Happy birthday to me!

For my birthday present to myself this year, I'm getting in shape. I signed up for some personal training sessions on campus, got some new workout clothes, and bought an iPod shuffle. My first session is Tuesday - more of a pre-assessment, really. Then my first workout the next day.

I know I worked out for a bit after Justin was born. I was living with my mom in PA while Darrell was in Korea. My younger sister and I signed up at the Y. I went quite regularly for awhile. Not sure why I stopped. Then at some point when I was at K-State before, I had a few months where I was going to the Rec. Again, not sure why I stopped.

Now I'm having at it again. I'm done having babies, so there are no excuses any more. Before, I always had in the back of my head, "well, this'll be a moot point when I get pregnant again and am back at 180 pounds..." We're done. No more kiddos.

I've been VERY slowly losing weight, just by eating less (not always eating better, but definitely eating less) and am back to my RPI weight. Go me! But now I need to firm up what's left. That's my plan, and since I know I don't have the willpower to get back into a program by myself (and my best friend is student teaching this semester, so she has NO time), and since the personal training sessions on campus are a STEAL, happy birthday to me! :)

Long overdue update...

Wow, it's been too long since I've been in here.

1) The house is now SOLD. We had only a minor issue with the second closing. Literally two minutes before it was scheduled to start, I got an email from the paralegal stating that both Darrell and I had to call or email them before the closing to verify that we were alive and well. Obviously that wasn't a problem for me, but Darrell was in the middle of a training exercise and did not have his phone on him. Nor do I know his email password.

Are you kidding me? They clearly did not understand the situation we were dealing with.

My realtor just had them write something up for our attorney-in-fact saying that she had no reason to believe that we were incapacitated in any way (or some other legal yada yada...)

Had we known about this, we would have made sure Darrell had his phone on him. He could have taken 15 seconds out of his exercise to call. But giving us a ridiculous requirement TWO minutes before closing? What if he'd been in Iraq?

Anyway, it's over. Whew!

2) Justin has started school. He loves his teacher, the after school program, the playground (he gets THREE recesses!), and everything else involved. Most mornings, I drop him off at Sam's house up the road. He then walks to school with her kids once it's late enough to head out.

3) Kaden has adjusted well to his babysitter's house. She has two of her own young girls, plus another boy and two infant girls. Other than a little separation anxiety that kicked in about two months before we moved, he's doing great. In fact, she has him sleeping on a cot instead of in a crib or pack-n-play and he actually stays in it! Amazing.

4) Darrell has graduated from his course. He kicked butt, with a 99.5% grade. As usual. :)

5) I've started school as well. I'm taking a full load (12 credit hours) and teaching a little bit. Right now, it seems I have all kinds of time since I'm not on the clock any more and of course my classes don't take the entire day. I need to get in the swing of things with homework and studying before I get used to having time to myself. I have every intention of scheduling in some gym time, though. Personal trainers at the gym on campus are CHEAP and I'd be crazy to pass up this opportunity to get back into shape. I haven't run much more than a half-mile since soon after I got pregnant with Justin. No more excuses. *laugh*

There's more little stuff going on, but that's our major news. Speaking of homework, I need to get to it.

Brand new video of Kaden and Justin

Click on the "Our Videos" just to your right for a video taken yesterday of Kaden walking. Yes, he's walking now! Darrell missed it by three days. Bummer.

Anyway, it's been about two weeks and K's able to go from one side of the house to the other (and more if there was room) without touching a wall.

re-closing scheduled!

A thousand thanks to a Columbia friend of mine for agreeing to be our agent at closing! We've both given her power-of-attorney, so she'll be able to sign a thousand times for us and SELL OUR HOUSE FINALLY!!

Unfortunately, it's not happening for another week or so, but as far as I know, all the kinks have been worked out. I'll be glad to get that finalized so I can stop stressing about the past and start stressing about the future (kidding! I'm not one to stress much about anything...)

Seriously, though, I need to get my head back in the game for this next semester. It still seems very far away, but I'm sure the time will zoom by and before I know it, I'll find myself back in a classroom. Again. I've lost count how many times I've re-gone back to school. I'm proud of myself for making it happen, especially with two kids. I can't tell you the number of times I've heard something along the lines of: "It's so hard to start back up, so just don't leave until you're done! And with two kids? You'll never find yourself the opportunity..." Poppycock. I've had no problem getting back into the swing of things. My kids don't slow me down, I just find better ways of managing my time. And I've been lucky enough to put myself into a situation where my school pays for itself.

So there. :) And this time, I may actually finish the masters...

Boxes, boxes, and more boxes...

I can hardly imagine having 33% more stuff. Yet that's what we're allotted when the army moves us. We get a 12k pound allowance and we were just over 8k. That's a LOT more stuff!

Anyway, we now have a house full of boxes. I've been emptying them as the motivation strikes. K's room is done. J's room is almost done (just have the desk boxes to go, plus the final organizing/cleaning). Much of the hall storage is done. The kitchen is mostly done; just need to find places for the miscellaneous stuff. The garage is piled high with all the random "I don't know where to put it, so it goes into the garage for now" stuff. Yikes, that one is very intimidating.

I guess I'll start on the master bedroom next, if only to find myself something else to wear... After my nap.

We made it!

So, we've arrived. Got the keys to the house today and furniture will be delivered later this week. Yahooo!

However, as great as things are going here in Kansas, things are going horribly bad back in South Carolina. We've had major issues with closing - in fact we haven't technically closed yet, even though we were all sitting around the closing table Friday morning. Long story short, we hope to finalize it this week. Please let it close all the way this week!

Justin has already timed how long it will take to walk from Sam's house to ours. *laugh* And since the school is between us, now he also knows how long it will take to get to school. That was very important for him. :)

Both Kaden and Cammi were AMAZING travelers. I knew Justin would be fine, he's always been great on long trips. K and C were unknowns. For Cammi, once we got about 45 minutes into the first day, she must have realized we were in it for the long haul and she hardly let out more than 10 meows the entire rest of the three-day drive. Whew! Kaden got a bit fussy a couple of times, but that's to be expected for a one-year old on a 18+ hour drive.

He's still not thrilled about getting in the car even today. I don't blame him. I'm pretty sick of it as well...

Turning in my official resignation...

On Monday, I'll be turning in my official resignation letter. I'll be VERY glad to not be working under such tight time restrictions again. Trying to schedule an appointment has been crazy, since I'm still in the hole over 120 hours of sick leave due to my maternity leave. I've been hoarding my annual leave hours in case I or the boys got sick. It'll be nice to schedule things easily again. I'll have quite a bit of open time this coming semester.

Speaking of this semester, I'll be taking four classes. My advisor thinks it's at least one too many (full time as a grad student is 6 credits, I'm scheduled for 12 I think), but one of them is only for the first month of the semester and another is a 100 level computer course (pre-req for the GIS certificate I'll be working towards). I think I can swing it. :)

I'm excited to see what changes have been made to the undergrad geology lab program. I would have loved to make some changes myself, during the year I was in charge, but I didn't have the funds or the time, nor really the authority as the coordinator should be at least an instructor and I was a non-degree seeking grad student. Ah well, changes HAVE been made now and I'm looking forward to them.

Justin is getting very excited about the upcoming move. I'm just glad school will be starting up only two weeks after we get back to Kansas. Since I'll be having both boys 24/7, my sanity will just about be running out by the time I ship him off to his first day of 2nd grade. I'm not cut out to be a stay-at-home mom.

Kaden is still not walking, although it really could be any day. It doesn't occur to him to try to let go of the couch/table/bed/whatever and just go for it. He always drops down to his knees. I'd love for it to happen before Darrell leaves for Texas, but I don't think it's going to. :( Of course I'll try to catch his early steps on video, but it won't be the same.

Closing scheduled!

We have an official closing date and time. Woo hoo! It's in the morning, so after I sign my name a few thousand times (nah, not so many as a seller...), I'll pick up the boys and we'll hit the road.

I need to come up with somewhere to put the cat. I can't leave her at home, since I'll be turning the keys over at closing. Can't leave her in the car. I'm still working on ideas...

The appraisal was a few days ago. We haven't heard the result yet, but she did say there aren't any red flags and we won't have a problem reaching the number we need. I'm very interested in her results, of course...

Still left: heating/air and termite

One step closer...

The house inspector came yesterday. He only found two 'gigs' - the garage door opener needs to be adjusted and we need to fix the weather stripping around the front door. He even showed Darrell how to do it the cheapest way possible.

We can handle that.

Darrell tried to fix the garage door opener, but it's apparently not as easy as he thought it'd be. He'll keep trying.

Next: appraisal and heat/air inspection

Break out the beret!

Darrell's drill sergeant hat has been retired. His last day "on the trail" was Saturday, 30 June. Of course in typical Army fashion, he ended up having CQ that night, extending his last "day" about eight hours through the night and into the next morning.

I hadn't had a chance to see him in uniform on post since then until today after work. I got off work early and called Darrell to see what he was up to, to spend some time with him if possible before picking up the kids. He was headed off post to do some grocery shopping, so I met him in the parking lot.

He gets out of the car with his beret on. I'd forgotten how awesome he looks with it on, although I prefer the look of the Army soft cap (looks like a baseball cap). He prefers the soft cap as well (MUCH more comfortable, cooler than a black wool beret in the summertime heat, gives more eye/sun protection, etc...) Anyway, it was nice to see NO MORE BROWN ROUND (aka the drill sergeant hat)!! Our two years are over!

And those two years went FAST. Darrell had something like nine cycles during that time (might be ten, I'll have to ask). He worked up to 130-140 hours a week some weeks. Rarely had a whole weekend day off, never had a full weekday off while in cycle. Only had a couple cycle breaks longer than a weekend. Trained HUNDREDS of Soldiers.

I'm extremely proud of him. He's a great leader, a fantastic Soldier, and a dedicated mentor. I knew when I met him that he was one of the best, and he proves me right every single day.