School Starts Next Month!!

Well... I did it. I enrolled for school today! My first class in Jan 11th and I should graduate Sept 24th... yes... just nine months after I start. It is a fast paced program and going to be a lot of hard work but I think, with the help of my wonderful husband, I can do it! I just have to be determined and really focused. I'm not going to lie, I am scared, but I'm ready. I want to have a career that I love doing. I don't want to be one of those people that hates getting up every morning to go to work. So now... while I'm in school... I'm going to try to get a PT job to help pay for the gas to and from Nashville. I just hope I can find a bank job or better yet, a job in a hospital or doctor's office. We shall see. God knows what is best for me, I just have to believe in him and trust him that he will lead me down the right path.

Our First Thanksgiving 2009

This year was our first Thanksgiving in our new house! It was a success!!! Amanda and her two kids came over as well as Ben's dad. I made the turkey, mashed potatoes, and corn. Amanda made fruit salad, the gravy, stuffing, rolls, and a sweet potato thing. It was all very yummy! I was very happy that the turkey turned out. It was the first time I have ever made one... and celebrated a holiday away from family!

While Amanda and I slaved away in the kitchen, Ben and Wally entertained Austin and Lilie with the Wii. They were skiing, hola hooping, bowling, playing baseball, boxing, playing tennis and much much more. They were def worn out by the time that they left.

All in all it was a good Thanksgiving. I think the only thing that could have made it a PERFECT Thanksgiving is Amanda's husband, Rich, being home to celebrate with us. Only a few more weeks and he should be here. We are all still praying for you Rich and can't wait for you to get home to your kiddos and wife!!!!



This morning, Black Friday, Ben and I got up at three thirty and headed to Amanda's house on base. Ben stayed and took a nap on the couch until he had to go to work while Amanda and I went shopping. We got everything we wanted plus more! Amanda's car was def loaded down by the time we were done!

Well... I think that is all I have to talk about. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! :)

Going Back To School

I have made the decision to go back to school. I want to be an x-ray tech and eventually get into ultrasound. The problem I am having, however, is what school I want to go to. There is this school in Nashville, The High Tech Institute, that offers a diploma in X-ray tech along with some training as a medical assistant and the program is a little over a year. The problem with that school is that it is a diploma, not a degree. The difference in those two is with a degree you have to take your history, English, etc whereas a diploma you only take the course that are necessary for the degree, which is what I believe in but if I'm going to go to school then I want at least a degree. Another perk to this school is that I can start in January, which is what I want to do.
West KY Tech College is another college I have been looking at along with Bowling Green Tech College in KY. Both of these schools are an hour drive away (about the same as Nashville) and according to their website take new students for their radiology programs in the Fall. I don't want to wait that long to start school. Plus, since they are in KY and I live in TN the cost for tuition is much much higher. Also, these schools offer degree's but in order to get your associates in Radiology you have to go for five semesters, one of those being a summer semester. IDK... I'm just lost and I don't have much more time to figure it all out.

I had to go to the hospital yesterday to get an ultrasound done on my throat for a possible enlarged thyroid. I was talking to the lady that was doing the ultrasound and she told me that she lives here in Clarksville but drove up to Paducah, KY to go to the West KY Tech College to go to school. She had just graduated in August. She really enjoyed the school. She said that she looked into High Tech in Nashville but didn't choose them (obviously). The way she talked about them she wasn't to pleased with them. She did say, and so does the website, that with these two tech colleges in KY you take courses and then you have to do clinicals. I think those would be fun... but at the same time the one big thing holding me back on these two schools is starting in the fall.

Alright... I'm done blabbering for now. I have asked God for his assistance with helping point me in the right direction of what I need to do. I know he will come through for me... I just have to really listen to what he is telling me. I have also called both schools to get more information on their programs. They should get back to me on Monday so hopefully by the end of next week I can make my decision.

Have a Wonderful Thanksgiving everyone!

Welcome Home

Ben is FINALLY home!!!

His plane landed at 6:20pm last night (Friday, November 20th). What a wonderful feeling. There is no greater feeling in the world than being away from your loved one for so long and then them finally come back home to you. I am grateful for this, this Thanksgiving. I know that being overseas is hard on our soldiers, but at home it's no piece of cake either. I am grateful for all the military wife's, mother's, father's, brother's, sister's, etc. who are at home making things run smoothly, giving their soldier all the support they can while they are fighting for our freedom. Not everyone can be a military wife. I believe it takes a special person to put up with all we have to put up with.

On a happier note... like I said.. BEN IS HOME!!! My wonderful friend, Amanda, went to pick up Ben with me to take pics (even though her hubby doesn't come home for another three weeks). At about 15 min before the plane landed we all went outside. Once the plane touched down the speaker came over the intercom and announced "The Eagles Have Landed!!!" It was too dark, and we were too far away for us to see Ben get off the plane so we waited until the first group got off and was walking up to the hanger, and then we went inside and got our seats for when he came in. The soldiers, dropped off their belongings outside, got into formation, they opened the doors, and in all 278 soldiers returning home marched in. We all went wild!!! The Chaplin talked for about two min and then released them to us. Ben finally found me and I ran up to him! Then made fun of him because I told him we would be on the right hand side at the top and what does he do... looks to the left. lol haha. That's my husband! lol hehe

After 15 min of time with him they had to get into formation again, and then out they walked. They bussed us back to the hanger we parked at and bussed the soldiers back to the hanger where they checked in their weapons. Finally they all walked over to the hanger we were in, got their stuff and we left. We took Amanda back home, saw her kids, and then we headed home to the house Ben had yet to seen.

We get home and as I open the door and turn on the light, Ben picks me up and carries me into our house! What a sweetheart! He was very proud of me. Said that it already felt like home!

Onto another news. I am thinking about going back to school to become an xray tech! I think I will like it and be good at it. It sounds interesting and would be fun to learn. I have talked to a school in Nashville already. They want me to start in Jan. so we shall see. I do want to go back to school to become an xray tech so I will probably start then. The sooner I start.. the sooner I will get to have a career I love.

Well, I believe that is all for now! I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Paint, Paint, and more Paint!!!

This past weekend my best friend Betsy and her boyfriend Allen came down to the house in TN and helped me paint. We painted the office a cream color, the theme in there is going to be Americana. The spare room is painted grey, the theme in there is black and white, That room is really going to be my favorite. Our bedroom is an eggshell white on all the walls except for the wall that the bed goes on. That wall is a creamy green color. Once I get my dark brown curtains in there I really think that the room will come together nicely. The main bath is called "Sea tickle" blue. It is going to be ocean themed. I can't wait for it all to come together.

Let me back the train up just a tad bit... On Wednesday night I got off work and drove to TN. Thursday morning I got up, headed to base, and went to school with my friend Amanda's twin 5 year olds. They were having a fall picnic day or something and since Rich, their dad, is overseas right now and it's hard for her to be in both classrooms at once, she asked me if I would go! When I told her that I could get off work, she told the kids and Austin called dibs on me. It was really cute. Ben is still laughing about that. lol

Anyways... Saturday, Bets, Allen and I got up and got ready to head into town to go eat some food, and go to Lowes to get more paint. Besides painting all day the only other thing we did was meet up with my old roommates parents at the storage shed so that they could finally get her stuff out of there. Everything went well and I now have no ties to her anymore. I am very grateful for that. We just didn't see eye to eye on things. Which is fine, happens in friendships all the time. Lets just say though that I am not at all saddened by the lose of friendship between us.

There is one thing that is still worrying me. The one thing that I am the most afraid of is the unknown. I like to have things planned out, well for the most part anyways. You can just say I'm a little bit of an organizational freak. lol Anyways, I still haven't managed to find a job down there yet and that has me worried. I do get this strange feeling though that God is doing this to me so that when Ben gets home we can spend time together, since we haven't been able to with him overseas. IDK... I guess all I really want to know is that we are going to be okay. I know we will be okay but the one thing that me and Ben said how we wanted to live was comfortably, we aren't asking to be rich, just comfortably. And ONCE I get a job, and yes I will get one just don't know when. lol, we will be able to live comfortably. I know that none of this may make sense to any of you but that is okay. They say blogging is a good therapy thing, so I'm really just doing this to... say it out loud to myself I guess. lol

Well I'm done ranting for now. Not sure when I'll be able to blog again but I will try to as soon as I can. Have a great Halloween!!!!! Trick or Treat!!!

I spoke too soon

Well... there won't be as many new beginnings as I thought there would be. I found out today that I won't get to transfer into a branch in November. This has upset me greatly, but it is my fault.... don't ask... I don't want to go into detail. Now the job hunt for another job as begun which has got me thinking "what do I want to do with my life?" and the sad part is, "I don't know." Part of me wants to go into the medical field and become a pediatrician but then again something is telling me no. IDK... I'm just really confused and don't know what to do anymore. And I'm not a fan of being confused.
All I do know is that I'm glad that Ben is coming home next month. I need him now more than ever!

New Beginnings

I realized tonight that there are a lot of new beginnings that are happening, or about to happen, in mine and Ben's life. We are getting ready to close on our first house in ten days!! That is super exciting!! We are also going to FINALLY get a chance to have a real marriage. I mean, don't get me wrong, we have a marriage now, but we will finally get to live together and be together like married couples are supposed to. I love being an army wife, that's not what I'm saying, but I do miss my husband. And being a newly wed and them him leaving to go off to war makes it even harder. I see all those other newly married couples out there and get jealous because they have what I want, but I have to keep telling myself that I'm the one that said 'I do' and I can do this. In my opinion, Ben and I have a much better understanding in marriage than most newly weds. (I'm not saying this about all newly weds, I'm just saying compared to others that I have seen). We are both independent people and don't need the other one to lean on. We can do our own thing without the other one if we want and we also really enjoy being together. We also have one thing that most marriages lack nowadays and that is communication! We know now that if we can get through a deployment then we can get through anything!!

Also, for another new beginning, I have started training in the branch at work! I'm excited about this but I'm also a little nervous. Today was a good day and I really did learn alot! There is sooo much more to learn though. I just hope that I end up enjoying working in the branch and that this stuff comes easy to me. After today, I'm feeling good about the whole thing, but it was still just day one. Hopefully by the end of the week I will have a better feel for the whole thing. I must say though, I am going to miss working in the district office. I really enjoyed working there, especially with everyone in the office. But... I'm not afraid of a challenge and I'm going to do my best to learn as much as possible before I move and hopefully get transferred. ☺

This past weekend was a very relaxing weekend!! I went shopping for some new work clothes, which I haven't done in a long time, and found some really good deals!! And of course, I found some new stuff for the house too! hehe!!

However, while I was out, I couldn't pass up this cute little sweater and coat for Rascal!! He got his hair cut Friday and is almost completely shaved bald! lol So since it is getting cold out I decided that he needs a coat to go outside in and a nice sweater to wear when we go places!! lol I know, I'm a total dork! lol Enjoy the pics!

Well... I think I have said enough for one night. lol I hope everyone has a wonderful week!!

Confusion, Stressful, ahhhh

I don't know where to even begin. There is so much that has happened in the past two days that my head is spinning and I can't get it to stop.
To sum up the work thing, we all have jobs still, just not the same as we had before. We either have a new job title or we are doing different things with the same title we had at the beginning of the week. I am very grateful for this and it couldn't have come at a more perfect time because if I wasn't moving to TN then a good friend of mine would have lost her job, and that would have sucked big time since she just bought a new house. So therefore, I'm very grateful that they decided to do this now, instead of earlier this year.
There is one thing about this whole "work thing" though that is bugging me. I found out from another friend of mine that someone that I work with knew about this whole thing yesterday but mad me believe that she didn't know. I'm not sure if I believe this, I'm not really sure what to believe anymore. I don't want to think that I have been lied to but... ahhh I just don't know. All I know is that I am a very honest person, I hate lying, and all I expect is the same from people. I just don't understand why people have to lie, I mean really? Where does that get you? It gets you into more lies and more lies after that is where it gets you.
So on top of all of that, I am confident that I can get the PT job with Citi open in KY, which I really want so that way I will have time to spend with Ben when he comes home and once a full time position comes available then I will shoot for that. Plus this job will at least get me down there. I may have to take a pay cut, which I'm not happy about, but at least it is a job right?

On a more positive note, Ben is finally back in his normal base over there so I have gotten to talk to him the past three days!! I have missed hearing his voice so much!!! He has also let me go ahead and get the new computer desk we are wanting to get before he gets home!! yay!!! All the other new furniture we are going to get when he comes home because he wants to be here for that, which I completely understand. I love him so much and I can not wait for him to finally be home again where he belongs.

Other than all that drama, nothing else is going on. We close on our house in 14 days!!! Can't wait!!! Rascal, however, keeps getting sick. Not sure why, it might be a side affect to the medication he is on so I'm going to call the vet tomorrow and ask them what they think is going on. Hopefully my poor baby is okay.

Well I think I'm done chit chattin for now. I hope everyone has a great weekend!!!

New House!!

So we officially become homeowners next month!!! I can't wait!!! We got a cute little house in Clarksville!! Perfect size for Ben, Rascal, and me! Besides the house, I found out some kind of good news about my job!! If everything goes well... I will get to transfer to a branch down in KY!!! I can't wait!! Well I take that back... I don't want to leave my job up here because I love everyone I work with but I know it is something that I have to do!

Other than that nothing else is going one. Ben is doing well overseas. He should be home in about two months!! We are both excited about that! When he gets home we are also going to get another puppy so that Rascal has someone to play with!

Well... I really don't know what else to say. I don't want to get to much into detail about the house since it's not ours yet.

Hope everyone has a great week!!

R&R

It's been awhile since I last posted a blog. A lot has been going on since then.

As most of you know, Ben came home on Monday August 3rd for his two week R&R. I'm very grateful that work let me take off the entire time he was home so that I could spend time with him. I missed him so much.

While he was home we visited friends and family. The first Friday night that we were home we went to Bones, a bar in town, so that Ben could finally drink. The bar bought him a shot since he was home on leave from Afghanistan. Everyone was buying him drinks! He had a great time. The next day, Saturday the 8th, we took his sister, Kari, down to the lake. We went shopping and we all got something new, had ice cream, went Go Kart riding, and Miniature golfing. We all had a lot of fun. That Sunday, the 9th, Kari left to go back to Alaska and me and Ben got our pictures taken that morning! You can check them out at capturestudios.zenfolio.com. Pam is a great photographer and did a fantastic job!

The 10th we went to our first Cardinal's game together. It was his anniversary present from me. We sat behind home plate in the 7th row behind the green seats! Amazing view!!! And of course what made it even better was that we won 4-0!! Go Cards!!

Tuesday that 11th, we headed down to the lake with Erica and Matt. We were out on the boat almost all day, headed down to the Horny Toad, and Coconuts. Wednesday Erica and Matt left and Ben and I had the condo to ourselves. I made him his favorite meal, spaghetti, and we ate it outside on the screened in porch!! That was probably my favorite part! I can't wait until we have a house and can do that all the time once he comes back. Thursday, his dad came down. We went fishing all morning off my aunts dock and caught lots of fish. Ben and his dad cleaned them and I fried them up and made some mac and cheese and we had them for lunch. Yummy!!

Thursday night we headed home and went to his aunt and uncles house and had some yummy Alaskan fish and what made the night even better was, we watched Big Brother!!! Jason, Shana and the kids came over and Ben got to meet his 2nd cousin Cole for the first time!! He is such a cutie!! (Cole, but Ben is too).

Friday we went back down to the lake with Betsy and Allen. But before we did that, we went and got our passports so that we can go on our honeymoon in Feb!! Yay!! So Friday afternoon we headed down to Betsy's mom's friend's cabin for the night!! We went on a boat ride and then next day spent most of our time on the Jet Ski!! I had a lot of fun!

Sunday we came back home, and enjoyed another night of just me and Ben. Monday we went over and saw his grandparents one more time before he left. We also bought a Wii that day!!! I love that thing!! It was Ben's early Xmas present!

Tuesday the 18th we went up to St Louis, got our hotel room and then headed to the Casino for our first time. I didn't have that much fun so we didn't stay that long. After that we headed back to the hotel, watched some Big Brother, and ordered our favorite pizza, Domino's.

Wednesday morning, the 19th, we got up early and headed to the airport. I got a security pass and went and sat with him until his plane came. Seeing him get on that plane was the hardest thing that I have done so far. Even harder than when he left the first time. Thank goodness there was another Army Wife there that was sending her husband back to Afghanistan as well.

He has been gone for a week and a half now and I must say that after R&R is harder than before. I didn't think it would be since we don't have that much farther to go but it is. I feel more alone than I ever have before. I am trying to stay positive but sometimes it just doesn't work. I'm glad that Tuesday is September so that we only have 2.5 to 3 months left. Also, I will be going down to TN sometime to go and look at houses!!! I can't wait!! I'm hoping to get the paperwork starting on one by the end of the month!!! Hopefully it will be ours by the first of November and I'll get to move in by the middle of that month!!! I can't wait! I'm so ready to get out of this damn town!

Well that's about all I have for now. I hope everyone had a great weekend and has a great week!