Well James got an email the other day saying that they finally decided on a date he was leaving. We only have a little over a month together. Of course this date could change, like everything else in the army always does. And it's looking pretty much 100% that he's going to Afghanistan and not Iraq. James is going to miss our 2 year anniversary by like 8 days. That so sucks. But he has already said we will celebrate it early. I'm still also working on ideas for a going-away party for him. Now that we have a date he's leaving, it will be easier to plan for one now. I'm going to research going-away parties online, because I don't really know how they work. What all are you supposed to do at a going-away party? Do you give him gifts? Stuff like that. So I'm gonna do some research, and then get together with his mom and figure it out.
Speaking of his mom,... She found this Red Cross meeting thing for deployed soldiers families at her church. She went to the first one last night, and found it very helpful and informational. So I think I'm going to be attending them with her from now on. They are like every two weeks I think. She said she found out information about care packages and what consists of an emergency for contacting Red Cross, and stuff like that. So I'm looking forward to going and getting information and maybe meeting other people who have family members deployed already.
Well, my birthday party is friday and we've got about half of the shopping done. We ordered my cake already. Got the rest of the decorations. So pretty much we just have more food stuff to get. We're gonna work on that tomorrow. Maybe today if James gets off early because of the weather. I'm kind of excited, but probably not as excited as I should be. It's hard to be happy and celebrate things now, knowing James will not be there for them next year.
Anyways, that's all for this blog. I'm gonna go try and wake James up and then call my mom.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
Short Update & FRG
I got my first call from the Family Readiness group this weekend. I kept telling James over and over that I couldn't see them becoming friends with me and actually calling more than 5 minutes just to talk and all that crap that he said they would do. Now I believe him a little more, but we will still have to wait and see. This lady that called me was the wife of the liuetenent colonel or something of the whole battalion. Her husband as far as I'm understanding isn't even going on this deployment. He has been on deployments before, so I see how she could give me advice and whatnot. The funny thing is, she said that she likes to call people and see what she can do to help, whether it's just listen to you or go get you groceries. But get this, she's in Kentucky, and I'm in Ohio, and she really thinks she's gonna go get me groceries. Haha. It's a nice thought, but I would never ask that of anyone that far away. She seemed nice enough though. She kinda told me that she likes having kids while her husband is on deployment because it keeps her busy and gives her company. Which I kinda want, but I know it can't happen and I wouldn't do that to James. All I have is my 7 babies here and my family, and James' family. Of course I will have to live by myself for a year which I am NOT looking forward to at all. I don't mind being alone during the day so much, it's just at night, I hate being here alone in the dark and I hate sleeping alone.
Anyways, back to the FRG. I had read on another army wifes blog about her FRG had like Christmas and Halloween parties and stuff like that. So maybe it will be better and more fun than I am expecting. Unfortunately we won't be able to go to the first little get-together this weekend, because we have a birthday party to go to. But we will get to meet the ladies the next day at the Yellow Ribbon event. I guess I'm not gonna get my hopes up about making best friends and whatnot with this FRG thing, but I am going to at least try. James really wants this for me and thinks it will be good, so I will try for him. I'm just a quiet person and I'm not comfortable around new people. I'm gonna have to get over that though.
Speaking of birthdays, I finally have decided that mine will be this friday at my moms house. It may not legally be her house yet, but we're still gonna have it there. We haven't figured out the time yet, but that will be decided today. We've got the food figured out, and we pretty much have everything else (decorations, plates, napkins, etc.) leftover from James' party, so we don't have to buy much of that. So this week and weekend will be very busy. Check it out.
Today: I have to get my avon books ready for next campaign which starts wednesday. I fell behind because of the vacation. I've also got to do dishes so James has clean coffee mugs for this week. And I've got to do laundry so his work clothes are clean for the rest of the week. I've gotta go to the bank today to deposit all my avon money.
Tuesday: I'm going to try and go get my permit on tuesday so that I can start getting my license. I don't think I will have my license before James leaves, but I'm gonna work my butt off and try really hard. My mom has also offered to help me learn. It would be nice to have my license for while James is gone so that I don't have to rely on everyone else for a whole year. Plus when everyone else is busy, I can still get out of the house on days I'm feeling down or something.
Wednesday: James works from 2-8 this day, so we probably won't get anything done that day. Other than I will be doing avon at home and cleaning of course.
Thursday: Sometime this week we have got to go shopping for my party, so it's gonna have to be thursday or maybe tuesday.
Friday: James works until noon and then we are gonna have to go to my moms and help her clean, decorate, set up, prepare the food, etc. Then my party will be that evening. Then of course afterwards, we're gonna have to help her clean up and all that. Plus friday is when I will get my avon stuff but I probably won't be able to work on it until saturday.
Saturday: So far we don't have any plans for saturday morning/afternoon. So maybe if I got my permit on tuesday we can go driving for a little bit or something. But saturday around 4pm we have a birthday party to go to. Plus if there's time, which I don't think will happen, we've got the party type thing in columbus for all the army families to meet.
Sunday: Sunday we have the Yellow Ribbon event which will be at 9am and it's supposed to last like 8 hours, so we will probably be there till 6pm or so. Then of course back to work monday.
So busy week and weekend ahead. I will blog about my party, and the Yellow Ribbon event probably the beginning of next week. Sorry, this was supposed to be a short blog. Haha.
Anyways, back to the FRG. I had read on another army wifes blog about her FRG had like Christmas and Halloween parties and stuff like that. So maybe it will be better and more fun than I am expecting. Unfortunately we won't be able to go to the first little get-together this weekend, because we have a birthday party to go to. But we will get to meet the ladies the next day at the Yellow Ribbon event. I guess I'm not gonna get my hopes up about making best friends and whatnot with this FRG thing, but I am going to at least try. James really wants this for me and thinks it will be good, so I will try for him. I'm just a quiet person and I'm not comfortable around new people. I'm gonna have to get over that though.
Speaking of birthdays, I finally have decided that mine will be this friday at my moms house. It may not legally be her house yet, but we're still gonna have it there. We haven't figured out the time yet, but that will be decided today. We've got the food figured out, and we pretty much have everything else (decorations, plates, napkins, etc.) leftover from James' party, so we don't have to buy much of that. So this week and weekend will be very busy. Check it out.
Today: I have to get my avon books ready for next campaign which starts wednesday. I fell behind because of the vacation. I've also got to do dishes so James has clean coffee mugs for this week. And I've got to do laundry so his work clothes are clean for the rest of the week. I've gotta go to the bank today to deposit all my avon money.
Tuesday: I'm going to try and go get my permit on tuesday so that I can start getting my license. I don't think I will have my license before James leaves, but I'm gonna work my butt off and try really hard. My mom has also offered to help me learn. It would be nice to have my license for while James is gone so that I don't have to rely on everyone else for a whole year. Plus when everyone else is busy, I can still get out of the house on days I'm feeling down or something.
Wednesday: James works from 2-8 this day, so we probably won't get anything done that day. Other than I will be doing avon at home and cleaning of course.
Thursday: Sometime this week we have got to go shopping for my party, so it's gonna have to be thursday or maybe tuesday.
Friday: James works until noon and then we are gonna have to go to my moms and help her clean, decorate, set up, prepare the food, etc. Then my party will be that evening. Then of course afterwards, we're gonna have to help her clean up and all that. Plus friday is when I will get my avon stuff but I probably won't be able to work on it until saturday.
Saturday: So far we don't have any plans for saturday morning/afternoon. So maybe if I got my permit on tuesday we can go driving for a little bit or something. But saturday around 4pm we have a birthday party to go to. Plus if there's time, which I don't think will happen, we've got the party type thing in columbus for all the army families to meet.
Sunday: Sunday we have the Yellow Ribbon event which will be at 9am and it's supposed to last like 8 hours, so we will probably be there till 6pm or so. Then of course back to work monday.
So busy week and weekend ahead. I will blog about my party, and the Yellow Ribbon event probably the beginning of next week. Sorry, this was supposed to be a short blog. Haha.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Back from Vacation! And Birthday Updates!
Our vacation was amazing!! We absolutely loved the cabins! They were so beautiful, and so secluded! And we loved having a hot tub! We got in it a total of 11 times while we were there! So here's how things went!
Monday: We arrived at the cabin to check in shortly after 4pm. Once we checked in, we went and checked out the cabin. And we turned on the air conditioning!! It was so nice having AC. We don't have have AC at our house. Then we unloaded the car and I unpacked all our stuff while James tried to figure out the tv. Then of course we tried out the hot tub for dip #1. We did lots of relaxing and watching tv the rest of the night, and we also watched a movie and had popcorn. Halfway in between the movie, we took a break to watch the new Jon and Kate Plus 8 episode (we love that show) and we took dip #2 in the hot tub.
Tuesday: I got up earlier than James, so I watched tv and read my book. I haven't had much time to read in a while, so it was nice. Once James got up and we relaxed, had breakfast, relaxed some more, played some games, and had lunch, then we tried out the jacuzzi bath tub. I would LOVE to have one of those of my own at home! Then we went straight to the hot tub after that for dip #3. Then there was a few hours of just playing games until dinner time. We cooked out on the grill and made steaks! Then we played more games, more tv, more relaxing, and we made cookies. Then we took dip #4 in the hot tub. It started storming so we had to get out after like 15 minutes. So we watched tv until the storm passed and then took dip #5 in the hot tub. Then the water started getting too hot, so we took another break and went and cooled off in the AC and then warmed up in the hot tub for dip #6 before bed.
Wednesday: This day was my birthday, and I got a total of 5 phone calls that day telling me Happy Birthday. After relaxing, tv, and breakfast, we got in the hot tub for dip #7. Then we played games again until lunch time, then watched tv to let lunch settle and took dip #8 in the hot tub. I have waterproof cards so we got the smart idea of playing cards in the hot tub. That was fun! Then we relaxed a bit, before taking another bath in the jacuzzi tub to get ready for our dinner out. We left for dinner around 6pm and went to Applebees and then to Walmart to get a special dessert for my birthday. We got back to the cabin around 8:15pm. And of course we pretty much immediately got into the hot tub, for dip #9 and played some more cards. Then we got out and ate my dessert for my birthday. Then we watched a movie and had a drink of course since it was my 21st birthday. After the movie, we started packing and cleaning and getting ready to leave the next day. But we had to take another dip in the hot tub before bed, making it dip #10 of the trip. We didn't make it to bed until around 2am.
Thursday: We got up around 8:45am and immediately went to take our final dip in the hot tub before we went home, making it dip #11 and the last dip of the vacation! Once we got out, we finished packing, cleaning, and getting dressed to leave. We went up to the office around 10:30am to check out, but there was NO ONE there. So we went back to the cabin to watch tv until 11am, which is when we are supposed to be checked out by. When we went back up at 11am, there STILL was no one there. We knocked on both doors, called all three phone numbers, and even checked to see if anyone was at any of the other three cabins, but there was no one, and no answer. FINALLY around 11:45am, James got someone to answer at one of the numbers and he said that all we had to do was to leave the key in the cabin and leave the door unlocked. So we left there as soon as we went back to the cabin. We stopped for lunch on the way home because neither of us had eaten anything really. It was so nice to get back and see my babies!! I missed them so much!! The rest of the day we just relaxed and watched tv, and James took a nap.
Today, James is back at work, then he has a doctors appointment. And I'm working on my avon that I need to get caught up on and unpacking and cleaning! So it was a wonderful vacation. James wants to go back sometime in september before he leaves! I don't know if we can afford to do that though, but I would definitely try.
Anyways, I have some updates on my birthday party. My mom still isn't sure when she will be able to get her house, but we are going ahead and planning my party for next friday evening. So hopefully she is the legal owner by then. All the kids will be in school by then, so it will have to be sometime after that. She has a nice big garage that would probably hold 4 cars, and a big back yard. So it will probably be one of those places. Weather dependent of course. James' cousin is having his party the next day, so that's why I'm going to try and have mine the day before. If it doesn't work out that way, I'm not sure when I will have it. This weekend James and I are going to make the final plans and stuff for it.
Monday: We arrived at the cabin to check in shortly after 4pm. Once we checked in, we went and checked out the cabin. And we turned on the air conditioning!! It was so nice having AC. We don't have have AC at our house. Then we unloaded the car and I unpacked all our stuff while James tried to figure out the tv. Then of course we tried out the hot tub for dip #1. We did lots of relaxing and watching tv the rest of the night, and we also watched a movie and had popcorn. Halfway in between the movie, we took a break to watch the new Jon and Kate Plus 8 episode (we love that show) and we took dip #2 in the hot tub.
Tuesday: I got up earlier than James, so I watched tv and read my book. I haven't had much time to read in a while, so it was nice. Once James got up and we relaxed, had breakfast, relaxed some more, played some games, and had lunch, then we tried out the jacuzzi bath tub. I would LOVE to have one of those of my own at home! Then we went straight to the hot tub after that for dip #3. Then there was a few hours of just playing games until dinner time. We cooked out on the grill and made steaks! Then we played more games, more tv, more relaxing, and we made cookies. Then we took dip #4 in the hot tub. It started storming so we had to get out after like 15 minutes. So we watched tv until the storm passed and then took dip #5 in the hot tub. Then the water started getting too hot, so we took another break and went and cooled off in the AC and then warmed up in the hot tub for dip #6 before bed.
Wednesday: This day was my birthday, and I got a total of 5 phone calls that day telling me Happy Birthday. After relaxing, tv, and breakfast, we got in the hot tub for dip #7. Then we played games again until lunch time, then watched tv to let lunch settle and took dip #8 in the hot tub. I have waterproof cards so we got the smart idea of playing cards in the hot tub. That was fun! Then we relaxed a bit, before taking another bath in the jacuzzi tub to get ready for our dinner out. We left for dinner around 6pm and went to Applebees and then to Walmart to get a special dessert for my birthday. We got back to the cabin around 8:15pm. And of course we pretty much immediately got into the hot tub, for dip #9 and played some more cards. Then we got out and ate my dessert for my birthday. Then we watched a movie and had a drink of course since it was my 21st birthday. After the movie, we started packing and cleaning and getting ready to leave the next day. But we had to take another dip in the hot tub before bed, making it dip #10 of the trip. We didn't make it to bed until around 2am.
Thursday: We got up around 8:45am and immediately went to take our final dip in the hot tub before we went home, making it dip #11 and the last dip of the vacation! Once we got out, we finished packing, cleaning, and getting dressed to leave. We went up to the office around 10:30am to check out, but there was NO ONE there. So we went back to the cabin to watch tv until 11am, which is when we are supposed to be checked out by. When we went back up at 11am, there STILL was no one there. We knocked on both doors, called all three phone numbers, and even checked to see if anyone was at any of the other three cabins, but there was no one, and no answer. FINALLY around 11:45am, James got someone to answer at one of the numbers and he said that all we had to do was to leave the key in the cabin and leave the door unlocked. So we left there as soon as we went back to the cabin. We stopped for lunch on the way home because neither of us had eaten anything really. It was so nice to get back and see my babies!! I missed them so much!! The rest of the day we just relaxed and watched tv, and James took a nap.
Today, James is back at work, then he has a doctors appointment. And I'm working on my avon that I need to get caught up on and unpacking and cleaning! So it was a wonderful vacation. James wants to go back sometime in september before he leaves! I don't know if we can afford to do that though, but I would definitely try.
Anyways, I have some updates on my birthday party. My mom still isn't sure when she will be able to get her house, but we are going ahead and planning my party for next friday evening. So hopefully she is the legal owner by then. All the kids will be in school by then, so it will have to be sometime after that. She has a nice big garage that would probably hold 4 cars, and a big back yard. So it will probably be one of those places. Weather dependent of course. James' cousin is having his party the next day, so that's why I'm going to try and have mine the day before. If it doesn't work out that way, I'm not sure when I will have it. This weekend James and I are going to make the final plans and stuff for it.
Monday, August 10, 2009
We're Leaving Today!
I am so super excited! Today is the day we are leaving for vacation! James is at work right now, and he gets off around 1pm. I am supposed to be cleaning and packing, but I just had to blog once more before we leave!! It still seems like we have so much to do, but I guess I do have like 5 and a half hours before he even gets off of work. We are planning to leave around 3:30pm or so. Before that, we have a few errands to run though. Along with making time to grab a quick lunch. I've got to take some avon books to the doctors office. We have to run to James' mom's house to drop off her avon order, and to give her the key to our house, so that she can come check on our cats while we're gone. I'm not too worried about them. Just the baby Jack! I'm sure he will be into everything. And I'm hoping James' mother won't clean our house again like she did last time we went on vacation. Yes it was a nice gesture, but still that meant she went through like everything in our house. I don't know about some people, but we do have some private things, that we don't want mothers seeing! Anyways, we've also got to get gas on our way there. Luckily this place is only about 40 minutes from our house, so it's like a vacation, but we don't have the LONG drive and the stress of something happening to our car. I swear we have bad luck with cars on vacations. The past two vacations we've taken, something has gone wrong with two different cars!! And we will be taking our newest car this time, and so far we've had quite a few problems with it since we've had it. Hopefully it's all fixed though. Okay, gotta stop thinking negative, it's supposed to be a good trip.
So I guess I will be back to blogging either thursday or friday to let you all know how the vacation went! And when I come back, I will be 21 years old! Oh and I'm still not sure about the party, but it's looking like it will be the weekend of the 22nd. My mom is supposed to have her closing on her house around the 17th, so it will not be able to be this coming weekend, the 15th. That's alright. I can wait an extra week. Have a great week everyone! I know I will!! I will blog thursday or friday!!
So I guess I will be back to blogging either thursday or friday to let you all know how the vacation went! And when I come back, I will be 21 years old! Oh and I'm still not sure about the party, but it's looking like it will be the weekend of the 22nd. My mom is supposed to have her closing on her house around the 17th, so it will not be able to be this coming weekend, the 15th. That's alright. I can wait an extra week. Have a great week everyone! I know I will!! I will blog thursday or friday!!
Friday, August 7, 2009
Vacation!
Good news!! Our vacation is planned and reserved! Here's how it will go:
Monday: James works the morning shift and should be off by 1pm. While he's working I will be packing and preparing food. Once he gets home, we will eat lunch, finish packing and load the car. Around 3 or 3:30 we will leave to head to our cabin. We are able to check in around 4pm. Once we're there, we will unload the car, get settled in, relax a bit, then fix dinner.
Tuesday: We will spend the day in the hot tub, the jacuzzi bathtub, watching movies, playing games, taking a walk, etc.
Wednesday: Wednesday is my 21st birthday so we will celebrate it by doing pretty much the same things we are doing tuesday. But we will be going out to dinner this night. I'm not sure where yet, but most likely Applebee's. Starting wednesday night I will have to start packing stuff up to go home the next day.
Thursday: We will get up early and finish packing and loading the car and be out of the cabin by 11am. Then we will come home, unload the car, and spend the rest of the day being lazy and relaxing some more. Unfortunately friday, James has to return to work. But then he gets the weekend off.
I'm and really looking forward to this little mini-vacation. Even though we aren't going far from home, it's like a little get-away. The guy I talked to and who helped me reserve the cabin, was EXTREMELY nice. He got us a great deal because of the situation, and he also made sure that if we had to cancel at the last minute, we wouldn't have to pay for it, because of the situation. I'm going to have to send him a thank you card once we get home!!
It's looking better and better that I may be able to have my birthday party at my mom's "almost" new house. She finished signing the loan papers already. And they told her that she could probably start moving her stuff into the garage already. She is going to be working on that this weekend. And hopefully by next weekend, she will have had her closing so that we can have a party there! If not, it's going to have to wait until the following weekend, but that will cancel out another previous plan. Oh well, I'm not sure I wanted to go anyway!
Well, that's all for now. Today I'm going to be working on my avon orders, cleaning my house, finishing the plans for the vacation, and maybe even starting to pack!! I'll let you all know how the vacation goes!!
If you want to buy avon online from me, and have it sent directly to your house, no matter where in the U.S you live, just visit www.youravon.com/smetz .
Monday: James works the morning shift and should be off by 1pm. While he's working I will be packing and preparing food. Once he gets home, we will eat lunch, finish packing and load the car. Around 3 or 3:30 we will leave to head to our cabin. We are able to check in around 4pm. Once we're there, we will unload the car, get settled in, relax a bit, then fix dinner.
Tuesday: We will spend the day in the hot tub, the jacuzzi bathtub, watching movies, playing games, taking a walk, etc.
Wednesday: Wednesday is my 21st birthday so we will celebrate it by doing pretty much the same things we are doing tuesday. But we will be going out to dinner this night. I'm not sure where yet, but most likely Applebee's. Starting wednesday night I will have to start packing stuff up to go home the next day.
Thursday: We will get up early and finish packing and loading the car and be out of the cabin by 11am. Then we will come home, unload the car, and spend the rest of the day being lazy and relaxing some more. Unfortunately friday, James has to return to work. But then he gets the weekend off.
I'm and really looking forward to this little mini-vacation. Even though we aren't going far from home, it's like a little get-away. The guy I talked to and who helped me reserve the cabin, was EXTREMELY nice. He got us a great deal because of the situation, and he also made sure that if we had to cancel at the last minute, we wouldn't have to pay for it, because of the situation. I'm going to have to send him a thank you card once we get home!!
It's looking better and better that I may be able to have my birthday party at my mom's "almost" new house. She finished signing the loan papers already. And they told her that she could probably start moving her stuff into the garage already. She is going to be working on that this weekend. And hopefully by next weekend, she will have had her closing so that we can have a party there! If not, it's going to have to wait until the following weekend, but that will cancel out another previous plan. Oh well, I'm not sure I wanted to go anyway!
Well, that's all for now. Today I'm going to be working on my avon orders, cleaning my house, finishing the plans for the vacation, and maybe even starting to pack!! I'll let you all know how the vacation goes!!
If you want to buy avon online from me, and have it sent directly to your house, no matter where in the U.S you live, just visit www.youravon.com/smetz .
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Changes Already
I just blogged yesterday, but there are a couple changes already.
For one, it's looking like James will most likely be deploying to Afghanistan, and not Iraq. They aren't completely sure but they said it's about a 90% chance they are going there instead. I really don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I really don't know the situations over there and which place is worse. James said there was two good things about Afghanistan. He said there are less IED's over there. And he also said it's more mountains and no desert. He's happy about that. And from the email they sent him telling him this, they all seemed to be happy going to Afghanistan than to Iraq. They said they would have more meaningful missions there. And I'm sure the scenery would probably be better.
Because of them probably going to Afghanistan instead of Iraq, they want all the soldiers to start carrying their equipment and walking up and down big hills to get in better shape for doing that over there. Although that won't really effect James much, since he will mainly be on base, he's still going to take those walks when he can. Because as he pointed out, although it may not effect him in Afghanistan, he still will be training with the rest of his company in NJ (we think). So he wants me to go with him on these walks, which is fine. I could use the exercise anyway.
The second change, is that James has finally decided that we will try for a vacation as soon as possible. He is now understanding, that we don't have much time left and he REALLY wants a vacation as badly as I want one. So we are hoping to take one for about 3 or 4 days next week. Yes, I said next week. So today I've got to call the place we are wanting to stay, and see if they have any available cabins those nights. And James has to try and get someone to work for him. I've got to talk to the place and make sure that they won't charge us if we cancel at the last minute because James could find out he has to do his AT days next week. We never know with the army and that's what bothers me. But we're gonna try for it anyway. And the good part, is that we would be gone over my birthday, which will be kind of nice. I'll keep you updated on the vacation to see if we get to go next week or not.
For one, it's looking like James will most likely be deploying to Afghanistan, and not Iraq. They aren't completely sure but they said it's about a 90% chance they are going there instead. I really don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I really don't know the situations over there and which place is worse. James said there was two good things about Afghanistan. He said there are less IED's over there. And he also said it's more mountains and no desert. He's happy about that. And from the email they sent him telling him this, they all seemed to be happy going to Afghanistan than to Iraq. They said they would have more meaningful missions there. And I'm sure the scenery would probably be better.
Because of them probably going to Afghanistan instead of Iraq, they want all the soldiers to start carrying their equipment and walking up and down big hills to get in better shape for doing that over there. Although that won't really effect James much, since he will mainly be on base, he's still going to take those walks when he can. Because as he pointed out, although it may not effect him in Afghanistan, he still will be training with the rest of his company in NJ (we think). So he wants me to go with him on these walks, which is fine. I could use the exercise anyway.
The second change, is that James has finally decided that we will try for a vacation as soon as possible. He is now understanding, that we don't have much time left and he REALLY wants a vacation as badly as I want one. So we are hoping to take one for about 3 or 4 days next week. Yes, I said next week. So today I've got to call the place we are wanting to stay, and see if they have any available cabins those nights. And James has to try and get someone to work for him. I've got to talk to the place and make sure that they won't charge us if we cancel at the last minute because James could find out he has to do his AT days next week. We never know with the army and that's what bothers me. But we're gonna try for it anyway. And the good part, is that we would be gone over my birthday, which will be kind of nice. I'll keep you updated on the vacation to see if we get to go next week or not.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Shopping and Updates
Well this past weekend we got a lot of cleaning done at home, and we also went and helped my mom clean her "almost" new house. Before we did that, we went shopping and started to get some stuff for the deployment. We got an external hard drive from Target. It was $99 but you got a free $10 Target gift card also. It's 1TB which is equal to about 1,000GB. We bought it because James will be taking his laptop with him, and we wanted to make sure we saved all the pictures and files onto the new hard drive before he left, in case something would happen to his computer over there, we wouldn't lose anything. James has been wanting to get an external hard drive for a while now, but I didn't want to spend that kind of money. But now it's necessary, so I went along with it.
We also went to walmart and got some smaller things we will need. James got some flip flops to use as shower sandals. Also we got him a couple small photo albums so that he can take pictures with him of me and our kitties, and both families. We got 8 cheap notebooks which will be used for paper to write letters to each other. We both got 2 packs of new pens. And we also got a couple composition notebooks (the ones where the pages don't rip out easily) for us to use as diaries or like daily journal type things to tell how we're feeling and what we're doing.
James is supposed to have 10 days of AT each year (done before october) and so far he's only gotten 3 days done. So he has to figure out when he can do the other 7 days. His sargeant is not being much help. A while back he had the choice to either go away to another base and do like a 2-3 week long class on something, or he could go to his unit and help out some there and do PT and paperwork and stuff. Now they are not moving things along. He has only about 7 weeks until he leaves for his deployment. That's not a lot of time to fit this in. Especially if he will have to go away for a 2-3 week long class. I'm soooo hoping that doesn't happen.
Also we're trying to fit in a small vacation before he leaves. And with us not knowing what he has to do for his AT days yet, it's really hard to plan for one yet. If he has to do his AT days in september, we're probably going to take our vacation as soon as possible. If he has to do his AT days sometime in august, we're most likely going to take a vacation the second week in september, after he's done with work for the summer. We already know where we want to go, we just don't have dates yet. We're not going far from home, only a few towns over. But we're going to stay in a cabin in the woods just the two of us, just relaxing and spending time together. Hopefully it will be a 4-5 day vacation, but we may only have time for a 2-3 day vacation. These cabins are so nice. They come with two bedrooms (although we will only need one), a fully equipped kitchen, living room, dining area, two bathrooms (one with a jacuzzi/garden tub), a grill, and the best part, a hot tub on a screened in porch!! It's going to be sooo amazing, but I will be very mad if we don't fit it in sometime.
I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to do for my 21st birthday party. I really don't want to have it here at home, because there's not enough room for even just all our families. Since my mom is almost in her new house, it may work out for me. She's been cleaning it, so that once they have the closing, they can just start moving stuff in. As long as they are in there by the weekend of august 15-16 and possibly even the weekend after (I'm willing to hold off another week), then I will have my party at her house. She's got a nice backyard, completely fenced in. So there should be enough room for everyone. Plus she has two bathrooms over there, while I only have one here!! I don't know if James' family will travel over to my moms new house (it's about 30 minutes away from our town), but if they don't, oh well. They will just miss my party. I'm pretty sure his parents will come, but I'm not sure about the rest of them. Now if my mom's not in her house soon enough, then I will probably be having my party at one of the local parks.
Also, I'm hoping to plan some kind of going away party for James. With the help of his mom, and maybe mine too. I'm not sure when yet (because we don't have an exact date of when he's leaving) and I'm definitely not sure where yet. He just wants to be able to hang out one last time with his family, and my family, and maybe a couple friends before he goes. So maybe I should call his mom today and tell her to start thinking about it.
Anyways, I think that's all the updates for now!!
We also went to walmart and got some smaller things we will need. James got some flip flops to use as shower sandals. Also we got him a couple small photo albums so that he can take pictures with him of me and our kitties, and both families. We got 8 cheap notebooks which will be used for paper to write letters to each other. We both got 2 packs of new pens. And we also got a couple composition notebooks (the ones where the pages don't rip out easily) for us to use as diaries or like daily journal type things to tell how we're feeling and what we're doing.
James is supposed to have 10 days of AT each year (done before october) and so far he's only gotten 3 days done. So he has to figure out when he can do the other 7 days. His sargeant is not being much help. A while back he had the choice to either go away to another base and do like a 2-3 week long class on something, or he could go to his unit and help out some there and do PT and paperwork and stuff. Now they are not moving things along. He has only about 7 weeks until he leaves for his deployment. That's not a lot of time to fit this in. Especially if he will have to go away for a 2-3 week long class. I'm soooo hoping that doesn't happen.
Also we're trying to fit in a small vacation before he leaves. And with us not knowing what he has to do for his AT days yet, it's really hard to plan for one yet. If he has to do his AT days in september, we're probably going to take our vacation as soon as possible. If he has to do his AT days sometime in august, we're most likely going to take a vacation the second week in september, after he's done with work for the summer. We already know where we want to go, we just don't have dates yet. We're not going far from home, only a few towns over. But we're going to stay in a cabin in the woods just the two of us, just relaxing and spending time together. Hopefully it will be a 4-5 day vacation, but we may only have time for a 2-3 day vacation. These cabins are so nice. They come with two bedrooms (although we will only need one), a fully equipped kitchen, living room, dining area, two bathrooms (one with a jacuzzi/garden tub), a grill, and the best part, a hot tub on a screened in porch!! It's going to be sooo amazing, but I will be very mad if we don't fit it in sometime.
I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to do for my 21st birthday party. I really don't want to have it here at home, because there's not enough room for even just all our families. Since my mom is almost in her new house, it may work out for me. She's been cleaning it, so that once they have the closing, they can just start moving stuff in. As long as they are in there by the weekend of august 15-16 and possibly even the weekend after (I'm willing to hold off another week), then I will have my party at her house. She's got a nice backyard, completely fenced in. So there should be enough room for everyone. Plus she has two bathrooms over there, while I only have one here!! I don't know if James' family will travel over to my moms new house (it's about 30 minutes away from our town), but if they don't, oh well. They will just miss my party. I'm pretty sure his parents will come, but I'm not sure about the rest of them. Now if my mom's not in her house soon enough, then I will probably be having my party at one of the local parks.
Also, I'm hoping to plan some kind of going away party for James. With the help of his mom, and maybe mine too. I'm not sure when yet (because we don't have an exact date of when he's leaving) and I'm definitely not sure where yet. He just wants to be able to hang out one last time with his family, and my family, and maybe a couple friends before he goes. So maybe I should call his mom today and tell her to start thinking about it.
Anyways, I think that's all the updates for now!!
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