don't worry...it's just kim

Independence Day

2009-07-05T13:28:00.000-07:00

I need my hat. Where's my hat?

On our way to Kate and Adams house...still on bald hill rd but Keiths driving so we'll b there soon

Stunna Shades?

shut up and eat ur baby Keith

Just met paul blart, gate guard coming onto mcchord...i think his segway was up his behind...asshole

Katie cant wait till July 15

...and he gave great hugs...

Wish u were here

waterfront

Love chocolate covered frozen bananas, shady grass & people watching

Keith acting like a perv...thanks to Adam for telling him about the Family Guy episode where Peter "broke his hip" and ended up landing under Chris' new wife's skirt...gotta love it. (For the record, he didn't actually look under any skirts)

Sitting on the dock at Duke's Chowder House....sitting on the dock of the bay...who sings it??? :)

Hands down best clam chowder ever: dukes chowder house...by unanimous vote!!

our view for the fireworks

EEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Porta Potty..)

sunset before fireworks

fireworks at commencement bay

Some jackass was shooting roman candles off over & across 84th street on our way from minters...

Theres a heavy fireworks haze over the moon...

Woohoo!

2009-05-16T09:44:00.001-07:00

April...from my camera

2009-04-12T22:01:00.000-07:00

Easter brunch with Katie & Adam (courtesy of Kate's camera)

My office when I was finished moving in...

Kim's New Work

The mural inside Kim's new work

Kim's office when she started moving in...

Finished Shelving!!!

and a "pantry" :)

Woooohoooooo

2009-04-03T19:40:00.001-07:00

Ohmigosh!!! I start my job on Monday!!!

Portland Pics

2009-04-01T08:02:00.000-07:00

Haystack Rock

2009-04-01T07:34:00.000-07:00

Haystack Rock

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Haystack Rock with "The Needles"

Haystack Rock can be seen from Ecola State Park when looking south

Haystack Rock is a 235-foot (72-meter) tall monolith (or sea stack) on the Oregon coast in the northwestern United States, the third-tallest such structure in the world. A popular tourist destination, the rock is adjacent to the beach and accessible by foot during low tide. Haystack Rock tide pools are home to many intertidal animals, including starfish, anemone, crabs, chitons, limpets, and sea slugs. The rock is also a refuge for many sea birds, including terns and puffins.

Location and management

According to Oregon State Parks and Recreation, Haystack Rock is located approximately 1.5 miles (2.2 km) south of downtown Cannon Beach in Clatsop County, approximately 80 miles west of Portland. The nearest major road is U.S. Route 101. Haystack Rock is part of the Tolovana Beach State Recreation Site and is managed by Oregon Parks and Recreation below the mean high water (MHW) level, and above the MHW level by the Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

Other Haystack Rocks

There are several other geographic features in Oregon named Haystack Rock, including two off the Oregon Coast. One is in Tillamook County off Pacific City, next to Cape Kiwanda,^[1] and the other is in Coos County near Bandon.^[2]

Haystack Rock seen from Cannon Beach

Geology

Composed of basalt, Haystack Rock was formed by lava flows emanating from the Grand Ronde Mountains 10 to 17 million years ago. The lava flows created many of the Oregon coast's natural features, including Tillamook Head, Arch Cape, and Saddle Mountain. Haystack Rock was once joined to the coastline but years of erosion have since separated the monolith from the coast. Three smaller, adjacent rock formations to the south of Haystack Rock are collectively called "The Needles".

Ecology

Haystack Rock was granted Marine Garden status by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in 1990. Collecting plants or animals is strictly prohibited. Climbing above the mean high tide level (barnacle line) disturbs nesting birds and is not allowed. The Haystack Rock Awareness Program is a volunteer association which conducts educational seminars at the rock during low tide between May and September.

Recreation

Haystack Rock from Hwy 101 pullout south of Cannon Beach

Visitors to Haystack Rock can view many species of marine wildlife in their natural habitat during low tide. The thin strip of rock and sand that connects it to the beach at these times features many tide pools. The area surrounding the rock is popular for picnicking, kite-flying, and bird-watching. Artists and photographers can be found capturing the beauty of Haystack Rock on canvas or on film. Haystack Rock is one of the most identifiable geological formations of Oregon. Many people each year become temporarily trapped on Haystack Rock when high tide engulfs the rock in water, necessitating rescue by the United States Coast Guard or local authorities. Oregon's beaches are publicly owned, and there are several hotels along the beachfront within walking distance of Haystack Rock, making the area congested with tourists during the high season (May through September). Visitors during the winter months will find a desolate, wet, windswept terrain, which many also appreciate.

Popular culture

Haystack Rock can be seen in the opening scene of The Goonies, when the Fratellis are fleeing from the police and then enter a race on the beach. Haystack Rock can be seen in the background. Later in the film you can see the Haystack Rock again when Mikey is pointing out some rocks in the distance.
Haystack Rock can also be seen in the 1979 movie 1941, directed by Steven Spielberg. The rock is particularly out of place, as the setting is supposed to be the California coast.
Haystack Rock can be seen in the movie Kindergarten Cop, during the carnival scene later in the movie.

Update, in moderation :)

2009-04-01T07:19:00.000-07:00

Ok, Keith made E7!! Which means he's getting promoted. Enlisted only goes up to E9 so he's made it 7/9 ranks in 8 years!! Yay Keith. He's going to be a Sergeant First Class, as soon as his number comes up. It's a list that is chosen once a year by a board that goes over all the Staff Sergeants and chooses a certain amount to promote. His batch number is 65 and we know that at the very latest he'd get promoted by the end of 2009. I'm really proud of him!
More Keith news, he's not going anywhere in 2009. :) That means no deployment this year!!!
Kim news: still waiting on my job. and waiting. and waiting.
My cousin Jimmy is here visiting which is fun. Poor kid came up for his spring break and it snowed the day after he got here!!! Too funny.
Got a new buffet hutch, which rocks!!! It fits all my china & special nick-nacks with room to spare!!! It's IKEA and would have cost around 250.00 but I got it on craigslist for 150!! Woohoo.

We are going to another Marriage Retreat this month. This one is a civilian retreat that's free for military and is in Cannon Beach, OR...right on the coast. Here's some pics from the website of what we get to enjoy. :) I can't wait to hug one of these huge trees!! And those massive rocks are called Haystack Rocks, home to tons of wildlife, from starfish & urchins to puffins!! I'll wiki it and post more about it.

o

h

Then from April 26-May 3 we will be in Fayetteville NC at Fort Bragg for the Army Family Action Plan Conference. The kickass part is that it's all paid for by the army, airfare, lodging, food, rental car, all of it, for both of us! I'm hoping my BFF in GA will drive up to see me since we're staying a couple extra days after the conference to explore. :)

Ok, here are some March pictures. The ones I promised of our garage shelving and probably a few spares thrown in.

Here's our new shelving:

Kate & I at Point Defiance

Some of our wonderful weather

Me on Kate's birthday

That one day...

2009-03-29T19:18:00.000-07:00

Kate did this and I read it so I've been tagged! If you read it you're tagged.

1) When was your wedding day? July 6, 2002

2) What day of the week was it? Saturday

3) Did you get married in a church? Kind of, we did a small church ceremony that morning and the big wedding outside that afternoon.

4) How many in your wedding party? 14, 6 bridesmaids, 6 groomsmen, 1 flowergirl & 1 ring bearer

6) How many guests were invited to your wedding? I can't remember

7) How long did you wait to Tie The Knot after your proposal? A year and 2 days

8) Who did you hire as your photographer & videographer? some jackass out of Reno for pics, no video

9) Did you have a DJ or a band? DJ

10) Did your father walk you down the aisle? Yes.

11) What color were the bridesmaid dresses & groomsmen vests? Bridesmaids each wore a different pastel dress, flower girl wore pastel purple, groomsmen were in black w/silver vests

12) Who was your Maid Of Honor/Best Man? Jessica Barrington & Katie Hess, & Tony Primeaux

13) Did you have a Bridal Shower? Yeah at my Grandma's house

14) What type of limo did you get? We didn't have a limo.

15) Where did you go for your Bachelorette/Bachelor Party? Jessica's House

16) What type of wedding gown/tux did you two wear? White, scalloped lace along the bottom of the bottice and skirt, t-shirt length sleeves and kind of squared neckline and lace & beading all over it

17) How was the weather? HOT

18) Where did you go on your Honeymoon? We moved to TX in a ryder truck 2 days after the wedding so a couple years later after Keith's deployment we took a 3 day weekend to san antonio and counted that as our honeymoon.

19) What was your favorite part of your wedding day? Our reception was awesome

20) How long have you been married? 6 Years, 8 months, 23 days!!

21.What was your favorite part about planning the wedding? The shopping :)

22. What was your least favorite part of the planning? The fact that Keith wasn't home to plan with us because he was away at training...

...Later...

2009-03-21T11:01:00.001-07:00

Sorry, I forgot to talk about the deployment issue. I"ll write when we know more. We just know he'll be going within the year. :)

Gosh, I'm behind

2009-03-20T21:43:00.000-07:00

I just realized I haven't really posted since the day we went to Portland!! I'm bad. We had a great time in Portland and got to see Marcus for a few hours. He showed us around Portland and it was really cool to hang out with him in his neck of the woods.
I got a job!! I haven't started working yet and don't even know when I'll be starting (which is really frustrating the hell out of me!!) but it's a great job. It's as a "Family Readiness Support Assistant" on Fort Lewis for a Stryker Brigade. It's more money than Keith makes a year which pisses him off (not really lol) and I can set my own hours as long as I pull 8/day and 40/week. It's basically doing all the stuff I've been doing as FRG leader for Keith's unit but for a different unit and as a government employee with benefits!! Here's a better explanation of the job: FRSA Article.
Keith moved from the group support battalion to 2nd battalion which is really exciting for him. It means he's part of a battalion that will deploy together, instead of in the group support battalion where he would have been sent out and attached to another battalion. This way "when he deploys" (more on that later) he'll go with guys he knows and has worked with. This we think is a good thing.
We decided that he should take a couple weeks of leave so he's been off this whole week and is off next week also. The last couple days we attacked our garage and seriously kicked its tush. We put up 16 feet of shelving across the entire back wall of the garage and played tetris with our boxes & totes of stuff. So now we can pull both cars in the garage. We could do that before but before we couldn't open the passenger side of Keith's car so if we were taking his car anywhere I had to go out into the rain (because it's ALWAYS raining here lol) and wait while he backs out before I could get in. In my mind that totally defeats the purpose of a garage lol. So now that problem is solved. I'll put a couple pix up of it soon.
I found a great little hole in the wall bookstore in our little town today and am SO EXCITED!! It's like the 1/2 of the Elko bookstore where you can turn in your books for credit...I will be cleaning out my books tomorrow!! Woot. Kate and I will be heading over there tomorrow afternoon and I plan to be reading a lot of new and exciting books this week!! :)
My little cousin Jimmy is 16 and will be coming up for his Spring break. He's getting here March 27th and staying until April 5th. I'm excited to hang out with him. He came up this last summer for a few weeks and we really enjoyed it. I might be working while he's here (please Lord let me start before then...I'm tired of waiting!!!) but with being able to set my own hours it won't really matter. He's a teenager so he'll sleep 1/2 the day away and never know I was gone!! :)
I'm exhausted. Everyone in my house is sick, except me (yes i just knocked on wood...) and Keith's got the worst cough. Finally at 2:30 this morning I Nyquil'd him into comatose silence but still couldn't get settled down. I'm headed to bed now that I've blogged. :) Love you.

Who loves candles? I do, I do!!

2009-03-18T21:18:00.000-07:00

Hi!

We’ve been offered the opportunity to do a fundraiser for our Relay for Life team through PartyLite. A consultant approached me and has put together a fundraiser for our Relay for Life team in the form of a catalog show. This is a great chance to get some neat gifts for yourself or loved ones and help out with a great cause. I’m sure cancer has touched us all in one way or another. Think about upcoming birthdays, Easter, or Mother’s Day and stock up on your spring/summer scents and decorations.

You can access the products here: http://www.partylite.biz/sites/tanscandles/productcatalog.

If you’d like to order anything, please email me with the item #, and how you’d like to pay for your order and fill out an order form and get back to you with a total.

We have the chance to earn up to 35% of the show total for our Relay for Life team, all to benefit the American Cancer Society.

I’ve have the March specials and you can either see them on the site under Special Offers. Scroll down till you see March Guest Specials. These are some great products at unbelievable prices and you can order as many as you’d like. No more than one of each item can be ordered on a single order form but if you’d like a couple we can split it into two orders to make it happen!

Keep in mind that PartyLite is a great company, with great products and that this will go to help the American Cancer Society, which I’m sure means something to all of us!!

The show closes March 29^th. Payment (check or card) can be held until April 1^st if needed. Please have all orders to me by March 28^th so we can total up before I have to turn it in!!!

Thanks for helping us out with this!!

All My Best,

Kimberly

primeaux@fairpoint.net

Favorite quote of the day so far

2009-02-28T07:12:00.000-08:00

It's 7:43 and we're getting ready to go to Portland with Kate & Adam. Already we have a favorite quote of the day...and we've barely even started our day.
Kate turns to Adam and says: WAS THAT SOUND YOUR MOUTH OR BAILEYS BUTT??
*Bailey is our German Shepherd. Rest assured we investigated...it was Bailey's butt.

:)

Mock Dining In Photos

2009-02-19T22:09:00.000-08:00

Katie and I went to a dinner at the American Lake Community Center on North Fort Lewis on the 17th. It was a "mock dining in" which makes fun of the dining in tradition in the Army. We were there with Keith's unit, the 1st Special Forces Group, Airborne and our unit theme for the event was "First In Asia" since that's our area of responsibility. Katie and I rented Kimonos from a local costume shop and had a great time!!

RELAY FOR LIFE

2009-02-15T11:12:00.001-08:00

Join my RELAY FOR LIFE team or DONATE by going to the following site:
http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY09GW?px=7541542&pg=personal&fr_id=14579

2009-02-14T15:21:00.000-08:00

Hi. :) Nothing much to report here. Keith's been gone for 16 days now and we have 9 to go!! He's been on lockdown so I haven't heard a thing from him since Superbowl Sunday. :P

I'm keeping busy, working with his unit family readiness group and trying new recipes. I've always just done what was easy but decided my cooking was boring so I'm trying new stuff now. Keith'll be totally jealous when my roommates tell him all the great stuff I cooked while he was gone...hehe. I'm about to head to the grocery store, woohoo. Hope everyone's doing great! Happy Valentine's Day!!

File 6, Pic 6

2009-02-09T21:43:00.000-08:00

TAG: go to your pictures in the 6 th file and the six picture and then blog about it!
..everyone I would have tagged was tagged by Michelle!!! :)
I took this picture in December. It's our resident volcano, Mt. Ranier. This is the view from the PX parking lot. The clouds do this a lot over Ranier. The best part of this picture is I went to see Keith right after I took this and he wouldnt let me talk or show him my picture yet because he was so excited about a picture he had taken on his phone...and it was the same view of the Mountain, clouds and everything. We laughed really hard.

New Hair Color...what do you think?

2009-02-08T00:56:00.000-08:00

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Michael Phelps is in hot water...bong water, that is...

2009-02-01T22:48:00.000-08:00

Guess even Olympic Champions get caught. What a dumbass to let someone take his picture. It's like that supermodel that let someone take her picture snorting crack...Kate something...
I mean, is it only my common sense, or everyone's...if you don't want people to know that you did something...or you know it's so wrong that you will get in trouble for it:
DON'T LET ANYONE SEE YOU DOING IT...
OR IF THEY DO SEE YOU, DON'T LET THEM TAKE YOUR PICTURE!!!
Geeze.

Keith's leaving for a bit.

2009-01-31T03:53:00.000-08:00

I have to take him to the airport here really soon. We need to leave in the next 5 minutes actually...He's going to SERE Training, which stands for Survival, Evasion, Resistance & Escape... Its a Special Forces Prisoner of War training at Ft. Rutger, Alabama...
This is what I found online when I looked up what it is:
You'll learn what plants are safe to eat, how to do things like construct shelter, build a fire, make rudimentary tools to help you do things like hunt, fish and defend yourself. You'll learn a lot about human anatomy and how cold, heat, wind and weather will affect your chances for survival and rescue. You'll learn how to signal your rescuers and how to leave natural signs that the enemy wont recognize, but a satellite or a reconnaissance aircraft will, so they know your alive. You'll learn how to conduct yourself if you become a prisoner of war, methods for withstanding mental and physical interrogation and how to communicate with your fellow POWs if the opportunity arises.

Our friends that have gone to this course before him said this:
*You'll be locked in solitary confinement for around 3 days, in a box or small room thats so dark you can't see your own hand.
*You'll be starved and lose an average of 25 lbs in this 3 weeks.
*You'll eat bugs, snakes, plants and have to evade and survive in the wilderness for as long as you can.
*You can't have any contact with your family for 3 weeks (which is in fact 2 weeks longer than Keith and I have ever had to go with no contact...)
*You'll be abused, mentally and physically and pushed to a limit you didn't even know you had....

I'm scared for him and scared for me...I don't want to be this alone. Of course I have Kate & Adam and my wonderful roomates but still, when he's gone, I feel alone anyways...

Marie

2009-01-25T21:16:00.000-08:00

I'm still here. :)
I'm finishing the pictures this morning and will post after that. Love you Marie!!

Oh January...

2009-01-13T10:43:00.000-08:00

Lets see, whats new?

I'm trying to post more often, can you tell? I love that we can keep in touch on this site from all over the country and love that I get to know what is going on with my kick@$$ family even though we live a life that moves and moves and moves!!
We are getting roommates. A good friend of ours and his wife are moving in with us either until they find a place of their own near us or until they go to his training class in Virginia in July. He works with Keith and she is a lawyer who is licenced in Oregon but is taking the bar for Washington in February. We're excited to get to spend more time with them. They're really good people and it will help all involved out to share rent and save some dough!! They've been bringing stuff out to our house for a week or so and are most likely going to be there full time either today or tomorrow as they have to be out of their place by Thursday!

I got a random interview call last week and have had 2 interviews for the job since then. I'm hoping to hear today if I got the job and am really hoping I did because it would be awesome!! It's a job on post with a Medical Brigade that just redeployed to the states. Its a Family Readiness Support Assistant position at the Brigade level, which is basically what I do for Keith's unit as a volunteer but at a higher level. It's a Government job, which means great pay, benefits and hours and its at a unit that's only 2 or so streets over from Keith's compound so we would still be able to see each other and such. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high but I also know I'm totally qualified and have tons of experience in this and they'd be crazy not to hire me. :) We shall see. If not it's okay because I'll continue on with Keith's unit so either way I'm sure I'll survive.

Katie and Adam have gotten pretty much settled I think. It's so cool to have them close by. I'm at the Ft Lewis library now and have been texting with Katie all morning and just decided to go over there after the meeting I have today and visit her and I'm still giddy that I can do that! She lives just down the freeway from here and its soo cool!

Keith and I (and possibly our roommates) will be gone this weekend to another Marriage Retreat put on by his unit. We're going back to the same place the last one was, Skamania Lodge in Stevenson Washington. You can check it out at http://www.skamania.com/. I'm excited, even though we've already been to this location its a great place so it doesn't hurt at all to go back and its all free so who in their right mind would complain?!

Katie and I just signed up for a day trip to the Seattle Premium Outlets in February so it will be a lot of fun to go, just the 2 of us, and shop shop shop. The guys will be working so we don't even have to feel bad for leaving them home. Of course we'll have to pretend we feel bad that they have to work but our husbands are pretty smart and will probably see through us anyways!!

Ok I'm off to run errands and go to my meeting and then I'm headed home to clean the house and put together our unit newsletter!! Joy of joys.

I'm also going to finish editing our Elko Trip/Christmas/New Years photos by this weekend so I'll post the walmart link on here when they're uploaded. Be prepared...there are literally hundreds...

xoxo.

I did it!!!

2009-01-09T07:44:00.000-08:00

This morning I reached my first goal in my weight loss journey!! I've officially lost 20 lbs!!!!!! I can't believe it. Wow. Ok, next goal...to hit 240 and get horse back riding lessons...cuz I'll be light enough to ride!!! Ok, 10 lbs to go!!

Rain rain, go away unless I don't have to go anywhere...

2009-01-07T15:44:00.000-08:00

It's raining...again...or still...ugh. I don't mean ugh like I hate the rain, I just hate going out in it instead of sitting at home with cocoa watching it happen outside!
December was a fun month for us. Keith did a jump early in the month and it was awesome. He did a tailgate jump from a Chinook helicopter. The weather was horrible but it cleared up at the last minute and he got to jump after all.
A friend of ours was turning 21 while we were all going to be gone for Christmas leave so we had a suprise party for her before we all left. We used it as a Christmas gift exchange and had a banner up and had another friend do a cake for her. She was really surprised and loved it!
We went home to Elko for Christmas and my birthday and had a blast. We hung out with a ton of family, did a birthday party for me (hosted by my amazing mother!!), Christmas Eve with my parents and mom's side of the family and then Christmas with Keith's family. We did a sledding day with my kick-ass cousins and spent lots of "play time" with our niece & nephew. All in all it was awesome!
We drove down to Elko from Yelm and what an experience. Dunno if you've noticed by the northwest got its butt kicked by Mother Nature the entire 2nd half of December. Oregon was terrible to drive through and we were headed off the road more than we were on it. It was terrifying and I hated it! The first day of travel we ended up stopped in Baker City Oregon for the night because they were closing the highway. We were exhausted so it wasn't a bad thing. We got to Elko in good time the next day so it all ended well!
The trip home went a lot smoother. We headed home on New Years Eve and stopped in Boise to have lunch and exchange gifts with Keith's sister Jennifer. We headed on and after the weather turned against us we stopped for the night in adorable Pendleton Oregon. Its a great little town that was an Oregon Trail stop. We got a room at a Rustic Motel that called itself a Lodge...lavender sprigs on the bed and all. We went to a local bar called Crabbys for dinner and a couple games of pool and called it an early night.
Katie & Adam got all moved in up here and are having fun settling in and exploring. Keith and I are LOVING it!! Its so cool to have them close.
I'm off to clean the house and do wifey stuff. :) Happy New Year!

I'll post the link to December's pictures when I get them all done & uploaded.

Heading Home!!

2008-12-18T22:46:00.000-08:00

Apparently the First Special Forces (Airborne) don't like to work in the snow and ice so Keith has been called 3 days in a row now to not come into work. Works out nicely for us though; we've had some down time and been able to get ready for our trip, mostly stress free. The best part is they called him tonight and said no work tomorrow so we're going to sneak out of the area a day early and best circumstances we will be in Elko Friday night.
Our cell phone is 360-951-7959 so give me a call if you wanna hang out. xoxo

Catching up...

2008-12-05T14:20:00.001-08:00

I've finally found a few minutes to catch up on my Blog world. I find free time more often than it seems but it always goes in another direction. I always take time to read up on what everyone's up to but hardly ever take time to update my own blog. I'll have to be better about that...tis the season for resolutions after all, right?

Keith and I are both busy. Keith's working hard as usual and spends his spare time playing on the Wii or helping me with my various tasks. We rented a cool game called Da Blob (I think) and have been playing that a lot. We also got Mario Party 8...which we weren't supposed to do because I had forgotten I put it on our Christmas wish list and apparently someone had already gotten it for us so I'm getting coal this year for Christmas. :(

I'm still acting as the Battalion Family Readiness Group Leader and that has kept me way way busy. I'm the go-to for any family issues or any Battalion activities for over 300 soldiers so they keep me very busy. We have over 500 kids in our Battalion alone so we're working on lots of kids activities and things for the next quarter. We had a huge fundraiser this week, it took about 6 weeks of planning and then the morning of, all He!! broke loose, everything changed and we had to scramble for 2 days to make it all work. It was a bummer because one of those days Katie and her friends were here and I wasn't able to get away to hang out with them like we planned. We also missed out on the big joint Canadian/US Airborne Jump that they were sticking around to see because the air force gave us a broken plane and they had to cancel the jump. Silly air force...

Lets rewind a bit...

Keith's parents came in for Thanksgiving and were here for a few days. We had a lot of fun and a lot of yummy food, relaxed a bit and really enjoyed the visit. Keith's dad brought a couple of his hand guns up with them so we went out shooting one day and it was great. We also went to a Thanksgiving meal at Keith's unit's dining facility the day before Thanksgiving and that was really neat because Keith's parents got to meet Keith's chain of command and see his world from an insider's view instead of just driving around post and having places pointed out to them. :)

Our Thanksgiving was nice. It was just Keith, his parents & I and very low key. I cooked and we played Wii. That's about the extent of it. Keith's mom was quite taken with the Wii and I've never seen bewildered like Keith's dad's face when Connie asked for a Wii for Christmas...priceless!!

Katie and 2 of her awesome friends came up the day my inlaws left and stayed with us while they ran house hunting errands for Katie's upcoming move. We got to visit with them and it was really nice. Monday we took them to Family Day at Keith's unit compound and they got to shoot some kickass SF/Airborne weapons. I'll post pictures soon. I'm at the Lewis library right now so I can't get to them for this post. We got to shoot grenade launchers, a big rifle and a Machine Gun. Too cool. I didn't hold the grenade launcher right and got quite a battle bruise on my arm but its more of a trophy than anything else.

At this point we're just trying to keep ourselves busy so the next 2 weeks don't go by slowly. We'll be pulling out of WA on the 20th (God willing) and driving down to Elko that day. We will be in town for close to 2 weeks I believe. We are SO EXCITED!! This will be our first Christmas home since we got married. I think I've been home for 1 but he hasn't so he's just as excited as I am!! We'll be spending Christmas Eve with his family and Christmas day with mine, and I've heard something about cake & ice cream for my birthday on the 23rd so stay tuned for that info!

I'm hoping for snow in Elko while we're there...after our travel down and before we travel home would be wonderful!! I"m dying to make a snow man, go sledding and freeze my buns off!! We'll be staying with Grandma Peggy and are really excited to spend some much needed down time with our families!

Ok, I have to go get Keith now and go to the Army vs. Navy football game here on post so I'd better sign off. I'll post pics soon of the last month or so. LOVE YA!! XOXO

Great lesson passed on by a friend today...

2008-12-05T14:01:00.000-08:00

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly.

So I asked, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!" This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, "The Law of the Garbage Truck." He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day.

Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so.....

"Love the people who treat you right, Pray for the ones who don't."

Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!

Twilight Review

2008-11-22T23:55:00.000-08:00

Ok, first off and most important, don't go into this movie looking for it to be exactly like the book. You 'll be disappointed. The movie is good as long as you remember that the basic plot line and things are there and enjoy it for a movie.
The characters are build well, the romance is there, the fight scene and the scene before it where we're introduced to our trackers are tense and well done. I enjoyed it, having read the books and Keith enjoyed it, having not read the books. There are parts that are completely different but if you think about it they're that way in order to fit everything they need into a 2 hour movie.
Overall, an enjoyable experience that left me waiting for the next movie. Well done.

Waiting on a Twilight review??? ;)

2008-11-22T10:15:00.000-08:00

Our tickets are for tonight at 3...I'll review right after. Love you all!! Be patient Marie darling!! :)

2008-11-21T14:02:00.000-08:00

Countdown to national "watch your neck day" haha

2008-11-07T01:33:00.001-08:00

Ahhh, October. :)

2008-10-31T22:56:00.000-07:00

Holy Crap!

2008-10-31T07:35:00.000-07:00

I am 1/2 a lb away from being down 20 lbs!!! HOLY COW!! People are starting to notice now...this is amazing. Thanks for all your support everyone!! Slimmer Kim...here I come!

Since I'm losing weight I'm hoping I'll get pregnant so...

2008-10-18T20:21:00.000-07:00

Our someday nursery, set for a boy or a girl!

Updated weight loss tracker...

2008-10-18T06:02:00.000-07:00

Down another 1.5...total of 15.6. :) Woohoo!! Ok off to work, damn its early. xoxo

No no no stop licking!!!

2008-10-15T20:12:00.000-07:00

Damn dog.
So heres an update. :)
Work is fun. Im loving what I do, the people, with the exception of a few, are super nice and have welcomed me and taught me a lot. We check in a lot of patients every day and I'm pretty much set on all the different forms and what to do with them so I am almost done with training.
Keith took me out yesterday and we got a few fun scrubs since I have to wear scrubs and with the color pants we got I can pretty much put every top with every bottom so thats cool.
Today was my first weekday off and I have to admit I loved it. On my way to work yesterday I was dreading the day but then decided that since I had today off I could survive yesterday. :) I found a gas station right next to my office with gas for $3.09/gallon...wow...yay!! We went out to dinner last night with some new people in the unit and had fun. They're super nice.
Today I met a friend who was gone for the last week or so at Big Lots and then we went to Panera and Costco. Then I headed back out to Yelm and found a great craft shop and got my nails done at a nice nail place. Its just one lady and she turned her garage into a nice shop and has been doing nails for 15 years. She did acrylic nails on me with orange, red and green leaves on them with some silver glitter. They look great. I love it.
Then I hit the grocery store and didnt spend as much money as I thought I had. Now I'm doing laundry and watching TV with the honeybuns.
Life is good. :)

How are you??

My first day

2008-10-09T20:35:00.000-07:00

I'm exhausted. I went to work today from 10-7 which means i left this morning at 8:55 and got home tonight at 8. We had over 130 patients come in today and its my job to check them in, give them the paperwork they need signed and update all their information. We're going completely digital so we have scanned copies of all the orders and insurance cards so that makes it easy.

My schedule will be 10-7 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday and 7-3:30 on Saturdays. After a couple weeks my weekday schedule will change from 10-7 to 12-9. Long hours but hey, its money .:)

I haven't slept well in a couple days so I'm headed to bed. Night loves!

Job

2008-10-01T16:56:00.000-07:00

So, I finally got a job! 6 months of off again, on again job searching and finally one came through!
I now work for South Sound Radiology as a Receptionist. I get to wear scrubs to work which rocks for comfort, make $11/hr, work a steady 40 a week and can't wait. My work days are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday from 12 noon-9 p.m. It's odd but its a job. I start on the 9th. :) Yay!
So, anyone know of a good place to get scrubs??

Monday Interview

2008-09-29T14:00:00.000-07:00

So I went this morning to "interview" at Remedy Staffing Inc. They're a temp, temp-to hire and permanent job placement service. It wasn't like a typical interview where they ask you all about you and all that. It was basically a bunch of paperwork to fill out and then a safety movie to watch and then they told me what they had that fit my qualifications and asked me if I wanted recommended to these jobs. Of course I said yes. :) Then they email my resume and information to the company that requested someone and we wait and see. They recommended me for a couple of full time, temp-to-hire, medical receptionist jobs and I'm excited to hear from them. I'm not really interested in "temp" work but temp to hire is better than nothing! I guess what that means for these places they recommended me at is like a probationary 90 days and then if they like me and I like them, we keep it up. Until the end of that probation I technically work for Remedy Staffing and they're the ones that pay me and all that. Its neat too because I can terminate at any time, any of the assignments I'm give and don't have to explain myself and all that happens is we find something else better suited to my needs and qualifications. The downside to that is I can also be terminated at any time with no explanation, but I don't see that happening. Hopefully I hear from someone by the end of the week because both the places that they really think I'd be good for are needing someone to start right away so it would be really cool to be working next week. :)

The only other iron in that fire is a bank teller job that Key bank is considering me for but the downside to that is the hiring manager for the specific location they are hiring at is away from work for a few weeks so we wouldn't know anything until she gets back anyways. Everything else I've applied for I haven't gotten but as much as that sucks and takes a punch at the pride, its been a learning experience because I can look back now at interviews that I thought I nailed and kind of pick them apart to see what went wrong. :)

Cross your fingers that I get a job this week. That would really help things out. :) Happy Fall!!

Results

2008-09-28T09:26:00.000-07:00

OMG. I just weighed in and am down a total of 13.8 since August 28th...not even a whole month. None of my pants will stay up and my wedding ring just spins around my finger. Yay!

Makes my heart sad...

2008-09-26T09:52:00.001-07:00

Really cool beauty tips...

2008-09-25T10:54:00.001-07:00

1. Powder Your Roots

If your hairline starts to look greasy, dig up a big, fluffy makeup brush, and dip it into a pot of loose powder. Tap it once on the back of your hand to remove the excess, then dust it over your roots. It mops up oil and blends into your strands, so no one will know you didn't shower.

2. Scent Strands with Perfume
Spray a light shot of fragrance into the bristles. Run it through strands from roots to ends and your hair will smell amazing throughout the day.

3. Cure Calluses with Vaseline
Slather on the petroleum jelly, and put on socks before bed to dissolve tough calluses overnight.

More from Cosmopolitan.com

Hair That Gets You What You Want

Find Your Perfect Jeans Style

The Sexiest Shoes for Fall

More from Yahoo! Shopping

Back to School Beauty and Makeup

Back to School Fashions for Girls

4. Spot-Treat Smudges
Dip a cotton swab in eye-makeup remover, and trace it along your lids to erase any slipups or goofs when there's no time to redo your whole look.

5. Fix a Flushed Face
If you turn red and stay that way after exercising (like seriously red for hours, even though you're healthy and hydrated), take an antihistamine like Benadryl when you leave the gym to reduce redness.

6. Soften Your Bod with Avocado
Take a ripe avocado, remove the pit and skin, and mash it up in a bowl. Slather it all over your body, let it sit for 20 minutes, then rinse off. Your skin will be so soft — avocado is a natural moisturizer.

7. Super-Glue a Nail
Instead of tearing off your nail when it breaks, put a tiny dab of Super Glue over the split, and paint a generous layer of your favorite nailpolish shade over it. Go for an opaque option (like red, purple, or coral) to camouflage and seal the crack.

8. Use Makeup Remover on Stubborn Lipstick
Don't try to rub off red lipstick (which makes it smear across your mouth — not so sexy). Instead, take a cotton ball or tissue, dip it in makeup remover, and just dab to erase the dark stain fast.

9. Tame Brows with Eye Cream
Pat any kind of rich eye cream over brows to help keep them hydrated and banish those icky white specks that look like dandruff.

10. Buff with Baking Soda
If you find yourself streaking (not glowing) after applying self-tanner, put some baking soda on a loofah, and scrub away the stripes.

11. Brush on Hair Spray
For the final step of your blow-dry, spray hair spray onto your brush, and run it through strands from roots to tips. This way, your do isn't so plastered and stiff but still holds volume and shine.

12. Boost Body Lotion with Baby Oil
If you're craving shiny legs that aren't greasy, blend a drop of baby oil into your normal body lotion for extra luster.

13. Dab Essential Oil on a Hangnail
Put on apricot oil, the kind found in health-food stores, to protect cuticles from turning rough and raggedy.

14. Quell a Cold Sore with Cream
When a cold sore is coming on, dab a bit of thick moisturizer, like Aquaphor, over it to prevent it from getting worse.

15. Freeze Your Eyeliner
If the tip of your eyeliner pencil crumbles and smears on your lids, store the liner in the freezer for 15 minutes before use so the tip is firm and goes across your skin smoothly.

16. Use Toothpaste on a Zit
Use just a pea-size amount. Let sit for 15 minutes to absorb the oil so the pimple won't get more clogged, then wash off.

17. Heat Up Your Curler
If you have stick-straight lashes, try blasting your metal eyelash curler with a hair dryer for a couple seconds to heat it up so your lashes bend more easily. And use a waterproof mascara. The formula dries faster than other mascaras, so it sets the curl more effectively.

18. Use Soap Without Water
You know those fancy bars that are actually too pretty to use? Toss them in your underwear or tee-shirt drawers to make your skin smell delicious.

19. Groom Brows with a Toothbrush
Mist an (unused!) toothbrush or eyebrow comb with hair spray to help flatten and tame unruly brows.

20. Put Diaper-Rash Cream on Dry Spots
Slather on a thick layer of diaper-rash cream to heal cracked elbows and feet.

21. Lubricate Your Lashes
An easy way to draw attention to your eyes without putting on a pile of makeup is to comb petroleum jelly lightly through the tips of eyelashes to get a sexy, subtle sparkle.

22. Spike Lotion with Bronzer
If you don't have time to book a self-tanning session, mix a few pumps of body bronzer with regular hand lotion and pat it on your legs for a gradual dose of sexy, beachy color.

23. Air-Dry Your Curls
Let your hair dry indoors before going out in the cold. The curls will be really bouncy and piecey-perfect.

24. Press a Tea Bag on Splotches
If your skin is sensitive or just looking irritated and puffy for some reason, steep a bag of green tea for a minute or two, let it cool down, and dab it over your face. The antioxidants in the tea take down inflammation.

25. Shave with Conditioner
Ran out of shaving cream? Do double duty by coating your stems with a thick hair conditioner. It softens the hair so it's easier to shave off and makes legs feel amazingly silky.

26. Amp Shine with Vinegar
Mix one part vinegar with four parts carbonated water, and soak dry hair. Leave on for 15 minutes before you shampoo to lock in shine and combat dullness.

27. Exfoliate Your Pits
If your underarms start to look dry and flaky, an easy trick is to exfoliate them with a gentle face scrub to keep that skin pretty when going sleeveless.

28. Customize Your Body Lotion
Instead of shelling out for an expensive perfumed body product, you can make your own by pouring a few drops of fragrance into any scent-free lotion. Rub it on-the scent will last for hours.

29. "Brush" with Mouthwash
If you're too wiped out after a late night of partying to clean your teeth, rinse with water and mouthwash, then use a dry toothbrush on the area where your teeth hit your gums.

30. Make an Egg-White Mask
To revive tired, dull skin without hitting the spa table, try this: Crack open an egg in a bowl, separate the yolk, and use the egg whites to make a face mask. The proteins help to heal and restore skin's moisture. Leave it on for five minutes, and rinse off.

This will explain that blank look a man gets so often...

2008-09-24T16:46:00.001-07:00

Notes from the marriage retreat

2008-09-24T15:22:00.001-07:00

This retreat really helped us understand the way the other thinks so I'm going to summarize for you. :)

This is from the class called "How to Have Great Sex".

Men imprint on the place/way/situation where they first had sex (hotel, car, on top, on bottom...) which is why its so easy for men to have a hard time later in life. He talked about a man who loved his wife but couldn't "perform" unless they were in a hotel room. He had been single for a while and had meaningless sex in hotel rooms with women and had imprinted that in his mind as sexy or hot so plain old lovin' with the wifey at home just didn't do it. He had to work really hard to retrain his brain to appreciate the wifey and that plain old lovin'.
Women imprint on the emotion/feelings/actions after sex. Thats why a woman can feel hurt if her hunny falls asleep right after sex and doesn't automatically roll over to snuggle. If when she first experienced sex, her partner was a cuddler after, she'll always relate that to what is supposed to happen.
Basically all this was to say not to have sex before marriage. If you have loveless quickies with people you date before you find your one & only and get married you'll imprint on those places, feelings and such. If your first times are with the person you'll be having sex with for the rest of your life you imprint on them, their actions, behaviors and that is what will matter and make it sexy later on down the line.
He taught the men that instead of just rolling over, nudging the woman and saying "you want some?" (LOL) they should lay still for a minute chanting "be nice to the girl" over and over in their head and then approach her in a nice, romantic way. This will lead to less rejection and name calling and more lovin'.
He taught the women that the smartest way to get a man to do/buy/say what we want is to barter with him. Its the reward system. Say you want to teach your dog to sit. You know your dog will learn faster if he/she is rewarded for this behavior. Men are very similar, as we all know. So, barter: dangle what he's going to "gain" before you ask for what you want. Such as: honey, remember that little red number I got for valentine's day last year? He'll no doubt remember it. Now you've got his attention. This next part is very important. It's all in the approach. Say, "want me to wear that tonight?". He will no doubt be practically panting by now and very enthusiastic about the idea. Now you drop the bomb. "Tell you what babe, if you'll pick up cat food and check the mail on the way home, you'll get that little red number tonight." Ding!! He will not only pick up cat food that night but (in my experience) he will call you right after he gets the cat food to make sure you know that he got the cat food which he remembered to do all by himself (might even ask if remembering it means he gets a 2nd treat) and he'd be home in 1/2 an hour!!

Another topic he touched was the 5 things necessary to having great sex in your marriage:

Exclusivity: 1 man focuses on 1 woman. Here he went into society today and the toilet our minds are swirling around in. He spoke about how common porn is in society today and how much damage it can do to a relationship. Here's where the exclusivity comes in. If your hubby (or wife I guess) is addicted to porn, or even not as deep into it as addicted but frequents porn, most likely he will start asking for those small things he sees on his porn and will sometimes even stoop to thinking about the girl in the porn while he is with you. 1 man, devoted to 1 woman means his sexual experiences lie with you (and even maybe with rosy palm) and not with some late night tv sexcapade or internet site. Exclusivity. :)
Privacy: This comes into play mostly for couples with children. Basically, children are the "anti-sex". :) Moms are touched all day long by the kids wanting and needing so when hubby comes home he gets the "touch me and die" look/attitude from mom. This can ruin a relationship. Women focus more on being a mommy than on how men don't change during the day and still want touched and attended to at the end of the day. Men focus more on each individual task during the day and not on how the woman might just want to be left alone after a day of wants, needs, peanut butter and jelly. Solve this by helping the girl rest for a while, take care of the kids for her so she can re-charge and be wifey that night.
Time: Men need help lasting longer and women women take longer. So you have to work together in order to stay together in your loving. Men need to focus on the girl for a while before she focuses on him in order to stay on the same page and "finish the book" at the same time. Women need to help the man stay focused on prolonging while at the same time enjoying the attention she is receiving.
Foreplay: This kind of plays into what we said above. Basically, men are microwaves and women are crock pots. He has to slow roast the girl. The average length of a man's sexual experience is 2 minutes (no joke). The average length of a woman's sexual experience is 14-17 minutes. Men always have the desire to have sex, women don't, so men need to arouse the desire in the woman, which is hard for a man because men are the biggest fans of instant gratification. (Hence the 2 minutes...) The best foreplay starts 24 hours before the "act". He said that men tend to just want to grab the coconuts...they have to remember that in order to get the most coconuts off the branch, he has to climb the palm tree slowly and take his time. (women are the palm tree...you can imagine what the coconuts are)
Romance: This means that sex in marriage is not just physical. An orgasm is different from "ejaculation". That plays into the porn/masturbation/exclusivity part of this also. An orgasm is a physical, emotional and hormonal response to your mate. Ejaculation, which we are all capable of is just a mental and physical response to stimulus. If you romance your spouse you're going to experience orgasms instead of ejaculations, which are much more satisfying.

A couple other points he made:

Some therapists have actually been known to recommend having an affair to improve your marriage. Culture today says that the key to great sex is lust and fantasy, which we all know doesn't work outside of Hollywood.
On an episode of Family Fued where the contestants were all soap opera stars the following question was asked, "How can you improve your relationship with your spouse?" All of their answers were lust based: watch porn together, have an affair, etc. This is because their jobs are so filled with lust that they take that on in their minds as the norm.
Its a big deal to the initiator of sex to be turned down. A man can take rejection 3 times before he stops trying. For a woman its more of an emotional rejection. This is where most affairs start. Generally affairs start because of an emotional connection, not a physical one. Picture this, "bob" comes home and initiates sex with his wife. She turns him down...repeat...repeat again. After this "bob" stops trying. His secretary notices that he's not in a very good mood lately or he looks sad and initiates that contact with him. "gee bob, you don't look to happy today, is everything okay?" Bob then sees someone who is interested in him, which he's not seeing at home.....and then it starts.
He also challenged all the guys to focus only on their spouse for 30 days, i.e no porn or fantasies and no masturbation and see what happens. He says "she will come alive from the attention and exclusivity. Makes sense to me. :)

Another class we attended was How to Stay Married and Not Kill Your Spouse:

Avoid bitterness and resentment:

Women would rather receive a single rose 12 times a year than a dozen roses once a year.
Don't surprise a woman. Tell her what you've planned ahead of time so she thinks and talks about it all week leading up to the event. Every time she tells a friend "bob is taking me dancing Saturday, he arranged for a sitter & everything!!" you're getting bonus points with not only your wife but the women around her. These bonus points could come in handy next time she's venting to her friends about that dumb thing you did.
Acknowledge when she speaks. Even if its a "really?" or "wow that's cool", it will mean the world to her to know you care enough to listen.
Women: earn bonus points with sex and believing in your man. Validate his ideas, especially when he makes it a point to share with you. He's asking for validation and an ego boost, which we all know men need repeatedly throughout the day. Be his #1 fan. If you're not his #1 fan, he'll learn that he can't share his dreams and thoughts with you and will stop sharing, which cuts your communication severely. Remember, there will always be a bimbo elsewhere who will listen and validate your man, which is emotional for him...remember how affairs start??

Learn how to keep the reset button handy:

Use this button when everything is out of whack and the "scores" are out of control. When those points & bonus points are starting to control your world and your marriage, hit the reset button.
Remember that forgiveness is an act not an emotion. You'll remember and feel the pain of what was done forever but you can move past it and forgive. Forgiving means saying, "I forgive you. I'll never bring it up to you or anyone else again." Can you imagine the relief of knowing that even though you screwed up, he/she isn't going to throw it in your face somewhere down the road? I know it might be a really hard thing to do, to be the one who feels the pain but moves forward and "forgives" but it will strengthen your relationship. Just remember that if you "forgive" them now, someday you'll feel the relief of knowing they've "forgiven" you for that dumb thing you'll no doubt do somewhere down the road. Its all a 2 way road...forgive to be forgiven.
Find a way to accept the reset button. Getting help with this is okay if you need it because the forgiveness and reset buttons are critical parts of our emotional and relationship life and well being.

To end the retreat we were challenged to find somewhere quiet and memorable and to recite their "re-vows" to each other. We were then told that when we were done reciting our vows...go where the emotion takes us and remember there's nothing better than lovin' when the room is free!

The Husband Vows

Honey, I'm sorry:

For not always being the kind of husband I should be to you.
For not giving you the attention you deserve.
For being too caught up in my own world instead of "our" world.
For demanding too much and not giving enough.
For not loving you like I should.
Please forgive me.
With your love, your support, your patience and your prayers,
I will strive to be the kind of husband God expects me to be.

The Wife Vows

Honey, I'm sorry:

For not always being the kind of wife I should be to you.
For not always appreciating all that you do.
For not always being the lover I know you need.
For not always believing in your hopes and dreams.
For not loving you like I should.
Please forgive me.
With your love, your support, your patience and your prayers,
I will strive to be the kind of wife God expects me to be.

Ahhh, Monday Monday.

2008-09-22T20:45:00.000-07:00

I'm so ready for this day to be over. It started at 2:21 a.m. I woke up and couldnt get back to sleep. Keith and I were off at 5 a.m. to post where I slept in the car while he did unit combatives. I ended up going to the PX (in sweats & a sweatshirt) to get solution for the carpet steamer I borrowed and to change into the clothes I had brought with me to change into for my interviews. The first interview was a phone interview at 8:30, for a teller position at Key Bank. It went well, some simple questions about me and my behavior type and things like that. She said that if they decide I'm what they're looking for they will call me for a face-to-face interview by the end of the week.
After that I headed out to Fife for my 2nd interview at Continuant. It's a telephone line repair company. Basically I'd sit at my desk and take calls from customers, file work orders and do any minor service that I could. They handle big phone line clients, colleges, hospitals, etc. That interview went well also, once I was finished being lost and finally found the business, which had no sign to tell me it was there. I was in the interview for a total of 11 minutes though and it was a 45 minute drive to get there, so that kind of sucked.
Then I headed back to post and sat in the car for another hour or so reading a book and then Keith and I went to lunch. After lunch I headed out to my 3rd interview, at Anex Marketing. I was lost for 1/2 an hour before I was able to get the number and call for directions...yet another damn business with no sign on the street!! Grr. This was a great time in my day. I got out of the car, shut the door, was 1/2 way to the building when I realized I had just locked my keys, cell phone and all money in the car. Fabulous. So, since there was nothing I could do at that time I headed in for my interview. Turns out its for a Office Manager position for a new office they're setting up. They had 15 people interview for the 1 position and I was told that they would go back through the application/interview paperwork for everyone and pick 3 to bring back in tomorrow. Then they'd choose from there. Keith borrowed someone at work's car and came to rescue me since he had keys to the car. I decided that since I would probably be called back for a 2nd interview from at least one of these companies and I only had 1 nice business top I'd better go shopping. 1 phone call to Katie, her internet search, 15 minutes lost and a good visit later I found ROSS. I ended up with 4 nice tops for $31.00. Bonus.
I left there and headed to post and by the time I got there was called by Anex and informed that I was 1 of the 3 they wanted to come back tomorrow for a 2nd interview. They said that once they chose from the 3 they interview tomorrow the person they choose will need to come back for a last interview/informational meeting. The guy then told me to clear my schedule for tomorrow because they'll most likely be taking up a lot of my time. Yay! Because this is a new office, I have no idea where it will be and won't know until tomorrow when I learn about salary and all that. Hopefully its a good one...
So, moral of the story....been up since 2ish a.m....lost 4 times, 1 fight with a cashier at the PX, 1 set of keys locked in the car, 3 job interviews, 1 great deal on clothes and a big mac later...I'm exhausted. Goodnight. :)

Weighed In & Interviews

2008-09-19T12:17:00.000-07:00

So I weighed in, lost a couple more and am down 9.8!!!
I went to a job fair yesterday and have 3 interviews scheduled for Monday. A phone interview at 8:30, a face to face at 11:30 and another face to face at 2:15. woohoo! All 3 are full time, monday-friday only jobs. :) I'm stoked.

Obama in Elko

2008-09-18T09:53:00.001-07:00

Why I have laugh lines at 25...

2008-09-13T23:49:00.001-07:00

Its like having a 2 year old see that you are aiming a camera at them. Thank God this one is out of diapers. :)

Weight Update

2008-09-11T15:55:00.000-07:00

I'm down 8.6 now. Woohoo.

Keith's birthday weekend in Seattle

2008-09-11T15:08:00.000-07:00

We spent last weekend in Seattle with Keith's brother Tony and his wife Kellie. They flew up to go to the Mariners/Yankees game with us. Tony's a Yankees fan and Kellie's a Mariners fan so it was fun. Keith and I sided with Kellie and we (the Mariners) kicked Tony's butt. :)

The next day we got up and went to the Seattle Aquarium. I was disappointed in the aquarium. You'd think a waterfront aquarium would be great but it didnt hold a candle to the land-locked Atlanta aquarium. I hear the portland one is nice so we'll have to try that some time. My favorite part of the aquarium was the octopus. He was huge. I loved him, until I ate calamari that night...that was awkward.

After the aquarium we wandered the waterfront, walked through the Pike Place Market and had some nummy food at a place called Fishermans and headed towards our water tour. I took pictures of some of the flower booths.

Tony & Keith at Waterfront
Tony & Kellie in Ye Old Curiosity Shop

We took an Argosy Cruise that took us around the Harbor in Elliot Bay. It was an hour cruise. Tony was glad there was a bar and Keith and I took quite a few pictures of course. And we saw Sea Lions. :)

(Tony)
Keith enjoying our seats.

After our cruise we headed up to the Pacific Science Center. We only had an hour before they closed so we totally have to head back that way some time soon. Its the kind of place where there are expiraments you can do, displays you can touch and play with and a butterfly exhibit we didn't make it into.
Here's Keith lifting a meteorite..it wasn't really that heavy.
I think the chairs alone would take up all my dining room... :)
Since it was Keith's birthday we headed back down to the waterfront and had dinner at a very nice restaurant called Anthony's on Pier 66. We sat outside and watched the sun go down. It was the kind of place Keith and I would go to once every couple years, where the menu changes as the fresh fish changes and the desserts are different with the fruit thats fresh in the area. Keith had a chocolate mousy kind of dessert and I had cheesecake with fresh raspberries and peaches. Kellie's aunt joined us.

Left to Right: Me, Kellie's Aunt, Kellie, Tony & Keith (the birthday boy)

Heaven
Keith after blowing out his candle on his "cake".

The next day Keith and I spent 6 hours at the Zoo. It was a huge zoo and we had a great time but were so tired by the time we got home!

My hunny...

2008-09-04T15:02:00.001-07:00

Here's Keith enjoying his home pedi...complete with massaging soak and ice cream. What a tough guy! :)

Weigh In

2008-09-01T22:12:00.001-07:00

I think I'm going to weigh in Monday and Thursday nights. We'll see. So I weighed in tonight and I'm down another 2 1/2. Rock on.

Doctor Update

2008-08-29T13:10:00.000-07:00

So I went back to my civilian doctor and still love him. I saw him a week ago for the first time and he told me his theory, which was: It's all because of my weight. We discussed my eating habits, my activity level and lifestyle. We determined that although my activity level is down (hello...no more high school marching band and such) there's no way that without eating 12 donuts a day, which I do not do, that I should have gained 120 lbs in 6 years. So, he did a blood work panel and I was to write down everything I eat for the next week and see him again on Thursday.
When I went on Thursday we went over my blood work. Surprisingly my thyroid is messed up. I asked him how they didn't notice this before when they checked it, as I was told they did by every military doctor I've had. He said they didn't notice it because they...NEVER CHECKED IT. There's no record in my medical records of a thyroid test ever being done. Not in Texas, not in Georgia and not in Washington.
So, 6 years, 120 lbs later we finally have an answer. Totally exciting! It's going to be a bit of work of course but I feel like I can finally see the end of this tunnel.
My weight is the reason my gallbladder became diseased, my liver is in trouble, we haven't been able to get pregnant, my insomnia...all of it. And the answer to my weight issue: thyroid medication.
So, I started my new regimen of thyroid pill before I eat and appetite suppressant after. I already feel more energized. I have no desire to snack. I've been sitting here trying to figure out what I'm feeling because it's weird and I just realized its energy. My thyroid is speeding up and that is energizing my body. I've already accomplished more today than I have in weeks, washed the car, cleaned off the porch, power washed the porch, vacuumed, dusted, made breakfast, cleaned the downstairs bathroom, cleaned the kitchen, cleaned out the cat box, cleaned the coolers that have been sitting around since July needing sprayed out, took out the trash & recycle...wow. I haven't had this much energy in so long! I'm even looking forward to hitting the treadmill today. I'm going to walk to the mailbox, get my netflix that should be there and hit the treadmill. Woohoo!
I'm going to keep a weight journal and update my weight and measurements every Monday and will take monthly pictures so that WHEN this weight comes off, I can go back and see it happening. I'm going to lose this weight, get in shape, be healthy, have 4 children and live happily ever after, damn it! I deserve this!

Oh geeze.

2008-08-28T06:37:00.000-07:00

So Katie just left. She came in, woke me up, told me she loved me, and drove away from my life here. She's so brave! I could never do that, so straight faced and all by myself. I guess if I had to I could but I could never choose to.
She loves me.

I've been sitting here, crying and boobing, and listening to my house be too quiet and I realized that I have a huge fault. I become so dependent on other people. When we lived in Texas, it was Melissa, my TX BFF, then in GA it was Felicia, my GA BFF...here it was Katie. I crave someone to be my constant. I was thinking that it was so sad that she left because its so quiet here, and I'll be alone all day and yadda yadda. But I think its that I'm afraid to be so alone. Sure, Keith's here at night but by now I wanted to have rugrats running around and a full house and I don't. It's disappointing. I will miss having Katie here...no doubt. I'll miss Holly meowing and rubbing all over my leg and then being the biggest snob when I go to love on her. I'll miss knowing that Katie is "somewhere" in this house if I want to talk to her or need her. I'll miss the amazing relationship we've developed by being so close and doing everything together. I'll do my best to keep that relationship alive. But now I'm also going to have to be a big girl. I'm ashamed to say that while she was here it seemed like she was the big sister sometimes. I would just cast that thought aside with "ah, shes just a good helper" or something that is definately true but not to be used as an excuse. Katie is so good at taking care of people that I didnt even have to think about it happening.
Katie made my last 2 months here light up and I will always cherish that and be so grateful to her. I owe her for my happiness here.
Now its up to me to make it for myself and that scares me. Keith's leaving sometime in the next couple months for 2 months or so and then it will really be just me and my animals and since I've been alone before I know I can handle life but I sure don't know how I'm going to do it and handle being alone. I'm afraid I'll sink into my little pod and just kind of exist out here instead of be in the world.
I had a job interview the other day for a full time call center type job at a small pest control company. It's an hour commute but 30K we didn't have before. Katie even went to the job interview with me and sat in the car with Edward (u know what i mean Michelle) while I did the interview. I hope I get the job because that's a reason for me to leave the house regularly and meet people, get out and do something. I'm afraid that if I don't have a reason to be "out there" I'll find a reason to stay "in here".
So basically, Katie is gone. I'm afraid. Grow up Kim...right?!

2008-08-25T16:11:00.001-07:00

I'm ok. :)

Now what...

2008-08-24T20:06:00.000-07:00

So Katie's leaving. Apparently she's homesick and doesn't want to be here anymore. So now what? She'll leave me and I've made 1 friend since I've been here. Katie's my lifeline. She's my closest friend here, other than Keith. She's who I spend all my time with. Now what do I do? We've been having so much fun...getting out and doing things. Now I have no one to get out and do things with while Keith's at work. I've been applying for jobs and I probably won't get any of them, Katie's leaving, I have no friends. Life's never been so incomplete. At least I can blame the depression on the weather. :(

Olympics

2008-08-21T08:22:00.000-07:00

So I've been watching the Olympics, pretty regularly over the last week or so and I have to say I'm really enjoying it. I'm not watching the boring stuff like table tennis or shooting or whatever but to each their own. I'm officially a Michael Phelpsian, hehe and have a new love for the male divers. Wow are they "built". BUT it also makes me think about myself. These athletes can work out 8-12 hours a day and push themselves to these great lengths to be the best and I can't even seem to get off my tush to do my treadmill 1/2 an hour a day. Wow. I guess all I have to remember is that I'm not out trying to win an Olympic medal but I'm worth pushing myself and if they can give themselves 8-12 hours a day I can do 1/2 an hour for sure!! The doc wants me on the treadmill 3-4 times a week starting with 20 minutes a day and going up in 5 minute increments every week. So by Christmas I should be doing 1 hr and 50 minutes a day 4 times a week. Holy crap. I guess theres no harm in it. I'm just sooo lazy. I'm really going to have to push myself. But its worth it. I'll be healthy for the first time in like 6 years and maybe we can finally get pregnant!! (so i can gain a bunch of pregnancy weight and start over!!!) haha.

Finished.

2008-08-20T09:31:00.000-07:00

I finished the last book of the Twilight series at 2:30 a.m. Thanks Michelle for the insomnia. What a read!!! There were some parts that blew my mind. :) Nice.

Vampires & sleepovers!!

2008-08-17T12:02:00.000-07:00

So Michelle owes me some summer. Seriously, I've spent the last 2 weeks of mine burried in these Stephanie Meyer books and I'm sure I'm missing out on some wicked summer fun! Although at this point I don't really mind.
The other day I had a sleepover. My friend Breckan came out and we went swimming in the lake with Keith, ate Dijorno Garlic Bread Crust Pepperonni Pizza and watched The Bucket List. Fun.
We kind of went car shopping yesterday but are going to wait to get anything for a while. Our car is out of warrenty now and I'm not excited about having a car with no warrenty but our credit is repairing and our car isn't worth anything to trade in so we're going to save up some money and try to sell my car outright to someone else. :) Fun.
The weather here has been unusually warm. Like whoa hot. And we don't have air conditioners here because we're NOT SUPPOSED TO NEED THEM!! GET THAT MOTHER NATURE?! BACK OFF!!
Anywho, life is normalish. No complaints here.

Hmmm

2008-08-14T13:14:00.000-07:00

Our electric bill is 25.00 less this month than last month...
Gas has gone down 0.14 in 2 days here...
Keiths already off for the whole weekend...
All positive.
Good deal.

Oh boy.

2008-07-18T21:36:00.000-07:00

So I haven't written in a while. We've been kind of busy but kind of not. Have you ever had those weeks where they're over and you're going...what did I do last week? We haven't been busy overall but haven't really accomplished anything either. At least not that I can think of now.
I took on a volunteer position for the local Army Community Service on Fort Lewis. I'll be in charge of all the volunteers on post and keeping track of their hours and things like that, along with being an assistant to the head of ACS. I'm pretty excited. We even found a position on the front desk that Katie can do! Now we can work together...awesome!
Tomorrow's the Relay For Life. We're really excited to get out there. This relay is small but still so important!! We didn't manage to fund raise, which I'm really disappointed in. I shouldn't say we didn't, Katie got a donation from her in-laws!! Woohoo!! I don't think, with the way the country is right now, anyone will really care that we're coming empty handed. I am doing a raffle for some gift baskets from Mary Kay at $2/ticket and selling product out there to benefit the relay so we'll see how that goes! I'm hopeful.
Keith and I get to come home to visit next week. I'm way excited about that.
Well, apparently, Keith is physically unable to get away from his computer to let the dogs in and feed them tonight and since it's almost 10 p.m. I guess I'd better give up on him doing it and just do it myself.
Goodnight.

Accomplishment

2008-07-09T14:39:00.001-07:00

Gosh I'm so lazy. I just don't want to do anything lately. I dont want to exercise, I don't want to clean, I don't want "lovin"...I just want to be blah.
BUT today I got off my butt, pulled myself kicking and screaming away from Michelle on messenger and cleaned all 3 of my bathrooms. I had planned to vaccum the house too but I'm not sure if I can move myself to accomplish that too. Anyways, Michelle's back online. :)

Honey update

2008-07-08T13:17:00.001-07:00

So honey comes home early last night with flowers, chocolate, salmon to cook me for dinner and promises of a massage. He sits with me for 3 hours and plays cards (which he usually refuses to do) and will make me dinner tomorrow night since he came home after I ate last night. We're playing cards and he says "Honey, are we broken?" It was so cute. I told him yes but it wasn't anything we couldn't fix if we wanted to and he said he wants to. He's also going with me to my Relay for Life meeting tonight. This is a complete 360 from how he was acting so I'm nervous but excited about it!!

Mary Kay sale...50% off!!

2008-07-07T20:38:00.000-07:00

50% off all inventory in stock, plus free shipping or drop off if you're in the area. htttp://www.marykay.com/kimberlyprimeaux to order online or call me at (360) 894-1530.

XOXO

I'm so mad I can't even scream...

2008-07-07T14:40:00.000-07:00

So tell me if this is normal after 6 years of marriage. Yesterday was our anniversary. He had friends over to play video games and BBQ and promised me he was cooking me dinner tonight to celebrate. Fast forward to the day he promised he was cooking me a special dinner and I'm sitting here and he just left to go to his friends house (an hour and a half away) to shoot off fireworks and I'm making myself dinner. Are anniversaries like birthdays, after so many years its just another day? Am I crazy for thinking that day should mean something???

Our 4th of July

2008-07-06T21:47:00.000-07:00

Super Cool Stilts Guy

The Coasters

Salute to the Union, with flags from all 50 states

Katie

Plasterman at the Carnival

Keiths super cool 3D glassesKatie & I sportin our 3-D fabulousnessFort Lewis Fireworks

And through our 3D glasses:

Haha Plug

2008-06-29T21:51:00.000-07:00

So I spent about 3 hours today in the hot hot sun with Katie & Keith at our neighborhood pool and I'm BURNED!! Just put on my Mary Kay after sun gel and OH MY GOSH its amazing. I swear it just took my body temperature down 10+ degrees!!! Ooo lala.

So...7.2 down this week!

2008-06-29T14:34:00.000-07:00

Catching up.

2008-06-26T07:59:00.000-07:00

Ahhhhhhhh. Yes, that was a sigh of relief. I've survived my first visit by tons of family! We even had some fun. Imagine.

This is Grandma Raine waiting for us to finish our rides at the amusement park by the space needle...This is Jimmy, Tara & Keith on the water ride:

Cute huh?

Keith, Kim, Tara & Jimmy after the pirate boat ride...too bad Katie & Adam weren't there...:(

Kim & Keith at Pudget Sound. Our cousin lives right there on the water and we went to her house for dinner that night.

Right after Katie & Jimmy got here we got to watch Keith do an airborne jump. He landed on his head but is perfectly fine. It was really nerve racking to see that little dot way up there and think oh my god thats my husband plummeting to the ground. Kind of a rush but way scary!Katie showing us where Keith is

Keith is 2nd from the left

He survived!

Getting ready to go again

We went into Seattle one day and did the Space Needle (again...I think I'm going to get really sick of the Space Needle...) then had a nice lunch and rode some carnival rides. The rest of the time we spent here at the house or on post doing touristy stuff. The post museum was neat. They have pieces of a Saddam statue that Keith witnessed the blowing up of. That was neat for us.I picked Saddam's nose!! And lived to tell about it. I should have a t-shirt made.

Art...I guess.

I still have Katie, for a few months and we're loving having her here. Jimmy will be leaving us on Saturday and while I"ll miss him I wont' miss the grocery bill that comes with feeding a growing 16 year old boy!!
Katie and I went for a walk yesterday and did some exploring of the area. We found out my pool out here has water aerobics so we're going to try to start that tomorrow. It's 3 times a week so that would be great!!

I pulled a stupid with my college classes this semester and signed up for one I'd already taken so now we're working on getting it switched to another class...d'oh!

Oh and we didn't end up going to the ball we had planned on going to. Our friends didnt end up with tickets and we wouldn't have known anyone there so we decided to do something else that night. Of course we got completely ready and even left for the ball before deciding this. We got about 15 minutes down the road before I realized I didn't have my ID and for those who speak military spouse you know that that means. For those that don't it means I couldn't have gotten on post for the ball anyways. So we turned the car around and it was then that I decided since we were already an hour late and would be close to 2 hours late getting there and wouldn't even know anyone I didn't want to go. SO we called our friends that didn't get tickets and the kids and Keith & I met them for dinner. Then they came out here, they all got plastered and we played guitar hero all night. Much more fun!

Here's us ready to go.....Katie did my hair and it was awesome so I kept it up all nice for dinner...millions of bobby pins and all!

Ryan showing Jimmy some love at dinner.

Breckan rocking our socks off.

Keith finally fixed his car so I have mine back!!! And he paid to fix it with his personal savings which was way cool since we paid my tuition out of this months pay. :P

I seriously think thats all that's going on here. Not a bad life. :)

Oh my geez.

2008-06-18T08:04:00.000-07:00

So picture this. 3 bedroom house. Husband, Wife, 3 dogs, 3 cats, cousin, sister, cousin, grandmother, aunt....5 days. That would sound fine right? Until it's my house...
I havent cleaned. Have to go to the grocery store because this 16 year old cousin is eating me out of house and home...growth spurts be damned. Have to survive this.
We've never lived close enough for people to come to our house. And if they ever did it was 1 or 2 people for 1 or 2 days. Not 5 PEOPLE FOR 5 DAYS!!! Dont' get me wrong. This is why we moved here, to have family close and I'm sure we'll have a great time. Its just weird that its gonna be at "our house". Anyone catch what I'm throwin???

New Kitten

2008-06-16T07:45:00.000-07:00

Yes, we have a new baby in the house. Shes very unique and sooo playful! Here are some pictures. Her name is Keeley, which means lively & aggressive in Irish. As I type shes trying to figure out how to land on my fingers and not fall off the desk. I can tell this one's gonna be a turd. :)

Sex & Lattice

2008-06-08T09:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a good day. Started out later than we wanted. I made pancakes and then we had our friends Breckan & Ryan over. My little cousin Claire had stayed over the night before so it was nice to visit with her. Breckan and I dropped Claire off at the bus stop in Yelm to head home because she had to work early today and then Breckan & I went to see Sex & The City. It was soo good! It was actually a lot more graphic than I expected but I guess if they were going to do a movie of that show it had to be over the top. I was very pleased with how they did the movie, the ending and such was great.
While Breckan and I did the movie, the guys went to the hardware store to pick up lattice to put around my porch. Of course when you send 2 guys to the hardware store for just lattice they come home with $188 less dollars and a new sprayer, nail gun, and lattice. Nerds. They even got these matching "free" hats that they wore the rest of the day.
The lattice isn't up yet, we have to stain it today but it will be done by the end of the week and I'm SOOO excited. I think its really going to add character to the house, not to mention keeping the neighborhood cats from using it as their litter box...
Here are a couple pictures of the process:

Keiths silly face:

Being manly with the saw...

Keith had to climb under the porch to mark where to attach each piece of lattice...he decided to play peek a boo...

I decided to take this one so some day I can say, here's where I burried him Officer...

And of course, this is where we "supervised" from:

One of those days

2008-06-07T04:03:00.000-07:00

Today was pretty much a good day. It started way too early but I'll survive. Obviously it wasn't too early since here it is 4 a.m. the next morning and I'm awake to write this blog...
I went dress shopping with a good friend of mine here for the ball we're going to on Thursday. She found her perfect dress...its stunning, of course. This girl, Breckan, is adorable. In the last 2 years she's lost 100+ lbs using lap band and was able to buy a size 6 dress from Macy's for this ball. So basically 2 years ago she was my size or just below it and yesterday fit into her dream dress. She was talking about how she was just going to wear one of her old prom dresses to the ball until she realized they would be way too big. How cool would that be??? Maybe next year! We have a ball in December and if I stick to this new diet and it actually does what it says it will, I could potentially be down like 50+ lbs and have to buy a much smaller size dress for the ball in December. My ultimate goal is to get into my high school homecoming dress from my Jr. year again at some point. We shall see.
I started my nutrisystem yesterday and have already learned a valuable lesson today. I had my nutrisystem dinner and then made spaghetti for Keith and my cousin Claire who is out here this weekend with us. I thought I'd just have a tiny amount of spaghetti and tiny piece of garlic bread and proceeded to spend the rest of the night in the bathroom, very sick. So, lesson learned: go ahead and cook for everyone else but find a way to keep my mits off the real food, hehe.
I'm hoping to go see Sex & The City today if I'm feeling better when I get up again. B & I have been dying to go see it but she only comes down from Portland, where she lives, on weekends to see her boyfriend Ryan, who works with Keith. We haven't found the time as of yet to go see it but the boys *Keith & Ryan* are supposed to be doing some house chores for me tomorrow so while they're putting the lattice up around my porch to keep the critters out we'll sneak off to our movie. I really miss my girlfriends from Augusta lately but I think its just because I've made very few friends in the time I've been here. I've met a few of my neighbors, who are top notch people, but they're mostly visit over the fence people, not hang out and do anything people. I have 1 friend on post who I can only take in small doses and then Breckan, who's only here on weekends. I guess if I give it time I'll settle in. It just always frustrates me how long it takes me to make friends. I generally have good luck with the ones I do make, it just takes a while.
Alright, I'm gonna try to go back to bed for a while. We're having company for breakfast in 6 hours and I'm so not ready to be up yet! xoxo
Oh, this is Breckan and her dress:

On death & dying

2008-06-05T21:59:00.000-07:00

Do you think you can miss someone who you never knew? My sister-in-law lost a baby late last year and Ive really been missing her lately. It seems weird to me that she was never here but my heart still misses her so much. Thoughts?

5 Important Lessons, passed onto me by my mom

2008-06-05T09:31:00.000-07:00

1 - First Important Lesson - Cleaning Lady.

During my second month of college, our professor
gave us a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student
and had breezed through the questions until I read
the last one:

'What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?'
Surely this was some kind of joke.. I had seen the
cleaning woman several times. She was tall,
dark-haired and in her 50s, but how would I know her name?

I handed in my paper, leaving the last question
blank. Just before class ended, one student asked if
the last question would count toward our quiz grade.

'Absolutely,' said the professor. 'In your careers,
you will meet many people. All are significant. They
deserve your attention and care, even if all you do
is smile and say 'hello.'

I've never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her
name was Dorothy.

2. - Second Important Lesson - Pickup in the Rain

One night, at 11:30 p.m., an older African American
woman was standing on the side of an Alabama highway
trying to endure a lashing rain storm. Her car had
broken down and she desperately needed a ride.
Soaking wet, she decided to flag down the next car.
A young white man stopped to help her, generally
unheard of in those conflict-filled 1960's. The man
took her to safety, helped her get assistance and
put her into a taxicab.

She seemed to be in a big hurry, but wrote down his
address and thanked him. Seven days went by and a
knock came on the man's door. To his surprise, a
giant console color TV was delivered to his home. A
special note was attached.

It read:
'Thank you so much for assisting me on the highway
the other night. The rain drenched not only my
clothes, but also my spirits. Then you came along.
Because of you, I was able to make it to my dying
husband's bedside just before he passed away... God
bless you for helping me and unselfishly serving
others.'

Sincerely,
Mrs. Nat King Cole.

3 - Third Important Lesson - Always remember those
who serve.

In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less,
a 10-year-old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and
sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in
front of him.

'How much is an ice cream sundae?' he asked.

'Fifty cents,' replied the waitress.

The little boy pulled is hand out of his pocket and
studied the coins in it.

'Well, how much is a plain dish of ice cream?' he inquired.

By now more people were waiting for a table and the
waitress was growing impatient.

'Thirty-five cents,' she replied.

The little boy again counted his coins.

'I'll have the plain ice cream,' he said.

The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on
the table and walked away. The boy finished the ice
cream, paid the cashier and left. When the waitress
came back, she began to cry as she wiped down the
table. There, placed neatly beside the empty dish,
were two nickels and five pennies...

You see, he couldn't have the sundae, because he had
to have enough left to leave her a tip.

4 - Fourth Important Lesson. - The obstacle in Our Path.

In ancient times, a King had a boulder placed on a
road way. Then he hid himself and watched to see if
anyone would remove the huge rock.. Some of the
king's wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by
and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the
King for not keeping the roads clear, but none did
anything about getting the stone out of the way.

Then a peasant came along carrying a load of
vegetables. Upon approaching the boulder, the
peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the
stone to the side of the road. After much pushing
and straining, he finally succeeded. After the
peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed
a purse lying in the road where the boulder had
been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note
from the King indicating that the gold was for the
person who removed the boulder from the roadway. The
peasant learned what many of us never understand!

Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve
our condition.

5 - Fifth Important Lesson - Giving When it Counts...

Many years ago, when I worked as a volunteer at a
hospital, I got to know a little girl named Liz who
was suffering from a rare &serious disease. Her only
chance of recovery appeared to be a blood
transfusion from her 5-year old brother, who had
miraculously survived the same disease and had
developed the antibodies needed to combat the
illness. The doctor explained the situation to her
little brother, and asked the little boy if he would
be willing to give his blood to his sister.

I saw him hesitate for only a moment before taking a
deep breath and saying, 'Yes I'll do it if it will
save her.' As the transfusion progressed, he lay in
bed next to his sister and smiled, as we all did,
seeing the color returning to her cheek. Then his
face grew pale and his smile faded.

He looked up at the doctor and asked with a
trembling voice, 'Will I start to die right away'.

Being young, the little boy had misunderstood the
doctor; he thought he was going to have to give his
sister all of his blood in order to save her.

Trees

2008-06-04T06:19:00.000-07:00

So here's the thing. I've always had a crush on trees. That sounds really weird, I know. I can get lost in the beauty of trees though. Driving down the road, you see that one tree out in the middle of nowhere, beautiful and magical as if it is the only thing that knows the secret to survival in that special area of our world. I see it all the time...nothingness and 1 tree. I love the different shapes and colors of trees. Now I don't hug them, don't get crazy on me. I take their picture and I watch them.
This morning I was laying in bed looking out my window at the trees. The trees here are amazing. They're hundreds of feet high and stand on barely any trunk. Today they were swaying with the wind and you would think with the amount of sway on such a small trunk they'd snap right in two and come crashing down on some poor fool. But they don't! How? The magic of the tree! That's how. Don't you wish you were a tree? The weight of the world on your branches, the "wind" pushing you this way and that until you think you're going to snap, but all the while able to stand straight and proud and take all the world can give? I sure do.

For Michelle, here's whats going on...

2008-06-02T10:47:00.001-07:00

I woke up a couple weeks ago with bad back and abdominal pain. Add to that 4 days of vomiting, including a little blood. We went to the ER and they did a few things. 1. They pumped my stomach looking for more blood since I had thrown up some. This is a horrible experience. You've got a rather large tube down your throat, being held there by a nurse who assures you you're doing so so good...while you throw up around it and have to remind yourself you actually can breathe out your nose. Then your throat feels like a potato peeler was taken to it. Yes, kids, don't ever tell them you threw up a little blood. if it's a little, it's not an issue.
2. Chest x-rays...didn't show anything
3. Urinalysis: this is where they found elevated everything. Follow up with a CT scan.
4. CT scan...before which you have to drink these 3 huge cups of this horrible horrible stuff they call "contrast" so they can see your parts inside. It's rather ironic that you're in there for stomach pain, they just pumped your stomach and they are forcing down 3 very large cups of very nasty fluid, which will be the only thing in your stomach and will slosh around in there like a snow globe.
5. 2 bags of IV fluids, morphine and anti-nausea pills. Yay.
So we came home, to wait to see my doctor after the long weekend. We were sent home with anti-nausea pills and ibuprofen. Yeah, thanks doc. Needless to say the Ibuprofen didn't do a damn thing so we were back at the hospital the next afternoon. They pumped me full of more fluids, did more urinalysis (which showed exactly what the prior nights showed) and gave my oxycodone for the pain at home. So now i wait until I can see a GI specialist to figure out what to do. They're saying I have hepatic steatosis, non-alchoholic...which means I have a damaged liver but not because of alcohol abuse. You can read about it here: http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/tc/nonalcoholic-steatohepatitis-nash-overview
The update:
We've determined that my hyperinsulinemia, which means I produce WAY too much insulin, is pushing too much through my liver and my liver is overworked and tired. It thinks it needs a vacation...not gonna happen. So, we wait on more test results. In a perfect and easy world we'd take a pill to regulate the insulin and eventually that would solve everything. In this world, that pill has things in it that will further iritate my liver in its current condition so that ain't gonna cut it.

Rodeo Pigs and Huffy Boneheads

2008-06-02T00:13:00.000-07:00

So Keith left some of his uniform patches on the bed like 2 weeks ago and I don't remember touching them (why would i touch them? i don't wear patches lol) and he's positive now that i moved them or "mixed them up in my laundry" or something. So he's huffing and puffing around in the bedroom mumbling how I always mess stuff up and then he looks down at the uniform he just threw in his laundry pile on the floor (which is a whole other blog lol) and goes "oh its on the uniform". BONEHEAD.
We went to the rodeo with some friends today. These people are amazing and we spend time with them every weekend. Keith calls the guy his "BFF" jokingly but I think he's really serious but feels dumb admitting it. Anyways, this very beautiful woman saunters by and Keiths neck almost snaps he looks at her so hard and then he says 2 very dumb words "nice jumungas". Jumungas is his word for boobies. Like "Ay-Jumungas!" That's a whole sentence to my husband. PIG. Anywho, these friend of ours are dating and the lady, Breckan, just doesn't understand why I allow such "piggish" behavior. I told her that in our marriage, the reason it is still a marriage, is I have the ability to overlook his stupidity and still love him.
For example,I'm sitting at my desk, in the corner of our bedroom, in the dark typing this now and he's in bed. Out of the darkness I hear "Foofy???" (That's my nickname, again, another blog) then "I love you. Are you upset at me??" I ignore his stupidity at times when I'm not hurt and when he's obviously showing off for his friend because if I fought with him over them I'd never have moments like I just had. I hope some day she understands. I'm going to go to bed now, because no, I'm not upset at him, and yes, I do love him. Goodnight all. :)

a good friday

2008-05-30T18:26:00.000-07:00

So as you know this morning I had to get up at an ungodly hour and drive onto post with Keith. It was a nice drive actually. I had gone to bed relatively early last night and got plenty of sleep so I wasn't a crazy, cranky biach all the way. :) We had a great drive, talking some and not talking some. I read my new Good Housekeeping most of the way and when I came across something interesting or a good tip I shared it with him and then we talked about it. Thats what I love about my husband. He'll go to the odd chick flick (not sex & the city which I'm totally pissed about) and he's not afraid of a little Oprah and Good Housekeeping. He loves to watch the manly shows but he'll sit with me through Desperate Housewives and Rachael Ray. :) Good man Charlie Brown.
So he went to do this obstacle course with his company and off I went for yet more blood work. 6 more vials people...they took 9 on Tuesday!!! After that I went to the Education Center and signed up for 4 classes. They're all online this semester but they seem pretty neat.
I'm taking:
US History 2: which is about the "new social and industrial problems, rise of the progressive movement, US' emergence as a world power (Go us!!), World War 1, reaction and the New Deal, World War 2 & contemporary America." Sounds fun yeah?
Educating Young Children: which is "an introduction to the profession of early childhood education, focusing on developmentally appropriate practices, types of programs, historical perspectives, ethics, & current issues."
Child Guidance: which is "an exploration of common behavior problems of young children in an early childhood setting. Emphasis on positive guidance techniques for effective behavior management. Practical application through direct participation in an early childhood setting."
Comemporary Mathmatics I: which includes "sets, logic, number theory, geometric concepts, consumer finance, & an introduction to probability & statistics."
So, basically I think it's a good mix. A couple are almost guaranteed to be boring but are required and a couple will be interesting. If nothing else it'll help me figure out my kids some day! :)
After I registered for classes we went with Keith's unit out to American Lake, which is the lake on post. We had a bbq, had some fun and then I thought we were leaving. Boy was I wrong. On the way back to the car we pass this beach that I hadn't noticed before. On this beautiful beach are paddle boats, canoes, kayaks....you name it. Oh boy. I finally pout my way out of a kayak and into a paddle boat and off we go. Shit those are hard!!! Oh and my boobs were too big for the normal life vest so I had to use one of those orange ones that go around your neck and then have a single tie around the waist. Ok so any of you gals with the Hess tata's know that one of those life vests will do nothing but sit on top of your tatas and look like a couple of big orange torpedoes ready to deploy at any time. Talk about uncomfortable!!! So we get out of the paddle boat about halfway through our hour because there's only so far you can go in one of those before you're bored, plus we had been fighting over the fact that I went to see the damn Simpsons movie and he won't go see Sex & the City with me...asshat. I think we're done and I'm heading up the dock and Keith asks the guy if we can take a DOUBLE KAYAK out for the last 1/2 hour we paid for. Shit. We were on that damn thing for 10 minutes, tops and I was soaked from my feet to my ass crack and up to my knees. Every time Keith paddled he leaned in the direction he was dipping into, as if it would help, and tipped us into the water. Brrr. So I had to ride the hour home with no pants on and a sweatshirt over my lap. At least he's got that out of his system...I hope.

Kill the rooster

2008-05-30T05:56:00.000-07:00

Up at 5:30 and out the door at 6...that hurts me. We have a company BBQ today and Keith hasnt fixed his car yet so all we have is mine. If I want to run any errands or go to the BBQ I have to be on post with him all day, starting at 6, because we live in the boonies. I've gotten pretty good at the ready in 10 minutes thing though so its not as bad I guess. I do get to sleep in the car on the 40 minute drive to post...
So today I'm having more bloodwork done and then going to register for some college classes. Yep, I'm going back to school finally. I'm in a program for military spouses towards an Associates in General Studies. Eventually I want to teach Elementary School. Haha, can you imagine my 2nd or 3rd grade students trying to figure out my last name? I'll be forever known as Mrs. P. Yay.
Kisses!

I'm frusterated...

2008-05-29T09:31:00.000-07:00

I finally just had to change my status on my msn messenger from "unpacking" to something else because people keep saying "are you really still unpacking?" Yes, dammit. I am. It drives me nuts that we're not done yet. I have always had my house unpacked and put together, ready for company a week after a move and this time it's been 2 months. There are still boxes in the garage, empty and full. Stuff is randomly strewn around my house in piles that "I'll get to" and my closets are a disaster. I just found another HUGE box of clothes and so now that is strewn across my bedroom floor. I need to clone myself. 1 of me for each room and off we go...oi vey.
On a positive note my Katie and my Jimmy will be here in a couple weeks and a couple weeks after that so will Grandma, Tara & Aunt Sue. I HAVE TO HAVE THIS DONE. Motivation will definitely help. I'm an interestingly complex person when it comes to my house. I want everything in its place and a nice presentable house but I'm a total slob if I'm not careful. I think I'm naturally lazy. I love the way my house looks when its picked up but if I am not 100% careful to clean up after myself I leave stuff everywhere. I've been sick for a week and in my living room are cups and cracker packages, everywhere. Its like I just shut down when I was sick. Plants didn't get watered, dishes didn't get done...laundry, HA! That's that big pile in the living room that the dogs have been "nesting" on. They're gonna be pissed when I wash and put away their new bed. Poor puppies...

Beyond 3 year olds...

2008-05-23T14:52:00.000-07:00

So, it turns out the kid was the least of my worries this week. We had a great rest of our day, got a lot done and ended the day on great terms. I went to my FRG meeting, as planned and had a great time. Got home, went to bed and woke up at 2:30 a.m. puking my guts out and in tons of pain. Great. So now it's Friday night and I'm still puking what guts I have left out and in tons of pain. Went to the doctor on Wednesday and didn't get any answers. Might to to ER tonight. We'll see. It's a damn 40 minute drive to our hospital and I'm not sure I want to be in a car that long on these winding roads in the shape I'm in. :( So much for an all star weekend. We're supposed to have a BBQ here tomorrow and I'm like, not if I'm still puking. I don't want Keith to run off to something fun this weekend if we cancel our bbq because then I'll be alone again. He was gone on assignment until yesterday so I've been alone most of the time Ive been sick and I'm tired of it all. I just want it to stop. please.

3 year olds...

2008-05-20T11:35:00.000-07:00

So today started out great. Its not as hot as the other days have been lately and its rainy...my favorite! I had told a friend I would babysit her 3 year old all day, which is fine because Keith is gone so it's kind of the same as if he were here, hehe. This kid is amazing, cute, polite, a pure blast to hang out with....
Except today, apparently. He has already let my dogs out twice. He just toodles over and opens the door, even though there's no fence. Before I even let my dogs out of their cage this morning I told him, don't open the door. He's been told this by me, Keith, his mom, his dad....and he claims to get it. Then before I'm even in the house from the garage he has opened the door and my dogs are running in 3 different directions! Gah!!!!
So...10 minutes later, after a small spankin and a time out I have to take the trash out. I say "don't open the door, don't touch anything. sit here and watch your movie, I'll be right back". He says "ok miss kim, i wont open the door." I walk the 15 feet to the trash can outside, and turn around to see my 3 dogs running...in 3 different directions and the kid standing at the door smiling...
It's going to be a long long long long day.