Operation clean house = FAIL!

Once again I have done nothing, I repeat NOTHING to my apartment. You would think I would get myself on track here. I guess I shouldn't say nothing, I finally found a spot for my stay and go crock pot. It was just sitting on my kitchen floor, so I guess the kitchen is completely done. :)

Also, today I put my new bed sheets on my bed. I bought 1200 count Egyptian cotton sheets. They feel like silk, it's amazing. I can't wait to sleep in them. Right now I've been sleeping in the second bedroom since Dennis isn't here. It doesn't feel right sleeping in our bed without him. Also it kind of makes me sad. I know I sound like a wimp here, but honestly I'm not alone very often. I live with my parents when Dennis is deployed so this is kind of new to me. I'm handling it as good as I can, but I have no idea how most of the wives do it. I would go insane with boredom!

I decided to continue cooking. I LOVE to cook so much, it's what keeps me happy. I was living off sandwiches and grew tired of them quickly. Today I made myself a 5 star meal. Spaghetti Squash, with a veggie sauce. I used prepared sauce but added garlic, chopped onions, mushrooms, bell peppers, and turkey bacon. It was fantastic if I don't say so myself. Completely healthy too because there is no carbs in the dish. :)

I have been reading a lot since Dennis has been deployed. Last night I finished The Time Travelers Wife and now I am reading For Women Only. The first book was kind of strange but good. I'm amazed that I kept with the book. It's kind of difficult to read because it jumps back and forth a lot, because of all the time traveling. I would still recommend it, the movie comes out on video Feb. 5Th so I'm excited to see it and compare. The second book is really good too. It's supposed to teach me what men are thinking. I believe that Dennis thinks I'm a great wife, but it wouldn't hurt to listen in on what guys want in a wife. It's interesting so far, I'll let you know what I really think when I'm finished.

Oh most importantly.....I got my hair cut today. I'm pretty excited about the cut. I haven't taken any photos of it because I want to surprise Dennis with it. I'll start posting pictures on here when he returns. Hopefully I can get a homecoming photo of us. The cut is super cute though, it frames my face and now I have bangs. I took off some of the length, but it's still below my shoulders. Dennis really likes my hair long, and honestly I do look better with it long. I cut it short once and almost cried every day till it grew back. hahaha

Well all I need to go stare at the mess I haven't touched yet. Take care!

Very tired....

Honestly I have done nothing all day long. I have noticed being alone has made me very lazy! I go to bed a a decent hour, wake up around 10:00 am for Den's phone call. I pretty much read, and I'm trying not to watch to much TV. That's the worst part, the TV really distracts me from all the work I need to be doing. I still have the second bedroom to tackle, my bedroom, and Becca dropped off a bunch of kitchen stuff I had her saving for me. Yikes, I have to get this done!!! I am sitting around the house, thinking I have months to do this stuff. Tomorrow's my day. I have decided to get up early and clean, clean, clean. :)

Also tomorrow I am planning to get my haircut. It's way to long and really hard to take care of. I might also get bangs. I like bangs because it lightens my hair, and I really need that here because it gets so hot in the summer. Also I need to get my hair thinned for the same reason. My only concern is that I usually hate my hair after I get it cut, so I hope it looks perfect considering Den's coming home so soon.

This afternoon Becca came over for a short visit. We had leftover chili from yesterday, and hot dogs to go with. I was explaining to her what all went on a Chicago hot dog. I think she prefers regular dogs, honestly I agree. The only part of a Chicago dog that I like is the seeded bun. Thanking about Chicago dogs reminds me of Portillo's, oh how I miss that place. They have the best french fries with cheese sauce. Also there chocolate cake shake...mmmm It has a piece of cake in the vanilla shake, how good does that sound! ;)

While Becca was here I gave her some of my old summer dresses. She did a fashion show for me in them and they looked stunning on her. I'm happy someone can get some good use out of them. She also came up with some creative ideas to make straps for them.

Well I better get some good sleep tonight if I want to tackle these rooms....

Feeling like a grown up....

Today my Dad and Step mom left for Illinois. Due to weather they had to cut their visit short. Apparently there is a huge southern winter storm going on throughout highway 40. So they decided to leave earlier than planned to avoid it. Even though I was sad to see them go, I agreed because I would feel terrible if something happened to them. So today was a very long day without them.

I realized today that I am officially a grown up. I know that I am married and everything, but honestly I've spent most of my married life at my parents homes. Today is the day where reality sets in. Dennis will be home very soon and after that there is no going back home. It's kind of hard realizing that because I was getting used to everyone. It was nice to see my niece and nephew. To be able to take a trip to Chicago on the weekends, go to church with my Mom and Byron on Sundays, and any other thing I can think of. It's going to be hard not being able to see all of them whenever I wanted to. Don't get me wrong though, I am super excited for my husband to come home, and ready to start our wonderful life together. :)

With that being said, Dennis should be home in less than a week. I'm not going to give a specific date for safety reasons but I am so excited that it is going by quickly. I hate saying this, but the deployment really did go faster than last year. I think knowing that this was the last one really helped. Also I knew what to expect. Getting home a month earlier helped too. I am thankful for the deployments making our relationship stronger, but I would never want to go through this experience again. I am completely ready to be a wife, and of course one day a mother. We've waited so long for this military life to be over and I am glad we've finally made it.

I am proud of myself for surviving the first day in my apartment alone! Well not completely alone, I had my friend Becca come over and hang out. It was a huge help, we talked all day long and I made lunch and dinner for her. I loved getting to do that because cooking is a passion of mine. I was happy that I got to test out my recipes on her before Dennis comes home. It's so great being out here with friends. My first time in Jacksonville was sad for me because I wasn't as outgoing as I am now. I barely had friends and I was sad all the time. That is the main reason why I went home during the deployments. Now I am loving living here, and it's going to be hard to leave with all the friendships and connections we've made here. I love my little town and I've spent most my married time here. We've traveled so much here and have so many memories. It will be really hard to move.

Well everyone I should probably get to sleep......

My boy is coming home soon!

I am starting to get really excited! Dennis will be home in about a week. I can't wait to see him again. I am very excited because, this is a whole month earlier than last year. So no matter what at least I can say he came home early. :) I really can't complain to much, I know it sucks that he had to go on another deployment. I have to say, that the deployments really make our relationship that much stronger. Dennis left for Iraq August 2008-March 2009 then August 2009 - February 2010. We only had 5 months together before he left for Iraq again, so 13 months we had to spend communicating through emails and the telephone. The thing that makes me the most happy about this whole military experience is, that I now know how to communicate to my husband. I know that it's hard for couples to open up to their husbands sometimes. Dennis and I had to learn fast to communicate, it's what makes our marriage survive. I say that we've been married for 3 years, but our relationship is at a level of a Ten year relationship (honeymoon stage included) ;)

I guess this whole post is to brag about how proud I am that we are surviving through a rough time on any relationship. I know how hard it is to be away from your loved one, it would be tough on anyone. i just have to look towards the future and realize this isn't the rest of my life. We will be together soon, and continue being together for a very long time. I have to say that I am very happy to have found the perfect match. :)

I'll be home for Christmas.....(in February)

We are almost done unpacking!!!! The only boxes I have left are the boxes full of clothes. That will be the easiest ones to unpack. Once I unpack those I will just have to organize everything. Most of the stuff is done, I really need to just work on the second bedroom. I kind of just threw things in there that I didn't know what to do with.

My dad hung all my pictures in the living room. It looks amazing! Earlier last year I had an art show in Illinois. I decided that I wanted to hang up all the photos in the living room, so it looked like it was in a gallery. I also have a huge painting that my brother (Derek) made, it's green and makes up the whole theme of my living room. I have moss curtains, moss candles, and even a moss colored blanket for the couch. I will put up pictures after my husband comes home because I want to surprise him. Also Derek gave me three matching painting that are smaller. So our living room looks very artsy.

I also decided to decorate the house for Dennis. I feel bad for him because he has missed Thanksgiving and Christmas the last 2 years. So I decorated the living room for Christmas, and the kitchen for Thanksgiving. :) I think it makes him happy to come home and get to celebrate. I can't imagine how everyone in the military is feeling being away from their families on Christmas. At least now he can celebrate with me. In the middle of February Den's parents are coming out and we'll have a Thanksgiving meal then. :)

I really need my sleep, busy day tomorrow finishing the place.

We're getting somewhere....

Hello All,

Dad and Peg made it! I am so happy to have them here. It has been a HUGE help. They arrived around 4:00 yesterday, and we've been non-stop busy ever since. Last night my dad did most of the work. He unloaded his truck with all the things from Illinois. Then we went to Credo's Pizza for dinner. I thought the pizza was pretty good, but I really miss Chicago pizza. Nothing compares to Chicago pizza. Afterwards we decided it would be best to hold off unpacking and just watch the football game. I'm not a huge sports fan but anything to make my dad happy, since he's doing me such a huge favor. ;)

First thing on the list this morning was getting the coffee maker up and running. Luckily the first box I opened had the mugs in it. :) Off to a great start. Dennis called around 10 AM and it was wonderful to hear his voice. We had a little phone date, and it was a good break for me from unpacking. After our phone call my parents had terrible news to tell me. I guess one of the boxes had something poking out of the bottom that scraped against my linoleum floor. This was a brand new floor and very noticeable. After almost crying, I realized that I should just call the moving company. Thankfully I did because the owner himself came and looked at the floor and is planning on replacing it. Thank goodness, it's not like I have the extra cash.

We made a lot of progress today. We only have at least 5 boxes left, but a ton of tubs. The boxes are what I am most worried about. I want them out of my apartment, I wouldn't want to attract bugs or something. The tubs are from Illinois so there aren't to many of those. Once all the boxes are done I will venture onto the tubs. It's so nice to see my stuff again, I had missed it so much. I still haven't gotten to sleep on my bed because I am letting Dad and Peg use it. I am sleeping in the spare bedroom. My favorite thing about today was that I got to cook! I miss cooking so much. I made spaghetti and garlic bread. I made the sauce with mushroom, onion, garlic, bell peppers, and hamburger meat, then I used whole wheat spaghetti. We all gobbled it up very fast. I never thought moving in can take up so much energy. I'm hungry all day long!

I guess I should stop slacking around. I need to help my family unpack. Hopefully you'll here from me tomorrow. :)

I finally started a blog!

Hello!

So after many people asked me to do a blog I finally decided to start one. I don't know who will be reading this but I have to warn you that I was never good in English so I apologize now for the grammar. I have been known to write a entire paper with only one Period. Pretty amazing right?

I am writing a blog because as many of you know my husband is in the military and we are away from our family and friends. I think having a blog will be great because you can find out information on us. I know facebook is a helpful tool too but at least I can write more on here. Plus this year is going to be very exciting. My husband comes home from Iraq early February, he then gets out of the Marine Corps in September, from there we will move to wherever he gets a job, and so on. I am looking forward to a wonderful future with my husband. As most people know we've spent quite a bit of our relationship apart so being together will be amazing.

Just some background information. My husband left for Iraq in August. This is his second deployment. He was gone last year as well. During both deployments I moved back home to Illinois to help save money, and of course spend much needed time with family. I am so happy that I was able to do this, it's been a joy getting to see my family. The best part about moving home was building up relationships. I got to spend more time with my in laws, and their extended family. I was able to build a strong relationship with my nephew Joseph (3) and niece Madeleine (1) this was crucial since we aren't able to see them as much when we lived outside of Illinois. I am so thankful also that Joseph and Madeleine have a strong relationship with Dennis. They both talk to him on the phone and really brighten up his day while in Iraq.

On Monday I started my journey back to North Carolina where my husband is stationed at. It was a two day drive. The drive was perfect, the weather held out for me the whole way. I am now sitting in my wonderful apartment patiently waiting for the day my husband gets home. I still have boxes all around me and a lot of work to do. Thankfully my dad (Wayne) and step-mom (Peggy) are on there way as I type. They actually should get here in about an hour. They come help me move every time. This is my fourth move since I've been married. Did I mention I've only been married for 3 years, that's a lot of moves! I lived in California for the first year, and the other three moves were North Carolina. Dad and Peg love to come out though, it's like a vacation for them. I really enjoy the help too. :)

Well I should probably try and get something accomplished before they come home. I hope to continue writing on here and keep you guys updated with my life. :)