Random

Picture it: 2011. Colorado Springs. I was sitting by myself for about an hour and half at the Starbucks getting my homework assignments knocked out for the week. No one spoke to me while I was there and I was concentrating on what I had in front of me. When, all of a sudden the woman sitting behind me says "Excuse me". To which, I responded by jumping out of my skin.

After I answered her Mac related question (because obviously I'm an expert, haha) and turned to continue what I was working on I started to think about what had just transpired. Why on earth would I have been so startled by a kind lady saying "Excuse me?" And I've decided to blame Google. Well, not only google but any search engine of your choosing and the interwebs in general. I feel like people generally (of course not true for all people) don't ask strangers, the harmless person next to them in the store for advice or guidance.* I don't see a lot of people chatting with random strangers. From what I've seen we all kind of run around with our heads down, not making eye-contact, no courteous smiles of hello, rarely asking the check-out person at Walmart how their day is going. Just trying to get through whatever it is you're doing and press on to whatever is next.

I know for me I talk to everyone. I ask the people how they are at the Walmart, the MP's/Gate Guards as I go on post, peeps in toll booths... I don't discriminate. I talk to everyone. What's it hurt? What's the worst that could come of it?

I think I was caught of guard and thusly startled when this woman started speaking to me because people don't speak to other when they're out and about.

Anyway that's today's story.

Do you turn into chatty-Kathy when you leave the house?

Baby Time

No no... this is NOT a "Baby on Board" Announcement. Haa! I know my mother-in-law (who reads everyday) was just slightly offended she didn't get a phone call versus being told of her next impending grandchild via Blogger. All the same, I am now the only person that I know and actively hang out with that doesn't have a child. As a matter of fact most everyone in my age group is on child numero-dos. I'm 26. I don't feel old. I've been married 3.5 years but have only spent about 1.75 of those years with my husband (if i'm lucky). You know, Deployments, NTC, other trainings and travels. However, I have had "the fever" come and go, and come and go.... you follow.

I remember when I first got married everyone was like "YAY! When are you gonna get pregnant?" I just don't get that school of thought. Why does my being married mean that I have to immediately procreate? Oddly, enough I wanted to get to know my husband, strengthen our marriage and relationship as a whole with Kevin, get to know my new life and role as a wife, make peace with the Army, finish school, travel about, start a career and generally just live more of my life prior to it being taken over by my babies. That's my take. I do not feel there is anything wrong with having children right away.. just didn't feel it was for me.

When did you have your baby(s)? Did you wait? Did you get on the ball immediately?

Share why!

Xanax

(source)

I'm not opposed to pills. Some people I know avoid them like the plague (haaaha), just generally don't like to be chemically dependent for whatever reason. Fair enough. And just for the record I don't suffer from Anxiety and don't have a permanent prescription for Xanax. With my upcoming journey across the Atlantic, which requires my happy ass to be on an airplane in excess of 9 HOURS (!!!) I decided I was in need of some chemical altering of my person, to survive the trip. I have a history of not flying well. I'm not good at it and I've never been on a flight lasting longer than 3 hours. Now, I am not one of those paranoid people who flip out because they think the plane is going to fall out of the sky, nor do I suffer from claustrophobia. Here's what usually happens: I can't sleep, I'm light-headed and nauseous (but have avoided tossing my cookies to this point). That's a typical flight, and I tend have an extreme case of jet lag- which I alway attributed to my poor flying skills. My bud, Brandi, recently told me I probably just need some oxygen... novel idea... just simply never occurred to me. But I'll experiment with that suggestion on the 30th when we fly to Portland.

Previously I mentioned how I don't FREAK OUT on the plane... but I have to admit the idea of being trapped on the plane for 9+ hours has kept me up at night and caused some anxiety. So I went to the doc and explained my situation he gave me 5 Xanax. Thank you! My sis (being brilliant) suggested that I try it before getting on the plane Never know how it'll effect a person right? So I did, last night. Honestly I wanted something to completely knock me on my ass (like, not know my own name style). Xanax didn't do that. When I fell asleep I slept soundly but the pill itself didn't knock me out. Bummer. I did only take one (figured I'd start slow right?)  so I think for the flight I'll take 1.5 (prescription says 1 or 2 every 6 hours). 

In all fairness Xanax is an anti-anxiety medication.. it did relax the hell out of me. So that's good! I'm thinking 1.5 Xanax and a Dramomine should do the trick. 

Why am I tell you this? Because well, I woke up cloudy, drowsy and with one hell of a headache. Has this happened to you before? Is it normal? Should I worry it's a sign of things to come...? My sole purpose of experimenting with it last night was in case I was allergic or anything I didn't want to be going into Anaphylactic shock over the vast ocean somewhere! 

So much crap- so little time!

I've been busy. Just the other day I was saying that I wished I just had nothing to do. I keep reminding myself that at least we have the means to get things accomplished and that's more than some; I'm We're lucky.

Moving on, LB made me two camera straps for my Cannon. I <3 her! Spent too much time in Target (really it started to feel claustrophobic... yeah... was there too long)... thanks to LB and Erin. They don't blog much (lately), as you can see because they're busy spending time with yours truly and planning my surprise going away party (I say again, surprise, lol)!

My mother made a good point the other day (as she often does): I'm giving up practically everything I've ever owed for the new adventure of moving to (and living in) Germany. So far, I'm down one dog (={) and one house (bouncing around in spare rooms). As of tomorrow I'll be down my car! I'm good with saving the money but I sorta hate my husbands Jetta; it's not comfortable and it's far too low to the ground (especially in comparison to my SUV). Again... gotta remind myself we are so lucky to have two cars, some people don't have one... suck it up Sam!

The hubs is trying to talk me into getting a new computer. I'm torn. Maybe now isn't the time? But we went and look at Best Buy to see what's up. I've only blogged, virtually begged for a MacBook for AGES. But I'm having a hard time lately justifying the cost. After speaking with very knowledgeable Matt (at Best Buy) for a messily two hours I'm stuck between these two:

Sony- Vaio Laptop

(14" display, 4GB Memory, 500GB Hard Drive)

$799.99

Apple- MacBook Pro

(13.3" display, 4GB Memory, 256GB Hard Drive)

$1199.99

My new buddy Matt recommended the MacBook Pro because of my new affection for picture-taking, for it's editing capabilities (which come installed). You may think, if you're problem is the cost of the Mac's... go for the all-white MacBook and not the Pro. Well, our buddies at Best Buy offer/honor a military discount on Mac's (not on the Sony) which would amount to $100 off the Pro, bringing it down from $1200 to 1100- the MacBook is at $1000. The Pro is made of aluminum versus the plastic on the MacBook and you get 2 more GB's of Memory on the Pro... so it's worth the extra $100. But is the Pro at $1100 worth it, in comparison to the Sony at $800? 

Decisions.... Decisions... 

Incase I forgot to mention it in the last 14 paragraphs the hubs is out to the field for the next week -- his last week in the shop and he's out in the field. Next Monday he starts clearing! Ekk! 

More...

I have more questions. Why do people insist on being so damn fake on Facebook? Seriously... are we all so self-absorbed to think that we have to put on a huge show for other people; that they care so much about what we're up to we have to make it a 1000 times better than it actually is? Why to some people put on such a show for others? Just be yourself, and if people can't except you for who and what you are then forget them; they don't matter anyway.

I'm just wondering.... because basically I don't like fake people who are all showy. It rubs me wrong.

What to do....

What to do... What to do....... 

Today I feel like I'm just treading water; twiddling my thumbs. I'm not bored. I'm sort of uninspired. 

Have you felt this way? What did you do to change it? What do you do to maintain??

I'm waiting to hear about an interview I had on Friday. I KILLED the interview. I was extremely confident when I left the site, I sent my Thank You email so I feel like I've done everything I could to prepare for the interview and everything prior to and now it's out of my hands. They told me they wanted to make a decision by today. So of course I've been on pins and needles all day and I still haven't heard anything.Good news is that my candidate profile on the company's website indicates that I'm still in the running. 

time will tell

Questions

You know what... I considered comin' back and bitchin' whining and complaining about the fact that I only got 9 questions for the anniversary of my 306th blog post! BUT, instead I thought it better to just answer the 9 questions I did receive and remember who really cares about me; who my true friends are!! 

Let us begin:

 Erin said...

My questions are....how excited are you for eclipse?? Do you dream about Rpatz everynight??

Lets just say there aren't words to accurately convey my excitement- 30 June, BE THERE! 

As for my dreams.... No! lol BUT TEAM EDWARD allllll the way-- there's never truly been a "team jacob" (notice: not even deserving of caps).

What initially made you fall in love with your husband?

He loved me more than I deserved. He was so good to me and showed me how I deserved to be treated. He made me feel good about myself and that really attracted me to him.

 What is your favorite quality about him? 

He really is very generous and forgiving.

What is your least fav quality?

I wish he'd take better care of himself. He did quit smoking 5 months ago tho!!! That's definitely a step in the right direction!

Crazy Shenanigans said...

Have you ever stayed in one of those hotel rooms that has a heart shaped hot tub? hahahaha

Let me think back to Summer 2001.... wait... that'd be a BIG-FAT NO! You're crazy girl.

If you could only watch one tv show for a week which would you chose? 

ENTOURAGE! 

Anonymous said...

My question is why did you decide to go back to school if you are that unenthused about it? It is hard enough to get though when you are thrilled about it.

My main motivation for going back to school is to make myself more marketable; in hopes of finding a job! Sometimes being a grown-up sucks.... sometimes that means taking one for the team, or doing something you aren't completely enthused about.

jenn said...

if you could have any job in the world what would it be?

On a practical level I would love to be a sonographer! I recently discovered that I could really be happy ultra-sounding (my own-new word) other's babies! How great would that be? I've been researching how to do this, and will be talking to a school nearby tomorrow!!! WOooo :) 

BUTTTT since we're talking ANY job in the whole wide world I think I'd love to be a celebrity assistant. You get all the perks but none of the nightmare-ish paparazzi and life-interfering non-sense! Could you imagine what Oprah pays her assistant/s!? wow.  

if you could trade places for 1 day only with any celebrity who would it be and why?

Oprah. Because she's on TV, she has amazing contacts and does some great charity work. Also I would extend some of that generosity usually directed to the Africans and Lower Class to some AVERAGE-Middle-Class folks who really just need a lil' more to get by. 

Not to mean her causes aren't justified just saying that because you're not suffering horribly doesn't mean you can't use a little help also.

~~~

So those were my questions... and answers (obviously) and I loved them! 

PS: Birthday was awesome. 

PSS: Found out I didn't get that job on Friday! 

=( 

Boo... 

Back to the Grind. 

The Randoms

I had my interview this AM. All in all I think it went really well. I really enjoyed that this wasn't a traditional interview with the "what are you strengths and weaknesses" type questions! Phew.. Those are the worst! I came prepared with a spare resume and some other information about myself and qualifications for the interviewer(s) and all informed about the company as well! 

They said I should hear something by the end of the week or early next week at the very latest! They are currently hiring for two positions, so there are more interviews to conduct.

After my interview I headed over to the school to do some printing. I can read the required text online but something about that feels... unfinished. Like if I don't hold it in my hand I haven't completed my task. I guess I'm old school like that. At least I know I can recycle the paper at the school once this class is overwith. Speaking of this class I'm quick upset that I couldn't take it online... a friend of mine has taken it and said it was ridiculously easy online. But thanks to the powers-at-be I have to do a 10-12 minute power point presentation at the end of the 5 weeks! Booooo!! :( 

Funny thing happened as I was leaving the Student Resource Center (SRC). This girl had an iPad. I stopped her and said "IS THAT AN iPAD?" like some crazed-"star-struck"-looney-tune! She said "yes." I said "wow- do you like it?" she preceeded to tell me allllll about it and how she loves it and how great it is.... ect and so forth. Well this only made me want Apple Inc. to holler and send me 1 of everything they got for free! (hahhaaaa)

Other than that I know I forgot to remind everyone to submit their questions for my "306th" blog anniversary! So far I've received less than 5 questions. Well, I'd say that's pretty crappy considering I have over 140 followers. DE-LURK people... come out and join the discussion! Say hello and ask any ol' thing you're heart desires! And do it quick.. you never know what'll be in store next. ;)

Two news items I wanna share with everyone: 

1st:

Mr. Hugh Hefner saved the Hollywood sign! 

good for him.

2nd:

Today is Mr. Channing Tatum's 30th Birthday! 

(feast your eyes)

(from his modeling days--- note the lack of hair)

(that's for YOU sis!)

FOR MY ARMY GIRLS!:

306!

So... I totally missed my 300th blog-post-anniversary. 

Yea, my bad. 

It was kind of random and about a whole lot of nothing special... check it out here. 

Yes, today is my 306th blog post. 

Oddly enough I kind of have nothing special to say--- again. Sadly, this appears to be, becoming a theme on my bloggy. :(

Please don't hate me. 

Maybe I should open the floor to a good ol' Q&A again??

Yea, lets do that. Send me your questions people. You can email me if you wanna (armywifeblogger@aol.com) or you can just leave you're lil questions in a comment. 

Make em' good... Make em' juicy!! 

In other news... I have orientation for SCHOOL tonight. 

yea... (sarcasm)... whooopty-doo. 

I'm the only person in the history of going-to-school to be this unenthused* about it. 

Anywho, looking forward to you're questions. 

Happy Tuesday All!

*Unenthused is totally not a word... but I like it more better (also very poor english) than "unenthusiastic". 

Random Question

Do porto-potties completely digust anyone else?

Eww.

Confused

So I'm confused about the Olympics. I thought the nature of the Olympics was for each nation to represent themselves in various sporting events. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm far too simple minded. When I see things like a Canadian coach for the Japanese Aerial ski-jumpers, and an american born and raised in Vail, CO on the Canadain ski team it kind of chaps my ass/tweaks my melon.

Also, when is it okay to say "Olympiad" versus "Olympic Games"? 

AND, another thing, leave Scotty Lago alone. Seriously. Maybe I'm too forgiving or liberal or I don't know, FUN! But you can't really be shocked by the photos from this 22 year old snowboarder. 

Phew.. I'm happy I finally got all of that off my chest. 

Happy Olympics, GO USA! 

discouraged

I know I haven't blogged about my job search in a long while, but nevertheless I have still been searching for jobs. I was being considered for a NAF position at a nearby Air Force Base. I thought that with a few connections I would be a shoe-in. No so much. I found out yesterday they hired someone else for the position. :( I am very discouraged- you know AGAIN! But I am going to concentrate on things I have some control over. I'm going to go back to school. Isn't that good news? Yea, I'm so very excited about it.

I've been going back and forth for a while about what I want to go to school for? At what level? You know that age-old question, "what do I wanna be when I grow up?" I think I've found something that will work when Kevin and I should ever PCS. I'm just not sure its something I'm really pationate about. But I'm starting to learn (as I've said before) being a grown-up is no fun! We have to do things that we don't necessarily love to get through. Right?

What did you want to be when you grew up? Are you doing it? Or did you settle for something that would pay the bills?

Lady Friends

Do you have a group of very close girl-friends?

Maybe I'm the only on the outside looking in on this phenomena.

Somehow I doubt that.

It's pretty much bothered me since... the Sex and the City movie came out that I didn't have a GROUP of strong always-there-for-you girlfriends.

Don't get me wrong. I do have friends. I do have girl-friends. I am just very envious of the group.

Doesn't this make sense to anyone else out there?

I suppose I could get my random girlie-friends together. Then, in theory I'd have a GROUP.

Something that about always goes arye doesn't it?

Someone gets jealous.

Someone starts talking non-sense about someone else.

This has always been my experience with any group of females. Big or small. Old or young.

Am I wrong?

Has this been your experience?

Where does the group come from? One outsider (me) bringing random females together? Or do you have to come up with the same group, organically?

Here's my problem...

I OVER THINK IT!

(obviously)

I want this: 

Do you have a group? How'd you build it?

MilSpouses? Any specific advice when it comes to our unique pool of ladies to choose from? Enlisted verses Officer (personally I don't much care, if you're cool people than I'll kick it with just about anyone)? People constantly coming and going? How do you stay in touch? Does your group just GROW as you PCS? Or you still have that one group (such as the ladies above) that no one can penetrate?

I must go now. I have plans with Erin and MacKenzie. Chick-flick and SALAD.

We party HARD- evidently. WOO!

I Want it Wednesday

So....

Hummmmm....

You see I don't really want anything special right now.

NO! That isn't true. I need new pots and pans. I didn't expect to need/want new ones at this time. I've had Anodized Wear Ever pots and pans for about 4 years now. Over the course of the past month (or so) they've started to look awful! They are water stained or something. Just horrible! I'm sorta scared to cook with them, which is more than likely completely assinine but I don't know if heat releases some sort of crazy chemical and is going to kill me.

Okay, that was overly dramatic. But it does give me pause.

So I'm thinking Stainless Steal. What do you have? Do you like it?

I've never had stainless steal cookware before. Because I'm such a genius I know metal conducts heat... so tell me, is it BAD to get a pan like this?:

You see how the handle doesn't have rubber or anything to protect my precious lil' fingers?

So tell me what are your thoughts on stainless steal cookware?

The People

Over the course of the last week my follower numbers have been all over the map. At one point I was up 5; then down 4; up 3... you get the hint. At the end of the day I don't care (as I've stated 80,000 times before) if I have 5 or 6,000 followers. But the recent fluctuation in my followers has forced me to question why people choose to follow another's blog.

Why do you follow my lil' bloggy-boo?

What leads you to follow a new blog?

Under what circumstances do you stop following a blog?

Personally, I search around on a new blog before I commit to following it. I read numerous posts before hitting that lil "follow" button. I have only stopped following blogs after there were negative after negative after negative posts. Just too much if you ask me. Yes, we all get down. Yes, we all go through rough patches. I just don't really get into the wallowing. Any-whozle, i just wanted to offer my own answers to the above questions so that everyone would feel a bit more comfortable responding to them.

Don't be shy. I truly want to know all of your answers!

What on Earth???

Okay, this is the Reebok EasyTone:Which is a much prettier alternative to the Sketcher Shape Up:

I haven't quite decided how I feel about these shoes. Are they just a girl needs to finally shape her booty and legs? Or just another short-cut for the overweight?

I'm confused. I mean how much baring a round-bottomed shoe could really have on any individuals' ability to lose weight.

Ok, weigh in readers. Do you have these shoes? Do they "work" for you?

Why doesn't this work?

So I completed some of the things on my new list on the left over this weekend. But I can't manage to get the whole strike-through text down.... I went to google to find out how to manage this, per a commenters direction. So in the title of this blog is how I put tried to apply the "line" or strike-through text to the items on my list that have been completed. I got a error message saying I could not apply that HTML...? :( HELP

Ouch!

Ok, so maybe 9 out of 10 of you being runners will be helpful at this point. I think I injured my knee at the gym yesterday. I was doing calf raises. I know that as a rule of thumb you are not to lock your knees during this exercise (it's BAD, BAD, bad to force your knees to bear all of the weight). But I have never been able to do these calf-raises without locking my knees. All the same... my right knee HURTS!!! I looked it up on WebMD and based on the picture it looks like my meniscus..? =( the pain is just under my knee cap. There is no swelling or bruising- nothing like that. It just hurts to put weight on it or to stretch it. So I've been icing, keeping it elevated and trying not to gimp around since yesterday afternoon. Since there is no visible inflammation I've been skipping the vitamin M (800 mg Motrin). My plan currently is to keep up with the ice and resting it until tomorrow, then if it's still hurting go to the doc.

I'm curious runners, what do you know about knee injuries? Should I be concerned? Is there something other than ice I should be doing?

Wedding Day Pictures

Ok, so when Kevin and I got married I didn't think it was necessary to have a professional photographer there; my sister didn't have one and got some great pictures, and we didn't have the money for it. Click here for a post allll about my wedding. You can see that we had a great and unique wedding. I loved (and still do love) our day!

Today I have been unmotivated to do anything productive, at all. With the exception of reading numerous new blogs. A lot of which are centered around weddings, or at least the wedding was (definitely) an important event with details, pictures and plans having been posted about. I've noticed that having pictures taken away from the wedding location either before or after the ceremony is quite common. Granted Kevin and I have been married going on 2 years, this September... but is it completely ridiculous to have some photos taken of him and I now? I know the hair (for both of us) will be different, as would the location but is it unreasonable to want some great, beautiful pictures of us in that way? I've read that people have had many of these photo shoots days before or after their ceremonies so I wouldn't be the only one to have photos where the bride and groom appear different from the actual day of the ceremony.

What are your thoughts?

Bye-Bye Pity Party...

Yesterday was a pretty miserable day! I woke up just feeling like absolute crappola about not having a job, not being able to take a vacation with Kevin returns, and most importantly being extra nervous about paying our bills after all the extra cash stops, when Kevin gets home. Well unfortunately my hubs was not able to say the right thing (because truly and honestly there was no fixing my mood and whatever he said would probably have made it worse) which only added to my pity party. Then my foul mood spilled onto Kevin and basically ruined his day. Already being in a piss-poor mood I wasn't really wanting to deal with Kevin throwing himself a pity party at the same time as mine. There is only room for one at a time people!!! Maybe he didn't get that memo. tee hee Well, I'm sure he now knows. Basically yesterday was just crap. I still applied for countless jobs though. Than this morning I was woken up by a call from "something Maintenance" offering me an interview for tomorrow am! =) Woo hoo. Unfortunately I have been applying for so many jobs with so many different companies I have absolutely no idea what this interview is for; what position I mean. Time will tell. Positive thoughts please... and fingers crossed!!!

Am I the only one who's crapping my pants about the situation in North Korea?? This guy is a complete nut-job but he scares the ever-livin' out of me. Anyone else? If you have been under a rock or simply avoid the news... here is a quick recap of the nonsense taking place.

Also... I found this hilarious! Please someone tell me when Dick Cheney is going to go away??? Really you had your shot- the Bush administration had the lowest approval rating in the history of approval ratings when they left office. Take a hint: Shut your mouth. You're either annoying or digging an even bigger/deeper hole for last administration. Quick question: Does anyone out there know (without a doubt) why we've invaded two countries in the middle east? At this point I'm beyond confused.. WMD- no. Saddam is a very mean man and gassed the Kurds- he was executed just a lil' while ago...(still confused). 9-11 (thanks to Dick Cheney's delayed confession) and the 9-11 Commission we now know that was wrong? Yes, I am blogging about this in my always sarcastic tone because hell, how long does this have to continue? I am however, onboard with the whole we broke it so we can't just jump out of the country(s) in haste. Have to build up some sort of infrastructure. I often find Repub's response to this question (after ump-teen years) is that it no longer matters why we went but we're committed now. I disagree. I'd like to know... So if anyone can shine some light on this subject I'd greatly appreciate your knowledge.

On the other hand: just because I don't get the purpose for the wars (at this point, nor have I ever really understood it) this does not mean I do not support my hubs and his colleagues! From a military standpoint the political reasons (excuses) for prompting war/invasions are more or less irrelevant. You do what you're told. You go where you're told, when you're told. Even more heroic, in my eyes.

Thanks for reading. =) Hope we learned something new today. I'm hoping to.