Really excited

I leave for Pennsylvania today to see K. I'll be back on Tuesday!

Happy New Year!

Why do I suspect a man was in charge of this study?

I saw on Good Morning America this morning that a new study has come out saying that doing household chores reduces a woman's risk of breast cancer by up to 30 percent.

What is this, 1952?

Evidently the light exercise of activities like dusting is more beneficial to women than "strenuous activities" like sports, the show said.

I'd like to see this followed up with a study about how buying jewelry for a woman reduces erectile dysfunction, or how sending flowers reduces a man's risk of hair loss.

Only in Dallas ...

Yes, that's definitely in Wal-Mart. And yes, that piano totally plays itself.

An open letter

Dear friends, family members and co-workers:

I really appreciate your attempts to recognize the holiday season. The pies, bourbon balls and orange rum balls back home were really good. Just like the donuts at work yesterday and the chocolates today. It really is nice to walk into the kitchen at the office and see goodies, but why don't we try to spread this out?

See, all these extra goodies I normally wouldn't be consuming in such excess amounts happen to be coming at a time I'm finding myself very busy in the evenings, getting home late and having no time to go to the gym. As a result, all the work I'd done to firm up my tummy is disappearing -- quite quickly. While I appreciate your efforts to prevent my pants from being a little loose on me like they have been in the past few weeks, I was actually enjoying that.

So if you all could refrain from enticing me with such wonderful, chocolatey, creamy, decadent goodies, I'd really appreciate it. And so would my getting-tighter-every-day pants.

Sincerely,
Me

P.S. While we're on this open-letter thing, a request for all retail stores: My bank account hasn't had time to recover from Christmas shopping, but I'm finding your amazing sales hard to resist. I love my new digital camera and Chi straightener, and I'm really looking forward to taking advantage of Victoria's Secret's semi-annual sale, but seriously? This is getting out of hand. For taking away from time I'd spend at the gym, you're just as guilty as all the fattening treats.

The things you'd never say

I got this post idea from s of New Beginnings and New Dreams. After struggling about whether or not I should say one of the things, I decided it would be best to get it out here.

The instructions s wrote on her blog, "the point is to list 10 things you want to say to people, but never will. don't say who the person is, either."

Most of these things will be negative, since if I have a positive thing to say, why would I keep that from the person?

1) I wasn't prepared to see you there that night since you had absolutely no business being there. I think it's really lame that you crashed that banquet. I also think if you had any integrity at all, you wouldn't have accepted the door prize. If you had the smallest fraction of integrity, you'd have given it to one of your co-workers who actually was supposed to be there. I don't think I have room in my life for people with no integrity.

2) You really disappointed me. I thought of any of my friends, you'd be there for me when he was gone. How could you talk to me for only 5 minutes and not even ask how he was doing or when I'd last heard from him, only to end our conversation because you had something else to do? Because of you, though, I've made sure I'm much better about doing what you didn't. But I still expected more from you.

3) You lied to me so much growing up -- probably more than you told the truth. You tricked me, you "tested" me, you walked over me, you used me. You stole my first boyfriend. It's sad it took me moving to college to find out what a real friend is. And you're still back home. With an arrest warrant. (Karma's a bitch!)

4) I don't know who you are, but if I ever meet you, I might hit you. You're not totally to blame, but you helped her hurt my dad. You knew what you were doing, and you had a family too. You put your "needs" over my feelings, my brother's feelings, my dad's feelings, your kids' feelings and your wife's feelings. You disgust me. I'm pretty sure karma got you, too, though.

5) I'm glad you realized it wasn't going to work out, but damn you for hurting him like that. You've made a lot of things easier for me, but you've made several things harder, too. He's happier now. And honestly, I hope you are, too.

6) We're friends, but I can only handle you in small doses.

7) Why do you all treat him like that? He's had a rough life, and none of it was his fault. Don't add to it.

8) I hate the way you let your kids take advantage of him. He works so hard, and he's not rich. And stop wanting all these expensive things!

9) That place is not your playground. Or your personal refrigerator. Stop eating everything. And when he pays for your dinner, eat it!

10) Why do you have to be so bitter? Why do you only come around when you need something? Why don't you ever thank him when he helps you? Why don't you straighten up?


Whew! I'm not even kidding -- that really does feel better! I think I might have just gotten out every piece of anger I have.

I am now convinced everyone should do this.

He's totally hinting

(and I'm totally blogging tons of little blurbs today ...)

K just called me to tell me he just bought his new truck. He's going to pick it up later tonight. He's pretty excited. I congratulated him and told him I couldn't wait to see it.

"Yeah, one priority down, one to go," he said.

"Really? What's the other one?" I asked.

"I'm sorry ... you're breaking up," K abruptly replied -- and very clearly, I might add, since he was still in the same place he'd called me from, and we'd been talking for about 3 minutes with an interrupted signal and a total lack of any static whatsoever.

Technology is awesome!

So far today -- thanks to camera phones -- I have helped ER choose a pair of shoes 20 miles from where I sit at work, and I've helped K choose the color of his new truck all the way in Pennsylvania.

What happened to YOU on Christmas?

I fell off a pogo stick! Who else can say that?!

Christmas at my place

I promised I'd post pictures of my Christmas decor at my apartment. Pretty festive for just starting off, I think. :)

My lovely tree, which is mainly OU ornaments, but a few having to three are ornaments for K (one's the patriotic guy in the middle; another is a guy in the green Class A uniform that my mom sent me this year; the third is from a military ball K and I went to last year.)

The OU Christmas decoration I got from my mom for Christmas last year.

The two angels I got for Christmas from a friend. I wish they didn't match the picture frames beside them so well, but that's okay.

And my other K-inspired decor:

This little guy's supposed to be an ornament, but he's a little big for the tree I have right now.

The Army nutcracker I found at Wal-Mart. I love it!

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!

You probably can't tell by looking at my blog, but I like the way it looks too much to risk messing it up by changing it. You should see my MySpace profile, though. :)

I've gotten very little sleep the last few days getting ready for everything. Three nights ago, I was up until 1 a.m. making my cheesecake for the office. Two nights ago, I was up until 2 baking cookies for Christmas presents for my boss and a co-worker. That night, I also wrapped all my presents and got that done, and I set up iTunes. That was a major reason for staying up late. And putting an additional dent in my dwindling bank account. But hey, I needed some more Christmas music to listen to while I was wrapping and baking.

And last night, I was up until 2 again. I made a cheesecake for my family this time. ER came over and kept me company while I was making it. I felt like I hadn't seen her in forever! We listened to Christmas music and updated each other on things going on. She told me about the Christmas lights at Frisco Square and how cool they are. She couldn't believe I hadn't been, being the huge Christmas fan I am. Since I'm not going to be here this weekend, we hurried and finished the cheesecake, and off we went to see the lights. They were definitely pretty cool. I wish I'd found out about them earlier because I totally would've taken K to see them. They have quite a few events on weekends, too, like watching Christmas movies outside at night on huge screens. That would be so much fun, and right up my alley!

After that, we went back to my place and exchanged gifts and hung out a bit longer. We made plans to hang out next week. I'm excited. When ER left, I started packing for my weekend in Oklahoma. Then, I burned myself a Christmas CD that I'm listening to at work and will most likely torture my brother with in the car on the way to Oklahoma.

I took pictures of my Christmas decorations at my apartment, and I'm hoping to post them tomorrow. Until then, my schedules pretty packed: work; picking up my brother from the airport; stopping off at my apartment to load my car with presents, luggage and cheesecake; and driving to Oklahoma.

It's gonna be another late night!

The closest thing I'll see to snow in Dallas

Make your own snowflake! It's fun, it's free, and you help out The Salvation Army!

The Griswolds have got NOTHING on this house!

This video totally pumps me up for Christmas, and it makes me want to buy a Trans-Siberian Orchestra CD. Badly.

I'm definitely doing this to my house someday. When I have a house. :)

A regular Betty Crocker!

I made my cheesecake today for my office, and I'm so excited! Everyone's been walking by it in the kitchen, and I can hear them say, "What a beautiful cake!" The few people who've tried it already have stopped by and raved about how good it is: "You made that?! It looks store-bought! And it tastes amazing!"

Cheesecake, anyone?

As requested, here's the recipe for Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake. I've made it several times, and I was even told it tasted "professional" by a guy who called himself a "cheesecake connoisseur." And if I make it, so can you.

Trying not to scream (with excitement) right now

My cousin, who's like 16 days younger than me, called me last Friday to tell me she had gotten engaged the night before.

We were pretty close growing up, since her family lived in OKC, only a few hours away. She visited our grandparents quite a bit, and my brother and I would always stay the night with my grandparents when she was in. Well, she and her family moved to Hawaii a few years ago. I visited them for spring break my senior year in college and (of course) had a blast. They're moving back this spring.

I was pretty excited and surprised to hear my cousin's news. I asked her when the wedding was going to be. She said they'd either have it in March in Hawaii or after in Oklahoma, depending on her schedule and her fiance's. He's in the Air Force and in March is getting stationed at Tinker AFB, which -- conveniently enough -- is in OKC.

Today she sent me a message saying they're planning on a day in March. I had told K last Friday about her getting engaged and told him I was probably going to go to the wedding and wanted him to come, too. Well, my cousin officially asked me today to be a bridesmaid. Her parents (my aunt and uncle) will pay for me and the maid of honor to fly out there for the wedding!

I'm going to Hawaii!!!

I won!

http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2732069

Wow ... This is so unexpected. I mean, I didn't even have time to prepare an acceptance speech.

(If I have a blog, MySpace account and a YouTube account, does that mean I win three times over? Does Facebook get me bonus points?)

Shopped out (but still not quite finished)

I worked late Friday night. By the time I got home, it was almost 8:30, which meant by the time I ate and let my food settle for an hour, it would be 9:30, so I skipped the gym. Instead, I vegged out on my couch watching It's a Wonderful Life. It's my favorite Christmas movie, and we watched it every year growing up. I hadn't seen it yet. It's not officially Christmas until I have, so I went and bought it on DVD Thursday night so I'd have it in my own collection.

It's funny the things you don't get when you watch a movie when you're little. This was the first time I'd watched the movie alone, so it was distraction-free viewing. I understood why George and Mary started acting so funny from just standing close together while they were on the phone. I also realized that my dad is George Bailey.

He's lived in our little town pretty much all his life, and there's no one like Potter that he has to protect everyone from, but he's worked hard and doesn't have as much as he'd like to show for it. He doesn't get to go on vacations, and he's told me several times he wishes he could have paid for my college so I didn't have to have student loans or that he could pay for my car so I didn't have to. I tell him I wouldn't have things any other way.

Because I got a job when I was 13, I started paying for a large portion of things I needed -- everything from clothes to makeup to school supplies and even feminine products. I paid for my CDs and magazines. I got a checking account. I learned the value of a dollar. I'm not selfish or spoiled. I appreciate what I have. I'm a bargain shopper. And because I knew it wasn't going to be easy to pay for college, I spent a ton of time my senior year in high school filling out scholarship applications, writing essays and interviewing for awards. Because I did that, most of my college was paid for. I hope my dad realizes how much of a difference he's made for so many people. They don't make guys like him anymore. He's just such a great, nice guy, and he works hard. I'm proud of him.

Saturday, I was going to sleep in or go to the gym, but K called me at about 9. I talked to him for a while before dozing off for another 20 minutes or so. Then, I went to the optometrist and finally got a new prescription for contacts. I've needed to do that for a while. The doctor told me I looked like a younger version of Nicole Kidman. :)

I went shopping and got several people taken care of. I got my hair "trimmed," but the guy needs to go back to elementary school to relearn how little "half an inch or an inch" is. He definitely cut more than that off. Oh, well.

I went to my boss's Christmas party. I was the first person there, which was kind of uncool. That's why I'm always just a little late for things. If you're late, you don't find yourself being the only person at the party while the hosts are still putting out bath mats from the wash.

The party was fun, though, once other people arrived. There was a Christmas movie trivia, though, and the grand prize was an iPod shuffle -- not the teeny little square one from this year, but the one that's about two inches long and half an inch wide. Well, the final round of the trivia was over It's a Wonderful Life, so I totally kicked butt. I got all the answers right, and I won the iPod. Woohoo!

Sunday, we had our office Christmas part at our department head's house. Her husband is a chef, so there was some amazing food there! After I left, I ran a few more errands, and my shopping is almost complete. I do still need to get a couple smaller things, but it's no biggie. I'm almost done, which is great because I don't have time this week to do much shopping, and I'm afraid I don't have the energy either.

Braving those malls is exhausting!

I can't believe I'm admitting this

Every job I'd ever had before I moved to Dallas involved lots of standing or walking around. In fact, the job I had right before I moved to Dallas -- a carhop at Sonic -- was all standing and walking around. Not my job now. No, now I sit in my own office at a desk all day staring at a computer screen. It's really quite fun, except the opposite.

My desire to avoid getting raped because I was dumb enough to try running alone in Dallas at night meant that I was getting pretty much no exercise unless I took the stairs at work. For a while, I tried even taking the stairs to the first floor every time I needed to use the restroom. I was drinking a lot of water and climbing those three flights of stairs down and back up quite a bit. But the bathroom on my floor is much nicer, and women in the first floor bathroom always looked at me funny, like they knew I wasn't a first-floor girl or something.

Well, one day, I was taking the stairs to the first floor when I felt something very unfamiliar. I tried to remember if I'd ever felt it before and had forgotten, or maybe I'd just never paid attention. No, there was something very different: I could feel my butt moving. I'd never even had a butt before -- much less one that fought with gravity when I went down stairs. Horrified at any domino effect this could trigger, I decided to get a gym membership.

I worked out two or three times a week, since I get home kind of late and most weekends I was either going to Louisiana to see K or entertaining him here. The jiggle was still there on the stairs. I decided I'd either never paid attention to notice it before or that it was just some post-college body metamorphosis telling me I was really in the real world.

When K went to Afghanistan, though, I was in Dallas more. I worked out quite a bit more than usual -- sometimes even five times a week (didn't happen too often, though). I even thought it would be fun to work on my gluteal muscles, since K's a butt guy. I figured it'd be a nice surprise when he came back.

I started doing lunges two or three times a week. Not just any lunges -- lunges with 25-pound weights in each hand. Then, I moved to 30.

I did leg exercises. I did the gluteal training on the elliptical. I did the exercise bike from time to time. I could tell a difference, and it was nice to see my hard work paying off.

Well, I just ran downstairs for something today, and as I was climbing back up, I noticed something -- well, the lack of something, I should say. Nothing was jiggling! I found myself smiling wtih pride all the way up the rest of the stairs and all the way down the hall back to my office.

I probably looked like a grinning idiot, but who cares. My ass fought gravity, and it totally won.

Like little reality TV shows

Hello, friends! I miss you! Things have been so crazy since Thanksgiving. I went back to Oklahoma, and once I got back to Dallas was immediately getting ready for K's return from Afghanistan. I was there for several days, and once I got back to Dallas, I had a lot of things to do around here. Then, K was in that weekend (which was last weekend). It's left me very little time to blog and almost no time to read any!

Work has been crazy, too, and most days I take a few brain breaks a day by escaping to read your blogs. I haven't even really had a chance to do that, since everyone's taking off work because it's the holidays. It puts a strain on those of us who are still there.

But I'm catching up, and I've missed you! I've thought about all of you a lot while I've been unable to read about your lives.

When I was little, my mom and I both had penpals from some Victorian magazine -- I don't even remember which. Anyway, it was fun to keep in touch with my penpals and to find out what was going on in their world, as well as to share what was happening in mine. That's what I like so much about blogging. I really do think of you all as friends, and it's fun to read about your lives as they happen. It's kind of like a reality show that never ends.

I'm slowly catching up on reading. Sorry for the barrage of comments on your posts, since I'm reading them all one after the other. A good thing I've noticed, though, is it seems that for everyone I've caught up on so far (alphabetical order, if you must know), life has taken a turn for the better. How exciting!

I couldn't have written it better myself.

The weekend that went too quickly

K came to Dallas this weekend. He was able to leave Louisiana early enough to make it here in time for dinner. I needed it, since my day started off not so well. We went to a great Mexican restaurant and stuffed ourselves and had margaritas. It was relaxing and fun and funny and great.

Saturday, we went shopping all day. I got some Christmas shopping out of the way, and we got to do something that other couples get to do all the time but we don't because we live far apart. I love doing things like shopping or laundry with K. It makes whatever it is I have to do that much better because he's there.

Anyway, K got me this necklace last year for Christmas. He got something where I get it cleaned and inspected every six months, and as long as I keep up with that, if a diamond falls out, they'll replace it for free. The mall we went to had that jewelry store, unlike the mall closest to my apartment, so we got that done while we were there. After the worker took my necklace and told us it would just be a couple minutes, K said, "Gee ... I wonder what we could look at while we're waiting in a jewelry store with nothing to do?" He walked over to the engagement rings, but I looked instead at all the birthstone jewelry in a different section. Of course I wanted to go look at rings with him. But I didn't want him to think that I had decided to get my necklace taken care of that day so we would have to look at rings. I didn't want it to be a "while we're here ..." thing. I didn't want him to feel like that was what we had to do. (I did tell him that later so he wouldn't be confused as to why I seemed uninterested in looking at rings.)

We went to Best Buy, which for K is like going to a toy story is for most kids. It's kind of adorable. We were there for quite a while before heading back to my place for dinner. Then, one of my high school guy friends came over to go with us to a piano bar. ER met us there soon after.

This trip was so much more fun than last time because I wasn't worried about K -- he was there next to me, rather than being in some foreign country surrounded by people who might be trying to kill him. With ER and my friend Justin there, it was just a blast.

We sang at the top of our lungs and laughed at each other, and at one point, I even danced with K -- to "Sweet Home Alabama," our song. :) As the night went on, the pictures got goofier.





Justin doing his hipster impression. ER looks speechless!













Trying on ER's glasses ... K is looking slightly drunk now.











I didn't get the "be goofy" memo. ER totally snuck into this picture!












We're fun kids.










K even got called on stage a couple times since he'd just gotten back from Afghanistan. I had nothing to do with that. (riiiiiiiiight)

















Sunday was spent just lying around doing laundry and watching movies. It was the best weekend I've had in a long time.

To get you in the Christmas spirit

Because it is only 13 days from today.

http://www.angryalien.com/1204/wonderful_lifebuns.asp

Proof we just go together

Thursday night, I was on my way home from ER's for our weekly girlie dinner and Grey's Anatomy time when I called K. He and two guy friends were supposed to be coming to stay the weekend with me. K hadn't been to my place in four months, and the other two guys had never been. I was headed home to clean my apartment from top to bottom and decorate it for Christmas.

The problem was that I've had this desk picked out for several months that I want for my room. I had to use my new printer last week, so I finally broke it out of the box it's been sitting in while patiently waiting for me to buy my desk. Well, I'm getting the desk for Christmas. Actually, I'm getting a gift card for the desk so I can buy it myself without my mom having to mess with buying it and wrapping it and I won't have to mess with hauling it from OK to Dallas when I could just buy it here to begin with.

So I called K and asked him to do me a huge favor. See, the problem is that I am my mother's daughter. Anytime someone would come over to my house who hadn't been there about 50 billion times before, we had to scrub the place from top to bottom, and everthing had to be in order. I realize K's friends would not have any less fun in Dallas because my printer is on my kitchen table because I don't have my desk yet, but I didn't want it there. I explained all this to K and asked him to tell me I'm being ridiculous worrying about it because his friends wouldn't care.

K's response: "I love you."

Rather than telling me I was being stupid or psycho worrying about it, that was what he said. I was thrown off. I asked him what made him say that. He said, "You're absolutely right." He told me the guys wouldn't care that my printer was on my table, but he knows I care about my place looking nice. He's just anal enough, he said, to understand where I was coming from.

The fact that he knows all those things and understands that I know it shouldn't matter but it still does, and all he has to say about it is, "I love you"? I'm pretty sure he's perfect.

T ... G ... I ... F!!!

Today did NOT start out well! I was taking out my trash this morning since K and his two friends were supposed to come here tonight (normally I would have done it tonight, since there's nothing smelly in there) when my phone fell out of my pocket and broke. Really broke -- like can't see the screen and can't hear the person talking when they call. Can't read text messages. EEK!

Work was crazy hectic, and I actually wound up getting so stressed that I cried for a couple seconds (that was it) because someone said something that threw me over.

Anyway, luckily my day ended fine. Work turned out fine, and everything got done, even though half our office -- including my boss -- was gone. We survived. K called me, and it's now just him coming this weekend, which is awesome, since it's the last time we'll see each other until New Year's, probably.

And I just went by Cingular, and a guy working there gave me his card and told me to call the warranty office. I'm getting a new phone!

K should be here any minute, and we're going to go to a Mexican restaurant and have dinner and margaritas. What started off as such a crappy day is turning out to be quite a good one! :)

Why Noodle is now named Sebastian

Do you remember that brand new laptop I just got in October?

That scratch happened while it was in my carrying case. Noodle was attacking the velcro strap. Guess his claws slipped inside the case.

(Damages not pictured: two window screens, $15 Sea World picture frame, countless shirts, pair of flip-flops, tablecloth)

Noodle has now moved in with a very nice guy who will take very good care of him. He prefers the name Sebastian to Noodle. He's going to have Sebastian declawed pretty soon. Take it from me -- probably a good idea.

Things I was too scared to say a week ago

Having a loved one overseas means that person is constantly on your mind. No matter what the case, no matter the topic, they're always there.

The news made me think of K -- I wonder how far from K those people were who got killed. The clock made me think of K -- It's almost lunch time here; he's probably already in bed there. The weather made me think of K -- I wonder what it feels like there. Hanging out with friends made me think of K -- I wish he was here.

There were so many worries, so many questions I had. I didn't dare say them aloud, though, because that's acknowledging they can happen.

What if something happens to him? How will I find out? They'll go to his dad. Does he have my number? Or will he start calling family, and then K's cousin's wife will call me? What if it happens while I'm at work? Oh, God ... I'd have to leave work and spend 45 minutes on mass transportation bawling my eyes out. Where would I go? Maybe someone would drive me to my car from work ...

What if he comes back injured? What if he loses a body part? What if he's permanently disabled? What if he gets disfigured? What if he sees something terrible and is never the same?

I prayed every day that if K came back different -- all the while realizing that it's probably pretty much impossible to go somewhere like Afghanistan, a poor country that's been at war for years, and not be changed -- it would be with a greater appreciation for what he has and what we have simply for living in the United States. I prayed that he and his soldiers would be protected and would do good work there. I prayed they would all come back healthy, safe and only for the better.

What if when he comes home things aren't the same between us? What if what we have is just gone? What would I do?

A friend of mine in college was engaged to a Marine in Iraq. He was supposed to be back in the U.S. in two weeks when there was a knock on the door of her sorority house. Two Marines arrived to tell her that her fiance had been killed hours earlier. He was supposed to be home in two weeks.

My friend Cody was supposed to be home in 30 days when he and another guy were hit by a roadside bomb, and he was burned over 50 percent of his body. That was in September, and he's still recovering in the hospital.

I saw on the news a story about an Air Forcce woman who had simply gone to the mall in Kyrgyzstan and hadn't been seen since. She was supposed to be home in two weeks. K had been to Kyrgyzastan on his way to Afghanistan. He liked it. That was before the woman went missing.

All of those stories kept me from getting excited when I found out K would be home soon. In those three cases, those people's families had started getting excited. Like me, they'd probably started making lists of what to do before the person got home -- what foods to buy or to prepare, special gifts to get ... It's terrible to think you can get that close to seeing the person and they can still be taken from you, just when you're getting close to relief.

Every scenario, every risk and every horror runs through your mind while they're gone, torturing you in a way that's hard to understand unless you've been there. You push it as far back as you can, but it's still there. But life has to go on. You still have to go to work, you still have to sleep and you still have to go about life like those thoughts aren't there. That's why it means so much to talk to someone who's been there.

If you know someone who has a loved one overseas, call them. Even if it's just for a quick hello. I promise -- the distraction will mean the world to them.

The welcome home ceremony (and life since then)

I had never been to a welcome home ceremony before. I had no idea what to expect. CG had told me that when Joe was coming home from Iraq, he was supposed to be home Tuesday. All of a sudden the Sunday before he was to arrive, she happened to stop by his house for some reason. Turned out Joe would be coming home sometime that day instead. Lucky for her, she lived in the same town, so it wasn't a big deal.

It's tough just being a girlfriend. Many times, you're not included in what's going on. There are FRGs (family readiness groups) that keep the families back home up to date on what's going on with the soldiers while they're gone. They also serve as a support group. It's for families. Girlfriends aren't family (yet).

Since K's the commander of his battery, I actually would have been the leader of the FRG. We're not married, though, so I'm not involved. I'm sure it would help if I lived closer than 5 hours away. But so many guys date girls who live out of town. K and I are definitely not a minority case when it comes to military relationships. Having him gone and being in this situation has really taught me a lot, though. When K and I are married down the road, I want to make sure to work hard to keep girlfriends involved. Especially since often -- like in my case -- the girls have no experience with the military. We don't understand a lot of the acronyms; we don't know what to expect or sometimes how to deal with what's going on. And having a simple conversation with another military girlfriend or wife who knows what you're going through or has been there before means the world.

So knowing CG found out about Joe's return in such a random way, I wanted to make sure I had my bases covered in case K couldn't get ahold of me to let me know of any changes. I e-mailed a couple of friends who are married to fellow officers and buddies of K. One of the girls called me the last night I was in Dallas, as did one of K's buddies. I knew K was on schedule to arrive at 1 p.m. the following day.

I got on post with no trouble. There were quite a few people headed to the same place I was. Everyone was with someone else -- families, groups ... I was by myself. (CG wasn't able to come.) Luckily, CG had mentioned signs she'd made when Joe got home from Iraq. That's how I knew to make a sign so K would be able to find me easier. My sign looked pretty good. Once I got there, I had to admit I had the best looking sign of all of them. It was the neatest and the prettiest. :) (Not that I'm bragging.) My sign said, "WELCOME HOME CPT. [K's last name]" so he could find me quickly.

I found the parking lot that was near two places -- one of which the soldiers would arrive. I followed a woman and her two young children who seemed to know where they were going into a gym. There were bleachers set up on one side of it, and they were pretty packed with people. There were signs and banners all over welcoming the different units. There were flags set up on the far end of the gym, and a PowerPoint presentation was showing pictures of many of the soldiers taken when they were home with their families. There was music blaring in the gym -- patriotic music, and all kinds of sad songs talking about how someone's been gone too long: "Far Away," by Nickelback; "Come Home Soon," by SheDaisy; "When I'm Gone, by 3 Doors Down ... A woman walked around handing out small flags to people on the bleachers. Several of the soldiers on post had come by to welcome home those who had been gone. They stood on the ends of the gym. None of them sat on the bleachers.


























I didn't get the memo, but a lot of women were wearing short skirts or super low-cut shirts with push-up bras. I guess it makes sense, since the guys haven't seen much cleavage over the last few months. Still, I thought my decision on my outfit was just fine.

I found an empty spot on the edge of the bleachers and sat down, thinking it would be good because I'd be able to get up faster and run to K when I saw him. The leader of K's FRG, though, wound up seeing me and bringing me back to sit with her and a few other women I'd never met.

I don't know if it was the songs or the excitement or the thought that K was only miles away -- or maybe it was even relief it was almost all over, but I found myself a few times tearing up as I sat on those bleachers staring out the door, waiting for any sign that the soldiers, and K, would be walking in soon. One of the ladies I was sitting by pointed out when a semi drove by. "I see a semi!" she said. "That's their bags. That means they'll be here soon."

Many women were getting teary-eyed or anxious, going outside to smoke -- easing their anxiety, I guess, but I didn't understand why they'd be greeting their husbands with ash tray breath. One of these women leaned in and yelled, "We've got buses!" Everyone in the gym started screaming. People jumped up and ran to the doors to take pictures of the buses arriving.
The soldiers quickly climbed out of the buses and lined up in formation outside. I was standing on the top bleacher, so I had a decent view above the heads of the 20 or so people who were snapping pictures at the door. I kept trying to catch a glimpse of K, but no such luck. The soldiers were all facing the gym. All of a sudden, they simultaneously turned to the right -- obviously an order from someone we couldn't see or hear because everyone was screaming. Well, after this movement, everyone screamed even louder. I'd never been so excited to see someone turn right before! I wasn't screaming, but my eyes were definitely welling up as the guys then started filing into the gym one by one.

The first few guys began coming in, and "The Boys are Back in Town" started blaring from the speakers. The soldiers formed several rows in the gym. A few guys did some sort of welcome home speech and ceremonial thing -- honestly, I don't know or care who it was. What matters is these guys knew what torture it is seeing the person you love there, in the same room as you, but knowing you have to wait a bit longer to hug him or her, so their speeches and ceremony lasted all of about a minute and a half.

K had been one of the last ones to walk into the gym, and I held up my poster the moment he did. As soon as he faced forward, I could see him scan the crowd, and he saw me pretty quickly. I hope I never forget the smile he had on his face when he found me.














As soon as whoever was talking said, "You're released!" everyone went running toward their soldier. Being at the top of the bleachers had its advantages because it allowed K to find me quickly, but it meant I had to wait on all these other people to move out of the way before I could get down. Granted, no one took a long time to clear the bleachers, but since K was one of the last in, he was further back in the gym. It was a maze getting to each other, but we kept an eye on the other the whole time so we wouldn't lose sight of each other.

As soon as I got to him, we gave each other this huge hug. I buried my face in his neck and squeezed my arms around him. It felt so good. It was nice that it was the two of us, because we could stand there and hold each other and I didn't have to let go so CG or someone else could hug him, too. I had him all to myself.

Several guys came up to thank K for his leadership overseas or to welcome him home. The whole time, he kept his hand on the small of my back or held my hand.

We stayed around post for a bit longer. A few of K's buddies had come to see him arrive as well, so we talked to them for a bit. I had missed seeing those guys! We packed up all K's stuff in my car and headed back to his place, where I promptly got to sit at his desk and finish my work for the day from my computer. I decided it would be better to just get it over with than to have to come back to it later. Especially since it had to be done that day -- and within a couple hours.

I noticed that things with K and me weren't quite the same. It was weird -- part of it was like he'd never left. Conversations weren't awkward or anything like that, and we couldn't quit cuddling or hugging -- we just wanted to be near each other. Something was missing, though.

I still loved him and wanted to do whatever I could to make him comfortable and happy. But it was like the connection was gone. I didn't want to say anything to him. I was worried and hoping whatever was wrong would fix itself -- and soon. I remembered the comment Alyssa had left on my blog about how great the reunion is and how it almost makes everything worthwhile.

Who could I talk about this to? I couldn't say anything to my family or to my friends. I couldn't even blog about it. I mean, everyone knows how in love with K I am. I've known since very early on I was going to marry this guy. All of a sudden, I was doubting things because it wasn't the same. I was having this internal battle: How can you feel differently about him? Every time he said "I love you" in e-mails or on the phone, it was the best thing you'd heard or read since the last time he said it or wrote it. He's perfect for you. What's wrong with you?

Luckily, sometime the next day -- not quite 24 hours since he'd been back -- everthing clicked back to normal. Relieved, but wondering if I was the only person who this happened to, I mentioned it to K's buddy's wife. It made sense to her how that could happen. I'm not sure if it was part of some self-preservation thing in my subconscious that didn't just stop when I saw him again. Whatever it was, I'm glad it's gone.

It's funny how people reacted with K being back. CG and Joe called right when we'd gotten to K's apartment. I told them we'd just gotten there, that K was unpacking a few things to get in the shower. They seemed hesitant to ask to talk to him, but I called him in. A few other people called, and one friend stopped by that night, but each one of them only talked for a few minutes before saying something like, "Well, I'll get out of here/off here and let you guys be alone now." Some even insinuated things; one guy even said, "Well, we'll let you guys get to your gratuitous sex now."

We just spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday pretty much to ourselves -- lounging around, watching TV, catching up. Friday, we went shopping and went to eat at Johnny Carinos, which is my favorite restaurant. K's a big fan, too, and he'd been missing good Italian food.

It's great having K back and knowing he's safe and reachable with a simple phone call or a five-hour drive again.

Crazy busy day

Today has been a really fun day. I've gotten to do all the things I really like doing with K -- basic, everyday things that I don't get to do with him often because he lives so far away (and because he's been gone the last few months).

Tonight, several of his friends are coming over to hang out. We're also going to watch the Big XII championship game. YAY! It's a Welcome Home, K/Big XII watch party/Happy birthday K's friend party. I'm looking forward to it. People should start getting here anytime.

For the record, before the game begins, I'd like to say I'm excited about it for several reasons:

1. I wasn't expecting OU to be in the Big XII championship. Thanks to last week's events (texas losing and OU beating Oklahoma State), we're there.
2. I like Nebraska. We played Nebraska at their stadium my freshman year. It was the coldest I've been in my life, but their fans were so nice. Nebraska won (they were ranked No. 1 in the country), but it wasn't a shameful loss. Nebraska fans came by us in the band and kept complimenting us, thanking us for driving all that way and telling us it was a good game and they enjoyed hearing us. The week after the game, our band director received many e-mails from Cornhusker fans telling us how much they enjoyed us. One person even signed his letter, "lifelong Cornhusker fan, new Pride of Oklahoma fan."
3. If we lose, I won't have to be sad for the above reasons. It'll be a good game, I'm sure. And if we have to lose to anyone, I'm glad it might be Nebraska.

Boomer Sooner! (And good luck, L!)

P.S. My story of K's welcome home ceremony is coming soon. Probably tomorrow.

It's coming

I've been thoroughly enjoying spending time with K. He's a tired guy, though! We've gotten to bed pretty early the last few nights. He's adjusting pretty quickly to our time schedule -- much quicker than I'd have expected. Afghanistan is 10.5 hours ahead of lovely Louisiana, and K was actually awake tonight until about 9. Granted, that was after Johnny Carinos -- which meant plenty of good, warm food and wine as well -- so who wouldn't fall asleep after all that?!

It's been a good, relaxing couple of days. Tonight at dinner, K and I even got some wedding talk in. You know how much I like that. :)

I'm halfway through the post about K's arrival. I'll try to post it tomorrow. Happy Friday!

He's home! He's home! He's home!

You'll be happy to know that the most wonderful person in my world is now here on U.S. soil. In fact, he happens to be in the same apartment as me. I'll blog more about the whole thing later, but I thought maybe this picture would get you by until then.

I feel it's necessary for you to know that my posture isn't as bad as it appears in this picture. I was excited to see him, so I was leaning into him. You try being away from your significant other for four months and see if you don't find yourself doing the same thing.















Especially when he looks this good in uniform. :)

So exhausted, but so excited

Last night, I stayed up until about 1 a.m. getting everything done I needed to do. I picked up the wine on my way home last night. I went to Whole Foods and got this amazing peanut butter I'd heard about. (They grind it from fresh peanuts on the spot -- I watched.) I ran to Wal-Mart and got some markers to finish my pretty sign for the welcome-home ceremony so K can find me faster. I bought a Christmas tree and some lights to put up at his apartment.

And I baked my cheesecake. It takes 32 oz. of cream cheese. I don't have a blender. It takes some elbow grease and some serious love to make homemade cheesecake with no blender. But I did it.

I finished my sign, and then I started packing. As I put on my makeup this morning, I called Cingular and got K's cell phone reconnected, since he'd had it turned off while he was gone. It took me forever and a day to load the car. My trunk is packed.

Last night as I was doing all these things in preparation, one of K's buddies called me. I'd sent his wife an e-mail asking her to call me if she or her husband heard anything about K's battery coming in early. I asked another friend the same. Since the guys are K's friends and are captains also -- and since they're there on post, in the same city and state that K will arrive -- I figured they'd hear any changes in plans if K wasn't able to call and let me know. So I talked to one of the guys and to another guy's wife who I became friends with. It was good to talk to them again. I miss them!

I've already told them and K that this Saturday at 7, we're going to have to get together because there's going to be a football game on I'm kind of interested in watching. OU has fought its way into the Big XII conference championship game, and I'm not missing it.

Yeah, sure, K just got back from Afghanistan. But hello, priorities?!

Counting down!

Thanksgiving was great. I've been crazy busy since I got back to my apartment yesterday. I haven't had time to blog about everything yet, but it will come. For now, the important part:

I got a call from K this morning. He's out of the combat zone now, and he's in Kyrgyzstan. He'll be back in Louisiana at about 1 p.m. Wednesday. I worked it out with my boss so I can leave Tuesday night after work. I'll have to work from K's apartment Wednesday and Thursday morning, but that's nothing to be able to be there when he gets home. Besides, by noon on Thursday, it's the weekend for me! K has a two-day pass, so it'll be a four-day weekend for him.

I have all these plans for K. I already went to Wal-Mart and bought some Miller Light. I know K's been missing that. I bought ingredients to make my Reese's peanut butter cheesecake, so I'll make that tonight. I'm going to go back to Wal-Mart tonight to pick up a small Christmas tree and some lights to decorate K's apartment. Hopefully we'll have time to run K's truck through the car wash, but I think it might rain, so that might scratch those plans.

I went to a wine tasting in June with ER, and there was this really good peach champagne. K loves peaches. I'm going to get a bottle of that for the weekend and also a bottle of this other kind of white wine we tried at the end of the tasting. It was my favorite! I'm also going to get some as Christmas gifts.

CG is going to drive down tomorrow and stop off at my apartment to pick up the spare keys to K's apartment. She'll drive on early because she hates driving at night. She'll take care of washing his bedding probably, since I'll get there late Tuesday night. Then, we'll decorate his apartment together so it'll be all festive when he gets home!

I'M SO EXCITED!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm in Oklahoma this weekend. Today, I'm at my mom's house with her husband and his three daughters. I got here last night at about 8:45. I'm going to miss the gym while I'm here, and since K will be home A WEEK FROM TODAY, I brought some dinky 5 pound free weights I bought before I started going to the gym. I figure 5 pounds is better than nothing. I really want to go to Wal-Mart to buy an exercise ball to do crunches on. I may wind up doing that this weekend.

I'm going to go running, too. I bought a knee brace to be on the safe side. I think one of my stepsisters is going to come with me. I'm anxious to see how I'll do -- really running is a lot different than running on an elliptical!

Tomorrow morning, we're all getting up early to hit the specials and go shopping. Should be fun!

Happy turkey day!

Dear Santa,

I realize it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but I thought since my mom asked me already what I wanted for Christmas, I'd let you know early, too.

• A football. Not a rubbery Nerf "football," but a real, regulation-sized, pigskin football. Not anything fancy or leather. After all, I am going to just toss it around. But if I have my own, I won't have to borrow one anymore. I can throw a spiral from time to time. Just think how good I'd be if I really had my own ball!
• My desk. I already have it picked out, and it's not even expensive. I can just think of plenty of other places $100 could be used. Like my credit card bill.
• Some good running shoes. My tennis shoes are about ready for retirement. I'd like to try running outside again (and I promise to do my knee exercises this time).
• A black or dark gray coat. It needs to be something I can wear to work.

Since K's coming back next week, that's about all I need to make my life complete. Wait -- I should be more specific: That's all I need from Santa to make my life complete. :)

So excited!

This week is Thanksgiving, which means I have a three-day work week. I think it's wrong how giddy this makes me.

And next week, I'll have a three-day work week, too. I'm taking off next Thursday and Friday to use up my final vacation days. Turns out, it should work out perfectly: K is scheduled to get home on the 30, which is NEXT THURSDAY! Now, it could change to be sooner or later. But I hope it doesn't, because that will be absolute perfect timing -- especially since it's literally the ONLY time left this year I can take off work.

So 10 days from today, I could be getting ready to see K. Or I could already be with him. That's definitely something to be excited about!

A little tolerance

I bought two shirts to decide which would be best to make my special game day/Veterans Day shirt for last weekend's game. I went to SuperTarget today to return the one I didn't use. There was a line at customer service, but I was pleasantly surprised to see how quickly it moved. When I went up to the open register, I handed the guy behind the counter my receipt and shirt. I noticed the woman at the register next to me was being very rude to the woman helping her. So rude, in fact, that I was distracted watching her. I realized the guy helping me was waiting for me to hand him my debit card so he could credit it for my return. I apologized and explained that the woman was distracting me. "She's being unnecessarily rude," I said.

The man told me the woman had been at the registers for about 15 minutes. After that, I could understand how she'd be a little frustrated, but it couldn't have been entirely the worker's fault that she was still there. And even still, there's no reason to talk to a grown woman like she's 5 years old.

I've been a cashier before. I've worked at the mall before. And I've been a server.

The holidays are busy, and it's hectic to work in any of those places around this time of year. The hours are longer, people are in more of a hurry (and are, therefore, less forgiving of wait times) and stores are more packed.

Whoever you are, if you've ever worked as a server, a cashier or a customer service person, I hope you remember what it's like to have those jobs -- especially around the holidays. And if you've never worked somewhere where the motto is "the customer is always right," I hope you put yourself in their shoes.

You probably aren't the first panicked or stressed customer those workers have encountered. Lines are frustrating, but so is working for hours and seeing no end to the line behind your register.

Treat your server, cashier or any other service employee you encounter just as you would want to be treated if you were doing that person's job. After all, it's their holiday season, too.

GAME DAY!

I have friends over right now watching the OU-Baylor game, and we're totally kicking butt!

After this, we're going to watch the Ohio State-Michigan game, and I'm sorry, Courtney, but

GO BUCKEYES!

(Courtney, if it makes you feel better, I won't be as upset if Michigan wins because of you!)

If that's not love ...

HIGH FIVE!

Two months ago, not many people would have known what that means, but I would have. And I would have laughed my head off with the few who were fortunate enough to know the greatness that is Ali G/Sascha Baron Cohen before the movie Borat.

My sophomore year in college, we would have gatherings at Brad's apartment to watch Da Ali G Show. His three roommates, their two girlfriends (no, they didn't share -- one was single), Brad, me and sometimes a few others would die laughing each week at his antics as they aired on HBO.

In the summer of 2005, when I'd just moved to Dallas, I read that Ali G was in this very city filming, but too many people recognized him and were ruining his antics by revealing his characters.

I'd told K about Ali G many times, but he'd never seen the show. Luckily, K has Netflix. We got season one of his show and watched it a couple weeks before K left. We didn't have enough time to watch season two.

But I got K into Ali G back in August, so now I feel like I should wait to see Borat until he gets back. Luckily, it's soon enough that if we miss it in the theaters, we'll at least be able to catch it at the dollar movies. But it's killing me that all these people have seen it and know even newer jokes from it, when I've been a fan for so long but am having to watch the paranoia from the outside as though I have no idea what the fuss is about.

Repeating to self: It's all for K.

(Slightly immature) dilemma

Last night, I went to this OU journalism grad thing for (surprise, surprise) alums of OU's journalism college. There was a cocktail hour, hors d'oeuvres and even a chocolate fountain. And it was all free.

As I was walking in, I was stopped by one of WK's co-workers. (WK works for as a designer for an ad agency. She has an art degree from OU.) Well, WK's co-worker happened to be talking on the phone to WK. It sounded like she was giving her directions to get to our gathering. When her co-worker hung up the phone, I said, "Is she coming?" Yes. Me, unable to hide my feelings on it: "Why?" (In case you didn't realize, art degrees have nothing to do with the journalism college.) "Because we told her to," her co-worker said.

So I get into the gathering and am mingling with people I hadn't seen in a couple years and was excited to see. I look over and see WK enter. Not excited to see her. And why was she crashing a journalism thing?

She eventually came up to me as I was talking to a friend I hadn't seen in a while. I found myself having to pretend to be excited to see WK. We engaged in conversation that was slightly awkward because I was annoyed that I was having to fake wanting to talk to her to not be rude. I don't like being fake or when people are fake. I wasn't over the top about it, though -- I simply carried on a conversation.

After a while, President Boren spoke, which was awesome. It sounds like OU is really doing well and making a name for itself. It's been written about in The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Princeton Review in the last few weeks. In fact, just yesterday The Princeton Review ran a story about the elite eight colleges that are giving private colleges a run for their money. On the list, and with the biggest photo of the story: the University of Oklahoma.

Well, following President Boren's speech, the CEO of American Airlines, who is an OU grad, drew for two free plane tickets to anywhere in the U.S. Guess who won? WK. WHO IS NOT AN ALUMNA OF THE JOURNALISM COLLEGE.

I know it's slightly immature to be mad about this, but I seriously want to e-mail her and tell her if she has any conscience at all, she'd give the tickets to one of her co-workers who actually is an OU journalism grad.

Please tell me I am being immature and to just shut up and get over it. Thank you for your assistance.

------------------------------------------------
In case you're with S on not knowing who WK is, she's on my initial legend to the right of my blog. She used to be a Wednesday girl, but she slowly stopped showing up. She'd always be busy with something. After a while, we just stopped inviting her to save her the trouble of coming up with a reason she couldn't meet us or telling us she had other plans.

As she was phasing herself out, though, whenever she DID come with us, she'd talk the whole time about how great her job was, how funny these stories were from work that we didn't get. I told ER one day that I was convinced WK sat at work thinking of funny stories to tell us and writing them down, then rehearsing them all day Wednesday so she'd remember them at dinner. What's funny is that about two days later, Emily wound up saying basically the same thing to ER. It kind of became our joke.

Every once in a while, WK would call ER or me, and she'd always ask if we'd talked to the other one. I guess she doesn't realize ER is my best friend. She'd call out of the blue if she'd had a bad day, and she'd always say, "We need to do our Wednesday thing again." What she didn't realize is that we never stopped.

WK just always had this way of saying things to make you feel stupid or like she's looking down on you. Many times, she uses your name or nickname to talk down to you. It's happened multiple times. (One example: Danielle was coming to visit me, and her boyfriend, who was 19, was also going to come. They were both going to stay at my aparment. They have made the decision to "wait" until they get married. Well, Danielle's bf's parents were not cool with the idea of the two of them staying together at my apartment, although it had nothing to do with me. I was telling WK that it sucked because Danielle's bf was 20. WK said, "Yeah, [my name], exactly: He's 20." I said, "I know. He's 20 and in college, living in his own apartment. Anything that could happen at my apartment would just as easily happen in Norman in the comfort of his own room. He's an adult.")

ER and I have a great group of friends we hang out with, and WK has her own group of friends. Neither of us had seen WK in months.

Take THAT, cold!

It's so windy today! Before 8 a.m., Dallas had already had 50 mph winds. Crazy! It actually feels like November, though, so it's kind of about time.

I went to bed early again last night, and again with the aid of Nyquil. I feel even better today than yesterday. Yeah, my head is still a bit stuffy, and my nose is still kind of stuffy, but I can totally breathe out of one side, and I haven't even taken any Dayquil yet!

At this rate, I'll have totally kicked this cold maybe even by Friday. And I think I might finally go to the gym again tonight.

Me-1, Cold-0

Stuffy

I totally have a cold. I probably shouldn't have come to work yesterday, but 6 years of working for your dad makes you think you can work through anything. I pretty much only miss work if I actually get sick (read between the lines on that one to see what I'm trying to not say because I'm a lady) that morning while I'm getting ready.

Today, I'm actually not feeling sick like I was yesterday. My head just feels congested, and my nose is definitely stopped up. Kleenex is my best friend right now.

The weird part:
Remember a couple weeks ago, when my wisdom tooth was crowning and killing me? Well, I mentioned it to the other girl in my department who's my age (among a few other co-workers -- Hey, it hurt!), and she suddenly mentioned her teeth hurting. Well, she's been full time longer than me, so she has dental insurance. She went to the dentist the next day and got an appointment to have the suckers removed. Two days later, she was wisdom tooth- (and pain-) free!

Well, yesterday, I came to work sick. Later in the day, she opened my door and mentioned how she was starting to feel sick in her throat. I told her that mine had started with my ears feeling funny and with my head being stuffy and kind of hurting.

This morning when I came in, she told me she thinks she has tonsilitis, so I need to get to the doctor today. She'd looked in her mouth this morning with a flashlight and saw that she had white spots on her throat. Well, I've had tonsilitis before, and my lymph nodes were really swollen then. They're not right now. And my throat doesn't hurt.

I'm not quite sure if tonsilitis is contagious, but I definitely know I haven't kissed anyone in three months (from today, actually, since that's the last time I saw K), and I don't drink after people. I'm pretty sure I just have a cold or something that's not a big deal and will eventually go away on its own.

But guess who left work today at 12:30 to go to the doctor, then took the rest of the day off?

AND GUESS WHO'S STILL AT WORK?

I'm a loser. (And my co-worker must have good sympathy pains or something!)

We're totally sneaky

ER and I left early Saturday morning to head to the Land of Greatness (a.k.a, Norman) to surprise her sister and Danielle. Since ER's parents just moved, they had to miss the last home game of the year, which is also the senior game. ER's sister and Danielle are both seniors, so we decided to surprise them by showing up on Saturday morning at their rehearsal.

It worked perfectly because ER was originally going to have to work. She found that out last August, and it was something she probably wasn't going to be able to get out of, so her sister has known all season that ER wouldn't be able to make it. Well, we found out last Monday ER would be able to get out of work for Saturday. We still played it off, though, like she couldn't. ER and I got together Friday night and bought some goodies to surprise the girls with. She called her sister while we were running errands and told her again that she was sorry she wouldn't be able to make it. ER stayed at my place that night, and we got our gifts all together and made the girls both picture frames.

On the way up on Saturday, I called Danielle to wish her a happy senior day. She was disappointed I wouldn't be able to make it up, and she asked if ER was coming. When I told Danielle she had to work, she was disappointed about that, too. About an hour and a half later, ER and I showed up at rehearsal. Luckily, ER's sister and Danielle were on different sides of the field. We stood on the sidelines in front of ER's sister for about 30 seconds before she spotted us. Her jaw dropped to the ground, and her eyes welled up. Right then, the director had them move to another set, which gave ER's sister just enough time to run up and give ER the biggest hug. It was awesome.

Then, we headed over to Danielle's side of the field. She took a little less time to see us, but her reaction was pretty awesome, too. Her jaw also dropped, and she did a classic little Danielle happy dance. She ran up to us and gave us both hugs and said, "You guys tricked me!"















I made a special shirt for the game, since it was Veterans Day. The front said Boomer Sooner, and the back:















I totally sent a picture to K. :)

ER and I sported OU tattoos for the first time ever. Don't we look festive?















I owe the inspiration for the new fashion statement to Jef, who highly recommended I wear a giant double-T (the Texas Tech icon) down my face. I think the OU looks much better, myself.

Especially since we won. Sorry, Jef! ;)

Well that's not good ...

I'm wearing my new brown ballet flats for the first time today. I was excited for casual Friday because I knew I could break them out of my closet for the first time with jeans and my OU polo. And that's what I did. But there's a problem.

I didn't notice it until it was too late. I was already at work, walking through the halls of my department, when I heard the sound.

With every step I take (with my right shoe in particular) -- every time the ball of my foot rubs against the sole of my shoes -- a farting sound comes out of my shoe.

Pretty sure I'm gonna be getting some interesting looks at work today.

Turning point

I've never been so worried about the results of an election before. This is new for me.

Honestly, politics isn't something I think about a lot in my day-to-day life. I know it's important and it does have a big effect on my life and our world. I know those things. But I just don't trust a lot of things that go on in politics, and it gets confusing.

I wanted a change. I voted yesterday, and I had to make some tough decisions. I wanted Democrats to take over the Senate and the House because I wanted a change.

Honestly, I hate all the name-calling and the crap that goes with politics. It's frustrating! I hate that President Bush is on TV right now saying he will work through differences with the new leadership of the House and Senate. WHAT DIFFERENCES? Aren't we all for the United States? Aren't we all for the same team?

As I listened to the news this morning while I was getting ready for work, I realized what I'd wanted had most likely happened. But the thing is, as yesterday went on, I wasn't so sure that what I had wanted was really what I wanted. The change I wanted in Congress had nothing to do with red or blue, elephants or donkeys. I wanted a group leading us who would work (and by work, I don't mean labor, I mean click). I wanted a group who would bring different ideas and plans to the table.

But it all means so much more to me than it did before. The media gives such a different perspective of what happens overseas than K and his friends present. They tell stories of building schools and hospitals, working side by side with Afghanis, people thanking them at airports and giving up their seats on earlier flights so a soldier can get home from Iraq that much sooner to see his wife.

The Democrats have been applying pressure to bring the troops home. Obviously, everyone would rather have all those men and women safe and sound here in our country. But I read part of an article in The Washington Post recently where a soldier was talking about the rapport and the trust that the soldiers have built with Iraqis. He said that if we left now, it would upset that relationship and would leave the Iraqis feeling abandoned and betrayed. You don't usually hear that side in the media. And that side makes sense to me.

Now, there's the news that Donald Rumsfeld is leaving. My boss came in my office talking about how good that is. "Why is it good?" I asked him. He told me it would be really good for me, meaning that it will change the course of actions in Iraq, meaning K may not have to leave in August.

That's what I'm really worried about. The plan right now is that K will leave in August and be deployed to Iraq for a year. Obviously, I don't want him to go. I know there is so much left to happen before August gets here. It'll be close to an election year, and that will undoubtedly have an effect on what is going on in Iraq and with sending troops overseas. At the same time, there are things going on in the Sudan, in North Korea and in other parts of the world that could also affect where K is after next August.

I don't know what's going to happen, and this change all seems so big. I know the fact that some 23-year-old in Dallas is worrying about everything really won't have any affect on what happens or what doesn't happen.

I can only hope that God was listening to my prayer Monday night when I asked that he let those who have the right reasons in their hearts and who would be the best ones for their offices and our country to be the ones who are celebrating their new jobs Tuesday night.
____________________________________________
Less than 15 minutes after posting this, I found a quote online of a statement issued today that made me feel a lot better about everything:

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist: "Washington must now work together in a bipartisan way -- Republicans and Democrats -- to outline the path to success in Iraq."

If all this change makes everyone do a better job of working together, that can't be a bad thing.

Amen!

http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/

Pictures

Why I'm probably going to have to get rid of Noodle (and just in case you thought I was exaggerating that he was ruining my carpet):





















(side view)





















NASCAR!!! I can't wait until someday my brother is driving one of these.


















Soldiers from Fort Hood with the flag for the Star Spangled Banner.










The tow truck from Cars!












The cars lining up to start the race.








Stay tuned for more Sunday!

My heart can't take this anymore

First, there was news of the Reese and Ryan split. Those two always so happy and in love and just so perfect for each other.

But just moments ago, I was floored when I heard the breaking news announcement on the radio of the latest couple to file for divorce. And this one really got me.

I mean, if these two can't stay together, who can? I'm losing faith in marriage.

Busy weekend

Friday night, I went to the gym and did some legs and 30 minutes of cardio. I got a pretty good workout in! Then, I went home and vegged for a bit. Pretty tame night.

Saturday, I met ER at the mall. I went to American Eagle, and my lovely shoes weren't so lovely in person. They barely cover your toes, and I don't like ballet shoes like that as much. I was kinda bummed, but I wound up finding some at Aeropostale that were even cheaper. I even found a cute crimson sweater, which I've been wanting to find for a long time. It was also on sale.

We had lunch with ER's sister and her fiance. ER's sister is a good friend of mine, too, so it was fun. All of us -- including the fiance -- were in band together at OU. After that, I chilled at home for a while before heading to Jeremy's to meet up with our OU watch group. The game was pretty close, but it's tough to play at Kyle Field. We led the whole game and beat Texas A&M 17-16. What's cool is my boss, an A&M grad, had made a bet with me last week that if OU won, he'd wear an OU shirt and hat to work on the day of my choosing. If OU lost, I'd have to wear an A&M shirt and hat on the day of his choosing. I guess I'll be asking a guy friend if I can borrow an OU shirt!

Sunday, I got invited to go to the NASCAR race with a friend whose family had an extra ticket. That was pretty fun. I wish Tony Stewart hadn't won -- I don't really like him. I wanted Kasey Kahne to win. He was actually in second putting on a good show a few times about to pass Tony Stewart, but his motor blew with like 6 laps left in the race. Bummer.

It was really cool, though, to be at the track and think, "Someday, my brother could be doing this." I can't wait for that to happen. I'll be the proudest sister ever!

Because I'm indecisive

I love ballet flats -- love them. I am probably going to be buying some from American Eagle this weekend. My problem: Which pair to get?

















The price difference is only $5, so that's no big deal. I want them to be a pair I can wear to work on a more casual day or wear on a normal day. I'm not sure if the tweed ones would work for that.

What do you think?

Hello, thighs!

I did more lunges Monday night (with the 25-pound weights again), and I'm hurting today. Luckily, day two is usually the worst. That was the case after last week's lunges, and I'm sure it'll be the same this week. Thank goodness.

I feel like I'm walking like an old person today. I can't move too quickly, and it hurts to sit down and stand back up.

sigh

The things we do for buns.

TGFG

Thank Goodness For the Gym, that is.

I am such a pig. Most mornings, I eat breakfast. If I don't have time to eat my bowl of Special K in the morning, I grab a granola bar and eat it when I get to work. Both of those are healthy.

But almost every day before lunch, I get hungry at like 11. I can't eat lunch at 11 -- I'll be starving by 2! So I'll grab a few gummy bears that I keep in my desk to hold myself off. Those are not healthy.

Then, lunch at noon, which is usually some kind of Lean Cuisine (they're easy, cheap and good), but sometimes it's pizza or a chicken pot pie.

Along with that, I have yogurt -- also healthy. But it's never enough. So at about 2 (despite holding off eating lunch in hopes of not being hungry already), I wind up breaking into my chocolate stash. I only allow myself one (every once in a while two) bite-sized candy bars a day. Thank goodness, my mom raised me to not eat too much junk food in one day. Problem is, in my mind, "junk food" is only ice cream, chocolate, buttery popcorn or cookies. And some of those are light, so they're not so bad.

Anyway, so somewhere around 3 or so, I decide I'm craving something salty, so I'll eat a handful of peanuts. (I have a lot of snacks in my office.) Many days, I get a Coke, too -- but it's a Coke Zero, so it's not so bad, right? :)

But all those things weren't enough today, because at 4:15, I decided, dang it, I'm hungry. So now I'm eating buttery popcorn.

When my metabolism slows, I'm going to have a serious problem on my hands. And stomach. And thighs. And butt ...

Happy Halloween!

Have at it!

http://www.cubpack81.com/images/carve_pumpkin.swf

LifeTime Fitness, here I come!

I had lunch with K today. Okay, not really. He called me right as I was sitting at my desk with my yummy Lean Cuisine microwave pizza (pepperoni, thanks for asking).

K is doing great, and he's in really good spirits. He's really excited that they'll be coming home so soon. One month from now, he could be here. One month from now, I could be hugging my boyfriend. That's pretty awesome.

All this means that in the next month, I'm really going to be stepping it up with the lunges and crunches. If K came home and decided I was even better looking than he remembered, I think that's something I could definitely live with. :)

Best e-mail ever

In my inbox this morning:

Hey there, sexy stranger!
Things have been extremely crazy and I had to go back out on a couple of missions here this past week...didn't leave much time to give you a call. Should've left an email though. ANYWAY, we just received a Warning Order that we are redeploying. It's not 100% official, but that order should be out here in a day or two. The colonel also shut phones and internet down for 48 hours to alleviate rumors...worked a little. Bottom line, I should be home by the end of next month. No dates in stone yet, merely planning. I can give you more definitive dates, answers, etc once we get to BAF, which should be in the next week or so. ... I am so freaking excited. I miss you terribly and love you more than anything.
Also, ... Alpha Battery [which is the battery his roommate commands] won't be coming either; our extention and their backfill of us both got disapproved. We'll see what happens next. Can't wait to talk to you and SEE you soon. Love and miss you TONS!!!!
K

guilty

It's been one week now since I heard from K. I'm getting frustrated -- about many things.

Last time I talked to him, K was apologizing because the gaps are now so big between conversations and e-mails. I told him I understand he's busy. I mean, he's in Afghanistan, commanding his own battery and doing humanitarian aid. I understand. He said, "I know, but seriously -- how long does it take to just shoot you an e-mail and say, 'Hey, I'm doing well. I love you and miss you ... talk to you soon.'?" He said he'd be better about sending more e-mails. I got one from him this week. Which is one less than last week.

I think the problem is we started off so well. It took him a while to get to the area where he is now. When he first got overseas (especially before he got to Afghanistan from the surrounding countries), he called me every day. It almost felt like he was just off training somewhere else in the U.S. or something, like the only reason I couldn't call him on his cellphone was because it wasn't with him. Right before he took command over there, he started getting busier, but I still heard from him every three or four days. He was moving around Afghanistan to all the bases where his soldiers were. Some had better phone capabilities or connections, which affected how often I'd hear from him.

The base he's mainly at now doesn't have the best phone connection, but it's not the worst we've talked on since he's been there. K doesn't stay on the phone for long because he wants to let his soldiers use it or because others are always waiting for the phone, too. I understand all that.

But I'm still frustrated, and I feel bad about it.

I know it sounds absolutely crazy, but sometimes part of me -- for just a split second -- feels like it's all a lie or like he doesn't really exist, like he's some figment of my imagination or something. I know how dumb that sounds. I don't get it. And like I said, the feeling is only there for a second before I dismiss it because it's completely ridiculous. I mean, there are reminders of him everywhere -- pictures, my necklace he gave me, his shirt hanging in my closet ... But I still get that feeling from time to time. I wonder if other girlfriends/wives/significant others have had that feeling, too.

And then there's Noodle. He's driving me crazy. Not he himself, but what he's doing. He continues to claw up parts of my carpet. I'm really worried that when I move out, I'll have to pay to have it replaced because he has decided it's the perfect way to sharpen his claws. I've thought about getting him declawed, but I don't know how much that costs. I've also thought about giving him away. But as annoying as he can be, it's nice to have company in my apartment sometimes. Even if I do have to clean a litterbox to have said company.

Last time I talked to K, he mentioned that he missed Noodle. I can't give him away while K's gone.

It's hard to think about K so much and wonder what he's doing or how he's doing, when he'll be home. About 1,000 times a day, I look at the clock and add 9.5 hours to figure out what time it is there. Right now, it's a little before noon there. He's probably been up at least 6 hours and done PT. Usually, if he calls, it's at 12:30 or 1 a.m. here so I'm guessing he's not calling tonight.

I know he thinks of me a lot there. I know that. I know he's busy, too. But it sucks that the only contact I have right now with the person I want to talk to the most in my life is pretty much one three- or four-paragraph e-mail and a 20-minute phone conversation a week.

I think about what it must have been like in WWI and WWII, the Vietnam War and even Desert Storm. I'm sure any spouse or significant other or family member of any vet from those wars would think I'm so spoiled and ridiculous for complaining that having contact twice a week with my loved one who is fighting on the other side of the world is not enough.

At the same time, there are so many couples who get to talk to each other every single day. I saw on Oprah once -- in one of those "We'll pay for your wedding" episodes, I think -- this man who said since the day he met his wife, they'd talked every single day -- even before they became a couple. I thought that was so cool. K and I never had a shot with that, since they're not even supposed to (read: supposed to) take their cell phones with them when they train out in the field. (I think most of the guys sneak them out there, anyway)

I knew K was in the military the night I met him. I knew K was probably going to be a career military man the night I met him. I considered all those things before I decided he was worth it and that I couldn't not see how things would go with him because I knew there was something special about him and between us. I knew we wouldn't get to talk much when he left. I hate that I'm frustrated, because I know he's busy. But still, you can't change how you feel.