Slacker/Homecoming story

I know, I know, I know. No updates for over a month. Here comes the list of excuses. 1) I honestly haven't done anything crafty in a this past month, other than just playing with some fabric. 2) School is coming to an end for this semester, so of course in the professor's minds, it's precisely the time to give us about 14 homework assignments and projects each night.

In other news, the boy is home safe and sound from deployment number two. He came home at exactly 6 months from the day he left, a month early! It was not expected at all. Last time I blogged, I know I said I was anticipating him coming home early, but that changed just a day or so later, and he wasn't coming home early anymore. In fact he wasn't due home until today, give or take a few days. His mom called me on Monday (Nov. 9) and told me she had just gotten off the phone with the FRO (family readiness officer- basically the person who keeps the family updated on what's going on, what they're doing, and homecoming and the like). I was just like "okay" not expecting much, but then she asked me if I was sitting down. I was driving, so I mean, technically, I was. Then she told me that he was coming home THAT Friday. I just about lost it. Tears ran down my face and everything.

A few work days and a horrible rainy drive (including a ticket!), I found myself in North Carolina. He began to rent an apartment while he was gone (for when he came home) and when his parents and brother got in, they found the apartment in pretty good shape, except there was no electricity. We all stayed in a hotel that night, and then the next morning (when he was supposed to be back) we went to his apartment. I have to say, it was a little odd sitting in his bedroom, with everything there but him.

As I said before, he was supposed to be home Friday (Nov. 13). While I was driving down, he texted me (from his computer) saying that they were stuck in Spain because of the bad weather. It was only supposed to be until 2 or so the next day (Friday), so I figured it wasn't too bad, at least he'd still be home that same day. But then, in the morning we got a call from the FRO saying that now a part on the plane was broken and it could take a few days since they had to get it shipped from the US to Spain. A FEW DAYS?! The thought just about killed me. After that call, we were expecting Monday at the earliest for his homecoming. We went about the day, going to a few different places and trying to figure out if his dad and brother were going to stay or not.

The next morning (Saturday, the 14th), at about 7am, I was beginning to wake up (of course I was considering going back to sleep) when my phone rang. It was his mom calling from the other room letting me know about another call from the FRO. All I could think of was "what now?" But then, his mom told me that the FRO was calling to let us know the plane was landing in Virgina (about 3 hours away from where we were). I sat up right away, now completely awake. Next thing I knew, the boy was calling me and telling me that they had just landed, but they had to wait for the bus now. I got up and got ready, fully expecting them to be home in a few hours. As the day went by, and the bus still wasn't there (for whatever reason, they waited until their plane landed to call for a bus. Then the bus had to leave from North Carolina and then go to Virginia to get them), we went out to lunch with Matt's friends (another Marine and his wife) and then went to their house for a bit. Then it was time for a nap.

After the nap we all got ready once again (it was about 7pm). We were getting texts from the boy, updating us on where he was. His mom was taking a bit longer to get ready, and then all of a sudden she said he was really close so we all rushed out to the cars. We took two, including his since we would have to fit 5 people and all his gear. His brother and I were following his parents in his car, and his mom got lost on the way to base. Talk about getting nervous. I knew he was so close and so were we. When we found our way finally and got on base, we then had to get base passes. That took longer than expected. Then we had to find where everyone was meeting and waiting for the buses. We drove past it once, not seeing it, then finally pulled in with the buses basically right behind us.

His poor brother was trying to find a place to park and I shouted "THERE'S THE BUSES! LET ME OUT!" I left everything but my camera in the car and even opened the door while the car was still moving. I ran up to the buses and started taking pictures and trying to see if he was on the one I was next to. His mom spotted him first (she ran up to the bus, and looked up into the window, I only saw everyone from the neck down from where I was standing). Unlike last time, they weren't in their uniforms and there was no formation, so as soon as they got off the bus they were able to go right to their families. His mom hugged him first and then it was my turn. Talk about amazing! I truly believe that unless you go through a deployment and then a homecoming you can never imagine what it feels like. It's like a first kiss all over again. It's just...amazing. He's been home for almost a month (with the majority of it in North Carolina, but on US soil none the less). He'll be home-home in just about 2 weeks for two weeks of post-deployment leave (which means he'll be home for Christmas and New Years!) The timing is great as I will just be finishing up with school and finally only have work to worry about!

Well the dogs are calling my name, they want to go out and play in the first snow of the year!

Right now...

• I'm eagerly anticipating the boy's homecoming (EARLY!!!!)
• I'm so over school, can't wait until this semester is over.
• I'm sick of this rain. Either sun or snow - Mother Nature, please choose one.
• I desperately want to scrapbook, yet I really don't want to clean my desk.
• I rekindled my love for shopping yesterday, but promised myself I wouldn't wear anything until I went to get the boy.
  
• I am so happy it's November finally...lots of good things happening this month - getting my boyfriend back, my dog's birthdays, my birthday, thanksgiving, etc.
• School and work are still taking over my life. I can't wait for thanksgiving break, and some bonus time when I go and get the boy.
  

Last week of freedom...

Not that I really want to call it my last week of freedom, but let's be realistic here..that's what it is. I'm gonna finish up all my fatty groceries this week (oodles and noodles, lots of other pasta foods, etc) and starting next week I'm gonna be healthy. I have fitness and food logs I need to print out. I'm going to use those to help me.

I'm going to track what I eat and see just how much I put into my body and how many calories I don't burn.

What sparked this you may ask? Well, I was cleaning my room a bit and found two Walmart gift cards. Each had $10 on it. Now if you know me, I never go to Walmart. It's not that I have anything against it, I'd just rather go to the target that's two minutes from it. This target is kept much cleaner, it's less crowded, and the I know the isles like the back of my hand. So instead of fighting the madness that is my local Walmart (trust me, parking is TERRIBLE as is just getting into and maneuvering through the store) I went online. I had been hearing about this video, 30 day shred with Jillian Michaels for a while now. It was almost like free money (I've had these giftcards since AT LEAST Christmas, maybe even Christmas of 2007) I figured why not. I bought that and another Jillian Michaels one, No More Trouble Zones. I paid less than $5 out of my pocket for those with shipping.

This then sparked a memory of the time I had picked up one of The Hungry Girl books, 200 under 200...or something like that at Barnes and Nobles. I didn't buy it (just for the simple fact that I knew I could find it online cheaper- and I was right). Basically, it's a collection of 200 recipes under 200 calories. I went on Amazon, and then Ebay, and found it a lot cheaper than Barnes and Noble. That's probably going to be my bible for a little bit. Something else that's going to be helpful, the Omron HBF-306C Fat Loss Monitor. On payday, I'm going to buy this baby:

Image from Amazon.com

It'll calculate my fat for me and show me how much fat I'm burning as opposed to me just seeing if the numbers on the scale are dropping. They say muscle weighs more than fat, so I think it'll help keep me motivated if I see the body fat percentage drop even if the numbers on the scale remains the same.

I'm going to take before pictures tonight, because I know I'll look essentially the same come Monday of next week, and I don't know if I'll have time next week.

The plan of attack - Use one of the 800 binders I have just laying around as my weight loss binder. Yes, I'm anal like that. I'm gonna make the cover all pretty probably (gotta throw in a little craftiness you know?) and keep my food diary, fitness diary, maybe a few notes in there, and some favorite low fat/low calorie recipes. That way I'll know where everything is.

Exercise plan - Hopefully, I'll do 30 day Shred every day (it's only 20 minutes) go to the gym Tuesdays and Thursdays and do the treadmill and some weights. And then do No More Trouble Zones Monday Wednesday and Fridays. Sort of confusing I know. I'll probably have to change it up a little so it works for me. But that's what I'm going to start with.

I know this is extremely long, but one more thing before I go. During my search for printable fitness logs and calorie logs, I came across this awesome site, http://sparkpeople.com . I signed up with a fake email address at first, just to get access to the logs, however once I saw all of the stuff they had, I went back right away and signed up with my real email and user name. It has this whole thing that sets you up with a goal (or you can choose to not set one). You can either do how much weight you want to lose by a certain date, or chose a date and see how much weight you should/could lose by then. I chose a date right around when the boys coming home so that I can work my butt off to reach that goal. I've only received one email from them so far, so they apparently aren't all about sending you 900 emails either. I haven't had the time to sit down and completely explore the site, but I have seen some of it. You get to virtually spin a wheel every day that you log in. Most days you'll only see points on the wheel, but some days there will be little prizes like a water bottle or a t-shirt. I have no idea what the accumulation of points does... I think it shows up as different trophies? I'm probably wrong though.

They also have message boards and groups to join. I'm in the dog lovers group, one of the 20 something groups, and a few others. I haven't posted to the message board or any of the groups yet. One thing that I didn't like, but was able to easily (really easily) rectify was that the default setting for the message boards is that the newest posting was on top. I looked around for just a minute and found the little link/setting thing to change that. There's lots of healthy recipes on there as well as other little helpful odds and ends. I'm very excited to start really using the site and seeing what else it has to offer. I guess I better enjoy eating whatever I want and how much I want while I can!

Next post I'll share my goals!

Halfway!

Finally, there is some good news coming from this deployment. We have officially hit the halfway mark! With this comes a big sigh of relief. We can say now that we've finished more days than we have left. That just feels so good to say. There's also rumours (I know I shouldn't listen to them, but they're coming straight from the boy) that he may be coming home early. That would be amazing. I just can't wait for him to be home! With jumping to the other side of the halfway mark, comes the beginning of planning. Wow. How I have waited to be able to do that. I need to start getting things in order. Kicking even more butt at the gym, getting my room together, going to the dermatologist, going to another doctor...you know, getting a lot of the little things done before I get too busy and can't. Then within the month before he comes home (probably October) comes the big planning. Taking off of work, booking the hotel, going shopping for a homecoming outfit. I can't wait until September (when I can say I can start to do all of that "next month"). I'm so glad August only has 9 days left until it's over.

I agree when everyone says summer went by pretty fast. However, they're usually saying that as if it's a negative thing. I, on the other hand, am very thankful it has flown by. Most times I'm just amazed that it's Friday and the weekend is here and the week is already over. I still have some days though that feel like weeks in themselves, and weeks that feel like months.

I start school in a little over a week (on the 31st) and I'm hoping that makes things to by even faster. I am so happy to be able to say that he should be home before I'm finished this semester.

Speaking of school, I'm hoping this semester will be relatively easy. Although I say that now, so we'll see. I think my biggest challenge will be Biology. I have that Monday and Wednesday, from 5:45-7:10pm. However, on Wednesdays, I have it's lab counterpart from 7:20 until 10:15 at night. That's going to be a long day. On top of going to school full time (although some of my classes are partly online) I'm working full time, from 7:30am until 4:30pm. So Wednesdays are going to kill me. I'll essentially be running around from 6:30am until 10:45pm. I haven't even figured out how I'm going to eat dinner those days. Hopefully I'll have a lenient teacher and she'll allow us a little snack if we so desire.

Phew, this is already long.

In crafty news, I'm SO close to being done this extremely long unmounting process. I have two stampin up stamp sets left to do. One is pretty simple, the other...not so much. It's the kind that have two stamps mounted on each block, and it's all short little words. I have all my non stampin up stamps unmounted already. My desk is even cleaned off, so I was able to make two 3x3 cards. They're not my best work, I'm a little rusty, but they'll do for now.

I've suffered from this horrible bout of insomnia recently. I finally slept really well last night (and further into the day than I would have liked) but when I did wake up, it was with a cold. I'll definitely be needing to hook up my humidifier tonight. I'm off to try and nurse myself back to health before Monday. Have a good weekend!

Busy bee

I am so exhausted. I thought summer meant more free time, less work, etc? Not the case for me apparently. There's more drama at work than ever, which already leaves me exhausted when I come home. Then, I go to the gym and work with my overly energetic puppies. By the time my head hits the pillow, I haven't had any time to just relax so I'm still all wound up with a million thoughts racing around in my head. Thus, I can't fall asleep for at least an hour or two, which makes waking up in the morning pretty difficult and so the cycle continues. I need to get more sleep. I need to eat better. I need to change something.

But enough of that. In craft related news, I haven't done anything. I haven't finished unmounting and ezmounting my stamps. I've looked at craft related blogs, and I've been so inspired to create, yet find myself with no extra time in the day. So I've convinced myself that tonight, after dinner, I will go up and I will clear off my desk and at least make more of a dent in it, if not, get it done. I need some type of release!

Well I'm off to eat dinner!

What I've been up to...

I know it seems like I've been slacking in posting..and to be honest, I have. However, I've probably looked at my blog at least everyday and for various reasons, I just didn't post.

Since the last time I posted, I've been finishing up my summer class (which I got an A in by the way), continuing to count down the days till the boy will be home, and beginning the task of unmounting, retrimming, and ez mount-ing my rubber stamps. Can I just say how much I love my hot knife?? I've been using the EZ Mount Stamp n' Store system. It looks like this:

I bought everything seperately (the stamp n' store panels, the ez mount, and I had a binder at home already) I've used less than two full ez mount sheets and have finished about half my stampin up rubber stamp collection. I have various other rubber stamps that I need to unmount as well. I finally gave into the unmounting craze based on the simple fact that I was running out of room. I will more than likely be able to store AT LEAST twice the amount of rubber stamps as I was before, and in one binder as opposed to a billion plastic cases stacked on top of eachother.

More than likely, I will be selling the stamping up clam shell cases that I have (I have all sizes), and the wood blocks since I can't figure out what to do with them (again I have all sizes). So if you or someone you know is interested, let me know!

Once I get them all unmounted and onto the stamp n store panels, my next step will be indexing them. This is probably going to be the biggest task. I'm trying to decide which is the best way to do it for me. Do I want to do it by stamp sets (with the sentiments spread out, or in some cases together with their set)? Do I want to do it by topic/theme (with all sentiments in one spot, or with what they go with)? I'm going to have to look on some of the message boards to figure this one out.

I don't know when I'll get this all done, as I'm going to at least one (possibly two) cook outs today, going grocery shopping as well as doing massive amounts of laundry and cleaning tomorrow. Although, it's going to seem like a whole different world now that I can actually enjoy summer break and just work instead of working and going to school.

I am doing something good though next week. Starting Monday, I'm joining the local gym. My friend is already a member, and I'm going to try a spin class (it burns 500-600 calories in an hour...I'm probably not going to be able to move the next day) on Monday and if I like it and the gym, then I'll join. It's not too expensive and it includes all the classes I want to take. Jen (my friend I was talking about) does kick boxing and she tried the spinning class the other day. I'm going to see what else the offer. I really wish they offered Zumba (it's essentially aerobic exercize/dancing to good music. Hopefully they'll offer it soon enough, as it seems to be the latest craze.

Well, I think this is long enough. I'm off to shower and get out of my pajamas!

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Frustration.

I'm frustrated. I'm frustrated with the fact that it's raining outside. I'm frustrated with people at work who are just ridiculous. I'm frustrated with the fact that I could really use a hug and some cuddle time, but my boyfriend is on a ship a million miles away. I'm frustrated with the fact that I really need to organize my room and craft space, but have no real motivation to do so. The TV keeps turning itself off, driving me crazy. I want to just lay here and relax, watch a movie, be completely lazy...instead I can't watch TV and there is only so much I can do on the computer. I am just in no mood to get up and begin a task that will take who knows how long to complete.

Anywayyyyyyyyy.... I ended up spending two hours at the vet last night. And I came out with a $487 bill. The worst part was that it was a routine visit. No emergency what-so-ever. Both of the dogs needed three shots and a general exam. However, being that it's spring (a fresh start, so to speak) and will soon be summer, I thought it prudent to get some blood work done on them so I would be 100% certain they had no issues and no heartworms. There goes another $50 a dog. With the results for both comepletely negative, it was time to get medicine to prevent them ever having lymes disease, fleas, heartworm, etc. There goes another $100 (thankfully this was enough for both)...and there goes almost $500. Not to mention that they had 12 emergencies that day and were wayyyyyyyy behind with appointments. We waited an hour before my dogs were seen. Usually we're in and out pretty quickly, so we were patient unlike others in the waiting room. Oh well. Next year, they'll just need the exam, meds, and 2 less expensive shots. My bill will be at least $200 cheaper. Thankfully.

In happier news, Jan is giving away some great blog candy. I would love to have that machine!

I'm off to surf some blogs, and hopefully gain some motivation to get up and organize!