Off to MeMe's

There are two types of grandmothers: sweet and ornery. Brian's grandmother is the latter. She is easily angered and holds grudges. Luckily I (and Brian) have managed to stay on her good side for the last almost-8 years.

Brian and his grandmother at our wedding in 2009.

Neither of us have seen her since our church wedding in 2009. We haven't been to visit her since before Brian joined the Army in 2007. Brian has been pretty good about calling her on a semi-regular basis, but I suppose we're due for some face time.

The thing is, neither of us is particularly looking forward to this trip. I work all day tomorrow and then we have to drive all the way there after that. We'll spend Saturday with her, but we don't have any plans so there's a decent chance most of the day will be spent staring at each other and making semi-awkward small talk.

So this visit may be more obligation than anything else, but it's one of those things you just gotta do. She loves Brian, has been incredibly supportive of his career, and never misses either of our birthdays. I think we owe her.

She also has some impressive collections of random junk. Maybe I can find some cool stuff to bring back with us. Plus, it's never a bad weekend when it is spent in Texas! :)

((Today is my FIL's birthday. Card was sent and received and the necessary phone call was made.))

In closer-to-home news, Brian made a work decision today that pretty much solidified the rest of our time here. There's a better than decent chance that we'll have Deployment #4 under our belts before we PCS. The good news for Brian and his career, though, is that we are officially on the downhill side of this duty station. I know I'll be sad to leave, but I don't necessarily mind. It's an adventure, right?

Loving Right Now

.1.

The weather this weekend.

Goooooodbye 100-degree weather!

.2.

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

So so so so good. Loved it.

.3.

This new Downton Abbey promo.

I can't wait until January!!

.4.

Football season.

.5.

Some Nights by fun.

I turned this up and jammed out in my car today.

In other news, work is kicking my butt. Working all day, cooking dinner, and keeping up with the house generally takes up every waking hour. The good news is that my weeks go by relatively fast. We went home for 4 days last weekend which was much needed and super fun. I kicked off high school football season with my parents (with a win!). It's still too dang hot, but I know it'll be freezing in a couple months. This weekend we're staying in town. I need to run some errands and clean the house. Brian wants to take the boat out. Hopefully she (the boat) is cooperative. I guess that's about it. Pretty boring, but I wanted to check in.

LA to Paris

Sounds glamorous, huh? Not when LA is Louisiana and Paris is Paris, Texas. Ha!

We were up at 7 this morning. By 8, Brian was running our DVR back to the cable joint, the mattress was in the truck, and I was busy clearing out and vacuuming every room. By the time he got back an hour later I had cleaned every room but one (it couldn't be tackled until everything was packed up in the trucks). We were completely finished and ready for inspection with 45 minutes to spare.

Clearing out of housing took a whopping 30 minutes. After weighing the full trucks we drove away from Fort Polk for the last time and made a pit stop at Checkers for lunch. By 11:30 we were on the road. A little over 5 hours later we were checked into the hotel in Paris, TX. The drive was uneventful. The big rental truck slowed us down, but not as much as I thought it would.

We ate the free dinner provided by the hotel and now I'm lounging while watching Pretty Little Liars (don't judge my guilty pleasure television!) and Brian is taking advantage of the "gym" downstairs.

Story of the Day: We rode up on the elevator after checking in with a rough looking woman. She was chatty. She shared with us that her mother is in town to help her bury her 16-year-old son. *awkward silence* He hung himself on Valentine's Day. *more awkward silence* Without missing a beat she started talking about my cat and comparing it to one she used to have. This all took place in the time it took to go from the ground floor to the third floor. I mean, terrible story and I'm so sorry for her and her family, but really? I didn't need to know that. And what do you say to a declaration like that??

This time tomorrow we'll be in Oklahoma!

Brrrr

Feels like 8. Really?

Kissin' Chicken

My parents and I ate at a local chicken place tonight. This chicken face is on the outside of the building. He looked like he needed a kiss.


Obviously I'm back home in TX while Brian's training in LA. I've been spending my days hanging out with Mom, watching TV, going for walks around the neighborhood and spending hours in the pool. It's been so therapeutic. I told my mom today that I think swimming is good for the soul. And I don't mean prissy swimming where you get wet up to your shoulders and keep your hair well above the water. I mean honest to goodness swimming - going under water, swimming laps and going down the slide.


My brother comes home on Wednesday for a visit. To say I'm excited is an understatement. I can't wait to have him around here again. We already have a list of things we have to do/eat/see while he's here.

In The Last Two Weeks I...

...was ordered to stop wearing contacts so my damaged corneas have a chance to heal. I'll thank the perfect storm of allergies, all day contact use and old/dirty contacts for this fun predicament.


...ordered new glasses! This is about the only upside to the whole eye fiasco.


...got a tan.


...swam...alot! This was by far my favorite part of being here.


...drove my old car (Mustang convertible!). The pink tinge on my thighs and shoulders is from my joy ride around town today. :)


...fell in love with my mom's new Jetta. I totally want one now.


...nursed Tiny back to health after he developed some blisters on his paws from the hot ground outside. It was heartbreaking.


...cancelled our Disney World trip. I'm hoping this is a catalyst for some major change in our lives.


...bought some super cute clothes. I just love summer clothes!


...took advantage of my brother's discount. One of the only perks of him working his butt off for a poorly run clothing mega company in NYC.


...made the decision to seriously pursue graduate school.


...walked countless loops around the neighborhood with my mom.


...walked on the treadmill enough at the gym to watch Star Trek from beginning to end on my tiny iPod screen.


...watched the Lost finale with my dad.


...rented many movies from RedBox. It helps having one 2 minutes from my parents' house. I finally got to see: Dear John, Up In The Air, Crazy Heart and The Blind Side.


...saw Marmaduke on the big screen. It was totally worth the $6 just to laugh at the Great Dane -isms.


...ate. And ate. And ate. I hit up all my fav places and then some.


...made chicken and dumplings for my parents. It was delish!


...avoided anyone outside of my family. Sorry guys. I needed to hibernate.


...watched the Glee finale. Superb. Can't get "Faithfully" out of my head.


...went on a day trip to Fort Worth with Mom.


...was slapped (softly) by my mother. She was killing a gnat that had landed on my cheek. At the time, it was hilarious.


...went bowling. I broke 100 in both games!


...voluntarily washed the Mustang. She looks much prettier now.




It's back to LA tomorrow. Back to reality. Back to real life.

So Here's The Deal...

We didn't go to Disney World.


I'm not ready to get into the reasons behind cancelling our trip. Maybe one day.


I wish more than anything that I had a big giant post full of cheesy Disney pictures to share with you all.


Forgive me if I'm absent for awhile. There's really not much blog fodder in my life these days.


At least I've got bright Texas sun and a crystal clear pool.

Hello Vacation

Where did the last week go?


It's already Saturday. We made it back to Texas on Thursday. I spent yesterday afternoon with my mama. We hit up the usual suspects: Target, Old Navy and Sam's. Today I might swing through the mall. After I get my butt to the gym, of course.


Tomorrow afternoon Brian and I head off to DFW. We're spending the night at a hotel before our early flight on Monday. Then It's Disney Disney Disney for 4 days straight. You may or may not hear from me during that time. I'm bringing my computer, but mostly so I have somewhere to upload my pictures to every night.


I can't believe we're on vacation. It's been entirely too long. And I'm determined to enjoy it! :)

Easter Weekend

This was my view on my way out of town yesterday. I battled the rising sun for the first couple hours. As much as I hated squinting, it did make for a gorgeous view.

Today, obviously, is Easter. Last year I remember I bought Easter candy and had it set out all cute on the table. Yeah, not so much this year. It's really been like any other day. Brian played alot of video games (note the xbox360 controller):

I took mediocre pictures of myself:

And Tiny did what Tiny does best - looked adorable while sleeping (don't you love how he's a featureless blob in pictures?):

Tomorrow will be sorta busy around here. Brian has the day off (yay!) so we're heading to Lake Charles. He needs a new laptop. His Gateway is acting up again and, thanks to our tax return, it's a good time to go get a new one. Hopefully we can find a good deal on something. Also, hopefully, I can tackle some of the laundry that accumulated while I was outta town.


Tonight marks the return of my favorite sport: Major League Baseball. My beloved Yankees are playing the Red Sox tonight. I'm hoping for a big win to open the season! *knocks on wood*

Blame It On The Rain

I'm still in TX. There was rain lurking today so I put my drive off until tomorrow. I refuse to drive in rain unless it is absolutely necessary.


Instead of driving back to LA today I ran around base with my mom and washed the truck. I thought it was a pretty productive way to spend my unexpected extra day in TX.


I need to pack, but keep putting it off. The show about a big family secret on TV is too appealing. It might also be that I know when I pack that I really will be leaving. It's always hard for me to leave, no matter the circumstances.


I miss Brian, though. I miss my bed and my giant TV and my kitchen. It'll be nice to be back, and right in time for Easter. I can't wait to see what I throw together for Easter dinner. I doubt I'll squeeze grocery shopping in tomorrow after I get back, so I'll have to improvise.


This was Spring Break for me and it flew by. Tuesday morning I'll be back at work.


Someone tell me how it is already April. I swear it was 2009 yesterday.

I'm Procrastinating...

So I'll blog!


I have 2 loads of laundry waiting to be folded. I should have just buckled down and folded it the day it was washed. I hate when I put it off! I need to jump in the shower, too. I'll be hitting the road bright and early tomorrow and don't need to worry about showering before dawn. And speaking of hitting the road: I need to pack! I'm terrible about putting it off until the last minute. It's going to be a short trip home, but weather is always unpredictable in West Texas in Spring. Snow one day, 75 the next. What's a girl to pack?


Yesterday at work a creepy bug was crawling down the hallway when I was working with a group. I kept flicking it away with my finger when it got too close. It was a resilient little thing - it would pretend it was dead and suddenly it would be crawling around again. When our group was over and the kids were walking back to class, the last 3 boys stepped on the bug and killed it. It struck me as ironic - I'm the adult, but they killed the bug for me.


So, anyone wondering how my vegetable thing is going? Well, it's not. Ha! I didn't feel right buying vegetables and experimenting when I knew I was going out of town for 6 days. I've been making an effort to eat better in other ways, though. I've committed to upping my fiber intake - which is truly what I needed to do. It's an empowering way to go about eating, in my opinion. Instead of taking away calories, I'm adding fiber. I'm making easy switches between white pasta and whole wheat pasta. I'm eating alot of apples (love apples!) with the skins still on! I'm adding more beans which I've always loved. Truly, I haven't made any major changes to my diet, but have been more aware of what I'm eating. Once I get back next week, I'm going to start adding veggies to the mix. I'm nervous about this. I hope I don't gag too much!


I've had a mini-surge of new followers lately. How are you guys finding me? I don't show up in search engines so I'm always curious how people stumble upon me on the world wide web.


Well, Brian's home early and I need to get cracking on my to-do list. What are you doing this weekend?

Let The Marathon Weekend Begin!

Today:
1. Pack.
2. Wait for Brian to get off work.
3. Hit the road by 6 (hopefully).
4. Drive. A lot.


Tomorrow:
1. Arrive in the wee hours in Hometown, TX.
2. Sleep.
3. Exercise maybe?
4. Run an errand or two. (I melted my fav. spatula this week. Oops. Need to buy a replacement.)
5. Shower & get ready.
6. SIL wedding at 5:15. Still not sure if I need to be there early or not.
7. Reception.
8. Crash.


Sunday:
1. Wake up early.
2. Drive another 8 hours back to LA.
3. Wonder where our weekend went.


Wish me (and my sanity) luck.

And Here I Am Again

I made it back to TX! Tiny and I left Wednesday morning at 6 am (it was still dark outside) and hit Abilene a little before 2. The drive was totally uneventful and traffic free. It was freezing (literally) cold and I thought I would hit some wintery weather in east Texas, but I guess God was watching out for me and cleared it all up before I got there. I did hit some rain in LA, but nothing terrible. Tiny and I stopped once at this cool Texas-y gas station/convenience store/bbq restaurant. I filled up on gas, Tiny wandered around without peeing, and I picked up a couple treats to bring to the family. I kept waiting for Tiny to complain and want to go potty, but he never did. 8 hours in the car, and he never did any sort of bathroom. I can't complain. He's an amazing traveller which I am eternally grateful for.

Since I've been here, I've gotten a ton of Christmas shopping done and have eaten more cookie dough than I thought humanly possible. I have enjoyed having my family around to talk to face to face whenever I want to. I've missed Keith because he's been working a whole bunch, but I think he has a few days off between now and Christmas to make up for it. So far today Mom and I have gone to the gym, ran errands, and I made hot cocoa mix to enjoy and give to a couple people for Christmas. So very productive, lemme tell ya! I also managed to get the vast majority of my Christmas shopping done yesterday. I still need things for Brian, a couple odds and ends to complete gifts, and to get a TON of wrapping done. I was impressed with everything I bought at the mall yesterday. I hope everyone likes my choices.

Tonight I am on my own. Mom has a wedding through the dinner hour, Keith is working then going out with friends, and Dad is in Dallas for a half-marathon. I guess I should think about what I want to do with myself. Too bad all my booze is still in LA! Ha.

As for this afternoon...I am going to get out of this bed and migrate over to the couch to get in some quality time with my Wii. Til next time...

S.