What a Whirlwind!

Yeesh! I suck at this updating thing!

2011-07-16T00:40:00.000-04:00

We all (2 babies, 2 dogs and me!) made it safely to my mom's place in IL. We've been here just about 2 weeks now and are slowly getting settled in. The girls are starting to get into a schedule and I'm trying to acclimate to that. I should have figured I'd have to give up my noon time wake-ups sooner or later!
It has been great to see family and friends and I even met Mishu's dad and sister in Indiana so that they could see the girls and they could pass on to me some excersaucers. The girls love them and we use them outside. It has pretty much been non-stop doing things and seeing people since we arrived. I know that in the next few weeks it will slow down. I just need to survive those few weeks! No, I jest, it has been great to see everyone. I missed them all so much.
Mishu is doing well. I can't say much, but what I can say is that he is NOT meant for desk work and thankfully that did not last very long!
I am really glad that the girls are too young to remember him being gone like this, though I am a little worried about what will happen when he comes back for mid-tour leave and when he returns to the states for good. We read the book Daddy recorded for them (Hallmark's Guess How Much I Love You...or something like that) but I had to send it back to him over there because somehow in the move up here, the last page was recorded over. I also sent him one more Christmas book to record for the girls and then I have to eventually get more "regular" (read: non-Christmas) books so that the girls don't get bored by the one. They absolutely love listening to his voice read them the story. We also did a local Build-a-Bear type thing and there are voice boxes in each of the two Teddy Bears we had made for the girls saying "I love you Anna" or "I love you Lorraine." They also have these (slightly creepy looking) Daddy Dolls that go almost everywhere with us. They are ACU dressed stuffed dolls with yarn for hair (that you leave long for mommy or cut short for daddy) with a plastic window at the face for you to insert a picture of your soldier. They do seem to love to look at his picture. So hopefully it wont all be too foreign when he comes home.
Outside of the military things going on in our lives, I went to a little reading/play group at the local library today and it was pretty cool. It was the first playgroup I've ever taken the girls to and they seemed to enjoy it. It is every Friday and Saturday, maybe Mondays as well, and I am planning to make it at least to the Friday ones. Also, not tomorrow but the Saturday after, the girls start their first swim lessons! It is a Mom-and-Tot style and my mom will be helping me. I can't wait. I went to the Conquerors swim practice and the girls loved being in the water. If you'll remember, the Conquerors is the Special Olympics Swim Team that I used to volunteer with and that my brother is on. Well, as I said, the girls had a blast. Lolly just was chilling in my friend N's arms (who has twin boys herself that I used to teach swim to) and N's respite worker and myself held Anna. Anna just loved moving around in the water and even would kick her feet when I had her on her tummy, on the top of the water of course! She even started splashing! I can't wait to start the lessons with them! I know my mom is looking forward to it as well.
School is well, going. Too quickly and I have to get my butt moving in it. I know I can do it, it's just the motivation isn't there. Everyone around me is super supportive and my mom and Mishu even are constantly on me as to what I have gotten done. I can't wait for it to be done and it will all be worth it but it is such a long road to get there! Now is probably a bad time to say that I am kind of scared to have my own classroom! I think part of my problem right now is that I took on the hardest of the four classes I'm taking first and the 5+ page paper on two different cultures is kind of daunting. My plan right now is to get the two other topics done in this class (four total topics, I have one done already) and work on the research as I start on another class. The hardest part of this topic/paper is that six out of the ten research sources must be hard-copy book. I never realized how daunting of a task that is until I now have infants! Thankfully though, I have people here who are more than happy to watch the girls while I snoop around the library for an hour or so. I just looked at everything I have done and everything I have to do and I have 19 total assignments this session (which ends the end of September) and I have three of those finished. Eeek! I really have to get moving! I am working at having another two of those down by this coming Thursday though.
I can't think of much more going on right now other than all of that. I am going to try, right now, to update at least once a week.
Ciao!

Um, hi blog...been gone for a while! :p

2011-06-24T04:49:00.000-04:00

So yes, long story short but I am still here, I have so far survived mommyhood of twins and I'm still kicking! Just...been super busy! I will update very soon but here is what has happened recently. Half over with school and freaking out about that....have almost nothing done and 4 classes to finish before the end of September. The girls are 6 freaking months old already!!! Mishu is deployed and while that sucks, I will survive it fully intact...if the girls let me! We (Mishu and I as a family) decided that it would be best for everyone for me to move up to IL with my family during this time, due to health concerns (which if I haven't addressed yet, I will soon.) for a majority of the deployment. Um...Oh, yeah...he was involved in a crash a few days before he was set to go over, still got sent over just a day late and well, the truck has been in the shop every since. Grr...that sucks. Because this is a whole month that I've been here alone. If it weren't for my health issues, I could easily do this alone. But...we have the girls and since there is no way for family to be down here at the drop of a hat due to an emergency, basically I feel this is playing with fire. So the sooner I can get moved up north, the better. But I digress. I have like, 2 minutes of coherent thought (who ever would have thought that would happen at what...Ass-crack O'Thirty?!) to post a little bit of an update. So there. Yep. I'm still alive and kickin'. I'll post something that makes sense soon! :p

Letter to TIME Magazine

2011-03-01T21:26:00.000-05:00

Please visit this website ( http://likeitfortime.wordpress.com/ ), it is a great site that shows many reasons that the Military Family should be named this year's TIME Magazine's Person of the Year. Also, please print out this letter and send it to TIME Magazine (TIME Magazine Letters / Time & Life Building / Rockefeller Center / New York, NY 10020) on March 4th. The more of us that send this, the bigger impact it will make.Thank you!

Dear TIME Magazine Editor(s),
I’m writing this letter to ask you to consider the military family as your 2011 TIME Person of the Year. If you accept nominations from the public/your readers, please consider this an official nomination.
Military families will be the first to say they don’t want to be honored or praised, but I understand Person of the Year isn’t an honor; it’s a “recognition of somebody’s effect on the world,” as Richard Stengel has said.
I also understand Person of the Year is, as another TIME editor has said, “given to the person, group, or thing that has most influenced the culture or the news during the past year.”
Evidence of the military family’s impact on recent news and popular culture can be found in the efforts of Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden to raise awareness of the military family, in Oprah Winfrey’s multiple shows honoring the military family, in the upcoming fifth season of Lifetime network’s “Army Wives,” and in the E! Entertainment channel special, “E!Investigates: Military Wives.” Any time the wars in the Middle East are in the news, so is the American military family.
Regarding the military family’s effect on the world, Rudy Giuliani was chosen for Person of the Year following the September 11 attacks because he “embodied what was really most important, what we learned about ourselves, which was that we could recover,” explained a TIME editor.
The military family embodies what is most important after a decade of war and multiple deployments: a resilient and unifying force even as the families grow weary of being separated – sometimes permanently – year after year, those years apart filled with agonizing anxiety and uncertainty about the future of their families. That resiliency speaks volumes about who we are.
When the American Soldier was chosen for 2003 Person of the Year, it wasn’t for making the news. It was, according to TIME, “[f]or uncommon skills and service, for the choices each one of them has made and the ones still ahead, for the challenge of defending not only our freedoms but those barely stirring half a world away.”
According to a February 2009 study conducted by Boston University’s Sloan Work and Family Research Network, “43.2% of active duty forces have one or more children.” Without a military family care plan—siblings, grandparents, spouses, or others to care for those children—nearly half of our deployed forces would be rendered useless.
The challenges the families of service members experience don’t include the direct threat of mortar rounds and IEDs, but they do include the 24-hour awareness that mortar rounds or IEDs could kill the person they love – their parent, their child, their best friend – any minute of any day, as well as the unique task of trying to maintain a sense of normalcy for children who have a revolving parent and a home environment that is in a perpetual state of flux.
I hope you’ll give this nomination the serious consideration it warrants.
Sincerely,

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In

2011-02-25T23:02:00.001-05:00

Aside from no deployments, what is one thing you would want to make the MilSpouse life “perfect”? submitted by Oh How Delightful

I personally would like to live closer to family.

Just how many peppers did Peter Piper pick? submitted by Married into Army

Peter Piper picked a peck of peppers, now whether they are pickled peppers puts me in a pickle, pondering if the peck of peppers Peter Piper picked were pickled. Hehe!

If you could have any career in the world with nothing holding you back, what would you do? submitted by It’s My Party and I’ll Cry if I Want To

I’d like to stay in the field I am studying now, Special Education. I truly love working with the individuals I worked with, and I’d love to focus on the severe profound, more life skills cases.

Do you have a service oriented tattoo and if so what is it. If you don’t what would you get? submitted by The Squid’s Accomplice

Nope and nope. I do intend to eventually get some Sailor Jerry based tattoos when I can afford them!

Imagine a block of time has opened up in your busy day for you to take a class in anything you like. What subject would you choose? submitted by To The Nth

Hrm. Probably an art class, anything art. I love them all! Art history, specific artistic classes (photography, clay manipulation, sketching, etc.)

MilSpouse Friday Fill In

2011-02-18T12:16:00.002-05:00

What is your favorite MilSpouse blog (not including Wife of a Sailor who we all love, or your own)? submitted by Our Crazy Life (Wifey note: whaaaat? You can’t say my blog? No fun! LOL, just kidding)

Hrm. I follow a lot and I don’t read them often enough. I’d have to say one of my favorite to follow is Jessica at It's a beautiful ride... . Maybe it’s because I know her in person and it’s good to see some of her candid insights on things.

What are your favorite perks about your s/o being deployed (we all know there are perks)? submitted by Ramblings of a Marine Wife

I would have to say the MONEY was the biggest perk. We were not living together nor technically back “on” in our relationship at the beginning of his deployment though so I will get back to you on that after the next one (because I’m sure there is going to be another before his ETS date.)

How long did you date your before getting engaged? Married? submitted by Utterly Chaotic

We dated 3 months before getting engaged…the first time. It was 6 years before we were engaged for the last time and were married 7ish years after we first started seeing each other.

What do you think your would do if s/he wasn’t in the military? submitted by Adventures of M-Squared

Oh man, I have no clue. I doubt he would still be working at FedEx, he was getting fed up there, that’s one of the many reasons he joined. I would have to say probably be in law enforcement. It’s something he’s always been interested in. That or as a firefighter/paramedic.

If you could talk to the Secretary of (fill in your appropriate branch) what is one suggestion you would like to bring to their attention in order to improve the lives of military families? submitted by My Life as His (Air Force) Wife

I would say make every post/installation/whatever have the DoDEA and really focus on the quality of the education. Make it easier for the records to be transferred and the curriculum to be a smooth transfer. Also make it possible for the children of the families that live off post (but close by) to attend the schools as well.

The beginning.

2011-02-18T10:00:00.001-05:00

~Ok so here is my birth story. This was all written at least a month and a half ago.~
I went in to the doctor’s office on November 22nd, pretty much really sick and in pain. It felt like my gall stone issues but worse and spread all over my abdomen instead of just focused on one side. They tested my urine and blood pressure and the docs wanted me to go to the hospital. They were pretty sure I had pre eclampsia. 2 days later, that’s what I got diagnosed with. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I was actually on the surgical board for cesarian section but the girls looked good and my protein levels and some other stuff decided to behave for the moment so the docs decided that we would try to hold out as long as possible. Over the next 2.5 weeks my levels went up and down but the girls stayed nice and healthy. On the night of Thursday, the 9th, my levels went way up again so they ordered another BioPhysical Profile (in depth ultrasound that includes non-stress test) for the next morning. For those of you on my twitter or Facebook, this was the night that I just was really uncomfortable and unhappy and just really wanted my damn graham crackers and the nurse was about to bring them to me but my levels came back and she had to call the doc first. So it was a “yes but no but yes but maybe….here you go” moment with my graham crackers. I was just not feeling good and for some reason just focused all my anger and angst on getting those damn crackers!
Well, the next morning, after the ultra sound, they found that one of the girls amniotic fluid was low, so they told me not to eat anything (after I already had ordered breakfast and it was sitting in front of me. This does NOT make for a happy Corie!) and to just wait for what the doc might say. Well, the doc ended up moving me back to Labor and Delivery (I had been in post partum for the better part of 2 weeks) for monitoring and said we might deliver the babies that day. Well, that changed from might to “we are” within less than half an hour of being in L&D. I had already given the doc Mishu’s info to get a Red Cross message across to his command (Mishu told me to do this, it’s what his command told him. I guess they were in the middle of a Change of Command ceremony and needed official word he NEEDED to leave.) I called Mishu AS I found out my surgery was scheduled for 1 (this was at 12:30) and thankfully someone had already let him leave. He made it to me about 5 minutes before the team was scheduled to be up. The team was running a little late but I ended up delivering at 2:53 (Anna) and 2:54 (Lorraine) in the afternoon on Friday. They gave me a shot of Diloted in my back (like an epidural) and wowee did that feel weird. Took about 2 hours in recovery and sometime around 5 that evening they were able to wheel me into the NICU to see my baby girls. Anna was born at 5lbs 5oz at 17" and Lorraine was born at 4lbs 8oz at 16".
They are doing ok as of right now. They are off IV and were out of the isolettes but their bilirubens have gone up (they were elevated since birth but borderline so they held off on giving the girls the phototherapy) and are now on phototherapy. Will be on it for at least a few days and because of this, they will most likely be back in the isolettes. This means that they will be in at least a week, maybe a week from when they are done with the phototherapy.
My recovery is going fairly well I think. My incision is healing well, but I got a lot of fluid build up due to the pre e and it’s still here. I’m drinking as much water as I can and walking but it’s the best (as in not effecting me the most) in the morning. As the day goes on it gets worse, heavier and more sensitive. I am really hoping it goes away soon.

~Here are some more recent updates to it.

My c-section incision has been healing well. I have to remind myself that I am still recovering and not to push too far. All of the adema is gone and I am pretty much down to my pre-pregnancy weight. Definitely not size though. Another thing I have to keep reminding myself is that the body, nor the uterus bounces back quickly. I still wear the clothes I wore during pregnancy. I still feel as if people are looking at me that I am pregnant looking. Hopefully common sense should prevail (and it seems it has so far) that I am not that pregnant with two tiny (well, not so tiny any more!) infants.
Off the topic of the c-section, the girls came home 8 days after they were born. We were so thankful to have them home before Christmas. They have been doing great so far. I will get back to them in another post.
On January 3rd, I ended up in the ER with extreme gall bladder pain. I had been dealing with it throughout the pregnancy. Hell, that's how we found out we were having twins! It wasn't easy to deal with throughout the pregnancy but I dealt with it. Now that I was no longer pregnant, for whatever reason, the pain seemed to last longer. It would last for hours before going away, if at all, which by the time I was in the ER and they had me hooked up to IV's. At that time I had gotten in to my doctor's office the next day and had a referral to see a surgeon about finally getting my gall bladder removed. I ended up back in the ER the next day after I came home. I was fully admitted to the hospital at that point and had surgery for them to remove the gall bladder. Well, the day I went home, I ended up BACK in the ER with the same damn pain. Turns out it was a rogue mini gall stone that got stuck in the common bile duct and they did an endoscopy to get rid of it. All in all, I was in the hospital for a full week with all the ER visits and admissions. All went well for about a month and half. All of a sudden, the sharp, long lasting pain came back. I thought I was through all of this. Apparently not. Was sent home, ended back in the next day. *sigh* So now I have a referral to a GI specialist and we will see where that goes. So far (knock on wood) I have not had any more issues. Let's hope it stays that way.
I've also been referred to PT for my knees. These buggers don't seem to be wanting to treat me nicely lately so I'm sure soon I will have some updates about the evil physio-terrorists I will be going to! ;)

I will also soon post a progression of my belly pics. It really helps to see them all together to realize just how BIG I was! I didn't even get one just before the birth. The last one I have is about 1 week before birth.

I will leave you here with some pictures from the girls first few days:
Mishu and me with the girls in the OR:

Anna:

Lorraine:

Anna in the NICU:

Lorraine in the NICU:

Lorraine under the bili (UV) lights:

Anna under the bili (UV) lights:

This is my Foodie Friday!

2011-02-18T08:00:00.004-05:00

So, I know that I haven't even really blogged about the girls' birth, but I promise I will do that today as well.
I think I will start posting a new recipe every Friday. I will have either cooked it Thursday night or Friday during the day. So here is my first one!

Corie's Smothered Pork Chops

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 50 minutes
Ready in about 1 hour.

Ingredients:
4 pork chops
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
half bag of frozen grean beans
1 small onion
1 packet onion soup mix
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 1/2 cup french fried onions
Noodles or rice to serve over

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Place the pork chops in a glass 13x9 pan.
Round slice the onion and place evenly over the pork chops.
Sprinkle 1/2 tbsp minced garlic evenly over the pork chops.
In a medium mixing bowl, mix the green beans, 2 cans cream of mushroom soup, salt, pepper, the remaining minced garlic and the packet of onion soup mix. Spread evenly over the pork chops.
Bake for 40 minutes.
Spread the french fried onions over the dish and return to oven.
Bake for another 10 minutes.
Serve over rice or noodles.

And here are the pictures.
In the pan:

All ready to NOM:

testing

2011-01-17T16:08:00.001-05:00

Trying out blogger on my Droid. :-) I know I need to update, lol! but life has been hectic in general. I will update soon, I swear.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Latest update

2010-12-04T01:44:00.000-05:00

The docs feel I am fine to go home and the girls, as they say, are healthy. They wanted to discharge me today but I was uncomfortable doing that without having Mishu there to sit down with the doc and ask all the questions that I didn't and still don't have the where with all to ask (ie. please explain bed rest, can she drive, specifics, how often for doc appointments, how long do you reasonably think she will carry) and to voice our concern with his work. He is working 4:30a(which means he leaves the house at 3:30)-7p (at the earliest, usually 9p) every day M-F. And they are on full recall status. So if he gets a call, doesn't need to be a legit mission, even if they are just doing a surprise, keep-you-on-your-tows thing, he has to be in formation before 2 hours has passed. He is worried about me being home alone all that time and lack of transportation if I cannot drive. So yeah...that is what we are talking with the doctor about tomorrow.

I had a BioPhysical Profile test done today and both babies scored a 10 out of 10, perfect. For those that don't know what it is, here is what I found on About.com

One of the major parts of the BPP is a detailed ultrasound. During the ultrasound the technician is looking for movements of your baby's arms and legs (muscle tone), movements of the body, breathing movements (moving chest muscles), and the measurement of amniotic fluid. Your baby will be scored on five things during the test. A score of 0 (abnormal) or 2 (normal) will be given in each of these categories:

    * muscle tone
    * body movements
    * breathing movements
    * amniotic fluid levels
    * heart rate

Mishu asked to look at my chart, which I was fine with and so were the nurses and charge nurse. He has almost never been here when they come back with the test results or even when they are ordering the tests and he'd like to know the results in a more detailed way (that's his brain and he is a medical background and undestands the technical terms) I asked him to look at about how big the girls are, because I didn't catch that this morning during the test (the bed was SO uncomfortable and I'm just in general sore all over.) Both girls are measuring about late 32-late 33 weeks (a little ahead of the doc's schedule....which is what I've been telling them all along!!! ) and each weigh around....get this......4.6lbs!!! OMFG! NO freakin wonder my body is so sore! In the past week, one gained a whole pound and the other gained at least half a poind. GAH!

Well..I guess it's good they are growing so well! So if that is right, I'm carrying almost 9lbs of baby already. UUUGGGGHHH! :huh: :faint: Mishu was 10+lbs when he was born! He is predicting I will have a 6Lb'er and a 7lb'er. I am totally blaming him, because I was under 6lbs when I was born! Damn chunker!

Oh, and I've got a whole bunch of belly pictures to show off, since it's been a while since I've posted a recent one! But that is a post for tomorrow! Toodles!

I know I know, it's been a while.

2010-11-24T14:59:00.000-05:00

Ok everyone, I know I haven't been on much but a lot has been going on this week. Monday morning I was violently ill. More than my gall stones ever made me feel. I ended up going in to the docs and with way too much protein in my urine and my blood pressure skyrocketed, they called me into the hospital ASAP. I went in extremely dehydrated and they started testing me for pre-eclampsia right away. I am still in the hospital. Probably will be for a while but we are taking it one step at a time. I have been diagnosed Pre eclampsic. So far though, since yesterday, my levels (all sorts of stuff, including protein and keetones (sp) in urine) have become more "normal" again and the girls' heart rates have become more normal as well. My blood pressure is still high but they are giving me another 24 hours with the urine test and letting me be off the heart and blood pressure monitors for now. I'm still hooked up to IV but I'm pretty sure that's because I'm still a little dehydrated. As of this morning, I was supposed to go in for a c-section anytime after noon, but after re-checking some of my levels they decided to try to wait another 24 hours. Now, that's not saying that if something turns back the way it's been the last 2 days that they won't put me in for surgery ASAP. As for the girls, they are healthy. It's just my body that seems to have decided to get sick. If they docs can keep me stabilized, they want to keep the girls in as long as possible since the best incubator is a mom's body. But if my levels go wacky again, the only cure for the pre-e is to deliver them. It would put my health and their health in too much danger.

Just wanted to let you all know what is going on in my neck of the woods! <3

Who doesn't love sending holdiay mail?!

2010-11-07T14:11:00.001-05:00

This is really the first year I've even considered sending holiday (pretty much Christmas for us) cards. Even though Mishu and I were married last year, we weren't living together and it just, well, didn't seem right. Plus, I was too busy preparing for a cross-country move at the time. Not that I am not busy this year, preparing for the Squiddies' arrival...I just seems the right time now to start sending out the cards.
There are a lot of different card companies and well, it's also real simple to buy the standard cards from the corner drug store. I've done those a couple times and they are nice and fine enough but I always loved getting the photo cards from friends and family every year. We usually got them from friends and family that lived far away and it was great to get to see their faces again. With us being so far away from all of our family, I figured I'd start our own family tradition of sending our smiling faces with warm Christmas greetings.
It just so happens that Shutterfly is doing a promotion with bloggers where you can get 50 cards for free! And well, if you don't feel like blogging about it, you can save save 20% off the cost of the cards!
The design Mishu and I have chosen is this card because it's simple yet traditional.
Shutterfly has a ton of other great stuff as well, not just cards or holiday cards. We actually ordered some photobooks for my mom and mother-in-law for Mother's Day. They also have address labels, gift tags (which is awesome), and much much more!
I also noticed on there that they do Christmas birth announcements...which hey, we might be doing depending on when our Thing 1 and Thing 2 decide to grace us with their presence!

So yeah, go get your Holidays on!

25 week bump update and a lot of other updates!

2010-10-15T22:40:00.000-04:00

I know it's been a while but I've been super busy. :)
I went to Chicago to see family and friends and my mom threw me an awesome baby shower. It was Dr. Seuss themed with a lot of emphasis on Thing 1 and Thing 2 from The Cat in the Hat. I was thrilled. I promise I will have more pictures soon but here are a couple pictures that I have so far:
A friend of ours made the diaper cake:

And here are some of the cupcakes that my mom bought for the shower: (These are from a local bakery in Skokie that I LOVE! Sweety Pies Bakery

The cupcakes were red velvet (I LOVE!) and they were just to die for! There were only a couple mini ones left over, so needless to say...everyone loved them! I feel so blessed. We were given so much and so much great stuff for the girls! I had to put it all into storage for the time being until Mishu comes back. Honestly, right now, we don't have the room. We still have to get the house in order. There are boxes everywhere and we need to clean this place up before we can bring the baby stuff in here.
That brings me to the next thing. Mishu is *sigh* playing soldier in the middle of nowhere until sometime around the end of the month. I was able to have my friend Jessica (It's a beautiful ride...) and her husband unload my truck full of baby stuff into our storage room, but there is just soooo much that needs to be done around here that I need to wait for Mishu for one reason or another. I know this is minor in relation to the time he "could" be gone for a deployment...it's just that any time away sucks. There really is so much we need to get done before the babies get here.
And I will use that to lead me into the next subject: the twins! I'm getting bigger and bigger and I will show a picture again but I was getting more and more worried there for a little bit. Before Mishu left, I would have him feel for the babies all the time. I knew they were moving and what not but I just couldn't feel it all that much. Well, he would always feel Thing 1 but it was harder to feel Thing 2. A short time after he left, I started to really feel Thing 1 move, but again...I barely felt Thing 2 move at all. When I got to Chicago, my mom and everyone else (I honestly love the attention!) were feeling my belly and I think we got 2-3 kicks out of her the whole time. I was there Thursday evening through Sunday night. I get back to NC and again...I still barely feel her. I was getting anxious. I finally had the referral approved for a new OB and was just waiting for them to approve me and schedule me. It was taking some time so I mentioned to them my concern about Thing 2. They had me go in last night (I told them about Thing 2 earlier that morning) and they did an ultrasound and cervix check. Both of the babies looked good and Thing 2 was moving well, just for whatever reason it's not coming through to me. It did put my mind at ease though, and they were able to definitively tell me that there were two amniotic sacs (which the other OB office couldn't tell me one way or the other. ) My job isn't going to like it, but they have me coming in again this next Tuesday for a full ultrasound (1 hour or so) which they said I will be getting one of those for every "regular" appointment so that they can measure and track the babies. This made me happy because the other OB office said they would do this but never did it. I am also going in on the 25th for a "high risk" appointment. I asked about being/going on bed rest and I was told that bed rest would be talked about during this appointment. I am not liking the idea of bed rest but as I get further along, I see the need for it. My hips and hip/leg joints are really starting to hurt, especially late at night. The last 2 days I have been limping on one side or the other almost all day due to the pain. My lower abdomen is also feeling sore, more so towards the end of the day. I also talked to the doctor about how the babies are positioned and if it's possible to give birth naturally (without surgery). He said that the babies are in a "yingyang" position and that makes it pretty impossible to do a "natural" birth. He said it is too risky and explained the risks. So while I do NOT like the idea of a C-Section...I understand that it is almost positive that I will have one and I understand the reasoning behind it. Not just the "no, we don't do that and you are going to have a c-section" that I was told at the other OB. So it was basically the same answer, I'm aware of that, just handled with more tact and professionalism. Which makes it a much easier pill to swallow! I'm still crossing my fingers that Thing 2 will flip over and be head first but it doesn't look realistic. But hey, one can dream right?

And after much promising...here is the latest baby bump picture!

MilSpouse Friday Fill In

2010-10-15T11:36:00.009-04:00

What are some things on your bucket list? (from New Girl on Post)

I want to go travel Europe, go to Puerto Rico, see the Mississippi river and beyond, um….I know there is more but this is what I can immediately think of!

How long have you been a MilSpouse and where have you been stationed so far? (from Raising Roscoe)

Mishu and I were married in June of ’09. When we got married he was stationed at Ft. Gordon, GA and I joined him there this last January. In May, he was reassigned to Ft. Bragg, NC and that is where we are at right now!

What is a list of songs that sums up your life so far? (from Confessions of a Sailor’s Wife)

Etta James: At Last

….

That’s all I can think of right now! LOL!

What is your favorite kind of pizza?

Pineapple, pepperoni and onion! NOM!

What are three good things in your life right now?

I am married to the man of my dreams. We are expecting twins, who will be here in the next 2-3 months! I have family who loves me dearly.

Apple Pie

2010-10-03T00:09:00.000-04:00

'Tis the season, right? I've never baked a pie before, I'm the Cookie Girl. During the holidays, other family members would bring the pies, I would just take care of the cookies. But...I figured that a) I should get my first pie baked before the girls come and b) Mishu loves pies, especially apple pies so yup.
So here is the recipe. It's the Pillsbury one off of allrecipes.com, but I will share it with my pictures. :)
Here is the prep stage: Peeling and coring the apples:

Then I had the pie crust. Yes, I did get the pre-made stuff.

Here is the pie, pre-baking.

AAANNND here is the pie all done being baked. :)

Here is your recipe:

Prep time: 30 minutes, Cook time 40-45 minutes, Cooling time: 2 hours.

Ingredients

Crust:

1 box Pillsbury® refrigerated pie crusts, softened as directed on box

Filling:

6 cups thinly sliced, peeled apples
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions

Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Place 1 pie crust in ungreased 9-inch glass pie plate. Press firmly against side and bottom.
In large bowl, gently mix filling ingredients; spoon into crust-lined pie plate. Top with second crust. Wrap excess top crust under bottom crust edge, pressing edges together to seal; flute. Cut slits or shapes in several places in top crust.
Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until apples are tender and crust is golden brown. Cover edge of crust with 2- to 3-inch wide strips of foil after first 15 to 20 minutes of baking to prevent excessive browning. Cool on cooling rack at least 2 hours before serving.

Here's the link if you want it: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Perfect-Apple-Pie-3/Detail.aspx

The pie tastes great! I used Macintosh apples and the pie is good. A little tart but good. :D I took a picture of the finished product but I guess it didn't completely take and well...it was eaten quickly after! Maybe if we have a slice tomorrow I'll snap a picture.

PS it completely annoys me that when I adjust the size of the pictures on photobucket, it doesn't really show up that way. :p

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In

2010-10-01T00:18:00.000-04:00

What is the silliest get-up you have ever worn outside of a Halloween party? (from To The Nth)

Well, I've never dressed up other than for Halloween and Renaissance faires. So I guess that.

What is something that you gave up in order to live the military lifestyle? (from Pennies from Heaven)

I really haven't given up anything...other than a solid job in my home town. But that job would have been eliminated, so that's why I figure that I didn't give up anything.

If money wasn’t a factor and you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be? And why? (from Life and Times of a Displaced Jersey Girl)

I would go to Europe and travel all the countries and cities where my family is from. Why? Because I think it would be cool to see where my roots are from!

If you were going to join the military, what branch would you join? Or which MOS/rating would you choose? (from And You Never Did Think)

I would probably have chosen the Marines back when I was physically able to and when the physical (height) requirements for pilots was different (shorter). I'd probably join the Army otherwise.

What is your favorite thing to make for dinner? (from Armendinger Party of 4)

Meatloaf probably. OMNOMNOM!

Recentness

2010-09-04T00:58:00.000-04:00

I know, I suck. I haven't updated in a bit. starting work has been a major adjustment. I'm definitely starting to really feel pregnant again. I've taken some bump pics and wow...I didn't realize how "pregnant" I look! I've got some pictures to update here so I will post those now. :)
Here's me at 18 weeks, 3 days:

And here is me today, 20 weeks 0 days:

And here are some updated pictures on the babies:

Here is Baby A:

And here is Baby B:

According to the doctors, there is one placenta and 2 sacs. Both of the babies, according to the ultrasound on August 19th, are girls! :D

Work is going well. It's kicking my butt being back but I enjoy it and and glad for it.

MilSpouse Friday Fill In

2010-08-20T19:51:00.000-04:00

1. If you could be a fugitive from the law for whatever reason, what would your crime be?

Probably from owing people/places money. Though I finally start getting income in 2 weeks!

2. How long do you think you will be a military family?

Not sure really. When we found out we were pregnant, we were thinking he might get out but now that it's twins, we are really unsure.

3. What’s your favorite recipe?

Probably my meatloaf recipe. You can see it a couple posts back!

4. What would you want your last five words to be when you leave this life?

Wow...that was really cool!

5. Where do you hope to retire?

Probably some place in WI or Charleston, NC.

OB appointment

2010-08-14T12:19:00.001-04:00

So I realized that I did not update from my OB appointment on Thursday. It went well, of sorts. I did not like the doctor at all. He was not conversational at all and I didn't even get to see the babies! Thankfully Mishu was able to see them. The doc found both heartbeats easily and said he did not see a membrane between them but the ER U/S said she saw one. I am going in this coming Thursday for a more in depth full anatomy scan one and we will see then. (And hopefully we will get to see their baby bits and find out genders!) Mishu and the doctor did say that they were super active and Mishu said that they were beating the snot out of each other again! He told them to "Go to your womb!" I giggled but the doctor didn't get it at ALL!
Can't wait to update about the Squiddies next week!!!!

ETA: Oh, they ended up moving my due date sooner by a week so far. :)

MilSpouse Friday Fill In

2010-08-13T18:23:00.000-04:00

Yeah, I know it's late in the day but my internet has been FUBAR recently. :P

1. What is ONE thing you’d like civilians to understand about being a military family?
Um...most of the civilians I know and have in my life now are pretty understanding. I guess that the one thing I say most often is "No, Army Wives is about as far from reality as it gets." Does that count?

2. What is your favorite mistake?
Hrm. Probably leaving Mishu for the first time back in '03. It really gave us the opportunity to grow and realize our love for each other.

3. What indulgence could you give up for a year?
Hrm. Another tough one. I would say chocolate but that is damn near impossible for me! Probably Coca-Cola.

4. If you could be a winged animal, what would you be?
I'd be a humming bird. They are just so pretty and mysterious to me!

5. What is one question you’d like to see asked in a future MFF?
Oh I have no clue. Um...this is only my 2nd week doing it so maybe (don't shoot me if this has been asked before) What is the favorite thing about the post you are stationed at currently. If you aren't at a post, what is the favorite thing about the city you live in?

Stir-fry shrimp

2010-08-10T12:57:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I made this dish. It was pretty good, though I think next time I will get better shrimp. These were good but they could have been better.

Enough shrimp for however many people serving. I go by 3-5 shrimp per person. I got fresh shell-on shrimp.
3 small-medium zucchini
1 summer squash (I would have used two but Mishu isn't hot on it)
1/4-1/3 cup sliced onion
whatever spices you want (I used a couple garlic mixes)
Teriyaki sauce to taste
1/4 cup water
olive oil
(you can also add water chestnuts and snap peas, carrots and whatever else, this is just what I had in the fridge)

Coat the bottom of the fry pan or wok in the olive oil. Start with the zucchini and as it starts to soften, add the onions and a little bit of the water. As the onions start to become clear, add the summer squash. A couple minutes later, add the shrimp and the teriyaki sauce. Cook for no more than 5-7 minutes more based on the size of the shrimp.
The last minute, I drained most of the liquid off and used it to garnish once on the plates.

Recipes

2010-08-08T08:50:00.000-04:00

I've had a few people ask me for recipe's that I've been making lately so here goes:
Meatloaf: (if the picture is still huge here is a direct link: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v502/arielanna/39783c22.jpg )

-2 lbs ground anything (preferable beef extra lean)
-one egg
-one package onion soup
-four slices of bread (broken up into approx. 1x1 pieces)
-one can (12-16 oz, no larger) whole tomatoes (use some of the liquid in the mixture, but not a lot.)

Glaze: 2 parts ketchup, one part light Karo syrup.

Mix ground beef (or turkey or tofu or veggie burger or whatever), egg, onion soup mix, bread and the can whole tomatoes. As you are adding the tomatoes, squish them and slightly pull them apart. Don't mash, just mix. Put into loaf pan. Just before putting into oven, poke several holes with your finger, at least 2" deep with your finger. Mix the glaze. Brush glaze over meatloaf, making sure that the holes get filled.
Bake at 350° for 45 minutes.

Stuffed Peppers:

1 lb ground anything (brown on stove)
1 cup rice (cook)
onion to taste (sliced, added to the ground beef as you are browning it)
1 can condensed tomato soup
salt and pepper to taste
provalone cheese
4 peppers (green, red, orange, whatever) that have flat bottoms and are fairly symetrical

Combine everything but the peppers and cheese in a bowl. There are two ways to cut the peppers. You can cut the peppers in half (along the equator part of it) and clear out the seeds and bitter spines and this uses almost the whole pepper. You can also just cut off the cap of the pepper and clear out the seeds and spine. The latter option gives you larger peppers over all and makes about 4. The first option gives you 6-8 peppers but are smaller portions. You can boil the peppers for a few minutes before filling them for them to be softer. (I prefer them to be a little firmer so I don't boil them.) Fill each of the peppers to the brim and "dome" the filling a little over but not to overflow the sides. Bake in a cake pan (or something that has higher sides than a cookie sheet) with a small amount of water in the bottom (no more than half an inch) at 350 for 30 minutes. At about 5 minutes left, put the cheese over the top of each pepper.

Pico de Gallo Salsa

2 whole (large) tomatoes, diced
1 large or 2 small bell peppers (any color, I used red and green), diced
1 white, sweet or vidalia onion, diced
1 large or 2 small (I used 2 small green and red) jalapenos, diced (include a few seeds)
salt, lemon juice, lime juice and cilantro to taste

Mix in bowl, cover and chill until served.

Tortilla chips:

As many corn tortillas as you want, cut into quarters
Mix salt, lime juice and warm water until it tastes how you would like it to. It will taste much less strong on the chip than the mixture does.
Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray (I use butter flavored).
Submerge each chip into the mixture and then set on cookie tray.
Spray chips with spray before putting in oven.
Bake at 400 until desired crispiness. They will still be a little bendy in the middle but are great for dipping.

MilSpouse Friday Fill In

2010-08-06T15:18:00.000-04:00

So I've decided to give this a try. Yep...this is one of those "everyone else is doing it" things so :p!

What is something you wished you’d learned to do earlier in life?

I wish that I had learned to stress less. I always worry about everything and it’s something I’m working on now to try not to do but it would have helped a lot more if I had learned while younger.

What is your biggest pet peeve with the military?

Hrmmm…Right now, really nothing. I’m peachy fine with the military. My husband on the other hand…I love him to death but he has all these grandiose ideas and those ideas change like the weather in Chicago.

What tourist attraction near you have you never seen?

I haven’t really been in NC very long but probably the Outer Banks. It’s something we’d like to get to see eventually though. :)

What are you avoiding doing right now?

Taking a shower! As soon as I’m done writing this though, I will go take one. I’m shtinkie!

Wine, beer or liquor?

Right now, nothing. :( But normally either beer or wine. Or amaretto. So um….all 3! :D

I know it's been a while...

2010-08-03T12:26:00.000-04:00

So here are some updates:
Finally moved to NC and am in the house. :) Still in the process of unpacking but a lot of that revolves around when Mishu is able to be home. The last 2 weeks he was out in the field training so not much got done. The kitchen is slightly more usable than it was before so YAAAY!
Still nothing on the job front, though I did have an interview with a local school that I am feeling fairly positive about! Though, I've resigned myself to the idea that I might actually not find a job because:

Wheeee big surprise! We are pregnant! Found out mid-May that we were pregnant. Last Tuesday I was in the ER with abdominal pains and we found out it was gall stones. During the ultrasound, the tech looked surprised and said, "Has anyone told you that you are having twins???"

Color me shocked! I have no twins in my family at all and only Mishu's grandma is a twin. So yeah! Now we are expecting Thing 1 and Thing 2. We both love Dr. Seuss and the book The Lorax so we are doing the walls in the Lorax theme and Dr. Seuss throughout the room. Originally, we weren't going to find out genders but now we think we are going to. I have an appointment next week and maybe we will find out then.

But until then, here are a few pictures I have so far!

2 heads are better than 1, right??

And here, I introduce to you Thing 1:

And now, Thing 2:

I will be sure to put more pictures up later when I get them!!!! :D

OK so...

2010-05-25T00:19:00.001-04:00

I know I haven't been on here much but I do have a post that I would like everyone to re-post if possible and if you are in the DC area, please go participate!

Please re-post: If you are free on Memorial Day morning, what better way to pay honor to all who have been lost in service to our country...The Westboro Baptist Church will be outside Arlington National Cemetery attempting to spread their hatred. Please come out from 9am-11am to stand in FRONT of them to show your support of the US military and their families. Please bring flags, signs, etc. to show your support.

Yes, I know by posting this, and by people showing up, we are giving them attention. But we are also showing them we will NOT stand for the desecration of these brave souls' memories.

Just a lil update.

2010-05-18T12:09:00.000-04:00

We are fully moved out of the townhouse! I am staying with a friend here in GA until the house in NC closes. :) Trying to find a job up there again but it looks like I will have to wait until I get up there to do so. :) That's pretty much it!

Ugh.

2010-04-28T11:29:00.000-04:00

What a way to start the day. I wake up at 2:30AM because originally I was going to take Mishu to work (he's on the ambulance today and they are doing a long distance transfer) but then I realized there was no reason I would need the truck, so I told him to just take it. Oh, mind you, my car is down and out right now, brakes are shot. Whheeeeeee! Well, I get out of bed at about 9:30 AM because our realtor called me. OH, btw, we got a house! It's in Southern Pines, NC. It's not big or anything but it's good for us for now. :) The lot is a nice size. Well, I wake up to go check my email because there are more documents that the realtor needs signed. I open my door and OMG there is the worst smell ever. Hope (little dog) had the poopies yesterday and apparently had massive liquid diarrhea this morning. :( So I shoo her and Holly outside, wipe up what I can from the floor and take the kennel floor outside and hose it and them down. Then Hope decides she is going to dig. Not a happy fur-mama right now. I like letting them dry off outside but nope not today. They are drying off in their kennel and the house is airing out. Blah.

The movers were originally supposed to come today to move our stuff. Thank goodness Mishu was able to stave them off for about a week. The house still isn't closed on and probably wont be until the first week of June. So after they move our stuff, Mishu will have to check into post next month around the middle of the month. I'll probably be staying around here in Augusta until we close on the house. We have a friend here who is fine with me staying there. It's actually really a good thing because it allows me to continue working here until right before I go to NC. :) I can't wait to get to the new house though! It won't be a constant mess like this one was. One of the main reasons I can't wait to move...Fayetteville and the area have the Aldi chain! AHH! I miss my Aldi's! I can't believe how much I've been spending on groceries without being able to go there.

Ok, back to life. Blah.

If you could go on vacation for the next month with an unlimited budget, where would you go?

2010-04-17T21:25:00.001-04:00

I would tour Europe and visit all the cities of mine and my husband's heritage with him, which would include, but not limited to: Hungary, Poland, Germany, Denmark and France. If it won't take up the whole time, I would love to go on a tour of a handful of the old catholic cathedrals in Europe.

Ask me anything

This should be fun!

2010-04-17T21:18:00.002-04:00

I decided to add a formspring account. It'll be interesting I think. Here is the address if you ever want to ask me anything!

Ask me anything http://formspring.me/CoriePam

House update...

2010-04-16T16:12:00.000-04:00

Well, Mishu and I decided not to pursue the house I talked about a couple posts ago. The current owners apparently owe more on the house than what they were asking for it and are refusing to pay any closing costs, so that is a major deal breaker for us. We have one more house that we definitely loved and another we just found online that I hopefully will be going to see soon! It looks less and less likely that we will be able to get a contract written before the April 30th deadline for the tax credit. :( Well, all we can do is stay positive and hope it all goes through!

Support them...

2010-04-15T17:21:00.000-04:00

I found this from a friend and I think it should be shared. :) Please pass along if you agree!

Minorities

We need to show more sympathy for these people.
* They travel miles in the heat.
* They risk their lives crossing a border.
* They don't get paid enough wages.
* They do jobs that others won't do or are afraid to do.
* They live in crowded conditions among a people who speak a different language.
* They rarely see their families, and they face adversity all day ~ every day.

I'm not talking about illegal Mexicans ~ I'm talking about our troops! Doesn't it seem strange that many Democrats and Republicans are willing to lavish all kinds of social benefits on illegals, but don't support our troops, and are even threatening to de-fund them?

A big update. Kind of. I think?

2010-04-14T12:17:00.000-04:00

Mishu and I have been looking at houses in Fayetteville. Neither of us are opposed to the idea of settling there for a little while, and knowing the 82nd Airborne, we could easily be there for a while. Between the two of us (he went on his own, then we went together, then I went on my own) we looked at over 30 houses. At least. Not even counting the ones we drove up to with the agent and just said NO to before even getting out of the car. We liked two and are putting an offer in on one after getting some local input. The offer should be getting to the current owner s today and we put in the stipulations that we want to hear back on or before Friday. I really hope we get this house. If we can have a contract settled before the end of the month, we will qualify for the $8,000 tax credit for new home buyers! That would help a ton in paying off some bills and buying some household items we don't own currently (like a lawn mower!).

I've started the arduous task of applying for jobs again. Already got turned down for one. It's probably for the best. Now I can focus on getting a job in my degree field. :)

Lesson for the day:

2010-03-22T18:51:00.002-04:00

ASTHMA SUCKS!

I'm sitting here trying to recover from an asthma attack right now. I took my inhaler 3 times over the last 15 minutes and have not been able to stop coughing. If anything I'm typing is spelled wrong or does not make sense, i'm sorry. I've had to backspace a ton and I cannot stop shaking.

My dog, Hope got out of the front gate of my mom's house. I'm assuming she either a. jumped it or b. crawled under the front gate. She is known for jumping fences and the front swinging part of the gate has about a 4-7" gap underneith it.

I realized she was gone by the time she was about a half block away from me and she just kept going. I ran and she just kept going. She slowed down a little bit and another lady in a car circled the block looking for her. about 4 blocks away we found her and she tried luring Hope with Cheetos and Hope finally came back to me, she doesn't like strangers.

OMG my lungs feel like they are burning. I'm still coughing but I'm coming down a bit. Some people cant get air in with their asthma, well, I can't get air out. So the next breath can't take in enough air. and it just keeps getting worse. Ugh. So not in a good mood right now.

Chicago-area trip so far...

2010-03-22T15:24:00.000-04:00

I got in safely Friday evening. :) Stopped by my favorite local bakery, Sweety Pies. I missed their stuff so much! Friday night, my mom and I watched Precious and Did You Hear About The Morgans. Both were good in their own ways.
Saturday my brother had his regional swim meet for the IL Special Olympics. The team did well, and I will get full results from my mom later this week. My brother's relay team got a silver medal (2nd place).

Then, on his individual races, the 100m Freestyle/Front crawl and the 50m Backstroke, he got gold (first!)!

This means that he will be going downstate in June for the Summer Special Olympics IL games! :)

Saturday night we watched Twilight: New Moon. I saw it in the theaters before but definitely was not upset about seeing it again! ;) I'm not one to turn down some nice eye candy! :D

Sunday, I met a friend and her daughter for breakfast at Sweety Pies. Her daughter was the flower girl for my wedding and they had not seen the pictures yet, so I used that as a nice opportunity to catch up with them and eat breakfast again at one of my favorite places. :D Later that day, the bro-dude had hockey practice at which a couple of the Hawks' Girls came and signed autographs for the kids and ex-player and ex-coach Dennis Savard came to play with them! It was all pretty cool. :)

My brother is in is in the red jersey:

A friend, Candace and my uncle and cousin came over for dinner yesterday. We ordered pizza and had fun watching tv and talking. :)

So far today has been just a relaxing day. I need to start loading the pick-up soon with the stuff I came back up here for. There was a lot of stuff that the movers did not take and with my mom buying a house soon, I need to get it out of her place. I watched The Princess and The Frog. Another cute movie. My great-aunt will be coming over this evening and we'll be grabbing dinner. :)

Tomorrow I leave first thing to go back to GA. I'm hoping to make it in one day. If not, I'm hoping not to stop for the night until at least Tennessee or so.

A few updates!

2010-03-18T15:22:00.000-04:00

I cut my hair again! It was growing out unevenly and I needed a change so here it is:
Front:

Back:

I am trying to grow out my hair but I don't want a dye line so I will probably keep cutting it short until it's fully fresh hair. :)

Other than that, we finally found out what is going on for us moving-wise. We definitely will be going to Ft. Bragg, NC and will be there for at least a year. Mishu will still be putting in his Flight packet before we leave Ft. Gordon but won't be elligible to go until at least May '11. He is still looking into Prime Power but it's the same situation. :)

I'm going to Chicago over this next weekend and will be back Wednesday or so. :) It's the Special Olympics regional swim meet and I am going to root my brother and his team on. I am sure I will update again at some point this weekend! :)

For giggles....

2010-03-12T23:28:00.000-05:00

Start your favorite playlist, set it on random and assign the songs one after the other to the following questions. Dont skip! To get the Movie Title in the end, just take the next song after the End Credits' song and replace one word of it with your own name!

Opening Scene: The Long And Winding Road- The Beatles
Main Theme: Get Over It-The Eagles
Someone dies to: Witchy Woman-The Eagles
Club/Bar Scene: I Believe In A Thing Called Love-The Darkness
Dance Scene: Addicted-Sean King
Taxi Driving Scene: Dance Dance Dance-Steve Miller Band
Empty Apartment Scene: Good Vibrations-The Beach Boys
Love Scene: Here Comes The Sun-The Beatles
Hero Theme: Remember When-Alan Jackson
Night Scene: Sad and Lonely-Secret Machines
The Villain appears to: Octopus's Garden-The Beatles
The Big End Fight: Life Without You (Live)-Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble
The Villain dies: Surfin' USA-The Beach Boys
Goodbye Sequence: Forever-Dropkick Murpheys
End Credits: Signs-Five Man Electrical Band

Your Movie is going to be called: I Fell In Love (Susan Tedeschi)

YipYipYippie!

2010-03-10T20:12:00.000-05:00

I gave my 2 (technically 1) weeks notice yesterday at the Home Depot. Working there just reminded me every day of why I left. The working almost every weekend (both days), the constant stress, the bringing stress home with me. It's not what I need right now. On Monday, I met with the Adapted Aquatics Director at a local YMCA and she was super thrilled. I start there sometime after I get back from Chicago. :) The program there is huge compared to the one I am used to. She has 15+ Adapted Aquatics Instructors on staff versus the other Y I worked at had not even 15 instructors total! It will be great to get back to working with what I love.
Other than that, the Army front is even more confusing than ever. Mishu's Flight packet won't be getting submitted for the next board, which will be a pain in the ass because it just screws things up even more. YAY! When I get more information, if I'm allowed to talk about it...I will. :)
As for right now...that's about it. :)

Hey, if you want...ask me a question, and I will do my best to answer it. Ask me anything!

Wheeee

2010-02-26T10:14:00.000-05:00

Today should be interesting. I get to meet the district manager for the first time. I'm hoping he likes me and likes the fact that I have been stellar with customer service and have gotten mentioned on the customer surveys (positively) for two weeks in a row and I've really only been out on the floor for less than a month. :) What I'm really hoping for is a raise! LOL! Yes, yes, that is my overall goal. That would be kick ass. But...I'm not holding out hope. The company isn't the same it was 5 years ago...hell...it isn't the same as it was when I left in 2007.

In less than a month I will be in Chicago for a long weekend. My brother is swimming in the IL Special Olympics again and I am going to cheer him and the rest of the team on early one Saturday morning. I've also got to pick up some boxes and things left behind from when the movers moved my stuff. I'll be taking Mishu's truck up, which should actually be a little easier ride; it's got cruise control! Yay! I'll probably get together for lunch and dinner with some friends so that should be fun.

Well, it's off to work I go. Have a great day!

Productive/lazy day so far.

2010-02-22T16:55:00.000-05:00

I know...that doesn't sound like it makes sense but it's fun!

Yay for being successful at relaxing (for the most part)
Sleeping in-check
Snuggle with the puppies-check
Play Super Mario Wii-check
Read some more of Army Wives-check (though I had to stop at a point because it's too emotional)
blogged-check
Now it's time to spend time with the hubby!....Oh wait...it's Mario time for him now! LOL!

Army Wives, the book

2010-02-22T16:34:00.000-05:00

I started reading Army Wives yesterday or the day before and I'm about half way through it. I'm liking the book so far, and I will try not to give any spoilers away. But here is what I think of it so far: (There may be some topics here I discuss that may be sensitive to some so I caution you not to read if death and the situations that go along with it are somethings that will make you upset)

I have never...NEVER had to put a book down because it made me cry so much. Never ever. I finished a section I was reading and I just had to put the book down and walk away. I can only say..."There but for the Grace of God go I." I am going to continue reading this book, and I am sure I will get to more parts in this book that make it very hard to get through but wow. I guess it's just that this is so close to home sometimes. Mishu isn't out deployed but he has been. I know that fear of that phone call being the last. It sucks. I hope to never have to experience it, as I hope those I know never have to experience it. I can't even imagine the pain and anguish that spouse must endure. But Mrs. Biank (the author) describes it in such a heart-wrenching way that, like I said before, I almost found myself sobbing at her descriptions of it.

My heart truly goes out to those that have lost a service member.

Funny little quote for the time being...

2010-02-16T12:00:00.001-05:00

Women are angels. And when someone breaks our wings, we simply continue to fly....on a broomstick.. We are flexible.

I got this from a fellow Army wife, who got it from a friend of hers who posted it on Facebook. Just figured a nice little tidbit this morning. (I have one minute til the morning is over!)
I promise I will post more later. :)

Last math update for a while!

2010-01-19T11:51:00.000-05:00

I passed my math! :D Finally! I am so happy! This was the last "real" math I should have to take until my Masters! Yippee! The only other thing having to do with math that I will need to do is curriculum and possibly with student teaching. YAY!

Nervousness...

2010-01-18T23:47:00.000-05:00

Eeep! I have a math test tomorrow and I'm getting a bit nervous about it. I always get that way before a test so this is nothing specific to math or anything. I always work myself up about it. I'm actually relatively calm about it right now, but I know that it will get worse tomorrow morning as I'm getting ready to go to the library to take it.
For those that might not remember or know, I go to school online, to Western Governor's University. They are the only online school that is NCATE accredited. :) Which means my teaching degree, once I actually get it, will actually be worth something! As an Army wife, that was something that weighed heavily into my choosing what school to go to. I knew we would be moving around a lot (this year alone I will be moving at least twice) and I didn't want to lose credits with transfers again. The only thing I have to do offline at WGU is certain tests and PRAXIS exams along with my student teaching. They work really well with military members and spouses so far as I've seen.
They also work with the MyCAA program. ;) So I've had one year of school payed for so far through the military. Awesomeness!

But I digress...I have my test tomorrow morning at 9AM EST. I'm nervous but I will do it and I will do well. Well enough to pass at least!

Other than that, I signed all my tax papers and what not at the Home Depot so I am now an official employee there again. I should be getting a call tomorrow afternoon telling me what training I will need to do and what time I need to show up on Wednesday. I'm kind of hoping it's in the afternoon/evening because there are a group of ladies here at Ft. Gordon that want to get together for coffee (I will be having tea, I hate coffee) and I would like to get to meet them.
So yeah...that is all...carry on!

Haven't posted in a few days.

2010-01-16T00:36:00.000-05:00

Saying that though...there really hasn't been much to say. Let's see...
I bought and picked up my new Wii. :) This is thanks to the Sears Heroes at Home program. I also bought some work clothes and Mishu is going to be using his portion to buy some tools. It's really helped out a lot, seeing as I've been out of work since before Christmas.
I finally heard back from Home Depot and I go in Monday to sign all the final paperwork and I will be officially hired there. Hopefully I will get some idea of a schedule.
I have my math test next Tuesday so that will be interesting. I know I will do good. :)
Mishu and I will be spending St. Patrick's Day in Savannah so that will be nice. He went there last year over St. Patrick's day and really enjoyed it so he wanted me to experience it with him this year.
Then later that week, probably either Thursday or Friday I will be in Chicago for the weekend. It's the regional meet for swimming with my brother's Special Olympics team so I am going to go see him and the rest of the team swim. It'll be good to see family and maybe some friends again!

How my mom taught me to cure my hiccups!

2010-01-12T19:02:00.000-05:00

I had the hiccups a couple times today. The first time I thought they went away on their own...but no, they came back with a vengeance! So...I gave in and decided to do the old trick again of drinking from the other side of the cup to get rid of my hiccups. Now, I've had a couple people ask me how to do this. It's a lot more complicated to describe than it is to actually do. I've described it to people over the interwebs before and had my mom take pictures of me demonstrating it. Now...it was late at night and I was SUPER tired when these were taken. I normally don't look that bad! :)

1. Locate "the other side of the cup." It is the far side of the cup. The side that is NOT closest to you!

2. Put your mouth on that side of the cup. You will need to bend over forwards. If you need to, brace yourself with your hand against a wall or a table.

3. Bend over far enough that the water reaches your lips. Start drinking. Drink as much of the water as you can.

4. Return yourself to your upright position!

It's always worked for me.

To do list for the day

2010-01-12T14:18:00.003-05:00

This is more for my own benefit:

•Call Home Depot about test next week, cannot be scheduled.
•Do Goddess workout
~~•Boxes in Kitchen~~
•Clean up Kitchen
•Go through some boxes in front room
•Find the screws for dining room table
•Find EA Active accessories
~~•Eat Lunch~~
~~•Drink glass of Tazo/Green tea~~
~~•Drink glass of White iced tea~~
~~•Drink glass of White iced tea~~
~~•Drink one glass hot white tea~~
•Call Sears about Wii
•Call moving company back about move
~~•Call Macy's about giftcard~~

Busy!

2010-01-12T00:59:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow (or technically, later today) is pretty busy. Or rather not...but it's a lot of waiting I have to do.
We bought a new washer and dryer and it's being delivered today. It isn't top of the line, but not bottom either. We were originally going to buy a used set off of Craigslist, but we ended up thinking better of it. We've both have limited schedules, mostly Mishu, but we would have to move them ourselves and hook them up. Hooking them up wouldn't be a big deal, we both know how to follow directions, but the laundry room is on the 2nd floor. Both Mishu and I have finnicky bakcs and if we ask a friend, we have to rely on someone else's schedule. Also, we wouldn't be able to fit both the washer and dryer in his truck. We would either have to take 2 trips (and waste gas) or borrow a friend's heavy duty, which is fine and all...but again we run into schedule issues.
So...it's getting delivered tomorrow and they are hooking it up. I just have to be home and available any time between 11A-5P. (I think...LOL! I can't remember if it was 5P or 8P!)
Other than that...I have more packing (the landlord's stuff away, he left a crap-ton of stuff here) and unpacking to do. I want to find my EA Active for the Wii accessories. I found the game but I need the band and nunchuck holder.
Which leads to something else I might be doing tomorrow. Mishu and I qualified for and recieved gift cards through the Sears Heroes at Home program. It's made it possible for us to get some nice things that we couldn't have afforded otherwise. Some nice "after Christmas" presents so to say. :) He is getting some tool stuff (man-toys) and I got some work clothes and I am getting the Wii. If I get a chance tomorrow, I want to go buy it from the store. THANK YOU SEARS!
Oh! Mishu, while going through some boxes, found my Goddess Workout DVD. It's belly dancing, so I think I will start that tomorrow. That is, if I can't get to the gym on post. They have a few classes that I want to try out, one of them being belly dancing. The others are Zumba classes and spin classes. I'm all about losing the extra pounds this new year!

I am now...

2010-01-08T16:16:00.000-05:00

gainfully employed! I got the job. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. :) I know that I need to stop worrying about these things. I'll be back at Home Depot. Not doing full design like I used to, but kind of taking some of the pressure off the designer that is there. So mostly countertops, special orders...stuff like that. It'll be good to get back working again and I have to admit...I did miss designing. So...we will see where this goes!

I have an interview tomorrow!

2010-01-07T13:38:00.000-05:00

I've been ready to tear my hair out since I got her to GA. I'm used to working at least one job, usually 2. I've been off of work since the middle of December! So, I pre-gamed. I applied anywhere and every where I could down here, starting as soon as November. Unfortunately, no one wants to talk to you unless you are in the city where you are applying. I got a couple places that said no, but good luck and one of the local Home Depots sounded genuinely interested in me. They asked me to call them back when I got down here. Well, the lady I needed to talk to was a PITA to get ahold of, but eventually, I finally did.
That leads us to today. She called me back (they were having some big shot meetings so were swamped for a few days) and said that they want me to come in for an interview! :) Awesome! I really hope this works out!

Movers...part whatever!

2010-01-07T11:05:00.000-05:00

So the movers came today to drop off all of my stuff. :) YAY! Went pretty well, they were on time. There are at least 2 scratches on the hardwood floor, so I will have to do a claim for those at least. We still have to go through all the boxes and make sure nothing is broken but it looks (so far) like everything is good. The china cabinet does have some damage but I am not sure if that was from before or not.

:D

Got a call...

2010-01-06T14:01:00.000-05:00

So as I was typing up that last blog post, I got a call from the mover. :) He said he should be here tomorrow morning, between 8A and 8:30A. We shall see how this goes, and believe you me...I will be updating! Seriously though...I cannot wait to have my couch back!

MilSpouse of the Year is back!

2010-01-06T13:56:00.000-05:00

It's that time of the year again. Military Spouse Magazine has a contest every year where you can vote for a military spouse from every branch to be the Military Spouse of the Year. I personally know one of the nominees this year. Her name is Nicki B. Back in July, I posted a blog about Bubba's Belly Run (http://arielanna84.blogspot.com/2009/07/bubbas-belly-run.html). Well, that was Nicki and Bubba was her husband. The race was a huge success, raising over $50,000 that benefited Bubba's children's education, The Fisher House®, American Widows Project and Flat Daddies. She is such a strong woman and I personally and completely feel she deserves this honor.

Voting is at http://www.msoy.milspouse.com/ and she is under the Army icon. You can vote every 8 hours, so please vote often! You can also vote for spouses in all of the other military branches as well. :)

Movers update

2010-01-05T15:22:00.001-05:00

So the movers came, packed and took all my stuff away on the 28th. I hadn't heard anything so I called them today. The guy at the office had NO clue and had to call the driver. Then he called me back and tells me Thursday or Friday and that the driver would have called the day before and will still call the day before. Well...um...thank goodness I DONT HAVE A JOB YET! Ugh. That really annoys me. Is this normal?

So far

2010-01-04T16:54:00.003-05:00

The job hunt, so far, is painfully annoying. I've been here 5 days and nothing but call backs and "no". When I say call backs, I'm not talking, "oh, we are interested, come back for another interview," I'm talking "Please call back another time, the person you are looking for is not here right now/today." I have to call one place back tomorrow and maybe drop off a resume there. I should hear back from Home Depot on Wednesday as to when they want me to come in to meet with them. I put in an application with the local school district today. So here's to hoping something comes through.

Our family has a new addition! Her name is Hope and she is a Golden Retriever mix. We are not sure yet what she is mixed with but I'm thinking Chow Chow maybe.

Also, I talked to my mentor at Western Governor's University and we set up my classes for the next 6 months. I will be taking the approximate equivalent to 16 credits. EEEP! That's a lot! I was taking about 12 before and could barely balance that but I really think I have my life in order right now and I KNOW that I will be able to pull it off. If I continue at that rate (16 credits, or as WGU calls them, competency units) I will graduate in December of 2011. That is 6 months earlier than originally planned! I know I can do this...I know i can!

That's about it for now... :D

Move Pt. 2

2010-01-01T12:47:00.003-05:00

So I'm down here at Ft. G right now!!!
Most of my stuff fit in the car. A couple things didn't so I just put that in a pile of stuff in my mom's basement. There were a few boxes that the movers did not get because I did not know they were there so in the next couple of months, I need to head back up there to get them. :)
I left the Chicago area Wednesday morning and drove through to Chattanooga. Spent the night there and started out to finish the rest of the drive Thursday morning. In Chattanooga I discovered that my fish, most if not all of them...had died. I was really upset about this. But when I got to Gordon, half of them were alive so I was still upset I lost half the tank, but happy some of them survived the move! I've got a makeshift tank set up in their tote I have them in.
It's nice here so far. We went to a party last night. One of Mishu's friends was having his birthday party and New Years party, so we rang in the new year with them.

I hope the New Year has found everyone in good spirits and in good health!

Part 1 of the move

2009-12-28T21:28:00.003-05:00

The movers came today. :)

I'll be driving down to GA on Wednesday morning. I'm just emotionally and physically exhausted right now. They moved most everything and there were only a few things that were not taken, mostly due to stuff being moved around the in basement and I did not realize there was stuff on my mom's side of the crawlspace in the basement. The movers DID end up taking my things out of the crawlspace and basement in general. They moved everything out of the apartment and the storage room, so there were no issues with that. :)
I have to finish cleaning tomorrow and then in the afternoon I am going to be spending time with my family. Ok, I'm out. Just wanted to update. :)

:)

2009-12-28T09:18:00.002-05:00

Welp...the movers should be here by now, 25 minutes late! AHHHH! I know it's not that big of a deal, they WILL get the job done. I'm just freaking out with everything right now.

To update you all...I was told that they will move from both locations. Total win! I was also told that they will move the stuff from the basement. So we will see today how this all goes. I PROMISE I will update tonight.

My fish tank is empty and fish in a tote that I will be taking down with me to GA in a few days. I'm just petrified right now I won't be able to fit the stuff in my car that I have to take myself!

sigh

2009-12-05T14:47:00.003-05:00

I will have limited internet access until further notice. My computer borked. Not charging, and I'm pretty sure it's something internal. I will be able to access my email, Facebook and Twitter from my phone like usual...but I really need to focus on my math studies. :)
I hope everyone has a great holiday season! Much love!

:)

2009-11-28T02:28:00.001-05:00

I'm still around. Just...busy as all hell! Here is what I know so far, and what will be going down in the near future. I handed in my resignation at both my jobs. My last days will be December 18th and 20th. Hopefully, this coming Monday we should find out more information on the move. I am really really hoping that the Army will move our stuff from both locations (my house and the storage room) as I really really don't have the resources (man power more than anything else) to get everything back from the storage room to my house. Then, I will be supervising the moving guys for 2 days while they pack and inspect everything and then move it on to the truck. We are hoping they can do this before New Years, as I would like to be down in GA by that time.
If not, I will just have to drive up here for it depending on when they can get here. I've started applying for a few jobs down there again, hopefully I will get something. I will be down there longer this time.
I'm still going to school online. I'm almost done with my science course and I am finishing my math course. I was supposed to be able to take the math test, but one of the mentors (not mine, she is out for surgery right now, though she and I are the ones who talked about me taking the test this session instead of next) and this is really screwing me up now. As soon as I find out more, I will probably update it on here.
Oh, I did an interview a little while back with the Salt Lake Tribune and here is the article. http://www.sltrib.com/midvalley/ci_13579580 It is about military spouses and going to school. :)

Thanksgiving went well. Had a lot of family, though I wish there could have been more. Mishu was able to be here with me for it, which was great. Hopefully we will be able to go to his family for Easter, seeing as he will be working for both Christmas and New Years.

Ok, It's late and I should be off to bed. :)

11/11/09

2009-11-11T16:53:00.001-05:00

Happy Veteran's Day! Please take the time to thank a vet! And a big Thank You! to all you veteran's out there!

Update

2009-11-10T01:27:00.002-05:00

Been really busy overall lately. Mishu came up for a week last week, and was in SD hunting with some family the week before. It was great to see him and we cooked some of the pheasant he shot! It tasted pretty good, though it was a very flavorful dish that we cooked so I don't quite know the full taste of pheasant yet. :)
I started working out again tonight. I did the beginning workout for the EASports Wii Active game. It's part of a 30 day challenge that they have on the game. So far from what I can see, it's two days on, one day off, so we will see how this goes. I just need to get active again so that I can start doing some of the heavier stuff, like working out for a good amount of time on my Gazelle or on a stationary bike. I want to lose weight and I want to gain strength and stamina. :)
I'll update as I go... :D

Still here...

2009-11-05T19:51:00.001-05:00

I'm still alive! I've just been super busy. I will try to update more often.

I just wanted to ask everyone out there to say a little prayer or send up a thought about those effected by today's shootings at Fort Hood in Texas.

I didn't realise how much I missed working and kids!

2009-07-31T00:58:00.001-04:00

I have been going through hoops here at Ft. Gordon to start working as a respite worker through the EFMP department. Ugh...It's been total crap. And to make it worse, not many people are willing to work with me because I am only down here until late August. So I chalked it up to a loss until I got a call from a mom yesterday wanting to know if I would do some last minute babysitting for her. :D YAY! I finally got some work. She wanted me to work Thurs-Sat but I have plans Friday and Saturday. She wasn't upset with that at all, she was just happy to get even one day. I guess there were some issues with her previous worker or agency or something so she had to change last minute. She had two kids, both under 10 and one had ADHD. I loved working with them!

I feel so guilty now though, because at this point after not working all summer, I honestly can't wait to get back to IL to work in the school system again! I'll be back with 1st and 2nd graders again and I will be working with all my swim students again! I miss them all so much.

Margie's Meatloaf

2009-07-10T16:10:00.005-04:00

-2 lbs ground anything (preferable beef extra lean)
-one egg
-one package onion soup
-four slices of bread (broken up into approx. 1x1 pieces)
-one can whole tomatoes or stewed tomatoes.

Glaze: 2 parts ketchup, one part Karo syrup.

Mix ground beef (or turkey or tofu or veggie burger or whatever), egg, onion soup mix, bread and the can whole or stewed tomatoes. Don't mash, just mix. Put into loaf pan. Just before putting into oven, poke several holes with your finger, at least 2" deep with your finger. Mix the glaze. Brush glaze over meatloaf, making sure that the holes get filled.
Bake at 350° for 45 minutes.

Bubba's Belly Run

2009-07-10T14:49:00.003-04:00

Not too long ago, a fellow Army wife, Nicki Bunting, laid her loving husband, Brian "Bubba" Bunting to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. Like so many others, Bubba was tragically killed in action by an IED a mere two weeks after returning from R&R. Days after finding out she lost her husband, Nicki found out she was pregnant with their second child.

Nicki has been an incredible inspiration to me and a model of grace, dignity, strength and love at a time when she would have every reason to curl up in a ball. I have asked myself many times if I could hold myself together the way she has and still find a way to be happy for others and encourage them the way she has continued to do. I have caught myself thinking "It could have been my husband just as easily" and yes, it could have been almost any one of our husbands, brothers, sons, or friends.

In the midst of this loss, Nicki has managed to organize the First Annual Bubba's Belly Run, a 5k Run/Maternity Walk and Fun Run on September 27th, 2009. The proceeds will benefit the Bunting children education and other Gold Star families.

Although most of us can't participate IN the run, there is one thing we can do to support this. How? Order an American flag for a mere $5. The flag you buy will not be sent to you. It will be displayed along the race route and will honor one of the 5,001 + soldiers who have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting the same war as our very own loved ones.

I was pretty dishearted to learn after buying a couple of them that only 80 or so flags have been sold, and so I am writing to encourage all of you to visit the site and buy a flag (or two or more) to honor Bubba and the rest of those who have paid the ultimate price.

PLEASE pass this on to let others know about this! Support the fallen! 5 bucks is a Starbucks or a Extra Value Meal at McD's. You can do without that for one day.

Thanks for reading and passing this on.

I am going to run/walk this and I just really want to get the word out.

A stupid messed up situation

2009-07-02T19:29:00.001-04:00

Mike and I got down here to GA yesterday morning. I spent most of yesterday sleeping and he had work. He got home this morning and we both slept some more. Now, this afternoon he told us both that he didnt want me staying here. For the whole 6 weeks. He said it was better if I stayed somewhere else, but it was ok if I came to visit. Um...WHAT?! We gave him plenty of time and plenty of notice that I was coming. Well, It's not like the idiot didn't know I was coming down here for 6 weeks. He knew that we were going to try to spend a decent amount of time together after the wedding. He said it was ok for me to stay here before. When our plan originally was for me to move down here completely, he said it was ok for us to stay here until we found a permanent place, ie on-post housing or an apartment. He said it was fine no matter how long it took. When Mike told him that I wasnt moving down here permanently, he said it was ok that I was going to be staying with Mike for a while. He's never had a problem with me before. I still don't know what his problem is. He told Mike that the lease contract (Mike pays him rent for 1 bedroom and 1 bathroom and communal use of the rest of the house, living room/dining room and kitchen) was for 1 room mate only. He told Mike something about it being too crowded. I either stay in the bedroom unless Mike is home, or I am out with Mishu in the rest of the house. I don't use his food and I've washed the dishes I've used and even the dishes he's left on the counter. I keep up after myself and I'm not loud. I'm trying to find a job here so that I'm not bored off my brains. I'm only down here for 6 weeks so the hunt has kind of been a failure, but oh well. I just don't get what his problem is. Well, Mike to the rescue, he called a bunch of his friends down here and one of them is going to rent a room to us. He knows our dog and loves her to bits. He actually lives in the same association. But still, his current roomie just blows my mind. Thank God he is staying at his girl friend's house this weekend. I am still really mad about the whole situation.

WOOHOO!

2009-06-29T10:33:00.005-04:00

So, I'm technically now (was legally before, now under they eyes of God) a married woman! WooHoo! I'm a little busy right now packing up and cleaning up. I'm going to go spend about a month and a half with Mishu, so we can hopefully bond more as Mr. & Mrs. It will be a bit of a change. About the longest we've ever "lived together" was about a month, month and a half. After that I will be moving back up here to IL until we figure out what is going on with him and the military. If he gets accepted to training, we will probably be moving to AL, anytime this winter.

But, I've got to get back to packing, so here's a little morsel I will leave you with.

A slideshow of wedding pictures I've pirated off some of my guests!

Recentness

2009-06-12T19:22:00.003-04:00

I'm currently down in Normal, IL for the summer IL Special Olympics games! Will probably post some pics in a day or so, but tonight I need to get my butt moving on home work. Like usual, I've but it off until the last possible second and my mentor at WGU is getting nervous.

So today my mom calls me and tells me that a couple boxes came. YAY! That means I've gotten everything for the wedding and I'm virtually DONE! I have her open the boxes to make sure everything is right, which the programs were. The favors on the other hand...were not. Now, my wedding is in 8 days. WTF?! This is beyond not cool. The favors came in printed with the wrong date. So I had her check the package list. That says the correct date. -_- Not a happy girl am I after this point. This means I DID NOT SCREW UP! I called them and of course they were closed for the day. *mumblegrumble* I left a very terse voice mail for them stating that I need the product in my hand by Tuesday night. I am truly hoping they call me back by tomorrow. Otherwise I think I may be screwed.

I will update you (the 3 that read me) when I get something. *sigh*

My life has been reduced to countdowns.

2009-06-09T00:01:00.002-04:00

My last day of teaching group swim lessons for this session is tomorrow.
Tomorrow I might find out if I have a job in the fall.
Wednesday I go get my nails filled and pick up my dress, I also have to finalize the floral order and the reception hall.
Thursday is the last day of work at the school. It's a half day too.
Thursday is the last practice for the Special Olympics swim team I work with before the State games down at ISU.
Friday morning we (or maybe just me if my mom's ribs stop killing her, that's a whooooole 'nother story)leave to go downstate to cheer my brother on in his swim State games. GO CAM!
Sunday (maybe Saturday) we come back from said games.
Wednesday (17th) Mishu's sister, L, comes in. Also, I go for my waxing.
Thursday (18th) Mishu gets in.
Friday (19th) is my relaxation day. I need to schedule a massage for the day, get my nails filled in and then we have the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.
Then on the 20th is our wedding day!
Then the day after, Sunday the 21st, I go chop my hair off (finally)!
June 22nd we leave at the ass-crack of dawn and go to Jamaica!
June 27th we come back.
June 29th or so we start driving down to GA.
Then I spend the summer down in GA with Mishu and at some point in August, come back. :)

There we go. My life for the next couple months reduced to counting down. LOL!

Been a while, yeah I know...

2009-05-25T01:56:00.004-04:00

I promise, I will get to updating this more soon. The wedding is 27 days away and I have 26 days to finish up 2 classes! Been a busy little bee here and I'm about ready to pull my hair out! More to come soon...

ETA: Oh...I also graduated with my AA in Liberal Arts this last week. :) See...I've been so busy I completely forgot about that!

Interesting day

2009-03-31T21:01:00.003-04:00

Work today was nice. Nothing really eventful at either job. At the pool I realized that I really need to push myself to do laps. I need to train myself enough that I can swim a 500m front crawl. I also realized during my attempt to see how far I can go now that I NEED goggles. My eyes are burning so bad right now. I ended up being able to do 100m in one try and I tried to get another 100 in and was only able to get 50m more. I am going back tomorrow and trying again. The more I practice, the more I will be able to do, right? Heh...everyone I talked to at the pool told me my best bet was to just keep at it and keep it up.

I know I need to get into shape, and this is something that HAS to be done so I guess I have no choice now but to get into shape. I need to be able to swim at least the 500m because I need to get my lifeguard certification. I know I can do everything else, it's just the long distance swimming that I have a hard time with.

I talked to Mishu a little bit today and that helped. I don't like to complain because there are so many that have it so much worse, and we have dealt with so much worse, but I think that because he is stateside I am spoiled and like to talk to him more. He works at an Army medical center and the department he works in is the ER. He has been on the night shift and they work 12 hours shifts. It's an odd schedule and I'm forever forgetting when he works and when he doesn't. But this schedule makes the days he works suck because I work from 8:30-3 (M-F)and then from 3:40-7P on Mondays and Tuesdays and from 5-6:30P on Thursdays and Fridays. He starts work at 7PM EST. :( Sometimes he is still sleeping when I get out of work and I have to keep calling him to wake him up. Like, yesterday we talked for about half an hour, today we talked for about 20 minutes. I know I shouldn't complain but I still miss him and I hate not getting my time to talk to him.

Off that...a co-worker (at the pool, we will call her A) came up to me today visibly upset. She started telling me how she had just gotten off the phone with her cousin, who was like a sister to her. She told me that her cousin's child was 2 years old and the whole family was concerned because the child had not started talking yet. I guess they recently had the child tested and he now has a diagnoses of Autism. At this point, A got very jittery and said, "I feel like you are one of the only people I can talk to about this! I feel horrible right now for feeling this way. Is it ok that I feel sad about this?" I almost didn't know what to say. She broke down into tears at this point. I felt really bad for her. I know it's a tough diagnoses to swallow and I told her it was ok to feel that way, as long as she worked through it and realized that it was a blessing that they did the testing and they now can get the child into an early-intervention program. I hugged her and told her it was going to be a rough road, but she really needed to be there and be strong for her cousin and the child. We talked about it for a little while and she kept getting worse emotionally, so I showed her a breathing technique, breathing in her nose and out her nose 10 times. She ended up giggling a little and telling me she felt light headed. I told her she needed to remember this technique because it might come in handy one day! LOL! I hope she feels better soon.

That's about all for today. If I can think of anything else, I'll definitely post! LOL!

Recentness

2009-03-30T22:06:00.003-04:00

So. :D

Most of the wedding plans are in order. We are just trying to figure out right now if Mishu is going to wear his uniform. He's gotten a lead on getting some Dress Blues but he doesn't want to get married at his current rank. He will probably be able to get promoted but we still aren't sure. So we may not end up having a military ceremony. Which I don't like but I cant make him walk down the isle in something he doesn't want to wear. Other than that, there is really only a few things that need to be done.
My wedding shower is in a few weeks and I'm kind of excited! My mom and friends have been doing so much planning, and I can't wait!
Last week I went to go visit Mishu down in GA. The weather was great, we worked on a couple of our registries, everything was awesome. We didn't do much other than that and well...loafing! Hehe! Oh, I did go to the ACS office on post, to figure out some sort of employment when I move there in July. The lady I talked to was real nice and put me in contact with a guy at the pool on post and the lady that is in charge of the Exceptional Family Member Program on post. I also met one of Mishu's fellow soldier co-workers and she is really cool. We spent the day together, shopping at shoe stores and getting our nails done! I haven't had a day like that in a long time and apparently, neither has she. She and her husband have a little girl and she said all their shopping time is devoted to her. :)
When I went to the ACS office I got some information from the lady about the area and what the school districts are like. the job prospects don't look good, especially since a lot of school districts are cutting back on budgets and that usually means not hiring new assistants. :( Boo! BUT.....While I was in the office, I was talking about my experience and what not and they latched on to me teaching aquatics. They put me in contact (actually called him...on the phone...and then thrust the phone at me and made me talk to him!) the director of the aquatics facility on post. He sounded really excited that I have the experiences that I do. Wanted to get my resume right away and was kind of sad, in a way, that I couldn't start right away. That really made me feel good! Also, the lady that does the EFMP stuff was really glad I had done respite work before. I guess they really need people over there. :) Again, made me feel really good!
I sent the man that runs the aquatics facility my resume and current certifications. He did make kind of an issue over the phone that I did not have my lifeguard certification. I am kind of reluctant to do it, it's just a lot of work and well...I am inherently pretty lazy. :D I got an email today from the director of aquatics at the facilities on post and she said she was impressed with my resume and was wondering if I would be interested in getting certified for lifeguard. *sigh* But she also mentioned that "We would love to expand our lessons to further help our wounded soldiers and your certifications would be an excellent dove-tail fit into our desires." O.o Wow. Interesting...I've never worked with neuro-typical individuals in an adaptive aquatics setting. I'm actually really interested in it. A little scared but I think it could be a good experience!
I had a total OH CRAP! moment today! You know, how people say they have an AHA! moment? Yeah, well, an OH CRAP! moment is a complete 180 from that. :\ I realized that I will be out of a job (my TA position) in June and I won't be leaving until July. That leaves me about a good month that I am down over half my income. CRAP! So I had asked my supervisor at the YMCA if I could get more hours and he was pretty sure they could do that. I thought about it today and I am already teaching lessons at the YMCA 14 hours a week currently. I know that they have issues giving part-timers (almost everyone that works at the Y) hours totaling close to full-time. I talked to him today and he was pretty sure they could get me up to higher 20 hours a weeks to lower 30 hours. That makes me a little less nervous. Mishu also said things will be ok, he will figure a way for them to work. I also talked to my supervisor at the Y and he said he would have no problem getting me lifeguard certified! YAY! WOOOHOO! Crap...I need to get in shape!
Other than that...I think most everything is caught up! LOL! I'm sure I'll find more to blog about in a couple of days!

A sad situation.

2009-02-25T14:11:00.003-05:00

A fellow Army wife on a support forum that I am on lost her husband in Afghanistan yesterday. He was home about a month ago on R&R and got to spend some nice, quality time with his wife and young son.
I can't imagine what it must be like for her. Some of the moderators on the board decided to take up a collection to buy a plant or tree of some sort for her, and due to the amount of donations so far, are probably going to do something for her son as well. It is amazing the support that has poured out for her.

My heart and prayers go out to her and her family.

Something my brother wrote

2008-12-10T00:09:00.004-05:00

This is a story that my 13 year old brother wrote about his life so far as he knows it. Just so you all know, my brother has a form of kidney disease (Mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis) and is under the autism spectrum. I just thought I would share it with you all! I am copying it right from his paper so please dont mind the grammar and spelling issues.
"My Life Story (by C***** F****)
This story begins practically when I was born. I had been diagnosed with Autism just recently. Although, the doctors say I am more Aspergers than autistic. When I was younger I used to have to wear a helmet because I used to crash right through fences and I really liked to run into things! I had also been quite sick for a while. Sick as in physically unhealthy like all puffy and really pudgy. My doctors hand just diagnosed me with severe kidney disease. I had to go to the hospital a lot from three years old to I think at least six years old. I had to get things called Biopsy's. They were these tests that doctors did to check to see how my kidneys were doing. To explain kidney disease a little bit more, kidney disease is some thing where my kidneys don't function normally. They don't filter the protein that it's supposed to keep in my body. And don't worry it's not contagious (I hate it when people ask me that)! Just so this story doesn't go on forever I'll skip a few years. I am now thirteen years old and have gotten better in understanding the differences that I have. Though some people think it's very childish (and I don't really care) I really like Pokemon and Yu-gi-oh I like to participate in tournaments for the Yu-gi-oh card game. I have also seen a bunch of teenage boys playing the game too. Back to my differences, in January 2007, I was in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) at the Rush University Hospital. I was there because I was so sick that one kidney in my body almost failed! For my future problems, my sister is getting married! I say it's bad because I think that at least two months after her marriage she's moving to Georgia for at least EIGHT YEARS! And that is sending me into a really deep depression. I just feel like I need to spend more time with my family and not go to school. Lastly, people keep asking me why I am so puffy these past couple weeks. Here's the deal, just last year I was diagnosed with the high end of dangerous kidney disease. The name is really long so I can't remember it. I have to take these really big pills and they make me look like this. I hope this has educated you and answered some questions."

I guess the reason this all means so much to me is that he is self-advocating. He has NEVER EVER done so! And also...we finally has a reason why he has been fighting my mom on going to school! I am going to start trying to make more time to spend with him before I move to be with Mishu!

10 Things you may not know about me. :D

2008-10-24T16:44:00.002-04:00

I have been tagged by dayngr to go through the file cabinets in my head and figure out 10 things you probably don't know about me. So here we go!

1. I feel most comfortable with either children or the elderly. I feel most uneasy around my peers.
2. I didn't learn to swim in the deep end of the pool 'til I was 13, I was too afraid to before that. Now I teach special needs children to swim.
3. I am so afraid I will never be able to have children.
4. I get angry at parent's who call Autism a "curse." Yes it can be hard, yes it is life changing, yes depression sets it. Move on...you can't let it stop your life and you need to make the best of what you have. And yes I do have room to talk, I've been beaten on, bitten, almost had my nose broke, been glared at and yelled at in stores because the child was screaming and crying and having a melt down and we had to restrain him, I've been rammed into. And all this by my wonderful brother. I wouldn't have it any other way. You live and you learn and that is all you can do.
5. I am scared to move away from my mom and brother.
6. I have 6 piercings. ;) all above the waist.
7. I never really know the right thing to say, so I run the conversation in my head...and never say any of it out loud.
8. I have a huge super crush on Anthony Michael Hall. (I totally <3 geeks!)
9. I was so desperate to sleep with this one guy in high school, and when we did years later...it wasn't all I made him out to be. Isn't that usually how it goes?
10. I hate the color pink but it is one of the colors that looks best on me.

Freezin' for a Reason!

2008-10-21T17:48:00.006-04:00

For the last two years, a handful of friends and I have done the Polar Plunge. It's actually called the IL Law Enforcement Torch Run Polar Plunge for Special Olympics...big mouthful, so most of us just call it the Plunge. :D What is it? It's a great time! It is a bunch of crazy people (believe me...get to know some of us and you will believe it!)raising money and jumping into freezing cold water to benefit the athletes of the IL Special Olympics. I personally got involved because of my brother, who is on a SO Swim team and the SO swim team I assistant coach. I love them all dearly and this is the least I can do to give back to them some of the joy they have brought me!
Keep your eyes open on here for more info.
Maybe I can get my soldier to do it with me this year! ;) He would have last year, but he was across the world, experiencing conditions that were the "polar" opposite of mine!
Here is the vid of us doing it from last year!
Look for the Polar Bears, that's my group! :D

Here is some more info about the Polar Plunge. The one I will be at is at Northwestern University's North Beach, Evanston. Not the Super Plunge, but the regular one. :D
"What is the Law Enforcement Torch Run Polar Plunge? It is a unique and wacky opportunity to support Special Olympics Illinois ( SO ILL) athletes by taking a flying leap – a leap into the frigid waters of an Illinois lake! In 2009, there will be 17 locations (see below).

Participants raise at least $75 in donations from friends, family and co-workers in exchange for jumping into the icy waters in the middle of winter. Each plunger receives an official Polar Plunge sweatshirt and entrance into a Post-Plunge Party, plus the chance to win additional prizes for raising more money. All proceeds benefit the more than 21,000 athletes of SO ILL!

Get involved and take the Plunge!

In 2009, Polar Plunges will take place from Feb. 27 to March 21 in 17 different locations around the state:

Friday, Feb. 27 & 28 (tentative):
*SUPER Plunge at Northwestern University's North Beach, Evanston

Saturday, Feb. 28 (tentative):
*Northwestern University's North Beach, Evanston

Sunday, March 1:
*Miller Park Lake, Bloomington
*Lakefront Park, Fox Lake
*Lake Storey, Galesburg
*Twin Lakes, Salt Creek Park District, Palatine

Saturday, March 7:
*Rend Lake, South Sandusky Beach, Benton
*Carlyle Lake, Carlyle
*Lake Springfield, Knights of Columbus Hall #4179, Chatham
*Lake Decatur, The Beach House, Decatur
*Lake Sara, Effingham
*Sunrise Beach, Lake Bluff
*Manteno Lake, Manteno
*Moorman Lake, Upper Moorman Park, Quincy
*Olson Lake, Rock Cut State Park, Rockford

Sunday, March 8:
*Loon Lake, Silver Springs State Park, Yorkville

Saturday, March 21:
*Lincoln Lakes, Private Beach Access, Lincoln
*Lake of the Woods Forest Preserve, Mahomet"

I am so sick and tired of College bullshit!

2008-09-26T20:05:00.000-04:00

I am just so freakin' aggravated right now. I was supposed to get a call from my adviser at WGU at 3:15. I put off everything else I had to do so that I could have some quiet time to talk to her. I didn't get any calls until 3:50 (this is not the first time this has happened) and it wasn't even my adviser. The assistant called me to tell me that my adviser left early and she had rescheduled me with another adviser but that one left early also. So I'm not very happy about that right now, and she tells me that one of my transcripts did not make it in yet (I had them sent rush two weeks ago) and they had a meeting today to drop me and she didn't have the results of the meeting. I delayed entry last month due to some of my other colleges dragging their feet on sending the transcripts.
Now, I am also attending one of the community colleges in my area, finishing up my last two classes before I graduate. I enrolled now because I was told by the adviser that I could do so and transfer my AA when I finished it.
Well...come today I was told by her assistant I cant do that. I need to finish the classes I am taking now or they wont count. I dont understand that. What if I earn education credits at the job I have. Will those not count???? Ugh....I am so aggravated now. At least I got confirmation from the assistant that my application fee wont be effected and I wont have to pay it again. Looks like I wont be starting my BA in Special Ed until at least January. I just cant even explain how upset I am right now. :\

First Day

2008-09-24T22:11:00.002-04:00

Today was my first day at my new job. It was really cool. It was basically me taking a back seat to observe the classroom. The in's an out's, what to do, what not to do, how to lift, how to feed.
I work in a classroom with children who have almost no independent movement and are non-verbal. As the days go on I will take over more responsibilities in the classroom. I truly think I will enjoy this. :D I will update more on this as time goes by.
I talked to the company I was looking at to do the video and DJ'ing for the wedding and we have him reserved! :D That means nearly major thing is taken care of for the wedding! There are a couple more things that need to get taken care of, but it's mostly the stuff I know nothing about, like Mishu's uniform, the Honor/Color Guard and the tuxedo rentals for the guys.
:D

Show me the money!..and other stuff

2008-09-23T00:24:00.003-04:00

:D I got the job! I can't wait! I go get fingerprinted tomorrow morning and then I have to finish filling out all the paperwork for health care and retirement fund crap. :D I am so excited though! Tomorrow afternoon, I go and observe the classroom I will be in. Then I start full time on Wednesday morning! :D I am finally gainfully employed! Wheee! Yes! Yay!

I'm really getting annoyed with the swim lessons I teach. Just over half of my students showed up last week. Some of them had legit excuses, some had questionable ones. I mean, people, you pay a certain amount of money for these lessons, I teach your children how to swim, I give you a 30 minute break from your hectic life. Please give me the courtesy of SHOWING UP! I love my job. I love what I do. I love the children, believe me if I didn't I wouldn't still be doing this. I would have found a job that pays more with more hours. Hell, I probably wouldn't have left a good paying job just so that I could continue TEACHING YOUR CHILDREN! I need to figure this out soon, because I am still getting more students but if they don't show up this isn't going to be worth my time. I am saving for a wedding, I am trying to get myself out of debt. I'm trying to live day to day without pulling mty hair out about money. And when I could be making a mice bit of change and they don't show up...needless to say...this gets me a bit perturbed.

Other than that, Mishu is doing some kind of training, some sort of medic thing that he does not want to do but has to do any way. It looks like he wont be able to call me for a few days and that sucks...but hell, this is the Army. I should be used to this by now! I know I am definitely going to need to get used to it, hell, we are going to be in this for the long haul. At least 8 or so years from now. Grr! But at least he will have a marketable job when he gets out. Or we could stay in longer and have an even more marketable job...and a pretty nice pension. So the long and short of it is we dont know how long we are going to be in for, but he says he wants to make it a family decision when we get to that point. It will basically depend on where we are in our life together, where I am in my career and where we are with children.

I should probably say that Mishu is my fiance, my heart, my soldier.

WOOHOO!

2008-09-18T15:10:00.002-04:00

Wow, so I got a call this morning from the assistant to the district superintendent to the district that I had an interview with. They want me to come in Monday for the final interview! :D This will be great! I really can't wait! I really need this job and OMG I can't wait! :D

Hi! I feel Craptacular!

2008-09-15T23:48:00.002-04:00

I still have no solid job. This is really wearing me out. Not physically, but mentally and emotionally. I've decided tomorrow morning I will put my resume out to as many places as I can find on Craigslist. I'm not having any luck finding anything in the education field. So I'm now reaching out to anything I can find. :\ Anything from clerical and customer service work to dog walking and telemarketing. I'm 'bout ready to pull my hair out...this is stressing me out so much! I just need to earn some money, I need to save up for my wedding and I need to pay rent. I need to pay for college. I need to pay my bills. I need to buy food and I need to buy gas for my car. And what sucks even more is that this economy is only going to get worse before it gets any better. I just wish things were easier, were more simple. Wrar!

Commence with the flooding!

2008-09-14T00:18:00.002-04:00

So we got a shit-ton of rain today. Sucked big time! All my laundry got flooded as well as all my X-mas boxes. I decided I didn't want to examine the exact damage tonight, I will wait 'til later to see what will need to be thrown away. I just got really upset about it earlier and I just don't need that right now.
The problem is...the rain is supposed to continue through tomorrow. Sucks again.
I'm hoping the raid doesn't effect the attendance for my lessons tomorrow. The reason I'm worried is because the storm drains couldn't handle the water flows today and ALOT of roads flooded past the point of passage.
Still no job. This sucks the worst. Really really badly I might add. :)
That is all for now.

About me...

2008-09-11T11:32:00.000-04:00

I'll start my first post by saying who I am and what I'm about.
My name is Corinne and I'm a 24 year old perpetual student. I love learning and I love school. That is...until I'm actually in a required class. :) Yes, I love learning but when I have to take a class, well, I'm not the happiest person.
I'm almost done with my A.A. degree, having been in college since August of '02. Basically I've been going to school part time, paying my own way mostly (other than taking out a loan here and there) and working full time. It kind of upsets me that it's taken me so long to get this far but I just have to look back and see how much work-place experience I have gained where most people my age might just now be getting into the "real world." So this next December I will have finished my A.A. degree and this October I am starting at WGU online to earn my B.A. degree in Special Education Teaching. This should take me anywhere from 2-3 years depending on how quickly I can move through it. It's all competency based, so basically, I can't pass on to the next section or class until I prove I know what the last section taught me. I'm really looking forward to this.
The reason I am moving from a traditional college atmosphere (which I currently in) to an online college is because I am getting married to the most wonderful man in my world...who is a soldier in the United States Army. Our wedding is in June of '09 (only just over 9 months away!) and I am so very excited about it! It is going to be in the town where I live. After our wedding we are going to go to his hometown, in NY, and celebrate the wedding with the rest of his family and friends who will not able to make it to the wedding. Soon after that, I will be moving from my home in IL to the Army base he will be at in GA. That is probably the most scary thing to me since I have never lived away from family or away from the area I was born. But hundreds of thousands of other men and women have done this, I can too.
About what I do? Well, I'd like to be a teachers assistant right now, as I was last year, but I am stuck trying to find a job right now. I've put out many applications but I'm fully at the mercy of what the school districts need. I do have a job teaching swim to special needs individuals and it is a job I love but lets face it, it isn't a job that pays the bills or rent or anything else. I'm adding even more students, but it still isn't enough to make ends meet.
Um...that's about all I can figure for now. :)