey together.
Here are the rules:
•List 10 things that make you happy.

1.My hubby. Even if he drives me nuts sometimes, I love him.

2. My babies (the pets). Both cats and the dog are so extremely loving and affectionate. Well, Fred and Brie are affectionate. George is more demanding, but he can be sweet when he wants to be.

3. The Office. Give me a season of the Office for an evening and I am a happppy camper. I love the theme song. Dwight kills me.

4. My family (this probably should have gone before pets and The Office). I miss my mama and my sisters very much. And my dad! And my nieces and nephews! And my gramparents! And the family dog-- Molly.

5. Girls night out: there is nothing like a good one! I get all giddy and talkative and become extremely aware of anything fashion related.

6. Making people happy. Need I say more?

7. I like when I'm successfully funny. It doesn't always happen, but when I know I made someone laugh (with me, and occassionally at me) it makes me feel really good inside.

8. Good dreams. Sometimes I dream that I found a way to bring my old dog, Ladybug, back to life. She was my bestest bud growing up. Other times, I dream that I have a whole herd of horses, and one of them is a gorgeous black stallion that wants to be mine, and they can all talk to me. I know, I'm kinda weird. But I like those dreams a lot :)

9. Dancing with the Stars. That is, until I heard they're putting Kate Gosselin on the show. Blegh.

10. I'm gonna have to agree with Tania on this one. CHOCOLATE!

I also received a few awards:
The Beautiful Blogger award from Heather at Photographs and Uniforms and Happy Dash at Happy Day World! (tell seven things about yourself)

1. I love tall socks.

2. I could literally eat a whole pan of brownies by myself in less than a day.

3. I can't friggin' find the perfect face-wash for my face. *Sigh*

4. I still can't find a job. Applied for job #5 yesterday. Crossing my fingers. Again.

5. I want a boobjob. There. I said it.

6. I secretly dream of being a hott and sexy model. ohh yeah.

7. Now I just want a brownie. Dang it.

The Master of Karate and Friendship award from Elle at Bubbly Moments. (list six things you're a master at)

1. Driving with my knee (freaks Mr. Air Force out)

2. Popping every joint in my body.
(apparently, this does not help my back and neck, even though it makes everything feel better temporarily).

3. Mahjong Titans. I OWN at that game.

4. Baking Bread.

5. Curly hair. I have mastered it. Hair dressers never will.

6. Life (the game, not the real thing)

and The Kreativ Blogger Award from Caitlin at Cosmetology School and Combat Boots

All of these lovely ladies have great blogs and if you don't already know them, then you need to high tail it over to meet them and check out their blogs! And I forgot to tag a few other women, so I'd like to pass the awards on to the new followers I've had in the last week or so. The fact that you care enough to read and let me know what you're thinking makes me smile :)

Brie!

2010-02-28T17:02:00.000-07:00

We finally have our Brie!

Fred and George coming up with a plan to get rid of the giant dog.

I am cute.

Would you believe me if I said she's not fully grown? Her back is already as tall as our kitchen table! Her paws still look big on her. She still has to fill out too, so she looks really long and goofy right now :)

She did really well yesterday. She was so excited to go home with us and loves running around in the big back yard. Fred and George haven't accepted her yet. In fact, Fred mostly hides from her and George boldly charges her and spats at her. She got a couple of scratches on her nose already!

She refused to sleep on the big bed we got her, instead she slept right next to my side of the bed and woke me up a time or two for some lovin'.

I absolutely adore her, she is so sweet! She listens pretty darn well too, but she does need more training of course.

Anyways, we finally get internet on Monday! So I'll be able to hopefully start updating on mostly a day-to-day basis! I'm sitting at Mc'D's at the moment, and I need to get home! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend and have a happy Monday!

Closing!

2010-02-23T12:14:00.002-07:00

Wow, p@p smears are a pretty hot topic. If I'd only known the response I'd get, I would have blogged about it months and months ago! ;) juuuust kidding.

Thanks for all your opinions and advice! For the record, we are on TriCare Prime, and I've decided to go for it and try The Doctor out. If it's a bad experience, then I will be sure to ~~demand~~ request a woman next year! It never hurts to at least try, right? Albeit, it's not quite like trying a new food or a new wine, but oh well. I might try some new wine before I go in for the dreaded visit :)

In much more happy/exciting news, we are closing on our house today!!! YES!!!

Also, I'm going to do my best to catch up on at least two posts on each of the blogs I follow. I'm at the library and have time to spare, so I wanna get on it!

Ooh, and we get to pick up Brie on Saturday!! If you didn't see in an earlier post, we got extremely lucky and came across an eight month old Great Dane for FREE. We've met her once, she is extremely sweet, and I promise I'll be posting tons of pictures of her this weekend! I can't wait to have her home with us :)

P.S.-- I noticed I have a few new followers, and sometimes it's hard to check out your blog from the dashboard, so if you're new please leave a comment letting me know, so I can go check out your blog too!
Thanks :)

P.P.S.-- Dear Sassafrass, my fellow mil-wife-buddy-- I'm not sure if it's just me or everyone, but I can't comment on your posts and I don't have your email so I can't let you know that way, and your number wasn't saved on my smart chip so I lost it on accident when I switched phones so I couldn't tell you that way, so I'm hoping you stumble across this message! haha.
Something's wrong with the security-phishing check. It's absolutely impossible to post comments. I hope this helps! Love ya!

The one where I almost come un-glued.

2010-02-20T11:00:00.004-07:00

Warning: This post contains words and/or information not for little eyes or male-eyes. Thank you.

Last week I went to meet our physician on base for the first time, to get my thyroid tested, prescriptions updated, yada yada yada. The whole shebang. He seemed very nice and welcoming-- I'll just refer to him as "Doctor." I know, I'm so overly original.

As Doctor and I were discussing my current prescriptions, he asked me what birth control I was using, so I pulled it out of my purse to show him. Then he non-chalantly asked, "When was your last p@p smear?" I'm thinking Umm.. why are YOU asking me this?

Me: Umm.. last April.

Doctor: Alright. Hmm. Well I'll only give you three-months supply of birth control, because you'll need to get your next p@p done this coming April.

Me: Right, okay that's fine!

Doctor: Here's my nurse's number, just call her in a few weeks to make the appointment for anytime in April.

Me: Umm. Ah-- are you also the, um, are you the one that does the, um, exam? in April?

Doctor: Yep, that's me!

Me: Is it possible I could request a woman for that? I mean, no offence, I've just always had a woman gynecologist.

Doctor: Look, I understad, I really do, it's just that there are only two doctors here that do this, and we are both men. I could send you to the nurses upstairs, but three out of the four of them are also men and I wouldn't want to send you to them anyway.

Me: (red faced, avoiding all eye-contact, trying to act like a grown woman) No, no, it's alright, I understand.

Doctor: (who is now blushing because I am) We are all very professional here, there is nothing for you to worry about, it's really not a big deal.

Me: No, it's okay. I'll make the appointment for April.

Doctor: Have you had kids yet?

Me: Nope, not yet.

Doctor: (grinning) You just wait!
As in, "You just wait, because you'll have a lot more things to be embarrassed about aside from a man seeing your lady-bits."

I couldn't believe myself as I walked out of the office. Were these tears stinging the back of my eyes? But why? I'm a grown woman! I'm married! I'm a military wife! I can take on the world! But I just can't stand the idea of a strange man seeing and touching me, even if it is a doctor. It's just too personal for me. Yes, I know he sees hundreds of women a year. Yes I know they are of all different ages, shapes and sizes, but still. It's so embarrassing already, without it being a man.

Am I just being a complete ninny? Please, if I am, be brutally honest and tell me so.
Is having a man do it really that bad? A few friends have told me it's not embarrassing at all, that they actually prefer a man over a woman. At the same time, I've also had several people tell me they'll never go to a man-GYN again.

Help.

Can't think of a good title today. Sorry.

2010-02-18T12:37:00.000-07:00

Will we NEVER get internet??

We were supposed to get it yesterday. I was so excited, thinking about all the things I'd be able to do, blogs I'd be able to catch up on (I'm sure GoogleReader is up into the 300s now, if not more).

The guy who came to install it said we are missing special equipment and it will take two more weeks before they can install it (if they can afford to do it in the first place). Mr. Air Force will be looking into other provider options very soon.

Still no word on the job. I've applied for two other receptionist/secretary positions in Boise, but have yet to hear anything from them. For the heck of it, I've decided to try my hand at the Census. I'll be that annoying person that knocks on your door with a big questionnaire for you to answer. Hey, it's only temporary and it pays very well! After that, I'm going to take a two week course to get my license to sell Real Estate! Did I tell you already about that? Well, I'm super excited about it!

Any other Mil-wives see the jazz about MyCAA temporarily shutting down? I hope they get back in business soon, because I'll need financial aid in the fall! I already found out I don't qualify for Pell Grant. Mr. AF was furious and fussed about it for an hour.

Oh, I found out that my neck/back are totally screwed up! yay.
I've been having neck/shoulder/back pain for the last, oh, six or seven years. I have knots all over my shoulders and muscle spasms along the right side of my spine. I had a doctor look at me twice, and they just brushed it off as no big deal and prescribed muscle relaxers (which I can't take unless I want to be out of it for 24 hours).

I won a free exam/massage from a chiropractor in Boise, so I thought, what the heck, I'll go for it. I just wish Tricare covered it. I don't get why they don't??

He did a nerve stress-test on my back and said almost my whole back was under high-stress, then he took several x-rays. It turns out, I have really bad arches that are causing my hips and neck to tilt to the right. I also have a disalignment between my shoulders, and my neck has a reversed curve-- in other words, my neck looked like it was hunched over instead of curving backwards the way it's supposed to. He said to correct my muscles will take three treatments a week for five weeks, special expensive shoe inserts, and a special pillow for me to use at night. Did I mention TriCare doesn't cover chiropractic stuff? Oh yeah, and he said if it's not treated soon, it could get worse, cause chronic pain and would require surgery to "fuse" it all together with screws so it doesn't get worse.

Alex, I'll take "Pay an Arm and a Leg Now," for $900, please.

Our physician on base also works with backs, so he is going to take a look at me on Monday and see if its something he can fix himself (please PLEASE let it be something he can do!).

This is turning into another novel, so I'll leave it for now. This is why I need internet, so I don't talk your ear off all in one post!

P.S. We are supposed to close on our house on Monday!!!

I have To-Do lists coming out of my ears!

2010-02-10T15:29:00.000-07:00

Setting up your first home is expensive!! Gaaah.

I mean, first there is re-stocking the fridge and pantry. That in itself can cost a small fortune, even for bargain hunters like me! Then there is buying curtains for all the windows. When you have 12 windows that need them.. it can get costly (thank God for that BB&B gift card!).
Then there is stuff like toilet paper, bathroom fixtures (because the ones we have are ugly, and hubby broke my towel ring on accident), shower rods (and shower curtains), hangers, trashcans, hampers, plungers, and cleaning supplies.
And then there is decorating stuff (the very last on this list at the moment). Buying stuff to hang the pictures and mirrors on the wall so we don't have to gouge holes in the wall with nails, and I want to buy pretty Hobby Lobby flower arrangements for the four different vases/flower pots I have set up randomly about the house.

And then comes the BIG projects, like painting. Anyone know how much it costs to paint? We have our master bedrooom, the master bathroom, Mr. Air Force's office, and eventually the guest bedroom/bathroom and the pantry. We also need to sand and re-finish/paint our table and chairs, our piano, and another little table I have. Then I'm going to renovate a little trunk I bought for $15.

Will ALL of this get done within our first year of living here? I have a feeling it will not! haha

On top of all these To-Do's running through my mind, I applied for a JOB today! A part-time receptionist position-- it's exactly what I need! Please pray that I get called in for an interview and get the job!! With all of the costs that I mentioned above, it sure would be nice to have some extra income!

Oh yeah, did I mention I'm trying to become a fabulous cook, as well? ;)

We get to pick up Brie the puppy in two weeks and three days! I can't wait :D

Bad Dreams, You Suck.

2010-02-08T09:39:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I'm getting really annoyed, and it's my blog, so I'm going to vent.

Within the last month or two, I have had this recurring nightmare that Mr. Air Force wants to leave me. In some of the dreams we are only engaged, and in some of them, he throws out the big "D" word (divorce).

Last night's dream was probably worst of all.

First, I dreamed that he had a celeb-crush on Hayden Panettiere and had tons of hidden pictures of her. When I found the pictures, I ripped them to shreds and then confronted him about it. I was furious and hurt.

"Do you even love me?" I asked (something I ask in every single dream).
"Well," he hesitated, "yeah." (in some dreams he says "no," and in some he simply doesn't respond).
He promised never to keep pictures like that again.
However, the next day at a restaurant, he confessed that there was "another woman," and that he was leaving me for her. I freaked on him and said things like, "What about last night??" "You promised me you loved me!" "You said you wanted to work it out!"

He just told me that I caught him off guard the night before and he hadn't been ready to tell me the truth. He didn't love me anymore, and he no longer wanted me to be his wife. He wanted me to go home to my family so that he could have this other woman for his wife.

I began bawling hysterically, begging him to come to his senses and tell me he still loved me. He just shook his head and told me he had some friends coming to meet him at the restaurant, and he wanted me to leave. So I walked home, carrying my high heels in my hand, trying not to make a spectacle of my crying-self to the cars driving by. I took my cell-phone out of my purse and called my mom, my sisters, my dad, and a couple of my best friends, each time blubbering over and over, "He doesn't love me anymore!," and "He wants a divorce.. Oh my God, I'm getting a divorce. No, no, no!"

Finally, I woke up from the horrid dream in a panic. Since I was still so close to la-la-land, I still believed the dream was real for a little while. I had to get up out of bed before I could fully clear my head and try to shrug off the dream, but it still bugs me, ya know?

First off, where in the heck did Hayden Panettiere come from? I'm not even sure my husband knows who she is, and if he does, then he probably thinks she's a ditz. And Secondly, I know my husband loves me. I know he does. I know he thinks I'm attractive and sexy. I think that sometimes I just don't believe that about myself. Sometimes I'm worried that I'm not a good enough wife, or that I want my way too much.
Doesn't every woman deal with that a little bit?

All I know is that right now, I just need a big, comforting hug from my husband.
I'm ready for a good dream.

Update in photos

2010-02-06T15:44:00.000-07:00

Fall #26 coming down the steep steep slope on my first day of skiing.

My right leg looks... wrong.

The beautiful mountains that are only an hour away from my house

The happy couple

Part of the finished kitchen (yay!)

The $45 kitchen table and chairs :)

You'll have to pardon the "We just moved in" mess

Finally, meet Brie!

She's too skinny, but we'll fix that up when we bring her home!

Hope everyone is having a fantabulous weekend!

Mum! Mum! Mummie! Ma! MaMa!! Mum!

2010-02-03T11:51:00.000-07:00

(Sorry, didn't know what else to put for the title. I hope everyone gets it, haha. I HATE Family Guy, but that commercial kills me).

Well, we are FINALLY in the house! TMO brought all of our stuff yesterday, and we set to unpacking all the kitchen stuff. I didn't stop until everything was in it's place, and then I swept and mopped the floor like a good wife :). I got our bed made, put lots of clothes in my BIG walk-in closet (heavenly music), and started opening boxes in the living room. I think the only boxes we have left are in Mr. Air Force's office. No telling what's in them! Mostly books, I'm guessing.

There's only one problem with our lovely house: we can't get the danged heater to work right. We can turn it on, but five minutes later it shuts itself off. Our first night it was a grand total of 57 degrees! Thank God for space heaters! Mr. AF finally figured out how to turn on the gas fire place (really, you'd think it would be simple. Well, actually, it is really simple, once you figure it out), so that warmed up the house a lot. Since we haven't closed yet, this means the sellers have to fix whatever's wrong with the heater, yay! It may just be the thermostat.

BIG news! (trumpets sounding)
We're getting a Great Dane! She's eight months old, a Merle (gray/black/white), and we get her at the end of the month! FOR FREE! (cheers) We met her last week, and she is extremely sweet and well behaved. The man that owned her before called her "M'lady," but we are going to name her Brie. I love that name and it suits her! I'll get pictures up as soon as I can!

Speaking of pictures, I'm sorry I still haven't put any up of the house. Now that we don't have internet, I am having to use the base-library computers, so I don't have access to my pictures! I promise, asap, I will put pics of the finished house!

Well, I'm off to the bookstore and then back home! TTFN.

Coverage.

2010-01-31T22:15:00.000-07:00

Ya know what is scary? Switching makeup.

In high school, I was constantly switching up liquid makeup. I never could find the right foundation/powder combination that worked well with my skin. Then, in college, I discovered Loreal's mineral makeup and I was in heaven. In the last year, however, it started drying out my skin and causing lots of breakouts on my chin. So I switched to Bare Minerals-- the supposed *miracle* of all makeups. While my acne is now slim to none, the stuff dries my face out like a desert! I'm in a habit of putting two or three layers of lotion in order to moisturize enough pre-foundation.

Have you ever been to TotalBeauty.com? I've started going there when I want to get user-reviews on makeup, hair care products, etc.. I found Estee Lauder foundation that has a lot of great reviews, so I high-tailed my booty to the mall. I've never spent more than $12 on foundation, so I'm a little hesitant to spend $33. Lucky for me, the chick behind the counter gave me a 10-day supply of it for free so I could decide if I really like it! She also said they're doing a special, and if I buy between the 2nd-22nd of Feb, I can get a free make up bag, eye shadow, lip stick, mascara, and under-eye cream! If I up my spending to $50, then I can get free face-wash too! Sorry if I sound like I'm advertising, I'm just really excited.

I LOVED having my make-up done by the lady. It made me feel so happy! I should go get it done more often :). So far the makeup feels very lightweight and covers great, so hopefully it'll work out!

Yes, this was a very non-important post. Just felt like sharing some random gab.

Have a happy Monday!

Tied Together with a Smile

2010-01-29T15:31:00.001-07:00

The original post is below, but this just happened so I HAD to vent about it.
The hubs just got home from work and went to check his facebook. He had a few friend requests and he told me to look at one in particular. It was a girl he obviously didn't know. She was buck-nekkid, cupping the girls, attempting to lick one of them while looking the camera in the eye.
I promptly did the first thing that came to my mind. I sent her a direct, blunt, straight to the point mesage that said the following:

"Hey Slut, leave my husband alone. K thanks -- The Wife."

Now, back to our original post!

Tuesday is the day! We made on offer on our favorite house, the owner accepted, and they allowing us to move in ridiculously early so that we don't have to keep paying to stay on base! YAY!

Mr. Air Force texted me from work and said the movers would be arriving on TUESDAY! I'm sooooo stankin' excited to get moved in, I can hardly stand it. Know what else I'm excited for? Cleaning out my car. No, not trash (well, some of it's trash). Boxes. Boxes. Clothes. Hangers. Random pieces of furniture. Our cars make us look homeless! Mr. AF mentions it every time we get in the car. He hates when things look cluttered.

Fred and George have learned a new trick. I think George is the instigator. They've learned how to jump on the kitchen counter, knock down their bag of feed, chew a monstrous hole into it and eat to their hearts content. BAD KITTY! That is a BAD trick. I put their food up in a cabinet and I'm ready to pop their butt the next time I catch them doing it. Don't mess with this Mama!

George, aka, His Royal Highness

Freddo (this picture KILLS me)

"I love when my mama scratches my chin :)"

I'll be posting some pictures of the house soon! We're very excited about it :D :D

Oh, and I also have some other exciting news, but that will have to wait a little while (and NO I'm NOT Preggz!).

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE!!!!