Weekend Adventures

So this past weekend was extremely busy but fun. Friday night started with the Spirit of America concert. It was awesome! They covered so much of American history with reenactments, singing, and even drill performances. They only perform in 2 cities every year since the performers are active duty soldiers in the same unit. I am so glad Scott and I were able to see them. The drill team was amazing and even made my heart stop when they were tossing up their rifles with bayonets. The US Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps performed as well and I felt honored to watch them because this was the same group that escorts the President. And the show was free! Can't beat that.

Saturday was Bachelor/Bachelorette Party night. My best friend is getting married in less than 2 weeks. Her fiancé and his friends went to Charlotte at an all-night laser arena. I took the Bachelorette and some friends out to dinner at California Dreaming then to Woody's in the Vista for drinks & dancing. I'd never been to that bar & grill before and I'd heard great things about it so I decided to try it out. While trying to find a parking spot in the Vista, I bumped the curb. We heard a loud metal noise so we both assumed I hit the frame. As I finish parking my low tire pressure light came on and I knew it wasn't good. So I got out to look and yep, flat tire. My first flat tire EVER in the 9 years I've been driving. And boy did I hit it good. lol. Unfortunately both of our guys (my husband, her fiancé) were out of town and couldn't come to our rescue. Luckily my friend's parents were home and her dad is a mechanic. So he came to the rescue and got my spare on. Luckily he also has his own floor jack and portable air compressor because my spare did not have enough air. That night with that situation definitely showed me how blessed we are and that God was watching out for us. The parking spot where I hit the curb was in front of a bank (hello security cameras!) which had a lit up drive-thru so my tire was changed with plenty of light. That's a big thing since we were downtown and had 2 cops drive by without stopping to help us. We were out there for about 30 minutes waiting for her dad. God was definitely watching out for us. When we finally got to the club we had a great time. We had free American Honey shots and a free shirt. They played a mixture of songs so it was a fun night. We stayed out late and since the guys were still in NC we decided to have a sleepover at my house. We were rather tired so we laid on the couch & loveseat and watched Once Upon a Time until we fell asleep. It was a great night! The guys got in around 6 am, stayed at the best man's house (he drove), and they came to my place around 10. We layed around most of the day watching movies and TV shows. It was a great weekend!

Scott has been on active duty orders since May and last Thursday his orders were cut. Which means no job yet again. I wasn't happy when he told me but I was faithful that God had a plan. Well, today was an answered prayer. Scott got his AGR orders today!! We finally have a date for when he reports to his new unit in NC. It's great news but now I have to face the reality of being apart for 1-3 years. We will definitely be living it up the next few weeks and making memories.

Life Update

Wow, I've been slack! There have been several times I've thought about a blog to post when I'm away from a computer, but I get home and I forget. I can't believe how much time has gone by since my last post. Guess I'll pick up where I last stopped.

We got the insurance money for Scott's truck but within a week or two his transmission went out. So guess where that money went? Yep, you got it. His transmission. So we searched around to find the cheapest one and it wound up being at a pull-a-part place. He decided to replace it after work one day. He said he'd be done around 7 or 7:30 so I decided to wait on him to eat dinner. 8 o'clock came around and he said he ran into some problems and would be a while longer. 9:30 came, same thing, more problems. 11 o'clock came and he was still finding new problems to fix. So I decided to go to bed thinking he'd be home soon. I woke up at 4 a.m. the next morning and he wasn't in bed. So I immediately sent him a text thinking the worst had happened, that he fell asleep behind the wheel and was in a ditch somewhere. Luckily he responded rather quickly saying he was almost done. Poor thing didn't get home until 6 a.m. and had to be back on post by 9:30. Luckily his sgt was understanding enough to let him come home to sleep for a little and allow him to come to work a little late.

We've also done some home improvement projects. Our front flower bed was nothing but sand and pine straw. So we made a trip to Lowe's to pick up border blocks, soil, mulch, different flower seeds, and of course solar lights! I cannot believe how much better it looks. I love it! A few days after we planted the seeds a few rainstorms hit and we learned that not having gutters on our house caused a puddle around one of the bushes we planted and would uproot it. So gutters were our next investment and they worked wonders. We also finally replaced our living room & master bedroom ceiling fans. We bought them back in February or March with our tax return and finally got around to doing it. See, I'm also a slacker in real life, not just blogging. I hate procrastinating and putting things off but I'm so good at it. lol

We also found out the first week of August that Scott was selected for AGR (Active Guard & Reserve). This is a blessing and an answer to a prayer. He applied Feb 2011 and he received an email stating there were openings at Fort Jackson. So he applied and the next day we learn that those slots were quickly taken and the closest one is Indianapolis. What really upset me was Scott's CO told him he either needed to take the slot in Indiana or he would cut Scott's orders. (Scott has been on active duty orders since May so he goes on post Mon-Fri in his ACUs like he's active duty, but his orders are only 2 weeks at a time. So if orders stop, no more working on post daily and back to his civilian job.) So his CO was making us choose between living 13 hours apart for who knows how long or Scott going back to his civilian job where he didn't make enough for ends to meet. I was so upset and angry. I couldn't help but cry, even at work. Once I calmed down and decided we could make things work out with IN, I told Scott to get more info. Turns out they still had his home of record as IN, so they changed it to SC. They also have my raynaud's on record which requires us to stay in warmer climates (according to them). So they found a closer slot in NC that's only 3-4 hours away. That's doable! The kicker: he has to be there for 3 years. :( We're hoping after a year he'll be able to come back, but we'll see. The 2nd kicker: he reports to the new unit Labor Day weekend. That gave us a month to enjoy time together before being apart for up to 3 years. Wow. A week later the date changed to mid-Sept, then Oct, and now it's Nov. So who knows when he'll actually leave but we're trying to enjoy our time together.

We've also been able to spend a lot of time with family recently. Our weekends have been busy the past few weeks. We spent Labor Day weekend camping at the lake in our new tent. I love spending time with my whole family. We're always laughing and having a good time. We've had birthday celebrations for Scott, myself, and my younger brother. Last weekend Scott's grandmother and aunt came down from Indiana to visit for a few days. They were heading to Florida to visit family there as well and decided to make a few stops along the way. One of the most exciting things, to me anyway, was receiving some of my grandmother's china. I really liked the set she had in her china cabinet but those belonged to my uncle. Little did I know that she had a very similar, not-as-fancy-but-still-really-nice set. My mom asked if I was interested and of course I said yes! I have nice china! I felt one step closer to being an adult. lol. Since she had 24+ place settings both me and my SIL split them. So now that I have china I needed a china cabinet. Scott's aunt and I went to a large neighborhood sale this past Saturday in hopes of finding one, but no luck. All I bought were 2 books. (I am my mother's daughter - she loves books!) Afterward a friend of mine sent me a link on Craigslist of the perfect one! It was the right size (not too big), right color, amazing price, and looked to be in excellent condition. I replied to the seller and she told me it may have already sold but she'd keep in touch if it was still available. Well, I decided to release it and if it was meant to be, it was meant to be. On Sunday we were at a family reunion and I get an email, the sale didn't go through! The cabinet could be mine! So we went by to look at it and I fell in love. It was perfect. I don't know how old it is but it belonged to the husband's father and had a matching bookcase at one time. It's solid wood, looks almost brand new, the doors are still tight, and it only cost $80! Amazing!! So now it's in my dining room awaiting china. My goal this weekend is to clean them and place them in the cabinet.

Freak Accident

So this past Tuesday afternoon I get back from my lunch break and Scott calls me. The first thing out of his mouth is "I'm just calling to let you know that I'm heading home because I just left the hospital." That's all he said!! So I'm freaking out and asked what happened. Basically, a ratchet strap that's under a lot of pressure came loose and flew back at Scott and sliced his arm. The cut is about 2-3 inches long and cut through to the bone. Scott says he didn't feel anything. Everyone was asking if he was ok and he said he was fine. Someone else grabbed his arm and raised it above his head, told him to apply pressure, and took Scott to the hospital. This happened at 9:30 that morning and he wasn't seen for about 3 hours. They gave him 5 stitches and he was put on profile for the day (which means he can't work) and on light duty for 2 weeks. The doctor said the ratchet barely missed slicing his tendon. If that had happened Scott would have lost motion in his thumb, index, and middle fingers. Crazy! I'm so thankful that didn't happen and that he's ok. He was checked recently to make sure he's healing properly, which he is, and sometime next week the stitches will be removed.

If that wasn't bad enough, Scott's water pump in his truck cracked Thursday when he was leaving work. We both knew it needed to be replaced but we didn't have the money at the time so Scott checked the water level every day before leaving to go anywhere. When he left post he was full, got a few miles down the interstate and his dash told him the truck was overheating so he pulled over and heard the water pump go out. Luckily a friend of his was nearby and picked him up and let him borrow one of his cars for the night. We bought a new water pump and the plan was to have a friend tow the truck on post Friday morning. Scott got to his truck a little after 9am yesterday to learn that between 6 and 9am someone broke his passenger window and stole several items. His ipod, radio, tools, knives, flashlights, and the box of blankets he had under his seat. Craziness!!! Bad things really do happen in 3's. He called the cops and our insurance to file a claim. We're waiting until Monday for his truck to be investigated and then we can get his window and motor fixed. It's been a stressful week. lol

Road Trip

Sorry I've been slack at updating. I'm not on my laptop a lot and now that I have an iPhone, I'm on even less. lol. Ever since the hubs & I moved to SC 2 years ago, we try to go visit his family in Indiana every July 4th and either Thanksgiving or Christmas. Since July 4th was a Wednesday this year we both took off the 5th & 6th as well so that we could have a nice long weekend vacation. I was able to convince my parents to come up with us. They've never been to Indiana and I really wanted to show them where Scott's from. My mom is a teacher so she was already off for the summer but my dad is an accountant so he worked hard to be able to take off some days. It was also the first time in a very long time that my dad was not in charge of driving. lol. So it was interesting to see what he'd do during the trip to entertain himself. It's a 10-11 hour trip usually. My dad booked us a hotel on the way up so we left Tuesday night, drove about 4 hours, stopped outside of Knoxville for the night, and continued the trip Wednesday morning. We got to Scott's hometown around 4pm. Scott's dad was on his 3-week vacation so he was able to spend a lot of time with us. His mom had asked off but it was denied. We had a great time up there! It's the most relaxed I've ever seen my dad. He works late hours at work and when he gets home, he's usually still stressing or busy doing something. So it was really nice to see him relax. We had hoped to flee the 100 degree weather of SC but it was just as hot in Indiana. In fact, I had my first nosebleed EVER while up there. It was Thursday around lunchtime and I felt like my nose was running, I wiped at it and saw blood. I was instructed to pinch my nose right above the bump and luckily it worked. It didn't last very long but man it felt weird. lol.

Then Friday night was the big cook-out and fireworks that we do every year. His dad invited a lot of people. Only about half showed due to the heat. The food was great and the fireworks were awesome. We were all sitting around the front yard while the fireworks were shot off across the street by his dad's polebarn. Someone had bought 3 of those boxed fireworks that each have 20+ containers that go off one after the other. Well, the first one went crazy. One shot across the street at us and hit the light pole and got the side of someone's head. One shot into the polebarn and went off. Another one shot back at us and went on the porch and exploded. By then we were all up and moving to find safety. lol. Needless to say, we didn't set off the other 2 boxes. I always love seeing the fireworks because growing up we only bought the cheap ones. These fireworks are the expensive, big, beautiful ones! So I got some great photos.

Saturday was the only day his mom was off while we were there (other than the 4th) so that was the day we were finally able to go off and see some things. So we went to historic Vincennes, which is the closest "big" city to Scott's hometown and it's 30 minutes away. lol. We went to the George Rogers Clark Memorial. It was beautiful and so interesting. We watched the short video about George Rogers Clark. I love learning about history, even if I can't always remember it. I picked up some souvenirs to remember it by. And of course, I took pictures. lol. We also walked to Illinois since the memorial is right by the bridge over Wabash River that separates the states. So it's fun to be able to say "I walked to Illinois" and also add another state to the list of new states my parents have been to. We then went to the nearby catholic church. I've never been in one so it was amazing to see all the stained glass windows and the huge pipe organ. It was a fun, hot day.

We left Sunday morning to come back home. Due to road work on i75S our trip turned into 14 hours. We were so ready to get home. We left Indiana around 9:45-10 expecting to be home by 8 or 9. Nope. We got home at midnight. And then to add to it, while we were gone Scott had received a phone call from his Sgt saying that instead of leaving mid-July for a few weeks in Texas, he was leaving Monday morning. Once we got home Scott had to unpack and re-pack. He was up until 1am packing just to get to his unit Monday morning to find out his CO wasn't aware Scott was going and he needed Scott here since he was one of the top 2 hardest-working people in the unit. So luckily Scott didn't have to leave.

Working Out

I finally started working out again yesterday. I had planned to start Insanity this past Monday but was unable to. Then I remembered that I ordered one of Jillian Michaels's work-out DVDs to try. A lot of people think I'm crazy when I say I need to exercise or I'm out of shape. Yes I'm skinny and I don't weigh much, but I'm in no shape at all and would love to tone up some areas. I'm out of breath just walking around the office at work and going upstairs. For the past year or so I've actually felt really good about my body. My stomach is flatter with more definition and I love it. The best part, I don't even know how it happened! lol. Somehow I lost 10 lbs in the last 1-2 years. Somehow my biceps got bigger and more defined as well. Once again, not sure how that happened. Anyways, point is my self-esteem and confidence have been extremely high and I actually like what I see in the mirror. Most days. lol. I mainly need to tone up the hip/butt/thigh area and work on my upper body strength. Since that's my "problem areas", I ordered Killer Buns & Thighs to try. There are 3 levels. Each is 30 mins. Since I'm a beginner I did Level 1. There are 5 circuits: warm-up, 3 exercise ones, and a stretch/cool-down. She does each twice before moving on to the next circuit. I'm not gonna lie, it kicked my butt! I had to pause it a few times to catch my breath. I couldn't even do the full 30 mins. I had to stop it after 20 mins when I finished the 3rd circuit. Sad right? I've never felt so out of shape in my life. lol. I felt fine until I'd stand up to walk around and my legs were a bit shaky. When I got up for work today, I was sore. It wasn't as bad as the 3-mile cancer walk I did back in March. I was sore for 3 days because of how fast I power-walked. Anyway, normally when I'm sore I'll use it as an excuse to not work-out. Not today. I powered through it and actually finished all 30 minutes! I still had to pause it a few times to catch my breath because those cardio intervals are killer. It feels like my heart is going to pound out of my chest and I get nauseous. I take a few breaths, calm my heart some, and resume my work-out. Right now there are 3 moves that I can't quite get the hang of, but I'm sure I'll get better the more I do it. Can't wait to see how sore I am tomorrow. lol. After how badly these 30 minutes kicked my butt, I'm a bit nervous to try Insanity. I showed Scott the circuits and he said Insanity was very similar except Shawn T gives you short breaks. Even my Zumba disc gives me a few seconds! Come on Jillian, you're killing me! lol.

It amazes me how one healthy choice can lead to another. After working out yesterday, I was hungry but didn't want anything too filling. I was actually craving a salad last night! And yes, that was my dinner last night. If I keep this exercise routine up, I may decide to have salad as dinner every night since I'm not very hungry. If I can push myself to do these circuits and work myself up to Level 3 (we'll see) and get the body I want, it seems fairly easy to maintain it. I'm looking forward to biking or going to the gym on post or maybe even running one day. (I'm not much of a runner.) For once I feel like that life is in my reach. For years it was all in my head and it sounded so good, but I never did anything about it. But now I am and I'm motivated and determined to keep it up. We'll see how it goes! I did take some "before" shots yesterday for comparison. The plan right now is to take pictures every week, but that will depend on whether or not I see any changes.

Cirque du Soleil

My mom and I had the opportunity to go to Michael Jackson's Immortal Tour by Cirque du Soleil last night. We met her 2 sisters (my aunts) for dinner before the show. My aunt had bought the tickets so we were on the 7th row in front of the stage so we had a great view of everything going on. They played tons of his songs. It was kinda weird with the music because they had a live band and live back-up singers while playing MJ's voice as lead. So it was weird being at a concert-type thing with no lead singer. The show was so over-the-top and awesome that I think if MJ was alive, this is how he would have wanted the show to be done. It was filled with extremely strong acrobats flying through the air, tumbling around the stage, and dancing in the air.There was even a pole dancer that would position herself in ways that you couldn't tell how she was holding herself there. Sometimes it was just her thighs holding her and it amazed me to think of just how strong she must be in order to do what she's doing. Some acrobats were bending in ways that don't even seem possible. lol. The whole time I kept waiting and hoping that Michael would come out on stage. Like in the Thriller performance, they had all the zombies dancing on stage doing the Thriller moves, but no one to represent MJ in the red jacket. :( It was an awesome experience but kinda sad when you realized he's no longer here.

Easter weekend

Easter was done rather differently this year but it was a lot of fun! We normally get up Easter morning, check our baskets for Easter Bunny goodies, go to church (the same one we've gone to for 20+ years), and head to one side of the family for lunch and egg-hunting. (We alternate each year which side of the family we go to.) Over the years, my mom's side has grown and my aunts and uncles have their own kids and grandkids to spend the day with so the amount of people that gather together has greatly decreased. Add in my grandfather's passing in 2006 and my grandmother now being in a home, it's now at the point where each aunt/uncle spends time with their own separate families. It's kinda sad to think of how things used to be, but I understand how things got to where they are. Anyways, we were due to spend Easter with my mom's side this year so we decided to spend the weekend at my grandmother's house on Lake Murray. We all went up Saturday. Scott & I got there around 7:30 after he got home from work and we packed. We spent the rest of the day sitting around a campfire, roasting hotdogs and marshmallows, and having a great time. Unfortunately my older brother and his wife couldn't stay the night, but we were all up until about 2 am enjoying each other.
The next morning we went to a local church with my aunt. It was different but fun. When we got back we changed clothes and went to my aunt's "shooting range" they have set-up at the top of their property. My dad and brothers had brought their guns to shoot. I shot my dad's 22 and it was much different than the 45 or AR17. lol. I could shoot the 22 all day; it's so light with little recoil. Plus it was practice for the P22 Scott wants one day. By the time we were done it was lunchtime. So we popped in "Grown Ups" while Scott grilled porkchops. We then put in "Smurfs" and after that one, I needed to get up and move around. So I joined my mom on the garden swing with my kindle and read. It was so relaxing! The sun started to set so we grabbed camping chairs to sit in the sun. We had to keep moving them lol. It eventually got too chilly so we went back inside. The boys were finishing another movie. We put in "Black Sheep" to watch with dinner. My parents were staying that night but we had work Monday morning and couldn't stay. It was a lot of fun! I hope this is our new tradition. Until grandkids come in the picture, we should hunt gun shells instead of eggs. lol. I hope everyone had a great Easter! Pictures to follow.

Lovely Springtime

I love Springtime, minus the pollen, but luckily I think we've passed the pollen stage. lol Anyway, it's really fascinating to watch the trees bloom with the stinky white flowers that turn into beautiful green leaves. It seems to happen overnight. One day the neighborhood is full of white trees, the next day everything is green. Love it! I'm out in my backyard almost every day once I get home from work since I have to take Sally outside. One of my favorite trees has leaves! I swear they weren't there the day before. lol. I love seeing green trees everywhere and not bare ones. Not sure if you remember my post back in October when we planted 2 new trees, but they've started blooming as well. Our October Maple hasn't bloomed much but hopefully soon. When I got home today from running errands I noticed the Kwanzan Flowering Cherry tree has blossomed! We saw buds the other day but overnight they blossomed and are so pretty! It didn't have flowers when we planted it so it was exciting to see the kind of flowers that bloomed. They're so pretty! I'm so excited to watch this tree grow and see it covered in these flowers.

We also bought 2 boston ferns the other day. I love how they look and have been wanting some to hang on our porch. We lucked out and found some the other day. After looking around for a lower price, we wound up buying 2 from a store nearby. I love them!! Our house looks and feels more like a home now. We changed the light fixtures and put up curtains a few weeks back before the in-laws came to town and that drastically changed the home-y feel. We also rearranged the living room so the TV is neither in front of the fireplace or the windows. So we have more light in the living room, no glare on the TV like before, and the living room is more open. Love it! We transformed the inside and now the ferns help transform the outside. Now to figure out what to do with our flower bed area...

Beach Hair!

For some of you this post may seem silly, but I'm excited I was finally able to give my hair the "beach look". Ever since I was little my hair has been super straight. It does not hold curl well, especially the longer it gets 'cause of the weight. At my brother's wedding last month we curled it, put lots of hair spray in it, and even though my hair is somewhat short with layers (to keep it light), the curls still slowly fell a few hours later. At my wedding I curled it and used TONS of hairspray but due to how long my hair was and the heat, my curls fell in 20 minutes. Anyway, after I shower I've noticed my hair has some sort of wave to it until I brush it or blow-dry it. So I bought mousse last year to try on my hair when it was short. My first attempt failed. I don't think the mousse had dried so my hair was rather wet and, as it dried, the "wave" fell and my hair was a mess. I gave-up and figured this was one hairstyle I wouldn't be able to do. I still have the mousse so I tried again this morning after I showered. This time I kept scrunching it until my hair felt dry and it looked the way I wanted it. Then I sprayed some hairspray. It actually worked!!! I was so excited!!! I have another hairstyle other than straight. lol. (I've never curled my hair so if you see a picture where it's curly, my mom did it. lol)

Songs

A few years ago somehow all of the songs on my iTunes were erased. I had a mixture of songs that I had downloaded (not from iTunes), some I had imported from CDs I owned, and some from CDs owned by others. It had taken me an entire weekend the first time to import songs from CDs when I got my first iPod in 2005 and over the past several years I've added songs to it so I could only imagine how long it would take to get my iTunes fixed. Plus, I was afraid to plug my iPod into my computer thinking it would automatically sync to iTunes and would erase all the songs on my iPod as well. So for several years I've kept a list of songs I want to download and put on my iPod but I can't update my iPod until I fix my iTunes. Long story short, that is what I've started today. All the songs I've downloaded are on my iTunes so I'm going through my iPod alphabetically re-listening to every song to see if I still want it. The ones that weren't downloaded that I want to keep, I'm making a list in Excel so later I can go through ALL of my CDs and import the songs back to iTunes. Whichever songs are left I'll have to download. So this is definitely going to be a process. lol.

Point of my blog is about some of the songs. I'm only in the B's at the moment, but it's amazing the memories that are attached to songs. I hear some that remind me of high school that I would blare while driving home from school or around town my senior year. There are some songs that I downloaded when Scott was deployed so they're all about missing him or him being gone. Some I can even remember buying the CD back when CDs were popular. Those songs were all part of a certain time in my life. They have meaning but majority of these songs I don't like as much as I once did. The songs have memories but newer songs have come out since then that I'd rather have on my iPod. I almost feel a bit guilty deleting songs. lol. I'm glad to finally start updating my iPod. I just thought it was interesting how just hearing a song can take me back 10 years.