Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Things that bother me... and things that don't.

Something that bothers me:
When people who don't know me like "that" call me "Sammy." 
This is not a joking matter people, seriously. Don't call me Sammy unless you know me like that.

I know it bothers some females to be referred to as "broads". This however, does not bother me- at all. As a matter of fact, I refer to a group of females as "broads" quite a bit. 

Jilian Michaels bothers me. 
I'm not one of those people who respond to her particular brand of motivation.

Wipe Out bothers me.
Just stupid.

Pretty and/or hot boys. most definitely DO NOT bother me:

Just sayin... 
I'm mean who would that seriously bother??

My contacts at the end of 8 hours staring at the computer BOTHER ME! 

time for glasses and BED!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

NEWSS!!!

Ok, so I have some news. When I said this to my mother she thought I was going to tell her I was pregnant with a baby girl! But well, that's not the news. The news is that Kevin has temporary/conditional orders!!! To where, you ask? GERMANY!!!! 
I am thrilled with this prospect and couldn't be more hopeful. 
The orders are conditional on Kevin's chain of command all signing off on lifting his fence. We can't figure out why he's fenced into his current unit... No one can figure it out. All the same we're waiting for about another two weeks for the final answer! Keep your fingers crossed people. If all works out we'd PCS in November. Wowzas!

So you all know I started a job 3 weeks ago, right? Evidently I found a job with the only company in town with no military affiliated people! I swear this is the least military-savy group of people I have ever met. The other day one of my co-workers was shocked when I told them that my husband is up and out of the house by 430 everyday. "WHY?!" he asks. "PT" I said. "What's that?" He says. "Seriously?" I say. 
It only gets worse from there. 
I explain to my *ignorant co-worker that there's a war going on and they have practice their running so that they're conditioned if they should have to run to and fro to ensure their personal safety. 
Duh. 
Just saying. 

Have you heard about what Iraq and Afghanistan Veteran's of America (IAVA) is doing with Miller High Life? 
They're teaming up for the sole purpose of giving back to Vets. Head over to their website and take a look in the Rucksack to search for events in your area. They're giving away tickets to events such as MLB games, NFL games and Nascar events. Head over to the website for more details on how to participate.

I know I'm really cramming a lot into this one post but I HAVE to share with everyone that my Best Friend, Amanda had her first baby last Friday the 25th!! I can't believe it but she's really somebody's mother! It's intense and I'm happy for her and her family.
Baby Matthew Alan was born at 836 PM EST. Weighing in at 7.36 LBS and 18" long.
I love you Manda... and my new Godson Matthew!
Go check out my guest blogging the day Matthew was born.

1 more day of work before a week off for vacation. (less than) 2 days until ECLIPSE! Yes I'm mother-effing excited about that. And 3 days until our vacation to SAN DIEGO!
woooooo
I'm one excited girl.
but I'm headed to bed.
G'night!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

I Want it Wednesday

It's Wednesday again...
and everyone is dying to know what I want!
(duh)

I'll start with I want Flip Flops that don't hurt my feet/ankles:

I love me some Old Navy but these simply don't "work".
Any suggestions people?

I want your help:
you know, since I'm a grown up; participating member of society now.
AKA: I have a job.
Well, my boss has asked me to come up with (about) 5 questions that we can ask new-hires in order to get to know them a bit better.
Any suggestions?
There may be something in it for the most clever.
Remember: it must be along the "PG" lines, this is a professional environment!

I want/can't wait for Entourage to come back this Sunday, 17 June at 10:30 PM on HBO!
I love me some Ari Gold.
NOT Jeremy Piven... but Ari Gold.
haaa!

I want !!
Thankfully our 4th of July vacation to San Diego will provide all the Pinkberry my heart desires!
I also, can't wait to see my MIL/FIL next week! yay... =)

Do I even need to mention wanting to see Eclipse next week??

Happy Hump Day all!!

ARMY Stuff


As we all (should) know last Monday (yes I'm late... get over it) was the Army's 235th Birthday.
The above picture is how some soldiers in Afghanistan celebrated.... with a 2.35 mile run!

I just needed to share the pic- thought it was amazing.
~
Have you heard about MSRRA? Or you know, Military Spouse Residency Relief Act? I'm not sure how much looking you've done into this program- if at all. But it is somethat that (in theory) would have benefitted me. You see my husband is an Oregon resident- born and raised there. Where as I've been in, and a resident of Colorado for-ever. Active duty military and non-state residents our charged a flat $30 to register their vehicles. But since our cars are only in my name and I am a resident we're charged, lets just say much more than $30. So when this MSRRA came around I was overjoined at the opportunity to change my residency to Oregon and save lots-o-monies on my vehicle registration!
Well, that's not so much how it works.
You cannot just randomly choose the same state as your soldier/active duty service member. But you CAN however, (not so randomly) choose residency at your current duty station and keep that residency as you PSC all over God's green earth. :)
This article was extremely helpful in clarifying the do's and don't's of MSRRA!

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Funny stuff

Ok, we all know I love me some Twilight and I'm super stoked for Eclipse but the following photo I found just too effin' hilarious not to share:
...LOL...
Ummm, has anyone else noticed that my Eclipse tracker has fallen below 15 days!!? 
Hello vacation from work and Rpatz! 
Boop Boop!

Speaking of "boop boop" and funny things:
(where you can have it your way... but don't get too crazy!!)

Another funny video:

And one of my all-time-favs!!

Since I'm sharing funny things I'll share something hilarious that happened this past week at work:
So I'm the receptionist, right? I answer the phone and transfer calls... that's my life. 
Swell.
But anyway... back to the funniness:
So I answer the phone: Good Morning, "such and such company" this is Samantha, How may I help you?
And this guy asks me to transfer him to Lisa. So I'm scowering my extension list for Lisa's extension and the guy goes "Damn it! I just farted." Then he proceeds to laugh and giggle! 
So I transfer him and then press on with business. 
And by business I mean laughing hysterically, answering the phone and trying not to get caught on Facebook. 
HA! 

I hope you all enjoy your weekends and have the opportunity to tell the people who matter the most to you how much you love and appreciate them! 
;) 
oh, and LAUGH!!!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

When Your Husband...

Cooks dinner it makes things allllll better!

Kevin doesn't cook. Period. Well, not quite that "period." He does make macaroni and cheese. Since I started working again I've been pretty beat/exhausted/lazy/useless in the evenings. Somehow I'm also more hungry throughout the day. This using your brain business is no joke. Anywho, today I text Kevin about 4 p.m. and asked him if he would mind starting dinner because I was super hungry. To my surprise Kevin agreed. Once I (finally) made my way home he had the grill heated up, steak on, and rice-a-roni started! All I had to do was make the corn! 

Gotta say I don't think there are too many things that comin' home to that wouldn't fix. 

My friend and her husband are doing okay. Last I heard he's still in Kuwait awaiting transport to Germany. He broke two vertebra near the top of his back. He's up walking around and they don't think he'll need surgery. All in all he seems to have been pretty lucky. Thanks for all the support and prayers! 

In other Solider/Army related news, all the NCO's met with the new Sergeant Major today. Evidently he's a very family orientated guy and will be contacting the parents of all the soldiers. You know.... just to say Hi. While I think this is great.... I'm wondering why he isn't contacting the spouses of the married soldiers and parents of the unmarried guys? 
Any thoughts??

Oh.... last but not least (although I wish I didn't have to talk about this at all) the hubs will be gearing up for his fourth deployment this fall -- the gearing up part is in the fall. The Deployment part I'm not sure... but my best guess is in the Spring (2011). 

So for "I Want it Wednesday" I want another Wednesday... 
That doesn't include conversations about injured soldiers
or deploying husbands. 

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Thoughts and Prayers Please

A friend of mine received bad news last night. Her husband currently deployed to Iraq fell out of a tower. He is on his way to Lundstuhl and then back (thank God) on US soil. She received word that his back is broken. I don't have any other details.

This is obviously a very serious injury and I'm asking for prayers and thoughts to go out to the Cox family.

Thanks.

Cookies n' such!

My buddy Jen hosts a weekly recipe blog hop. This week she is featuring Cookies!!
Who doesn't like cookies?
If you do (don't like cookies) than you can just stop being my friend.... NOW!

Here's one of my fav recipes:

Cheesecake Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Ingredients:
1/2 c Sugar
8 oz Cream Cheese
1 egg
1 Package rolled Chocolate Chip Cookie dough.

Directions:
Spray Pam in the bottom of a 9x13" baking pan. Press about half of the cookie dough into the bottom of the pan. In a small bowl mix together the other ingredients and pour over the first layer of cookie dough. Then add the remaining cough on top of the cream cheese mixture. Bake for 18 mins at 350 degrees or until golden brown on top.

And ENJOY!

It's a fav. I've also tried this once with brownies and cream cheese.... YUmmmmm!!
*~*

I love that my last post encouraged a few new followers and that you all felt as strongly about it as I did.
*~*

A big-warm 235th HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the US Army!
Hooah. 
*~*

In other exciting news the hubs and I got iPhones this weekend.
Do you have an iPhone? 
What accessories must we pick up?
Do you know of any cheap places to pick up accessories? 
I couldn't find a Blogger App. Have you found one??


Friday, June 11, 2010

Gotta Say.... I'm pretty pissed

Prepare yourselves people.
(just a friendly, heads-up)

Anyone else follow Leftface?

Well, obviously now you know I do. The last few days the ladies over there have been pretty fired up. I definitely don't blame them. You see, back on the 4th LAW authored a post about the reprehensible conduct that took place on a US Airways flight leaving Washington's Reagan Int'l Airport (back in March). The readers digest version of what took place goes like this: 6 members of a fallen Marine's family were in Dover welcoming their Marine's body back to the US. They traveled from Dover to DC in order to fly with the remains back to their home. The reprehensible part: The airline asked for volunteers to get off the flight. 3 people volunteered. It wasn't until 30 mins and a tearful plea from a crew member that 3 other individuals were motivated to give up their seat. Let's think on that for a moment. 30 minutes.... seriously? What is wrong with people? If you would like to read the entire story (it's a good read... but, sad obviously) you can find it on the Washington Times.

Anyway, the ladies from LeftFace are up-in-arms today (and the last few days) due to some of the comments they've received since the 4 June story. I'm sure these won't come as any surprise, all of these shitty comments are things we've all heard before; "Suck it up." "There are those who “have greatest disdain” for the “special attention” being paid to anyone in the current military, especially the National Guard." and my personal fav "Quit Whining, you chose to be where you are." Like I said, I think we've all heard these things before (or something similar).

I really think in regards to the Washington Times story about Lance Cpl. Justin Wilson's family, this isn't about entitlement, special attention or receiving a free ride. It's about human decency. It's about this young (24 years old) Marine who gave his life for this country. It's about the 99% of Americans that don't serve and their concern (or lack thereof), respect (or lack thereof) and appreciation (or lack thereof) for our service members, their sacrifices and their families. Not to say that everyone without military affiliation just doesn't get it (or doesn't respect the military)... after all 3 people did jump up and offer their seats on the US Airways flight... and the 3 stragglers that eventually followed suit. I'm right there with you LAW it's reprehensible! It's unacceptable! I can only speak for myself but I would have JUMPED out of my seat and gladly (without hesitation) given it up for this, or any other of the 5517 according to icasualties.org families that have endured the same loss.

I think its time for the 99% to stop bitchin' about our bitchin'. I'm pretty sure EVERYONE chose to be where they are in their lives (in one way or the other), and I'm pretty sure that EVERYONE chooses to bitch about their lives at some point also. Traffic sucks. It's hot. It's cold. It's raining. I hate my job. I don't get paid enough. I want free health care. I can't afford my health care premiums/co-pays. My kids are rotten. My husband/wife/boy-/girlfriend and I are having problems. We have too much debt. Times are tough.

I have to quote Tucker (from LeftFace) "Of course, we volunteered for this, yes, we chose this life. BUT. That is the point. We did what no one wanted to do. We stood up and said, WE will bear this burden for you. We said its okay for you to stay home in your safe and cozy subdivision with your picket fence and American Dream, we’ll do annual deployments, sustain a marriage over the phone, run a household alone, miss holidays, miss births, cram in weddings on R&R, all while living in fear of a dark sedan, a knock on the door and a future as a Gold Star family." Our choice makes us different than you. I wish people would acknowledge the actually choice. The choice I made and more so the choice my husband made. Making the choice is the most honorable and selfless part in all of this. Have the courage and intestinal fortitude to choose this life and the risks is deserving, and warranted of everyone else' respect. Even silently. I (personally) don't need the "thank you for your service" 's. It's nice but really doesn't go that far when I'm sure at some point a stranger said the same thing to LCpl. Wilson's wife widow... but when she needed the support the yellow ribbon magnet on your car indicates you have it took too long for you to stand and offer it. Is too long semantics? Not at all. Not under these conditions.

I feel I have to expand on the fact that we (the spouse and the service member) chose to be where we are; doing what we do. There are some military and milspouses alike, that say they absolutely didn't chose this. There's a possibility for those who signed up prior to 2001 didn't know rucking up, kicking down doors, standing guard in a middle-eastern desert would be their reality. It's entirely possible, even probable they joined for the GI Bill. All the same. It's been 9 years people. Our military began Operation Enduring Freedom 7 Oct 2001, and Operation Iraqi Freedom began 20 Mar 2003. I'd say the standard enlistment lasts 4 years but we all know they own you for 8. Do the math. Anyone still in the military NOW has chosen to be there since these wars began. Which means, the service member, and spouse alike knew what they were getting themselves into. Deployments, training, reintegration, PTSD, et cetera and so forth. None of us are victims of a war we may or may not agree with.
It's simply apart of our reality. Everyday.
It's one of those aspects that speaks to the honor and bravery of the choice we made and continue to make.

You know, that choice that keeps 99% safe and sound at night, comfortable in their beds.
I prefer you count your blessings and quit bitching about my God given right to bitch about my life. I don't impose on your bitching.
Just my take.
Weigh in.

We're Beautiful






seee.... Told ya! 

Thanks to one of my favorite people on the planet! 

Thursday, June 10, 2010

I Want it Wednesday...

I want wanted... an Iphone.
But, I no longer want the iphone thanks to the fact that AT&T canceled their unlimited data plans. 
They are now charging $25 per month for only 2 gigabytes!
NO THANKS...!

I want...
a backyard make-over, courtesy of HGTV.

I want...
to move.
BAD!
I have serious ants in my pants! 
I'm thinking something along the lines of Ft. Lewis or anywhere in Europe.
(because, you know, the Army really gives a crap about what I want or where I wanna live)

I want...
to have the front windows in my SUV re-tinted. 
We've all heard not to use Windex on tinted windows, well I've done it before and had no problem. Well, when I did it on my car it caused a problem. It literally ate the tint off the window. There are dots here and dots there, in the spray pattern (from where the Windex hit the window) of no tint!
So that needs to be rectified!

I want...
to pay down the debt. Doesn't everyone? Thank goodness the job will really help with that whole goal.

I (still) want...
an MacBook!

I guess that's enough or this Wednesday.
So today was my first day back to working (full-time) and I'm absolutely exhausted don't even have the energy read all your updates from today. I promise I'll check up ASAP. 

Happy Hump Day All. 

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

The one about Eclipse

Are you a Twilight-geek like me and my friends?

If you haven't noticed June 30th is only 22 days, 17 hours, 18 minutes and 10, 9, 8 seconds away. 
(per the countdown to the left of this post)

Are you excited, like me

Do you have plans to go see the movie? 

Have you seen this:
<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/OvQk15mK9Kc&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/OvQk15mK9Kc&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>


(it's supposed to be embedded in the text, if not go here.)



I have been contemplating going to this: 
for just $21.
And you can't write me off for being a complete and total loser, dork geek because a friend of mine whom you all (basically all) pretty much know wants to go with me! So there
Before you suggest that we're both just loser, dorks geeks I know that isn't possible. Because she's way cooler than me and if she wants to do it than so can I!

Thats all I have to say about that...

Start my first day of work tomorrow!
fingers crossed for that! 

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Baby Names

Are you protective over names that you have picked out for your future spawn*? 
Where you protective over the names you picked out while you were prego??

Well, I have a short story to share with everyone: 
Last night I found out a girl I was semi-friends with in High School is pregnant with Twins. She asked for name suggestions, and since this is one of my semi-new favorite past-times I sent a few options. Names I like but are a bit further down on my list. I would never share my first choice names with random folks. Because, well, I'm protective over them! It rather tweaked my melon when one of her other FB homies suggested both my first choice names for boys and girls! 

Here's hoping she didn't like either of them...
And hoping her other FB homie stubs her toe today!
Because, Karma is real.
(hahaa, laugh people it's a joke).

Happy Sunday!

*just a friendly reminder, I sometimes refer to children/babies as "spawn"... but as always it's meant with love and adoration. 

Friday, June 4, 2010

The one where I land a J.O.B!!

Yes, you heard me right! After almost two years and countless companies toying with my emotions I officially have a job! I start on MONDAY!!!! I think this job is really perfect for where I'm at right now. Being in school and pursuing my degree is my main priority so this Receptionist job will go a long way to ensure our bills are paid (important) and allow me the flexibility to study and successfully complete my classes! It may not be filled with glory or loads of fun, but for now it's absolutely PERFECT!

I gotta say I'm going to really miss Thursday morning coffee with my girls! 
{major sad face}
=(

I've been spending a lot of time thinking about friends (both past and present) lately. I find myself beginning stories with "this girl I used to be friends with..." a lot. So I started reminiscing about friends I've loved and lost. There are a few. I can't possibly imagine why someone wouldn't want to be friends with me until the end of time. But evidently I manage to turn people off (you know, from time to time). 
To those that I've lost:
I do miss you. I do think of you often. 

I was just at a friends house the other night and we got to talking about how great it is to have milspouse friends close by (that completely friggin ROCK). I went on to say how losing friends, is a lot like a romantic breakup, at least for me. That I do personally have to mourn those relationships. Especially of the people that I've let into my heart and life. I believe that good friends become family. Truly family. So when I've made up my mind and set certain expectations of friends and they "breakup" with me, it's truly heartbreaking. 
Do you feel this way?

To those that I've found:
I love you!!!!! 
Thanks for putting up with me and loving me in return. Thanks for being there for me and accepting me into your world, as I have shared and embraced you (and yours) into my mine. 
Here's to the future and many, many fits of laughter and bottles of wine!

~
PS: I simply adore Brandi @Excess Baggage
please, check her out, BE NICE, and ENTER her giveaway for a free copy of DEAR JOHN!