I know, I suck, I'm sorry.

Yeah, I've been bad about posting - a lot going on right now... just swamped. Taking the intermediate course (remember the basic course I went to when I first came back from Iraq? This is the next step) at Fort Belvoir right now - and there's always lots of homework and reading, and then I still find myself working these work assignments on the side... trying to go home when I can.
The big thing I could tell you right now is that, like the basic course, this one is challenging my patience - but it's something I need to work on... so I'm all for it. Bring it on!
The other thing is, when the chiropractor tells you she needs to see you 3 times a week... there's probably a reason for that. I've been in such bad shape, was able to sneak off last week once - and will be about the same this week. After about 4-5 days with no adjustment, I seem to revert back to shortly after the accident, where my neck is pinching and creating pain in my shoulder, and my hips are all out of whack. But it's a temporary sacrifice... to knock this class out and get it behind me. Just 2 more weeks... UGH. :)

I know, I suck, I'm sorry.

Renovations everywhere

It's been an insane couple of weeks. We've been busy with renovations on the house; finally got the tile in and it took all week, then we had the huge job of putting it all back together (and cleaning - dust EVERYWHERE!) But we are so so so thrilled with the outcome. The house seems bigger now, despite the HUGE couch we bought. I think part of that is the optical illusion of the tile, and part of it is the hoards of knick knacks and crap we took to either GoodWill or the storage room. :)

I want to post a few of the b4 and after photos so you can see the transformation... and I have to say that I HIGHLY recommend the guys that did this work. Ultimate Flooring Design Center in Odenton - if you're in the market - they are worth every penny. Complete perfectionists.


Forgive the goofy formatting... I haven't had any coffee yet:

Master bath before and after

Kitchen Table before and after:

Kitchen floor before and after:

Guest Bathroom before and after:

Dining Room before and after:

Downstairs Bathroom before and after:

Living Room (view a) before and after:

Living Room (view b) before and after:

So there you have it... but we're not done yet! No no... we're going to have California Closets done in our master closet and the pantry. We're also talking about having the downstairs guest room door expanded for French doors - to open that space up a bit when you first come in.

No rest for the weary! :)

Renovations everywhere

Cutting on me - yikes!

It's official - they're going in. My ankle has a tear in the perrenial (sp?) tendon - and it's a case of go in and fix it, or leave it and watch it get worse and worse. I'm not a fan of that. So, I'm gonna get it over with. Dec. 10th is the big day.

I'd do it sooner, but I've got this class I'm taking in November (3 weeks) that I already postponed once, because I wanted to stick with my physical therapy (for my ankle) - so that I could get back to normal... and, well, we know how that worked out. So, I'm going to finish the class, and then first available slot after that was the 10th of Dec.

Now, that means that my anniversary, Christmas, New Years... and well - ski season - are gonna suck for me... but by late Spring - I should be ready to take on the world! Ray's really bummed about the ski season thing - cause of course, we missed last year while I was in Baghdad. I keep telling him I am more than happy to go and Apres Ski (for you non-skiers, that's where you lounge at the bar and wear cute snow outfits). I don't think he's going for it.

I think I mentioned a few weeks ago that my dental tech who tore the same tendon had to be off of it - no weight at all - for 4 weeks, and then was in a boot for 6 MONTHS!! That scared the bejeezus out of me - so much so, that when he said I'd spend 2 weeks with no weight on it and 8 weeks in a boot, I was SO RELIEVED! Just "shows to go ya" (as my dad likes to say) that it could always be worse.

Ray and I immediately started trying to focus on the postive - I have a great job that allows me to do this with no worries of being unemployed on the other side, great insurance that will pay for every drop of it (except the $3.00 copay on prescriptions), and a most wonderful, doting husband who will pick me up and carry me up the stairs to bed each night, then carry me back downstairs to the couch the next day and pamper me while I'm unable to fend for myself.

Could be much worse. :) Glass half full. The grass will be greener on the other side of this damned surgery. Oops... some dark side (glass half empty) might have slipped in there... just a teensy bit. Every now and then. It's gonna be a LONG winter! :)

Cutting on me - yikes!

WAKE UP!

Sorry - that's just me getting antsy. And hungry. And tired of tip-toe-ing around. My girlfriend from California, and her boyfriend are visiting, and it's 9:30am and they're still sound asleep. Yes, I know their bodies think it's 6:30am, and yes, I know we were up until 1:30am drinking and laughing and eating way too much. but today we're supposed to head to DC and do some sight-seeing, and it's SUCH a beautiful day - like perfect weather out there, and Ray's got breakfast standing by, just waiting for their hungry tushes to get up here.

Perhaps this is our fault, for making the guest room too cozy. I wouldn't want to get up either. :)

This is always a thing with me. I remember when a bunch of my sorority sisters all decided to have a reunion in Vegas, and I was sharing a room with Terri and Julie - and those girls can sleep! I'm an early riser most days, and so for me - on the weekends, or vacations, sleeping til like 6-7am is "WOW! Look at me! I'm a sleeper!" So by 7:30am, I'm usually showered, starving and desperately in need of coffee. But I'm also antsy - like "come on! Daylight's burning! Let's go see some stuff!"

So... I'm super happy to have friends visiting, but rise and shine, people! :) (She knows I love her...)

WAKE UP!

Going back to school

I think I forgot to mention the biggest wow factor of the week. I registered for University of Maryland University College's Master of Science in Management for Public Affairs program.

I've been talking about it forever, and have investigated several schools, but recently a handful of different things came colliding together to give me just the push I needed to get off my arse, quit talking, and start doing.

The Department of Defense offers spouses of military members $6,000 toward their education through the Military Spouse Career Adancement Accounts program - and there are no catches... I thought for sure it was rank or income qualified, but alas, no. Just because I'm lucky enough to be married to Ray, they'll give me money for school. The only catch is that it has to be a "mobile" field, so the skills won't require me to stay put (read, require my husband to get out). Public Relations is definitely one of those mobile careers.

Then, along comes the new, Post 9/11 G.I. Bill, which is - get this - transferrable to spouses or children. This will pay for up to 36 months of your education - and you can transfer part or all of it. So if I work this right - I can get my Masters for free, and still have enough left over for Ray to finish his Bachelors (he only has a few classes left).

How cool is that?

Going back to school

A little R&R goes a long way

This weekend we had nothing to do. Truly - I mean, we needed to run to the store and buy some toothpaste, but it could have waited. Other than that... nothing to do. I can't remember the last time that happened. And it almost didn't happen this weekend.

My friend Jen was supposed to come visit last week, and she'd be leaving today, but there was some drama related to her boyfriend's job that forced them to postpone until next weekend, so suddenly, for a change, we had nothing to do. It was so nice.

The best news of all is that I'm feeling so much better - my back is getting better every day. I haven't got the results from my MRI yet - I would think someone would call, but apparently I have to make another appointment to go see my doctor and take him the films, then he'll review and we'll go from there - that's a week from tomorrow. Until then.. we wait.

But I'm feeling a lot less poopy/pouty about it all - as I'm officially off all the RX's... even the ibuprofin, although, technically I could still use those to help with the ankle, but lordy lordy, between my hair falling out in gobs and the insanely easy bruising - I just want to detox for a while.

I want to give a shout-out to my new friend, Kim - who ironically works for USACE at the Nashville district, and wants to deploy - was Googling in search of info about what it's like for civilians... and women to deploy -and found my blog. It took all of a couple of e-mails to know was gonna love her - she's a hoot. And based on the comentary in her e-mails, I think she actually took the time to read like every blog I ever posted. That's either OCD or absolute boredom! :) Welcome to the Sandbox, Kim.

Gonna go enjoy what's left of my quiet, peaceful, nothingness weekend. Ciao!

A little R&R goes a long way

Is this Karma?

I usually think I'm the most blessed person I know... and until recently, I would say I was the healthiest person I know. Lately - it just seems like I'm falling apart. I asked Ray yesterday, as we were driving back from getting an MRI on my ankle (I'll get to that in a second), if it was Karma - and if so - what did I do? He said it was the universe creating balance, because other women don't have a husband that loves them as much as I do... so it's only fair. :) Sweet - he's pretty cute, isn't he?

So let's recap - first, there was my ankle, diagnosed as tendonitis; then TMJ from grinding, or in my case - more like clinching - my teeth at night. Clearly I was already stressed, or I wouldn't have been diagnosed with TMJ, but I genuinely believe that not being able to work out as rigorously, because of my ankle, exacerbated that problem - I wasn't de-stressing as well as I usually would. Then comes Mr. Choi and his Toyota Tacoma. Just dealing with the insurance companies is greatly increasing my stress level, much less the zillions of doctor's appointments - and um... the constant back pain.

My mouth guard finally came in... and it's kind of cool - a tiny little thing that clips onto my two front lower teeth, and keeps me from being able to connect any of my teeth at night. Was a little weird at first, but I'm getting used to it. At least I'll protect my teeth. And I finally made it to the follow up appointment with the Orthopaedic Surgeon that I was supposed to see the day I got in the car accident. I thought he was going to say that it seemed like all I needed to do was stay off of it a little bit longer, as the accident (and not being able to work out for two weeks at all) had surely been the best thing to happen to my tendonitis. Instead, he said there was still swelling there - which is even more strange, when you consider that I've been on a constant cocktail of muscle relaxers and 800 MG of Ibuprofin (avoiding the Hydrocodone as much as possible - it's great, but it is a serious narcotic, and I have enough issues right now). So, he sent me for an MRI, as he thinks there may be a tear in there... causing all of this discomfort in my ankle.

I bet Ray a dollar that I have a tear... because my luck has sucked so much lately - but I really do hope I lose that bet. I'll have to wait until next week, I'm sure, to hear the results. If there's a tear, the doc said, "we'll have to go in there and fix that." Translation... I'll be in a boot for weeks on end, and not working out... for a long, long time.

All that said - there is some good news to report... we got new kitchen countertops, and a gorgeous new sink/faucet. We also had our new couch delivered - we ordered it in July, but it was worth the wait - it's gorgeous... and there's finally plenty of room for everyone to sit around the living room here. AND, today, our new refrigerator is being delivered. I know, I know - we just moved into a brand new house. Why would we need a refrigerator? Well, depends on who you ask. Ray likes to tell people that I became obsessed with a new refrigerator; but the inside scoop is that he so badly wanted this fancy new faucet to go with our fancy new sink (I'll I'll post pictures of all this once we get all the stuff put away), and you can't attach a Pur Filter to a fancy faucet... and the filter water jugs are a PITA, so we had to buy a $1200 refrigerator so that Ray could have his $200 faucet. :) Logic is funny, isn't it?

Next month, we're going to have to move all of this stuff around some more, because our floors are being done, the big switcheroo to tile on the main floor (kitchen/living/dining room). Should be fan-tabulous!

Please forgive my venting... I hate hearing myself complain. I'm beginning to lie about my back pain, because I'm sick of saying it hurts all the time and just saying "great! better every day!"

I'm still quite blessed, no doubt about it... and not just because we can afford a new couch - but because of the guy (and the little dog) that I get to snuggle with on that couch. I just wish I could have MY body back.

Thanks for listening. I promise to be more perky next time!

Is this Karma?