Thanks to the hurricane taking over the east coast, I got a phone call from the Husband!! It started out as a panic attack, 100% sure that something serious had happened and I needed to get up to Dahlonega immediately. There is seriously no reason they should be calling, and if the automated voice on the collect call had been an actual real person I would have yelled at them to connect me QUICKER and that it was completely unnecessary to ask me to confirm TWICE. The first words out of my mouth were, "James? James! What's wrong?" Probably not the sweet, warm voice he had been expecting to hear. Whoops. Luckily he quickly informed me nothing was wrong.... I still didn't believe him and asked again just to make sure everything was okay :) It was. He just wanted to check in on the family because of the hurricane. Such nice Ranger Instructors he has.
So that is how I lost at least 5 years of my life.
8.30.2011
8.23.2011
Baby Brother Moves to College
It has been 5 years since I moved into my freshman dorm room. And I would seriously never trade for that day again. I was so stressed and anxious about being in college, and I seriously thought that when I came home I would missing a sibling....fighting was one of their favorite things to do....But I loved all of the shopping! The new bed spread, sheets, pillows, laundry basket, towels, clothes, books, shoe hanger, closet organizers, shower caddy's etc etc. Luke on the other hand didn't care about any of it. Mom actually did all of his dorm shopping without him and in one day. ONE DAY. I vividly remember 2 trips to Bed, Bath and Beyond and 2 other ones to Target. What? Must be a boy thing. But oh did we have a blast organizing his room, which is TINY by the way. Seriously, I"m pretty sure my living room is bigger than his dorm.
I had the honor of driving 7 hours to Boone, NC. Have I mentioned how much I hate driving? I hate it. But Luke only moves into college for the first time once, and seriously, what else do I do with my time. So I took the trip. I even got to book end seeing Luke with spending the night with Jessica on the way up to Boone and then with Uncle David and Aunt Debbie on the way back down- so it definitely made the long drive bearable and worth it.
Being in Boone was wonderful. The weather was GORGEOUS. I got there around 11:00- just in time to miss all of the hauling up the stairs/elevator. Got lots of weird stares...I was wearing a Carolina t-shirt...whoops. Then, all the women started un-packing and the boys went to out to do something....basically got out of our way. We re-arranged the room twice and finally ended up liking the arrangement. And of course we organized his desk, closet, made his bed, and set up the TV area. Mary Kathryn and I worked on putting together their desk chairs. The boys brought their own, but they didn't fit underneath the desks (because they were so small and awkward) so we bought another chair and just assembled it without the arm chairs. Genius!
It took most of the day, but we finally got the room set up like this:
At this point everyone was standing around complimenting the room when his roommate Josh commented that the room would probably look better if there were less people in it. We took the hint and left.
Momma and Mary Kathryn and I headed back to the hotel, had Chick-fil-A for dinner and went to watch The Help at the tiny movie theater. (Movie was UNBELIEVABLE by the way). It was a very relaxing night.
The next morning we went to pick up the sweet boy for breakfast. When he walked up to the car he had his back pack on and informed up that we would also be going with him to get his school books and supplies. So precious. We all took turns offering up probably way too much advice about studying and how to organize his books and notes etc. But he listening patiently, so hopefully something sunk in. It was a bittersweet goodbye. He is all grown up now. An actual adult that has to make decisions for himself. When did that happen? And then of course, I was dreading the drive back home and upset that I was not once again starting classes for the fall.
He is going to so many great things at Appalachian. I can't wait to hear about the rest of his adventures.
I had the honor of driving 7 hours to Boone, NC. Have I mentioned how much I hate driving? I hate it. But Luke only moves into college for the first time once, and seriously, what else do I do with my time. So I took the trip. I even got to book end seeing Luke with spending the night with Jessica on the way up to Boone and then with Uncle David and Aunt Debbie on the way back down- so it definitely made the long drive bearable and worth it.
Being in Boone was wonderful. The weather was GORGEOUS. I got there around 11:00- just in time to miss all of the hauling up the stairs/elevator. Got lots of weird stares...I was wearing a Carolina t-shirt...whoops. Then, all the women started un-packing and the boys went to out to do something....basically got out of our way. We re-arranged the room twice and finally ended up liking the arrangement. And of course we organized his desk, closet, made his bed, and set up the TV area. Mary Kathryn and I worked on putting together their desk chairs. The boys brought their own, but they didn't fit underneath the desks (because they were so small and awkward) so we bought another chair and just assembled it without the arm chairs. Genius!
Momma and Mary Kathryn and I headed back to the hotel, had Chick-fil-A for dinner and went to watch The Help at the tiny movie theater. (Movie was UNBELIEVABLE by the way). It was a very relaxing night.
The next morning we went to pick up the sweet boy for breakfast. When he walked up to the car he had his back pack on and informed up that we would also be going with him to get his school books and supplies. So precious. We all took turns offering up probably way too much advice about studying and how to organize his books and notes etc. But he listening patiently, so hopefully something sunk in. It was a bittersweet goodbye. He is all grown up now. An actual adult that has to make decisions for himself. When did that happen? And then of course, I was dreading the drive back home and upset that I was not once again starting classes for the fall.
He is going to so many great things at Appalachian. I can't wait to hear about the rest of his adventures.
Stop putting things on the stove.
I have had way too many close calls in the kitchen in the past two weeks. It all started with the mini kitchen fire. I was cooking some food for James' 8hr pass and put one of our kitchen towels on one of the hot burners. Who knows why I thought that would be a good idea, but the worst part is how long it too for me to figure out what was burning! The flames finally clued me in. Thank God that the faucet was running and the sink was empty (because that NEVER happens), so I quickly threw the towel in the sink. I can now put my whole fist through the hole that I burned. Whoops.
Then a couple of days later I put one of Fawn's grocery store bags- the reusable ones- on the stove. It was logical because I had just unloaded all of the vegetables onto the counter, so I just slide the bag over to the stove. Well later that day, I was making some oven dried tomatoes when once again I smelled the burning. So I go into the kitchen, look at the tomatoes- which looked fine, and realized that smoke was coming from the bag. No fire yet, but now there is a hole in Fawn's awesome reusable grocery bag.
To add to my mishaps in the kitchen... the oven dried tomatoes looked GREAT at one point. They smelled so good! But when I took them out of the oven the were still REALLY mushy- so they weren't quite done yet. So I left them in over night with the oven set at 100. (You are actually suppose to cook them over night, I was just trying to speed the process along) This is what I saw when I woke up:
I"m attempting to make these one more time. Then I'm done.
Then a couple of days later I put one of Fawn's grocery store bags- the reusable ones- on the stove. It was logical because I had just unloaded all of the vegetables onto the counter, so I just slide the bag over to the stove. Well later that day, I was making some oven dried tomatoes when once again I smelled the burning. So I go into the kitchen, look at the tomatoes- which looked fine, and realized that smoke was coming from the bag. No fire yet, but now there is a hole in Fawn's awesome reusable grocery bag.
To add to my mishaps in the kitchen... the oven dried tomatoes looked GREAT at one point. They smelled so good! But when I took them out of the oven the were still REALLY mushy- so they weren't quite done yet. So I left them in over night with the oven set at 100. (You are actually suppose to cook them over night, I was just trying to speed the process along) This is what I saw when I woke up:
8.15.2011
The Week of Anticipation.
So I stopped checking the mail box every day around Day13. It was turning me into a psycho person. I have seriously never checked the mail that many times. The problem was that there were several days that I could not remember if I had checked it or not, so I checked it twice. Absurd. So I just stopped checking everyday. Tuesday, day 16, I checked the mail and got 2 letters from James! I was so excited I literally couldn't contain myself.
Seriously, the two best words I had read in 2.5 weeks. The first letter he wrote after RAP week. He said he was exhausted and hungry. That he did not get any of his push-ups counted off, ran his 5 miler in 35min, and finished the Land Navigation with 1.5hrs left. Awesome. The second letter said that most of the time he felt like he was learning a lot, but at the same time it he wasn't because of the lack of sleep and food. Needless to say, I kept the letters with me and read them all time. He even asked me to go make sure I had a pair of boots for him at home and to fix one of the pairs of boots he had at home. There was a twist. He wanted a certain pair of shoes, and then he wanted the plastic toe and heel cups taken out and a different sole placed on. Demanding :) The trick was that the shoes usually took a couple of days to get fixed, so I definitely needed to buy them and drop them off by the end of that day...it was Tuesday...So I got the letter at 3:00 and was out the door at 3:30 to find the shoes. I went to Commando's-no go, Ranger Joe's- no go, Extreme Outfitters- no go, and Combat Foot Wear- no go. This was ridiculous. Luckily, I still had the one pair that I could get fixed for him, but couldn't find another pair.
After a crazy Tuesday, my anticipation grew. Would he pass? Would I find out before I went to pick him up at the gate? Is this 8 hour pass going to be wonderful? Awful? What if we didn't get everything done? What if he slept the whole time?
Thursday. I went to volunteer at the Ronald McDonald House, found out that Fawn and Meredith both found out that their hubby's passed and my stomach is now constantly in knots. It was weird- while I was so excited for Fawn and Meredith I was so jealous. I feel like I am always the last one to know, to hear from him, etc...and this just added to it. And then of course came the thoughts that if they found out and I haven't then it must be bad news. Luckily, Fawn- being the amazing friend that she is- told me this, "We don't work on luck, we work on the Lord Almighty!" She was so encouraging. I started calling the staff duty officer, and ultimately ended up talking to 5 different people to only get half of an answer. I was still unsettled, but gave up talking to people on the phone. Apparently, my patient level drops when I talk to Army people.
Then...I decided to wash the car. Wanted it to look nice. And got water on my phone. Winner Winner Chicken Dinner. Not good. I immediately put my phone in a bag of rice and had it off. Only to find out later than night- circa 10pm- that my Boy had been trying to call me all day. The house phone rang at 10:26. I had just crawled in bed. My stomach dropped. I knew it would be from him. And the caller ID said...PAY PHONE!!!! SO glad he took a calling card and SO glad that his parents had saved our home number and could give it to him. His calling card of course only had a minute left on because he had been trying to call me all day and he let all of his buddies use. Typical. This time around, I am sending him 2 calling cards. One for me and one for his friends. Lesson's learned. And he told me he PASSED. Praise the Lord!
8 hr pass coming up.
After a crazy Tuesday, my anticipation grew. Would he pass? Would I find out before I went to pick him up at the gate? Is this 8 hour pass going to be wonderful? Awful? What if we didn't get everything done? What if he slept the whole time?
Thursday. I went to volunteer at the Ronald McDonald House, found out that Fawn and Meredith both found out that their hubby's passed and my stomach is now constantly in knots. It was weird- while I was so excited for Fawn and Meredith I was so jealous. I feel like I am always the last one to know, to hear from him, etc...and this just added to it. And then of course came the thoughts that if they found out and I haven't then it must be bad news. Luckily, Fawn- being the amazing friend that she is- told me this, "We don't work on luck, we work on the Lord Almighty!" She was so encouraging. I started calling the staff duty officer, and ultimately ended up talking to 5 different people to only get half of an answer. I was still unsettled, but gave up talking to people on the phone. Apparently, my patient level drops when I talk to Army people.
Then...I decided to wash the car. Wanted it to look nice. And got water on my phone. Winner Winner Chicken Dinner. Not good. I immediately put my phone in a bag of rice and had it off. Only to find out later than night- circa 10pm- that my Boy had been trying to call me all day. The house phone rang at 10:26. I had just crawled in bed. My stomach dropped. I knew it would be from him. And the caller ID said...PAY PHONE!!!! SO glad he took a calling card and SO glad that his parents had saved our home number and could give it to him. His calling card of course only had a minute left on because he had been trying to call me all day and he let all of his buddies use. Typical. This time around, I am sending him 2 calling cards. One for me and one for his friends. Lesson's learned. And he told me he PASSED. Praise the Lord!
8 hr pass coming up.
8.14.2011
Manna Monday's
Last week was week 3. And I was so consumed with preparing for the possibility of James coming home I forgot to tell about the awesome fried okra I made. Every Monday Fawn, Meredith and I eat dinner at Fawn's house- it has been happening since week 2 of IBOLC and Fawn's mother-in-law has started to call it Manna Monday's at Fawn's. Manna- like Meredith and Anna. Hahaha- creative. So last week- I made fried okra. Fawn got a ton of okra from her CSA and was not sure how to cook it and neither one of them has eaten it before...Welcome to the South. I love fried okra. So I went out to buy a huge thing of vegetable oil
Every time I deep fry, I never have enough oil, so I decided to go ahead and buy the massive bottle so next time this won't happen.
And then I forgot to take a picture of the finished product. Clearly still not sure to doing this whole blogging thing. But its okay- because the handful of people looking at this know what fried okra looks like. So I'm not concerned.
8.08.2011
His Sweet Face.
I got to see it! That is right, I got see his sweet face! Meredith's neighbor is a Ranger Instructor, and his wife told us that we could go watch the boys jump and that she always went to watch her husband jump. So Meredith, Fawn, and I took full advantage of the situation and decided to go. Let's just say that I was REALLY nervous- like thought I was going to throw up all morning type of nervous. Mainly because I didn't know if he got my letter telling him I would be there, or if it would distract him if I was there, or if he would get in trouble- I could just imagine the worst situations... But we still went, and I got to see him jump AND his face!!! Here is a video of the boys jumping. I don't know which one he is, but it is SO cool!! Alright...well having some issues uploading the video. I'll try again later. But here are some pictures of the day!!
Looking to see if we could see their faces...but we couldn't...
We moved outside to get a better look.
He is coming!!!
He WAVED!! (He was in the second window...my head is blocking the view. )
I have been in cloud 9 ever since :)
Looking to see if we could see their faces...but we couldn't...
We moved outside to get a better look.
He is coming!!!
I have been in cloud 9 ever since :)
8.05.2011
Mom and Mary Kathryn Came!!
I came home late Sunday evening and eagerly awaited for Mom and Mary Kathryn to come into town. They had a little rendezvous at the outlets in Gaffney so they were running a bit behind, but I got a really cute skirt, so it was totally fine by me :)
We spent Monday walking around post, going to the commissary and doing a little shopping. The last time Mom was here we were so busy unpacking and setting up the house that we did not go onto post- so she got to see where James worked and all the pretty houses. And then we picked out some fabric to re-cover my table chairs in. Mom didn't trust me to do it alone, so she thought it would be a good project for us to do while she was here. We ate a wonderful homemade pizza. It was definitely good, but the crust was SUPER thick and the homemade sauce had a touch too much tomato paste...James is much, much better at making the crust that I am...and it became VERY evident. We topped off dinner with ice cream from Chill. Ice cream is wonderful since it has been so hot.
Tuesday we spent the morning recovering one chair. One. It took us a bit longer than we thought, but we figured it out and then we finished it that evening. Our day was filled with peach picking. It was a huge "family" affair. Laura and her two kids, Mandy with her two kids, Tiffany with her one kid, and Meredith joined us. It was about an hour away and it was definitely in the middle of no where. We had to drive out through the orchard, because the front part had already been picked over. It was a ton of fun, but it was so hot- we were literally drenched in sweat. But we got a ton of peaches!! And then got some homemade peach ice cream from the farm. Mary Kathryn threw us for a bit of a loop when she broke her retainer when she was trying to bite into a peach and then she almost passed out when we were waiting for our ice cream. BUT I got to play nurse, so I was totally fine with it. I went to go get her some water and by the time I came back she was as white as a ghost and Meredith was looking over her saying "Oh my..." She was fine once we got her some water, food, and A/C.
It was a wonderful couple of days- we definitely laughed A LOT. So visit success.
Here are some pictures from the visit:
We spent Monday walking around post, going to the commissary and doing a little shopping. The last time Mom was here we were so busy unpacking and setting up the house that we did not go onto post- so she got to see where James worked and all the pretty houses. And then we picked out some fabric to re-cover my table chairs in. Mom didn't trust me to do it alone, so she thought it would be a good project for us to do while she was here. We ate a wonderful homemade pizza. It was definitely good, but the crust was SUPER thick and the homemade sauce had a touch too much tomato paste...James is much, much better at making the crust that I am...and it became VERY evident. We topped off dinner with ice cream from Chill. Ice cream is wonderful since it has been so hot.
Tuesday we spent the morning recovering one chair. One. It took us a bit longer than we thought, but we figured it out and then we finished it that evening. Our day was filled with peach picking. It was a huge "family" affair. Laura and her two kids, Mandy with her two kids, Tiffany with her one kid, and Meredith joined us. It was about an hour away and it was definitely in the middle of no where. We had to drive out through the orchard, because the front part had already been picked over. It was a ton of fun, but it was so hot- we were literally drenched in sweat. But we got a ton of peaches!! And then got some homemade peach ice cream from the farm. Mary Kathryn threw us for a bit of a loop when she broke her retainer when she was trying to bite into a peach and then she almost passed out when we were waiting for our ice cream. BUT I got to play nurse, so I was totally fine with it. I went to go get her some water and by the time I came back she was as white as a ghost and Meredith was looking over her saying "Oh my..." She was fine once we got her some water, food, and A/C.
It was a wonderful couple of days- we definitely laughed A LOT. So visit success.
Here are some pictures from the visit:
Crazy weekend.
Last weekend was really crazy, but it was good to be crazy. I need crazy sometimes because it helps keep me sane and the weekends are always the worst. So this weekend was packed. I had 2 baby showers last weekend. The first one was for my friend Laura. Her husband was in the same IBLOC class with James and she has 2 PRECIOUS children. So we decided to throw a surprise diaper shower for her, which went on without a hitch! She got tons of diapers so hopefully she will be set for a while. I am really excited because she even asked me and Meredith to come and stay with her kids, Aven and Brayden if she went into labor before her parents arrived. So I am praying for her to go into labor early :) Her kids are awesome and I would LOVE to stay with them and also to try and help make her transition smoother.
After Laura's baby shower, I drove to Birmingham to go to Rebecca's baby shower. We worked together on the 9th floor at OU Children's hospital and we became fast friends. She told me this past weekend that she knew we would be friends when I told her I was obsessed with Wicked and that my favorite part was the "Popular" song and then I sang it for her....who am I? I sing to random people. I don't even remember that. It was great get to go down a day early and hang out with her and catch up on life. We went to do a little shopping and find her some cute jewelry to wear for the shower and then ate at an AWESOME Mexican restaurant. Her and Peter were so wonderful to be around- they lifted my spirits and made the weekend away from James so much more enjoyable. I doubt that they will ever realize how much they helped me. Becca's parents were wonderful as well- they opened up their home to me, despite the fact that they were preparing for a huge shower the next day. And I even got to join in on a great family breakfast. Being around family can be so refreshing- and apparently I like to be around any family :) The shower was beautiful. Little Grace Ann now has everything she will ever need. The best part was watch Becca open a beautiful dress given to her from her dad- everyone was crying, it was ridiculous. And can I just say that Grace Ann will seriously have the cutest room EVER. Peter apparently really liked the owls- for wisdom, which works for him because he is really, really smart, so she has the precious owl and bird bedding from Pottery Barn with the cutest accessories. I am definitely a fan! Not that it really matters if I like it, but I do.
Another part of my weekend was getting to spend Sunday morning and lunch with Will, Cynthia, Elise and Albert. Like I said before, being in the presence of family is wonderful, so getting to spend time with the Jordan clan was a huge blessing. I went to church with them and really enjoyed the music and the sermon and then had some incredible food. I definitely eat better when I am with people! I am so thankful that I was able to get to see them and that it was so easy to crash their Sunday routine.
I am so thankful for wonderful family and friends!
After Laura's baby shower, I drove to Birmingham to go to Rebecca's baby shower. We worked together on the 9th floor at OU Children's hospital and we became fast friends. She told me this past weekend that she knew we would be friends when I told her I was obsessed with Wicked and that my favorite part was the "Popular" song and then I sang it for her....who am I? I sing to random people. I don't even remember that. It was great get to go down a day early and hang out with her and catch up on life. We went to do a little shopping and find her some cute jewelry to wear for the shower and then ate at an AWESOME Mexican restaurant. Her and Peter were so wonderful to be around- they lifted my spirits and made the weekend away from James so much more enjoyable. I doubt that they will ever realize how much they helped me. Becca's parents were wonderful as well- they opened up their home to me, despite the fact that they were preparing for a huge shower the next day. And I even got to join in on a great family breakfast. Being around family can be so refreshing- and apparently I like to be around any family :) The shower was beautiful. Little Grace Ann now has everything she will ever need. The best part was watch Becca open a beautiful dress given to her from her dad- everyone was crying, it was ridiculous. And can I just say that Grace Ann will seriously have the cutest room EVER. Peter apparently really liked the owls- for wisdom, which works for him because he is really, really smart, so she has the precious owl and bird bedding from Pottery Barn with the cutest accessories. I am definitely a fan! Not that it really matters if I like it, but I do.
Another part of my weekend was getting to spend Sunday morning and lunch with Will, Cynthia, Elise and Albert. Like I said before, being in the presence of family is wonderful, so getting to spend time with the Jordan clan was a huge blessing. I went to church with them and really enjoyed the music and the sermon and then had some incredible food. I definitely eat better when I am with people! I am so thankful that I was able to get to see them and that it was so easy to crash their Sunday routine.
I am so thankful for wonderful family and friends!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)