Moving Right Along

Another week has come and gone, time seems to be sailing right along. Which frankly is fine by me because I've got lots to look forward to in the coming weeks. Not to mention we are over half way through this cycle. It seems to be going by faster than the last one, which is always nice. (since I said that, the rest of it will prob. go slow lol) Work hasn't been to bad I suppose, I finally have a 2nd staff in the afternoons. Sadly though it doesn't help much because she can't be left by herself with the children so I'm still kinda stuck. This week I've had 4 kids out sick and that doesn't include the ones I have still coming that are sick. Seems as if everyone has the runny noes and cough going around. Maybe its due to the weather change here lately. Speaking of its been in the mid 80's ALL week and I'm loving it so much. If I could bottle this weather up and keep it around all the time we'd be doing great. Sadly I'm not holding my breath because I'm sure it wont last long. I have a feeling its going to be a awfully cold winter here in the South. I think I'm going to start stocking up on winter close now that way when the time comes I'm fully prepared. Speaking of clothes I did a bit of shoe shopping last Sunday. I replaced my broken long gone flip flops. They finally opened the Dick's Sporting Goods store here and they had a large selection to chose from. They aren't as comfy as my old ones yet but I'm sure that's just because I have to break them in some first. 

From here we went to Academy because the hubbs wanted to look at guns, HELLO nothing new there. I took this opportunity to get another new pair of shoes. (they didn't have any I liked at Dicks) Last week at zumba I wore my running shoes and I could tell a big difference from the week before when I wore my regular work out shoes. Sadly those have seen better days, I'm holding on to them though for a Mud Run I'm doing in a few weeks. Any how I found these babies below and they just so happen to be on sale. I wanted something funky and bright but of course something with good support. There were others that I liked but I couldn't bring myself to pay almost $150+ for zumba shoes. I'd rather put it towards running shoes. 

~DAY 331~

Monday after work I talked the hubbs in to going to test drive a car that we stopped and looked at the day before. (it didn't take much convincing him) Knowing good and well we weren't going to get it, it was kinda just for sh*ts and giggles. I really liked the way it drove, it reminded me a lot of the Mazda RX8 I had before the Challey. Although it would have been a major down grade because it lacked a lot of features that my Challey does have, it was a really clean, fun car. Small but fun. I would have been one of a thousand to own one, but it still wasn't enough for me to part with my baby. 
In case you were wondering it's a Toyota Scion FRS, its a car that Subaru and Toyota went in together and built. 

~DAY 332~

Its been a busy past week & a half for the hubbs, he's going through EIB training. This is the 2nd time for him and we I have been stressing about it. I hope to goodness he makes it. He seems to be completely confident about it but still doesn't mean I wont worry. He didn't pass in Hawaii when he took the test because his grader on his run messed up his time. It was a very bitter sweet day. I would hate to see him come this far again and not make it. The past 2 or 3 days have been day and night land nav. training. He HATES land nav. He doesn't have a problem doing it just not something he totally enjoys. They have to find 2 of the 3 markers in a certain amount of time, in both day and night. He didn't get home this evening till 11pm and was completely exhausted. This is a typical day he comes home strips his uniform and it all goes on the kitchen counter. Then up to bed we went. Next week is TESTING all week, there are different events each day. The last thing is a 12 mile road march on Friday morning followed by the ceremony. If your the praying type could you please say a extra pray for the hubbs and all the other soldiers that will be testing next week. Not only that they all pass but that no one gets injured, falls out and for their safety. (and that I can find a sub for Friday morning so that I can attend the ceremony.)

~DAY 333~

Skip ahead from Tuesday to Friday. Nothing overly exciting happened Wednesday or Thursday, the hubbs had night land nav training again Wed. night and Thursday night I babysat after work.  Friday we found our selves back at the dealership this time test driving a Toyota Taco. Its not a bad little truck I suppose but my first love for a truck will always be the 2010 Dodge 4*4 fully loaded Ram that we had in Hawaii. I opened the back of the Subaru to get something out of it when we were at the dealer and found this (below right picture). I asked the hubbs what the heck he was doing with it in his car and thats when he informed me it was fake and called a rubber ducky. I replied with no really why do you have it, still thinking it was real. Long conversation later, he's been using it during land nav. training. Now its in the back of my car, by that's going to be fun to explain if I get randomly selected at the gate for inspection. 

~DAY 336~

Its been a pretty good week for the most part, there's been a lot going on and I've been pretty busy. Hints the reason I'm a teeny tinny bit behind on my blogging but that's alright because its my blog and I can do that, right?! We've got a pretty chill weekend ahead of us, I'm not babysitting at all which I'm excited about and the hubbs only has to go in Saturday morning for compatives training with the privates. I'm going out there to take pictures for our families so keep a eye out for those. Some time tomorrow. (hopefully) 

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend, I'm looking forward to enjoying the wonderful weather we are suppose to have!!!!

My Semi Week Review

This week has been a bit crazy, overwhelming and exhausting. I no longer have a 2nd staff in the afternoons at work. The teacher I was working with is now on bed rest until after she has her baby. She's due October 5th and was hoping to work up until her due date but her doctor had other plans. Although I completely understand because she has to do what is best for her and the baby. Still it makes me sad because I enjoyed working with her. Monday and Tuesday were just so stressful that be time I got home made dinner and cleaned up I'd passed out on the couch a couple hours later. I neglected to take any pictures either day. But really it didn't matter because my day was filled with work and not much more.

Wednesday the hubby didn't get home till super late. I was just going to take the pups on a short run which ended up being twice as long as I'd planned. A extra bonus was the pups got to play with a fellow four legged friend and Bailey did great!!! I ran up to a friends house, who's husband works with mine. While we chatted it up outside for about a hour all three pups played well together out front. I was so relieved to see how well Bailey did, even more so because the other dog was a puppy. The hubbs thinks its just dogs bigger than her that she doesn't like. Either way we are making some progress. 

~DAY 321~

Thursday was a bit better at work, although the afternoon creeped by slower than ever I managed to make it through with out pulling my hair out. Partly because I had a lovely bottle of yummy wine waiting for me when I got home. I wasted no time at all popping it open either. On top of that one of our parents gave us a sweet little gift, congratulating us on making it through week two.  

While I was at home sipping on my glass of Moscato the hubby was doing Army stuff. His Company had Flag duty today. This is the 2nd maybe 3rd time they've had it since we've been here. He always seems to be the one who fires the canon. Gosh I love my man in Uniform!!!!

~DAY 322~

Friday was just another day, work, home for a quick walk with the pups then off for the night to babysit. It worked out perfect because the hubby had CQ (yes again) and I got to spend my evening with one of my favorite kiddos from my last class. 

Saturday after the hubbs woke up from his beauty sleep / CQ recovery we headed out to do a bit of window shopping / test driving. If you've been following for a while you know that we've gone through our fair share of cars. We aren't in the market to buy right now but that doesn't mean the hubby doesn't like looking. I have to admit the Toyota Tundra's are pretty nice trucks and I think it would fit right in for us. After a little back and forth talking we headed out to dinner. Across town we ended up at our newly found favorite Mexican joint. Its so good, I could almost eat here every night. I absolutely love what I got the first time so I went with that again. Of course we had to try out the Churros since we went with Fried Ice Cream last time. I think between the Chips / Salsa our main mean and dessert we ate our weight in Mexican food. It was so worth every single bite though and I can't wait to go back again. 

~DAY 324~

My Saturday....

.........while the hubby was at work.

 I made plans about a week & a half ago to have lunch at Schlotzsky's today. I absolutely LOVE there sandwiches, they are so yummy, fresh, hot and gooey. If you've never eaten at a Schlotzsky's you gotta try it, I promise you wont be disappointed. Just go with the Original small, because they are really big, grab yourself a bag of chips, a drink of your choice and enjoy. 

Back up a bit, I bet your wondering how & why I made plans a week ago to have lunch here. Whelp I finally scheduled a appointment to get my windows tinted on my car. The place I decided to go with was in Lexington which is about 15-20 minutes away from post. The only good thing about that was it's near Schlotzsky's. There's only a small hand full in the South so we don't get to enjoy it that much. In fact we've had it one other time since we've moved here. So I couldn't pass up the opportunity to indulge while I was over here. 

I'm quite pleased with the way the car turned out I think it looks great. It was suppose to take a hour and I think I was in and out with in like 45 minutes. Totally works for me. I've always had my window tinted, its just taken some time to get these done. I think it makes a world of a difference in the way it looks. I could tell a difference already when I got in the car, those leather seats are killer in the hot summer sun.  

Before 

After

I stopped off at our local farmers market on my way home to pick up a few things. I always enjoy going and getting a few fresh goodies to take home with me. Although I must say I liked the farmers market in Hawaii much better. The ones here have a good selection but I think the people make up a lot of the experience for me. I enjoy talking to them and here they just aren't very personable or friendly but very very pushy. I had some strange guy follow me around the market today and then out to my car as I was leaving. This same person was driving next to me as I was headed into the market. He kept trying to get me to roll my window down which I couldn't & even if I could have I wouldn't of. He turned in to the farmers market just ahead of me, same place I was going. I went straight in hopes to loose him, then I turned back around and went in a little later. Little did I know I would run in to him again. It was really weird, I don't know if he was wanting to look at the car or what but I wasn't giving him a chance. I was by myself and he was really creeping me out. 

Needless to say I don't know that I'll be making a trip back out to the market by myself anytime soon. I told the hubbs about it and he is convinced I need to get a concealed carry. I don't know that its that serious but there have been several times I haven't felt comfortable by myself out and about in our area. 

We ended the evening by going to look at TVs and then on a dinner date to LongHorn Steak House. There's nothing better than a good well done steak, side of potato's and a caesar salad with some strawberry lemonade. We decided over dinner, we aren't going to get a TV to "hold" us over till we get ours back. We are just going to do with out. We will manage, we can think of a million other things to do around the house and out side as well. It's just not worth it to spend the money on one that will later be stuck in a closet some were. Its only a couple weeks it really can't be that bad, and I can watch my shows on line if I want to. It almost makes me want to call and cancel our cable for the month since we aren't using it, but that just sounds like more trouble then its worth. 

~DAY 275~

Lets talk dinner & disaster!!!!

After exploring the city, driving by the White House & spending hours in the National Museum of American History we decided to call it a day in DC.
Heading back to Georgetown for dinner at Serendipity. Well known for their foot long hot dogs & frozen hot chocolate. I of course loved all of the Tiffany Lamps they had displayed around the restaurant. I just think they are so beautiful, one day I will have one or two in my house. The staff was so friendly, the food was fantastic and the atmosphere was great. Definitely some were I'd come and eat at again. The Frozen Hot Chocolate was good but I didn't really get it, It tasted like a milk shake almost, not really sure. Never the less we were all pleased!

When we were driving back through Georgetown to park for dinner the Spouse and I both pretty much at the same time looked to our right and saw there was a Sprinkles Cupcakes right there in town. Are you kidding me, I think we both squealed alittle. Not only had we planned to stop back in at Georgetown Cupcakes but now we had to stop at Sprinkles as well. If you've ever seen Cupcake Wars on the Foodnetwork channel then you know who the owner and founder is, Candace Nelson. She was the founder of the first Cupcake bakery store front in 2005. The cupcakes were fabulous and the staff was so friendly, the only down fall I saw was that once they run out of a flavor for the day they don't remake any more. So if your going you better go early to get the one you want. I tried the Cinnamon Sugar & Key Lime Pie which were both pretty tasty. A must stop in if you ever are in the area of one of their locations for sure.























Making our way back to WV to stay the night in a hotel closer to were our next adventure was going to be on Thursday morning, we ran into a little set back. NO literally we / I ran in to it. Driving down the high way with S & B asleep in the back and her mom as co-pilot for me. Going along minding our own business & the speed limit, all of a sudden K & I spotted a LARGE semi tire in the middle of the high way. As soon as my light saw it I hit it. There weren't any high way lights to light the road or it probably could have been avoided. Everything happened so quickly, I honestly don't remember if there was some one to my left were I could have gotten over but I'm pretty sure there was. It was like a flash of light you see it then its gone, we saw the tire and I hit it all in the blink of a eye. Let me tell you going 65 MPH down the high way and hitting that will surly wake you up. Everything went sliding around even the car, it took me a minute to get control of the wheel and pull off to the side without sliding into the ditch. Thanks goodness B & S have Triple A, they came out and changed our tired and sent us on our way telling us everything was ok and we just needed a new tire. Bummed because we were only a hour our of the city headed back to WV and we had to turn around and get a hotel. No way we could make it the next 4 hrs on a donut. I felt awful because that mint our plans for the next day weren't going to happen. My first though was in the morning we will just take it to a local tire shop, have them change the tire and we will be on our way. After driving the car more that evening to the hotel, clearly we could tell there was more wrong than just needing a new tire.

Skip to Thursday morning~ we took it to a local Subaru deal to have it checked out. I mean that's what the hubbs would have wanted me to do any how. And thank goodness we did. I went in and explained what happen, they took the car back to check it out. We waited and waited and waited some more, a hour and a half went by before they finally came out to give me the news.

 "YOUR CAR IS NOT DRIVABLE"

Que in the water works right now, see one I felt awful about today (Thursday) getting canceled. Two this is the hubbs car (the Outback) and I just knew he was going to go nuts. (even though he understood it was a accident) Three, if its not drivable how are we going to get back to WV, how and I going to get home, how much is this going to cost me. A million things were going through my head and it was just way to much for me to handle. I called the hubbs and had B explain everything that was going on because quite frankly I just couldn't bare to tell him. 

The estimated cost to fix the car was $1600.00 and at least 2-3 days. The dealer & insurance company worked with me so well and took in that I / We were in from out of town and that this needed to get fixed ASAP. We were set up in a rental shortly after a little bit of paper work, transferred over our ungodly amount of bags, the parts had been ordered and overnighted to the dealer. We finally were headed back to WV but in a teeny tiny car that was so not comfy at all. Hey I guess it could have been much worse, there was NO body or frame damage done to the car, it was simply everything that made the tire its self work and turn, oh and a fog light was missing. No one was hurt and its fixable so all in all we were blessed. I still just hated that it all happened and we were now thrown off schedule, not to mention I was going to have to come back here to pick it up in a couple days, which is a 5 hour drive from were we where headed. I guess this is just another story to look back on for the spouse and I "hey remember our first mainland road trip together when you hit that tire in the road."

(that thing was giant, I'm not talking just the rubber / tread of a semi tire, no it was the WHOLE THING)

The joys of PCSing

Oh my heart aches :( 

After driving the hubbs car for ummm about two months now with expired registration, we finally got it renewed today. That only means one thing....no more Hawaii plates. I tried, I did tons of research and googling on ways to keep our Hawaii plates but unless we wanted to pay bookoos of money it just wasn't happening. 

Why you ask has his registration been expired for two months now. Well it was up in January but we kinda put it off through the first part of the month and then well he started school. Not being able to take a single day off to go get it taken care of we just had to wait. I wasn't able to go take care of it myself due to the fact that its in both of our names. Not even a POA would do, SC is crazy retarded when it comes to registering your car here. First you have to pay the taxes on the car to the state which is stupid (you don't have to do that in TX), thankfully since we are military we are exempt from having to pay the $100 + dollars that the locals have to pay. We simply pay a $25.00 fee and that's that. From here we went to the DVM were we waited a ungodly amount of time with some of the strangest people on the planet. I was stressing big time because I've heard horror stories of people having problems after problems registering. Apparently you are suppose to do it with in 45 days of moving to SC or they charge you a additional fee. Thankfully I found out about this little ordeal before hand and had a plan in place to work around hint. (there's a blank you fill in that says when did you start driving the car in SC, we just put a date with in the last month, problem fixed) I was also worried we would get a late fee for the registration being expired and us having to register it late but NOPE, only $30 bucks. So a total of $55, I can handle that any day. 

My registration on the Challenger is up in July (I think) and I plan on doing the same thing. I mean why am I going to pay to register it early when I still have time on my current registration that is just so stupid if you ask me. 

Awh its a bitter sweet day, I'm happy we finally got the registration taken care of. We can finally take the Subaru off post with out having to worry about the security check when coming on. Thank goodness for the hubbs having a 4 day this weekend after graduation. But I'm sad to see the Hawaii plates go, we are the only ones on post with them. From what I've seen of course. Not to mention I'd like to have as little attachment to SC as possible. 

The SC plates just aren't as pretty as the HI ones, not a bit of Aloha or Southern flair in them.  

!!!!!tWo YeArS tWo YeArS!!!!!

~DAY 162~

Fender Bender

DAY 89

Every morning the hubbs will come give me a hug and kiss goodbye before he heads out to PT. He always wishes me a good day and says he can't wait till 5pm. (when we both get off work) Of course now this is at like 4:30-5:00 O'clock in the morning so needless to say I'm still a bit out of it and sleepy. So on my way to work in the morning a few hours later I will text him and tell him how much I love him and that I hope he has a better day then the one before. And of course I as well tell him how I can't wait till quitin time!!!!!! "OH IT'S 5 O'CLOCK SOME WHERE" He will always text back when he gets a free minute and it just makes me smile. But not today I had no reply back from my morning drive, lunch time came and went and still nothing from him even after I texted back again. I know he can be pretty busy during the day but that's just not like him to not reply. Well I went back to work and finished out my day, a little worried in the back of my mind hoping everything was ok. When I got off work I quickly checked my phone and there was two messages from him explaining how someone had HIT HIS CAR!!!!! I immediately FREAK and call him to get details, if you know either of us at all you would understand and know that both our cars are like our kids. I guess that's happens when you both drive a $35+k car.

 So from what I understand he was parked were he normally parks and some guy (who happens to be a Caption) was trying to parallel park behind him. When all of a sudden he slammed in to the lovely bumper of our Subaru scratching it up pretty bad :(. A few minutes after he went in to the office looking for the owner of the "white Subaru w/ Hawaii plates". One of the hubbs buddies he works with new he was talking about his car and went and got him. I can only imagine his reaction when the guy was explaining what happen. They went out side to take a look and the guy had already left a note on our car in case he wasn't able to find the owner. I'm so thankful for honest people like him. He could have easily left and drove off not saying a word but he was honest and kind hearted. The hubbs said he wad really nice and the both called USAA right them to file the claim. The crappy part about the whole situation is that the guy had called USAA earlier this morning to file a claim. He lowered his garage door on his car. I really felt bad for him because it really wasn't a great day for him. I hope that his insurance doesn't go up to much. If we had a crappy car and didn't really car we would probably just blow it off but that's not us. We take great pride in taking care of our vehicles and maintaining them. Thankfully we have a appointment on Friday at 2pm to get the car looked at to see how long its going to take to get fixed. I'm hoping it will be a quick fix and we wont have to deal with a rental car. At least we aren't going to be out any money on this one like we were when I hit someone in my blue Chally :( opps.

You have got to be kidding me!!!