The One Where I Whine a Little {Or a Lot}

So. We've been in Georgia for 4 months now. I know the same amount of people now as I did when we first moved here. A friend from Joe's unit in Hawaii, and lovely fellow blogger, Amanda. I am grateful that I know at least a couple people here, (and I always have Skype dates with my bestie!) but....

I'm starting to get lonely.

Both of the ladies I mentioned above work. It's great for them - especially if they want to - but kinda sucks for me since I'm home with the bean all day. I love the church we go to, but they forego small groups during the summer because everyone travels. And since we never found one prior to the summer.... No small groups {or friends} for us until they start up again. Boo. And apparently the FRG for this unit is severely slacking, so no luck meeting people there. Though, that hasn't really worked out well for me in the past. Not like finding church-related friends, anyway.

Did I mention I'm carless, too? I mean, I could get Joe to find a ride to work so that I could have the car. Even then, the only things I would do would be with/for Charlotte. It's not like I can go shopping all the time. Still, it would be nice to be able to go somewhere during the day. We live within driving distance of so many things! Oh, what I wouldn't give for a second car... Except money, of course, because we do not have enough for that. {Unless a miracle were to happen and we were either given money or a car. I don't really see that happening anytime soon. Or ever.}

Ugh. Really, I think I'm missing Mrs. C. We talked for the first time in a while this weekend, and I think it made me realize how much I miss her and the things we were able to do in Hawaii. Mainly, hang out at each other's houses and just chat. What can I say? I'm pretty easy to please. I especially miss having friends who just come over and make themselves at home, while ignoring the mess that my house usually is. 

Making new friends is definitely the hardest part of PCSing. *sigh*

What a Day!

Today has been quite the surprisingly great day! Until a few minutes ago, that is. More on that in a little bit.

My morning wasn't really all that special... I got up, had breakfast and got ready to go to church. I even wore some of my new clothes! It's nothing to wear shorts to church here, so I wore my lovely bermuda shorts and that purple top. Love! Anyway. I always expect church to be good. It's rare that I go to an "eh" service. Today was definitely on the uh.maz.ing. side. =)


The title of his sermon today was "It's Hammer Time!" All of you 80s folks, my pastor walked onstage to that song... You know the one. ;-) I was dying laughing. Our pastor is pretty awesome. Anyway, he preached on Judges 4. To give you the rundown of the story, it starts off with yet another war between the Israelites and another nation. The prophet in this story was a woman. *gasp* *shock* God used a woman?! {Sometimes I really wonder how our ancestors got the idea that women should be utterly silent and do nothing church-related. Moving on.} The prophet tells the military leader that he would win this battle, but the victory would be by the hands of another woman. *gasp* Long story short, they fight the battle and the leader of the other nation escapes, into the tent of a woman several miles away. The woman allows him in (big no-no because she was married), gives him milk to drink, covers him with a blanket and lets him sleep. But instead of keeping a man in her tent who shouldn't be there (and chances are she had no idea who he was or what he just escaped) she killed him in his sleep. With a stake and hammer. Right through his temple. 


The lesson of this story is: What do we let into our own tents? Our tents are our homes, our bodies, our minds, the way we see things, the computer, the TV, etc. Anything that shouldn't be here. If we start to let something - anything - that is the least bit compromising into our "tents" we begin to let it stay and get more comfortable. After a while, we don't even notice it. As he kept preaching, I realized that God was trying to get me to realize that I'd compromised my thinking. What I've been sharing with you about my "thought closet." I've been letting so many bad ideas, thoughts, words of others into my head over the years that I just stopped noticing it. Worse, I've taken over the job of beating myself up. As I sat there and realized he was talking to me...I realized He was talking to me. I realized (as the pastor was speaking) that God wanted me to get rid of this bad habit, once and for all. No more compromising, no more. I need to do exactly what that women in Judges did - kill it. And then I need to do a better job of protecting my tent from now on. {I urge you to listen to his message here if you get a chance. I'm sure it will bless you as much as it has me. It will be the first one on the list, dated April 10, as soon as they link it up.}


As the service ended, my pastor prayed... He prayed for the military - that we would enjoy our time together and that he would protect those serving abroad... It touched my heart so much. Then, he prayed for people wanting to have babies. I know his message was directed at those struggling with infertility, but I felt like he was praying for me too. I know I say that I have baby fever, but I think it's more than that. I desire to have a baby, to feel it move in my belly, to nurture it, to share that with my husband... I want that so much. And I know that God has put that desire in me. I seriously cried... But overall, I just felt so much peace and joy at the end of the service today. Man, did God ever do some work on me today! It was so stinkin' awesome!! 


This afternoon, I texted the fabulous Annie to see if she would like to come over for dinner and Army Wives. Best idea I've had in a while. She immediately agreed and I was excited! I rarely have company and I really like hanging out with her. =) And she lives close, so that's definitely a bonus! Did I mention her hubby is deployed too? I ran to the shopette for a pizza and she baked some chocolate chip cookies! Can you say "awesome?" We chatted, watched the - yet again - tearful Army Wives...and chatted some more. Oh, and Jasper bugged the heck out of her. Not only did he beg food, at one point he had all his toys on her lap!! Crazy puppy. Good thing she likes dogs!! Basically, we had a fabulous evening and ate some definitely unhealthy - but yummy! - food. =) Oh, and one of the birds that lives in the eaves near my front door kinda attacked her. I think we may have scared it out of its mind. The birds aren't used to me having people over...especially not after dark! Haha! =)


Ok, so the not-so happy thing... One of my favorite bloggers posted a very sad post tonight. It was written as a suicide note, but according to an anonymous commenter (who I think is an MP) she is actually okay. However, she is going through a really rough time in her life right now. She really needs our support. Please just check out her post and leave her some love so that she knows we're all here for her. She's currently in the hospital, hopefully getting the help she needs. But we need to let her know that we're here for her when she returns to the blogging world. 

I *heart* Saturday

When Joe is home, I love Saturday more than any other day of the week. Why? It's the only day that we get to sleep in. So, we sleep late, have a good breakfast and just chill out on the couch. We may or may not do something and that is the beauty of it. Now that he's gone, I've sort of had a love/hate relationship with the weekend. I'm glad that it's another week down, but I'm sad that I don't get to experience a weekend with him. This morning, a rare thing happened to me. I think it's the first time since he's been gone that something like this has happened.

I slept later than usual this morning - 9:30. It was probably due to the Benadryl I'd taken before bed. (Pretty sure I'm allergic to your cat, Chantal. =P) I got up, turned off my fan, grabbed my phone and opened the bedroom door. As I walked to the bathroom, I was somewhat shocked that I didn't heart the TV on. Weird. Joe always has the TV on... Wait. *sigh* Joe isn't here. BAM. How do you like that on a Saturday morning?!

I suppose it's only natural that my brain would forget that he's here. It's bound to happen. I know his routines on the weekend and rarely do they change. When he's home, he always gets up before me on Saturday. Usually, he'll do the dishes and sort of clean up the kitchen/living room for me. Then, he'll turn on the TV and play video games until I get up. That's just the way it goes. Before the Army, he'd sleep in with me but now he's totally ruined. ;-) I guess my Benadryl-induced hangover caused me to completely forget where my husband is for a second.

Today, I am loving Saturday in a different way. While I'd much rather spend a lazy Saturday with my husband, it has been a good day. I got up, watched football all day, made a cheesecake, went to a friend's house for dinner with the girls and had a great time. Seriously. We had some wine, good food, some girlie talk, played Apples to Apples (which I'd never played before) and laughed at the silliest things. We even did a baby switch up when one of the girls was talking to her husband on Skype. Her husband noticed the switch and we all died laughing. =) Silly, but fun. Oh and we think her dog drank some wine from a glass on the floor. LOL!

I am so glad that I found these new friends. Their hubbies are deployed too, so they completely understand. It's nice to have those kind of friends. Plus, they're hilarious. Definitely a bonus. =) And a good day of football never hurts either!

The only thing that could make this day better is a call/chat from my hubby!! {And he's only got about 30 minutes until it's "tomorrow" for me!}

Sheer Awesomeness

I'm proud to report that this weekend has been nothing short of amazing. =)

Yesterday, I met up with Miranda for lunch and a pedicure. Not at the same time, though. ;-) That would just be weird. Lunch at Chili's was pretty good, as usual. I can rarely complain about Chili's though. You would think that after working there for about 2 years, I'd be tired of it by now, but nope! The exact opposite really. I'm biased. Applebee's, Ruby Tuesday's, TGIFriday's, etc. got nothin' on Chili's. *sigh* I once loathed the place and now I'm giving them free PR. What has the world come to? Ok, I'm way off topic.

So, after lunch we went across the shopping center for a much-needed pedicure. And, as always, I wound up getting the one guy in the whole place. Why is it always me? Am I the only one who feels really awkward with a man other than my husband scrubbing my feet and then painting my toes? Please tell me I'm not! It was a good pedicure, but I just can't ever get over the awkward feeling when I get a guy.

After the pedicure, Miranda invited me to hang out with her and the "monkey" (her 15 month old little boy) while her hubby went to work. First of all, her little monkey man is so cute!!! I could just eat him up! And, if I'm being honest, I think he has a bit of a crush. ;-) He totally showed off for me. Haha! Anyway. I wasn't planning on staying there too long. Just a couple hours, you know. Get out of the house for a while, hang out with people, that sort of thing. And what time did I pull in my garage? 12:45 a.m. I couldn't tell you the last time I stayed out that late! Really, I couldn't! Her hubby got home around 8ish and we talked, and talked, and talked. =) The three of us were all in band at one point: them in high school and college and me, just high school. So, we shared in our band nerdness that makes all of us a family instantly. If you were ever in band, I'm sure you understand. We shared other stories, of course, and it was just so great. =)

It's nice to meet other people who are so much like you. Joe and I aren't partiers - we rarely have more than  1-3 drinks with dinner - and because of that, we don't really get invited to hang out with many people around here. We're more of what you would call "homebodies." We read, we watch movies, talk, laugh, play stupid games, go out to dinner every once in a while and that's all we really need. We're "good, clean fun" kind of people. =) It's nice to find other people like that. I just wish Joe were here to meet them!! I know he'd love them too.

Today was another awesome day. Our church service was nothing short of powerful. The message was on our "benefits" as believers. You know, when you get a "real job" you get benefits: medical, dental, vision, 401k, etc. Well, when you have a relationship with Christ, you get benefits too! The guest speaker was - well, is - a very dynamic, funny guy. I love those types of pastors. =) Anyway, he just brought the message to life for me. Oh, it was powerful. Here's the short version of the message, taken from my notes.

Malachi 4:1-6

- God has a plan for my life. You can drift off course if you live this life (referring to the Christian life) long enough, but God doesn't want you to!

The Believer's Benefits:

1. You will have healing in all aspects of your life.
- Isaiah 53:3-5 says that He was broken so the we could be healed. God can heal your wounds.         Even those that happened so long ago. He can see and heal them all!

2. Freedom from bondage, internally and externally.
- He wants us to break free from the things that keep us running around in circles: alcohol, drugs, pornography, food, etc. He doesn't want us "just trying to get through the day."
- He won't take away the memories, but he will take away the negative energy that's inside of us and replace it with joy.

3. Joy irrespective of external circumstances.
- Joy and happiness are NOT synonyms!!
- Things can make you happy, but only God can give you joy.
- Nehemiah 8:10 {paraphrased} says that, the joy of the Lord is your strength. Not my joy. Not your joy. His joy, that He gives to us! So that even when things are terrible {i.e. divorce, cancer, loss of a family member or friend}, we have joy.
- I Thessalonians 5:16 {paraphrased} "Always be joyful."
- The devil comes to steal, kill and destroy everything that is good and from God. We need to appropriate our benefits and stay on course so that the devil can't hurt us.

4. Restoration for core relationships.
- Jesus didn't come to establish religion, He came to establish and rebuild relationships.
- Satan is constantly trying to destroy our Godly relationships: friendships with Christians, small groups, churches, and marriages. God wants to restore and rebuild them so that they glorify Him!
- God wants nothing less than His best for us.

Again, these are my notes from the sermon today. Once the podcast is up, I'll share the link so that if you're interested you can listen. The worship that took place after this sermon was unbelievable - life changing. I could feel God moving and working in my heart and in the hearts of others around me. So. Unbelievably. Amazing.

Don't you just love it when that happens?!

After church, I enjoyed a lunch with Mrs. C, her hubby and friends of theirs who also go to church with us now. =) Nothing like good food and good fellowship after an awesome church service!!

All in all, I've had a pretty good weekend. It's even better because I was feeling pretty down and out on Friday night. Why, I'm not sure (probably just the PMS blues) but I'm so glad that led to this awesome weekend! And now, preseason football is on!!!! I am one happy, no, joyful girl!!! =D

Hope your weekend was as awesome [or awesomer ;-)] as mine!!!

Kickin' It!

Today, I'm pretty pumped about how I'm doing. =)

I realized when I got up this morning that I'm ok. I'm not a basket case anymore, thank the Lord! I still miss Joe and that probably won't stop until I see him again. But, I'm ok.

I'm getting used to him not being here, not walking in the door after work or being in my bed at night. I can stay up late reading or chatting online and not worry about keeping him awake. I can eat whatever the heck I want for dinner. I have complete control of the remote. =) I can make dates with friends and not have to make sure he doesn't want to do anything or make sure that we don't have plans already.

I do miss him, and hanging out with friends doesn't compare to having him here. But, I'm making do with what I've got. That's all we can do, right? I'm sure it does help that he's able to email me a few times a day, especially when he can't call. At least if my inbox is filling up I know he's ok. I'd much rather hear his voice, but emails ease my mind.

I do have one issue, though. Another wife (whose hubby is in Joe's company) is bad about assuming things happened and then proceeding to tell other wives, myself included. {Not to mention she clearly violated OPSEC by posting on Facebook that her husband was going on a mission! Aaaaaaah!} So anyway. Tuesday, she freaks out [again on facebook] that her husband hung up on her. Well, I commented and told her that they were probably just having issues with the phones. She says that that couldn't be it because she heard him hang up. I'm not one to argue about petty stuff like that, so I left it alone. Yesterday, she posted that he called her and explained that they shut the phones down. Like I said. Then, she IMs me telling me that they only shut the phones down when something bad happens. Seriously? Seriously?! I'm sorry, but you just don't go around saying things like that! First of all, I don't believe her because Joe has told me that the phones/internet just aren't reliable there. Second, he had emailed me all day yesterday and the day before. So, I'm pretty sure that nothing bad happened. Joe would have said something. Then, she proceeds to tell me what her husband works with and blah, blah, blah. I'm telling you, I know her husband's MOS better than she does. But, since this sister doesn't feel like violating OPSEC, I'm not going to get any further into that one.

I'm just floored that she would tell me something like that. You just don't say things like that out of the blue to a fellow milspouse when your husbands are deployed. How about waiting for the chain of command to verify that? Or how about just not saying anything about it - keeping it to yourself? Sometimes, I really believe that she's one of those women who likes to be considered "in the know." She's a military brat, and she throws that in everyone's face every time she gets the chance. Her father was/is not in the Army, so it's like he can make a difference around here unless he was posted here. I don't give a crap if your dad is an officer. It doesn't give you a free pass to act however you want and say what you want. The woman is going to end her husband's career with some of the crap she says! I would never, ever speak to Joe's NCOs or COs the way she does. The woman apparently has no idea how her mouth can affect her husband's career.

*sigh* And God must really be laughing at me right now because I invited this woman to go to church with me on Sunday. Y'all better start praying now!

Anyway, I had a great time with Mrs. C again yesterday! We did nothing but hang out, watch TV and chat but it was great anyway. =) I've been in the "I don't wanna go anywhere or see anyone" funk, so it was nice for a change. Then, last night I stayed up entirely too late chatting on Skype with Miranda over at Hangin' Loose with the Tucci's! I think I found a new island friend!!! =D Actually, I'm pretty certain I have. Both of us have a...um...passion for football! It's rare to find another woman that is just as excited about football as I am. I usually have to resort to talking to men about it. ;-) Lol! Though, I love it when I talk to guys about football for the first time, and they look at me in awe. =) Love it! Anyway, we've already planned to have football parties this "fall." I say "fall" because it's not like we're going to get fall-like weather here in Hawaii. So, I just have to say a big, huge thanks to Jennifer at Crazy Shenanigans for "introducing" us!! Jennifer sent me her blog address when she was heading out to Hawaii. Eager to make friends, I sent her an email immediately. But, we haven't really had a non-Facebook conversation until last night. It was fabulous! =)

So, yet again, God provides. I'm super excited about having more friends here. I'm even more excited that I'm kickin' this deployment's butt!! =D

Now, if I could only find the "want to" to clean my kitchen and do laundry... Any suggestions?

Sunday Funday with Friends

Thanks to our new friends Mrs. C and her hubby, we got out again this weekend!!! Wooohoo!!

First, we went here:

{source}

I know, like I didn't get enough of the place when I worked there! I think I'm totally biased now, though. I go places and I think "Hmm, at Chili's they have this...this would have been way better at Chili's...or Chili's makes the same thing and it's way better." Told you, I'm biased. It's kinda sad. And weird, considering how much I hated working there for the last few months. I do have to say though, that I cannot get enough of Chili's fries...along with some Ranch. =) I know, it's sad. That was my favorite snack when I worked there too. Sometimes, you just can't get too much of a good thing!

After Chili's, we had some time to kill before seeing this awesome movie:

{source}

So, we had about 30 minutes to kill before the movie. Unfortunately for us girls, the boys found an arcade. *sigh* This is what went down.

 Yes, this is my hubby about to 'play' some DDR.

Yup, that's my man! =)

The other boys playing their "shoot 'em up" game.  I love how Joe (Mrs. C's hubby on the right) is all crouched as if he was on a range or something. Ah, military boys. =)

After the boys got to play, we went to our movie..which was great! If you liked the first one, you'll definitely like the second one. It wasn't all action all the time, but it was still pretty darn good. And I mean, come on, it's Robert Downey, Jr. I *heart* him and his crazy sense of humor. Anyway...

We had dinner and then we decided to come to the hotel and hang out so Mrs. C and her hubby wouldn't have to drive all over creation. =) The boys decided they wanted to watch a Freddy Crougar movie and, uh, we didn't. This can be problematic in a hotel room with ONE TV. This is what happened. 

The boys got the bed and TV. Notice that Joe (not mine, the other one) is under the covers with my Joe's Army jacket on. Apparently, he was cold. Lol!

So, we moved the chairs and the laptop out to the little alcove near our room. Why? Scary movie on the big tv + girls who don't want to be scared + no earphones = move outside. *sigh*

We had a good time anyway. =) It was really fun...despite the chilly, misty evening.

All in all, we had a great day with friends!!!

Hope you've had a great Monday!

North Shore and a Bloggie Meet Up

Well, we had one heck of a weekend! It was great! Except for the fact that I got fried in the Hawaiian sun. Someone should have warned me. One hour (ish) in the sun and I looked something akin to a lobster. *sigh*

On Friday, we took a trip to North Shore via The Bus. No, I'm not kidding, that's the actual name of the bus system here. Very creative... First of all, the public transportation experience was - for lack of a better word - interesting. We had no clue where we were going or how to get there. Our only source of information was one of Joe's friends. He was mostly helpful, but I don't think he really understood the fact that neither of us has done the public transportation thing before. We ended up figuring out which buses to take thanks to the bus driver that comes on base. He was nice and very helpful. Then we had to switch buses. In the middle of the ghetto. I'm in a new place, trying out a new way to get places, and we have to switch buses in the freaking ghetto. Awesome. I should have taken a picture, but I was afraid of getting killed or something. Then, we didn't know where to get off because there's beach everywhere. Luckily, there was a very nice lady behind us who noticed we were completely lost. She told us the best places to go, thank God.

So, we finally made it to a North Shore beach near Hale`iwa. We saw like 10 sea turtles and it was a.maz.ing!!!!

I sent a picture similar to this one to our family with the message, "Hey, guess what?! We live here!!! Well, close enough..." That wasn't mean at all was it? Lol!

This guy was chillin' on the beach when we got there. It was soooo cool! I'd never seen one before, so I was thrilled. =) There were about 3 or 4 more in the water near him, and then several down from him. It was so awesome to see them swimming, coming up for a bit of air, and just relaxin' on the beach. =)

Friday night, I had my first bloggie meet up!!!! Mrs. C and I met through my blog a couple months ago. She found my blog and noticed we were moving to Hawaii; and guess what?! She and her Army hubby were already in Hawaii! They helped us with our huge paperwork issues and were very sweet. After a week holed up in this hotel, I texted her on Friday afternoon to see what they were up to. Because we have no car, they came and picked us up for dinner. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures on Friday but we ended up spending the whole weekend together so I had more opportunities. =)

We had lunch at Margaritaville in Honolulu. Yum!

{I hate that I look like a dork in this picture because it's the only one of us. Oh well.}

This is the Joes. (Both of them are named Joe)

Mrs. C kept telling her Joe to "smile nice," lol!!

Sometimes, it's a little hard to tell who outranks who...hahaha! =)

 These appetizer nachos were a.maz.ing! 

I wanna go back and get more!!

This was my margarita. I was seriously upset that it was so small. $7 for that? Grrrr.

All 4 of us! =) We had a fantabulous weekend!

And last but not least, I have to show you pictures that seriously prove my weight loss journey.

Me at my biggest in June 2009 on our beach trip for our anniversary.

A little less than a year later....the new [and seriously improved] me!!

I'm not exactly where I want to be, but I'm definitely happy with the results thus far!

Happy Monday! 

{I'm off to do laundry...yay.}