RIP Honda/Welcome to the family Altima!

It has been a stressful and emotional week! Not only has work made me want to crawl under a rock, I also had a very bad accident where my car was totaled.

Here is a tribute to the recently lost 2002 Honda Civic:

When we first met, I was coming out of a short term gig with a Nissan Sentra. The Sentra had also been totaled and I was pretty down. We had a rocky start as I was so attached to the Sentra. Slowly but surely we got close. I gave you the nickname of "Baby Girl" and we traveled together. You got me through weekend trips to Clarksville, you saw me home and let me cry when I had to leave Joe every weekend. We were together everyday during deployment and took many trips together. You were there for when I moved, when we picked up Joe when he came home from Afghanistan, and helped us move again to Savannah. You have been pivitol to my life in the past 3 years. I do sincerely apologize for hitting that other car. It hurts to know you are sitting in a dusty, rocky, gross auction yard. Im sorry I couldnt save you, blame progressive, they declared you totaled. However the joke is on them, the car has no radio now... as I took the face to the radio and the remote :) We can laugh on the inside to that one together. I have no doubt you will come to a high bidder, your a beauty aside from your frontal damage. You will make another person/family happy one day, hopefully soon! At least the weather is cooling off and you are not stuck in the hot hot sun. Rest In Peace sweet Honda. I will miss you!

Alas, this posed this posed quite the quandry..... what shall I drive? Joe is deployed, family is in Alabama, I felt as though I was inbetween a rock and a hard place. With much frustration from other dealerships, and cars being sold as soon as I saw them online, I wondered would I find a new car, a new autocompanion?

I did! I was able to stumble across a nice little thing called the Nissan Altima. She was newly traded in and after 5, yes 5 hours, she was mine. A lot of negotiating was involved, and though I could not get the price down, I think they felt sorry for the young girl, stressed out from a car accident, whose husband is deployed until next year. I feel certain that some pity was taken. I officially picked her up this evening. We seem quite compatible... though I am still reeling from the loss of the Honda. She will always have that special place in the garage in my heart.

What makes it feel even better is that Joe approves! He was able to speak with the Salesman (Jack from Vaden Nissan- an awesome bunch of guys by the way!) and I also sent him pictures so he was very proud of my car buying abilites. After 4 totaled cars, you would think I would be a pro by now..... Im ok until it gets to the warranty part.... Im such a softie in that department.

I cant take the credit for the buy though. The Lord really helped me through this troubling week. He pulled me through to a positive place, took on my worry, and lead me to the car he knew I needed. He always provides!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dont worry about anything, Pray about everything!

So what is next for this Army Wife?

........ Two Birthday Dinners, Paranormal Activity 4 premier, House of Night release, and a Prettly Little Liars Halloween episode.

Also I have a couple of projects I am going to begin working on:
-Cleaning out the drawers and tackling the atrocity I call a closet....
-Then tackling the second thing I can an atrocity, Joes room and closet

An update on Operation: Joes Care Package.
First package is sent- and as I said last time, is very random. Shoes, gum, sunflower seeds, toothpaste, etc

The next one will be themed I feel sure :) I need some good ideas for this one. Maybe a free time box. They are always playing games online, maybe some games to play in the office and back in the tent with some snacks  :) Sounds good to me!

Stop..... Go.....Smile......Cry

Hello... and welcome back! We are now on Day 18! We are exactly 12 days until were are one month down! Joe hates the countdown, it just isnt the same for him. For me I love it! I always look at what we have accomplished rather than how much time is left.... it goes much faster that way. Here is what tasks I have been able to mark off my to-do list:

First I have managed to clean out my entire dresser and reorganize it! Even my junk drawer! I purchased drawer organizers at Walmart and now my OCD  can rest easy.

Second, I hosted Paranormal Activity Night for the girls at work! It was fun for everyone to get together outside of work. But Paranormal Activity was not the star of the night. Mr Claw became Mr popular with everyone! Everyone wanted to take him home

Third, I started putting together Joes first care package. This one is a bit random: shoes, sunflower seeds, a magazine, toothpaste, toothbrush, crystal light, airborne, and gum. The next one I think will be themed..... any suggestions?

The "children" have been crazy, scratching everything and having WWF matches on their "playmat" AKA the rug everynight......I invested in a water bottle to squirt at them when they are bad.... but they have turned it into a game... lol

Now for the not so happy part of the past 2 weeks:

I did have a car accident. I am still waiting to hear if the car is totaled or if it is repairable. Im crossing my fingers for repairable! Luckily no one was hurt (except for the cars... and an innocent fire hydrant)

This week I plan to start back excercising in the mornings. I found a routine to try on Pinterest. Pinterest has been a huge pick me up this past week. Its been really stressful with work and some extra responsibilities there, not having Joe here, and then the car wreck. Ive been on Pinterest Humor section ALOT to cheer me up. I also realized I needed to start working out more so I have also been scouring the Health and Fitness section. I am planning to go to the gym as a visitor with my friend Molly and possibly joing the Y. They have a class Im really curious about. Its called TRX and you use resistance bands to use your own body to get tone. Since the remainder of this deployment is to get "baby ready" I should start getting in shape because he will be home before I know it!

Here are some things coming up for me:

-Clean out the closet
-Walking Dead and Vampire Diaries Premiers!
-Working out every morning
-Birthday Dinner for a friend at work
-Send Joes Box
-Plan another night with the girls
-Re organize the bookshelves with the new picture frames
-The new House of Night Book!
-Start Christmas planning
-Start decorating the living room and dining room

I plan to have this all completed by November 1..... so....Ready....Set..... Go!

The first 3 days

I am back! And a lot has changed since my last post....
Joe has returned from Afghanistan, I moved to Tennessee to be with him, we then PCS'd to Savannah, GA where we have been since August 2011. It is alot different living together than being long distance! Needless to say...................
..............It's that time again..... Deployment. Luckily this one is only 9 months unlike the year long deployment we experienced last time. However this deployment will be very different, for both of us. For one, I am without close family and close friends, because they are all in Alabama. Second, we are now living together so it is very lonely without him here. (at least I have my furbabies to keep me company and to entertain me) So how is it going so far....?

Well on day one I outright refused to take off his "I served in Afghanistan" shirt. I also refused to get off the couch for 95% of the day. With that said, I did end up showering and I ate dinner (and by dinner I mean I ordered pizza so I could stay on the couch as much as possible) The day wasnt too bad. Besides he would normally be at work during the day.... the night is where it got me. It got to the "children" as well. They roamed the house crying, looking for daddy, and standing by the door waiting on that tall, handsome guy to come through the door in his uniform.....(and quite frankly so was I).  But the reality soon caught up with me and I just carried on with what I would normally be doing.... (pinterest.. haha) Day one ending with me laying cross ways in bed because I hated rolling over and not being elbowed in the face by him. Sleeping that night sucked....

Day two brought me face to face with something I didnt feel like I was ready to do... go to work. Even though it was only for half of a day.... I hated that I had to be there. Luckily it was just the distraction I needed. I also got to talk to Joe (AIM) and this always eases my anxiety of deployment. Day two definitely went a lot better than the day before. I only cried twice (Score!) It was a Friday so while everyone was preparing for date nights, girls nights, or family nights, I was in my PJ's by 3:30 and on my couch until I went to bed, where I continued to distract myself from reality.

Day three brought about so much progress. The shock is finally subsiding, and I am now able to check all of those facebook messages of all the wonderful people checking on me, which just one day before left me a soppy crying mess. I was able to get up and clean the entire apartment (and by clean I mean scrub with elbow grease and pull out the Mr Clean Eraser bar) I set myself a schedule of being done cleaning by 11 am and just missed it by 20 minutes. I also went to the store, had lunch in public (no longer a soppy mess :)), and went to a birthday party. Today I feel like I'm closer to being my normal self... but what is normal anyways...?

So last time, the main thing that got me through a year long deployment was my timeline. I made a list of different projects I wanted to accomplish through the year and also each month I had one thing I looked forward too. Once I reached that event I was one month closer to Joe. Since that was so succesful, I am doing this again.

Month 1 will be from now to October 31st

My Projects are:
*Decorate the apartment for fall, not just halloween, but for fall.
*Finish my recipe cards and recipe card box
*Finish my book - Chasing the Night by Iris Johansen.
*Clean out my drawers in the bedside tables and dresser
*Go through my clothes and make a Goodwill pile

My event(s) are:
*The new House of Night book will be out on October 17th
*Vampire Diaries and the remainder of my fall shows will be back on :)

I have a ton of decorating to do and a ton of mini projects to do so I should have plenty to keep myself busy. Again I want to thank all my family, friends, and co workers who have checked in on me, called, left messages, and given me space when i needed it.

In conclusion for my first post of this deployment, here is a list of things I find that helps get me through it...

1- Shower: you have no idea how better you feel after that first shower after he leaves.
2- Take out: trust me when I say cooking will be the last thing you want to do..... take out is a lifesaver.
3- Instant messenger (or any other communication media): your heart leaps and does somersaults when you get your first email, message, or skype message. Its like you are back connected again
4- Extended cable/On Demand/Netflix: you will be a couch potato for 2-5 days. Having that escape is amazing. Especially if it has absolutely nothing to do with a love story, military, or anything that seems sentimental. I chose Teen Mom and NBC comedies.
5- Children/furbabies: of course mine are furbabies, but just having them around will keep your spirits up, and give you a reason to actually get up (clean the litter box, feed them, pick up all the things they have ripped up, pulled out, and tried to play with)

Well that is the deployment so far.... lets see how week one goes and how much I actually accomplish.