Life

The past few months life has taken over my time. I have been trying not to take any moment for granted and it's been working pretty well. I've noticed that I am much less stressed than I was before. But as time goes on things change. They certainly have. Ryan's been home about 8 months at this point. Since he's been back, we got our first pets together. We acquired one little kitten we named Oliver, but he passed away at the foot of our bed. We found him one morning when we got up. We ended up getting Mama and OJ about 2 days after that. They were both from the same litter (not as Oliver though). They're my little babies they're so smart! We finally got married - unplanned at the courthouse - very much like us! Then we acquired  a puppy somehow after a hard searching for the perfect one. Bear, the German Shepherd that I've always wanted is SO smart. But we got caught with him in our apartment which really sucked because we had to have Ryan's buddy babysit until finally - we moved into the house we bought. We moved in about a month ago. Crazy how we've already been here this long! In the mean time, we've added a new member (temporarily) to the family, our foster dog, Sampson. He's such a smart pup and is so sweet. Dalmation/Pit mix. Wish we didn't have to get rid of him but Ryan doesn't want to keep him because I know he wants another puppy. We're talking about getting another shepherd and breeding eventually, but since Bear's mom wasn't registered with AKC, we can't get him registered. Really sucks but whatever. So I was on FB earlier and it showed me what I posted a year ago today. I was working my ass off, about to get started working even harder working 4 jobs and attending school full time. I have to get back into the swing of things. I'm thinking about applying to the Dollar Tree here again. I'm going tomorrow. There's a few changes I need to make in my life and this is one of them. Don't get me wrong, I love my Saturday desk job at Prudential, but it's not bringing in enough money. I gotta get my grind on now lol. And I babysit, but that's only $40 a week too. I want a new car before I graduate, which is only 3 months and a few weeks away! Can't believe it. It's finally almost here. I've been working my ass off with school and it will finally pay off. I have 5 classes that I'm taking right now. In the Spring I plan on taking more to get my certificate in Computer Forensics. Just something to make me more marketable. We'll see where that takes me though. I am planning on going back to school the Fall after wards (taking the summer off!!!! because I need some time to rejuvenate myself and spend with Ryan before he deploys again. I'll probably travel a little and network too. Other than that though, the rest of my life will be all set. I'd like to own a semi-new car and pay it off before Ryan leaves so when he gets back we can build our house and start the settling down process. Can't wait to be stationary! I strive to have my footing on a place that I feel comfortable enough to call home. Tennessee has a lot to offer, it really does. But I'm not happy being this far away from home. I guess I gotta embrace the suck and carry on. Try to make the best of it I guess. I honestly haven't done much around here but when the weather starts to cool down a little I have a lot I want to try and places to see. I have to visit home to get my spunk back. I miss my niece and my sisters, along with the rest of my family like crazy. I know when I go back I won't want to be there but I just need a little taste of it to feel better. It's been 6 months almost since I've been back home. I miss the people and the food. It's so different out here. I'd love this place if I had family around. It has the opportunity to be so great. It's just tough to trust people here when everyone seems so fake. I don't really feel like I fit in. Everyone has kids or are pregnant. I'm going to school and attempting to work. I feel left out in a sense, but I see how much they complain and it makes me not want that for a little while. Mature for my age, yes. I could handle it, but just not completely ready. If it happens, it happens and we're going to roll with it. But that's in the future. We'll see. 
Anyway, along with the life changes I want to do a few things. I want to start working out and eating healthy. I had a friend tell me about the 17 day diet. Ryan and I have decided to do it, I just have to get the book. I have gained about 10 lbs since Rys been back. Doesn't make me feel any better about anything, especially since all day I am sitting at home doing nothing besides homework and cleaning. My grades haven't suffered from that, but I need more than that. I need a change. So from tonight on, I am going to take the dogs for a walk before bed. After the fire I want to have first! Tootles. :)

Never gotta sweat that

So it's been a while. See, I'm not so good at this... but things distract me when Ryan isn't at work. I have recently gone for an interview at Kirklands. It's a home decorating store. I thought the interview went alright, so hopefully something good comes from it! Yesterday we went to the farmer's market in Nashville. It was amazing. There's so many things there that I think everyone should see. We're going to be buying our meat from local vendors rather than at the commissary. Though it will be a little more expensive (not by much!) it will be a healthier alternative for us. We have really been working on that. We ended up getting the most beautiful and fresh strawberries I've ever seen and copefruit (to try, it looked yummy- and the farmer told us they were really sweet. They will be expecting wild berries and things within the next few weeks.) We also picked up some apple butter, which my sister said was delicious, and was right! I just had some on toast with a banana. We also got sweet corn, and fresh ham slices. I can NOT wait to eat it! Lol. We should have picked up some bacon because the bacon that was there smelled sooooo scrumptious. But, next time. We also picked up a houseplant, along with two types of strawberries that we will be growing outside. We got a Lemon Verbena plant, a Chocolate Mint plant, and a Pineapple something, I'll have to check later. But they all smell so good and taste really yummy. I can't wait to use them to cook with! All this, along with a $15 handmade tank and $10 for dinner (I got mexican rice&Ryan got chicken tikka masala from the indian restaurant), cost us $50. Ryan is more excited than me! He wants to buy a house so we can get a garden. I love that he's all for it! I'm going to be buying giant pots that we can put on our porch since we aren't allowed to have a garden where we are right now. We are also going to be looking at hydroponics.
More later, because I am going to figure out how to make my own soap! That may just become my new business :)

Wheels...

Should be doing homework, but the wheels in my brain are turning for a different reason... I've come to realize, in the past few months of my life, that some people just shouldn't matter. Why should someone be a priority in your life when you're not a bit in theirs? I've decided that I am going to write forgiveness letters to every single person that's done me wrong in my life. E V E R Y  S I N G L E  P E R S O N. When i say it like that, I mean it. The first person on my list was someone I never thought would do that to me. All my trust and care was put into the (what I thought was) great relationship I had over a long stretch of years with that person. I was more hurt than anything when I moved from little Rhode Island to a world much bigger, and in a sense, better - and realized, "Hey, this person really doesn't care the least bit about me, but makes their issues priority." I forgive the fact that they just needed a friend. The fact that they only had their own interest in mind. But there's so much more out there! I love being from such a small place, where everybody knows everybody... and coming to this place, where you only know everyone if they know you... which definitely isn't a positive thing at all. There's so many people here and it's such a big place. I like it, but I feel lonely a lot of the time. I like to think it's normal though, being in a new place with pretty much no one. I'm so desperate for a job... It's not even a need. Ry & I would be perfectly fine financially without me having one. I want one. I want to be able to get out of my house and meet people and have a semi-normal life. Right now, this whole online school/no job = no contact with the outside world. My kitties are my best friends, and I'm fine with that. But I would like to practice my people skills once in a while, because "C'mere Mamas... OJ, time to eats" isn't going to cut it. Hey, I put in about 5 applications within one company - so hopefully that's a go. I'd like the environment a lot if I got it too, even if it was only minimum wage and terrible hours. That's it for now though! Time to go apply at a few more places on Wilma.

Home is where your story begins...

and with the army, I guess it's everywhere. Ryan and I are going to look at houses today in about an hour! There's 6 of them that we've picked out to go see. I'm so excited. We just have to figure out how to get out of our lease. :)
This morning for breakfast I had Cascadian Farms' Brown Sugar Granola cereal. All their food is organic. It was delicious! I want to make cookies with it. Just wanted to update a little before we went on the hunt! I will edit later & post pics maybe.
UPDATE: So we went to look at places with the very helpful Lyndi, our realtor. She's a really nice and understanding woman. She is honest, and I'm very appreciative of that. Here's the two houses we liked the best:
http://listings.realtracs.com/MediaDisplay.aspx?ListingID=1457011
http://listings.realtracs.com/MediaDisplay.aspx?ListingID=1419477
The first one is cute for a one story, no major things to do in it. Pretty much ready to live in - just needs paint!
The second one's only downfalls: unpaved driveway, not much cabinet space in kitchen, might have to replace green countertop (wth are people thinking?). But it has a 2 car garage and it's pretty big. I liked the upstairs, but thing is, the master bedroom and everything is downstairs. A little weird.
We'll see. We liked them, but we are going to look at foreclosed homes too- I like the fact that she's not rushing us to anything. She knows we have time and doesn't want us to settle right away if we don't feel comfortable. I think she was a really good choice though. :) Possibly more later.

Plato's Closet

I skipped a few days, woops. I'm too good at this already ;) so after I posted the last time, we went to the commissary. We really stuck with ALL organic food and I discovered one of the best foods ever. I'm not too big of a fan of granola bars but needed something fairly healthy for snacks seeing as chips really weren't an option. I ended up getting a majority of Cascadian Farm products. Their Peanut Pretzel granola bars are delicious! I also got the chocolate chip. We purchased organic sugar since we were all out, and have a whole lineup of things to buy once we run out - that are healthier alternatives, of course! I feel better about eating these types of foods, and though sometimes they might be the same price but have less, I have to remind myself that you pay for portion control. People always want more for less but shouldn't sacrifice their health for that.
Since then, we've put up all the curtains we've bought back home in RI... finally. I'm such a slacker. We've also found a desk for the spare room - my new office/school/kittens room. I'll have to post pictures. The house looks good, besides the kitchen. I'm not too happy that we still have lots of ants running around, though we've found the main food source!!! Well, Ryan's patience has found. A broken open container of honey. No wonder they've been coming in from the window to the cabinet!!!! I've also been harassing the landlord, but we've really found about 15 ants since last night, which is a record. We had about 100 every 5 minutes no matter how fast we kill them. My kittens are getting smarter by the day. They love their momma. Their daddy, not so much. But when momma ain't around he's best! :) Sassy just came up and drank out of my cup. Yea that's too much, I'm gonna have to get some more water. We had burgers and salad for dinner. Didn't realize til I ate the whole burger that um, it was still red. It's a miracle I'm not sick right now. I'm pretty grossed out though. I finally got the clothes off my floor!! I put them in the storage thing that got sent to RI when I had meant to send it here. Today was pretty eventful. When I was putting all my things together last night, I got rid of some clothes. We went to Plato's Closet today and sold what we could. Got $30 for 10 pairs of shorts/skirts. I love it! I will be back there. It's a store run by a military couple, they buy and sell used clothes, but it has to be in good condition. Awesome stuff! The rest of the stuff we're going to have to find a Goodwill to donate to. I'd like to find a way to recycle here, but there doesn't seem to be anything at all. Guess I'm gonna have to do a search. I also want to find a farm so we can get our milk there, and find something for our meats. On the bright side, only a few weeks til we can go to the Clarksville Farmers Market!!! And next weekend is the military ball. We may or may not be going - even though we intended to. The weather has been a topic to talk about lately! Seriously it's been 95 degrees. Hot as hell. I had to buy a new bedspread today because my thick down comforter has been killing me while I sleep. My cats are maniacs though and are yelling at me to go feed them. So farewell, friends.

So honestly...

Yeah, I know. This is my first post in a long time, since... say, LiveJournal times. Lol. I'm not really a big fan of writing, in any aspect at all, but I know my sister's going to appreciate it if I do write/try to everyday, and lately I've really had a lot to say. Not to mention no one to really say it to and it'll be good for my family back home to be able to see what's going on in my life too. Maybe we can get some other family involved (Woman? Mem? Sandy?)... I know you're all gonna creep on me! Haha :) So let me start off by announcing my living arrangements. I live with a Salvas, for one... he is a messy little boy and eats just about everything in the house, which means we have yet another - hopefully last - "real" food shopping trip to the commissary *GOOD THING THIS PAGE SAVES DRAFTS* I just got interrupted by my little one, Sassy (or Reeses, Mama, whatever her name is - it is legally now Reeses though)...stepping on the keyboard, trying to get the cursor again... while OJ (no, that's really not after O.J. Simpson) was playing with the cord and ripped it out of my computer. Okay, before I get sidetracked. Yes, no more food shopping at the commissary unless we have to. We're going to start eating healthier and more natural in a sense. We can't wait for the farmer's market in Clarksville to open up! We want to get good meats and dairy products from the actual farms around here (convinced baby Salvas to lean towards those types of things easily...thanks Food, Inc. & Shayna!).
The past few days have been pretty interesting. Yesterday was a busy day for me. First, a very responsible Salvas forgot ALL the gear he was supposed to bring to work with him...not just one thing, a whole backpack with a helmet attached. So I was up at about 5am. Started being productive very early... When I returned home I had time to do some cleaning and things, showered and headed over to ACS (Army Community Services) to get some assistance with finding a job in the area. They had so much information! I spent about 3.5 hours there and searched and searched for jobs, found new resources. Then, I went to AAFES (the PX) to find a desk - which I thought was a success until I went there later on with BabySal and realized that it really wasn't in stock (even though we found an infrared grill for the house!). So the search continues for that and a bedroom set! How does it take a store, EVERY STORE IN THE AREA MIND YOU, 8-12 weeks to get a bedroom set?! I'm sorry, I'm not waiting any longer, I've been living off my floor way long enough, and having two kittens isn't helping the situation, especially when they like everything with strings, and it just so happens that I have bras, underwear, tanks, and nightgowns that have strings.... They also like cords, tv and computer cords in particular, which I believe I stated previously but feel the need to reiterate. Overall with the two of them though, I can't complain. Miss Sassy, a tortoiseshell, has the typical Cattitude of just that. They say those types of kittens are very vocal and let you know when they're not happy with something you're doing... Luckily, I haven't really upset her. O.J. on the other hand, is a handful and a half! He likes to get into things, just hang all over the sides of furniture, his scratching post and ESPECIALLY my laundry basket (my excuse to get a new one ;] ) He's white with beige/orange striped spots. They're both really smart though and I do have to say that I trust them while I'm out. Big Oliver (RIP), not so much. I taught them how to use the litter as soon as they got here, a day under 6 weeks old! We haven't had any accidents at all.. but OJ has had an eye issue since birth, and that brings us to today. Again this morning, the famously responsible BabySal forgot his PT cap. So I got my butt out of bed at 5am and brought it to him. He's so spoiled! Another soldier was getting smoked for 3 hours for being irresponsible! I told him next time... smokin'! Lol. I came home and took a nap, got dressed and did some things around the house before the boy came home for breakfast but the lil' kits had their first vet appointment at 8, so we, as a family, headed up the hill to Parkway Animal Clinic and got them all registered. They did really well, but we found out that they both have Roundworms. It's common for kittens to get it from their mother's milk, but is transmittable to humans so I have to be careful when I clean the litter. Also, lil OJ has kitty pink eye. He is being treated with ointment for his eyes and only maybe 8 hours later I see a big difference. It is contagious, so I'm really worried about lil Mama getting it too. Again today I went back to ACS for a seminar thing that is helping me find a job. Well, I have to do that on my own but they have provided me with so many resources!! I have a workshop to attend on the 12th to help me with my two resumes: federal & civilian. Hopefully something big will come from all this hard work! There's also expos and a job fair this month, which is cool. A lot of security agencies looking for people, and one that sticks out to me is a company that wants help within a detention center (!!! excited !!!, it may be my break!) Speaking of careers...... I said earlier that I went to the vet clinic with the kits. Well, I saw just how much the vet tech's love their job. I could SO do that for the rest of my life. I love animals. There were so many cute pups, and before I used to say that I could never put them down... but I'm older now and realize it's a little more sad to see an animal living and suffering. Maybe I'll look for a vet program.... just a thought. A dangerous one at that. I need to finish this degree first. December isn't far away! On that note, BabySal is home from work so we are going to get some of our last normal American food shopping done! :]