And some days you forget to put cream in your coffee...

Literally. This week has been stressful and emotionally exhausting. I think in the past five days my husband and I have spent one hour a day together while we were awake. There have been some issues with my husband's unit and it's been causing him to come home as late as 11 o'clock at night. And added to the fact that he is leaving in the next week from now (more or less) it hasn't been good. My husband is leaving before everyone else in his unit so the other people have more time. On Thursday the commander sent out an email saying that they were going to require everyone in the unit to come in on Saturday morning. I was of course sad to read that but that was barely any reaction compared to what others had. Yes, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, but hell definitely hath no fury like an army wife. Apparently right after that message was sent half of the wives called/emailed the place where you make complaints. (I'm still new to the ins and outs of the army). It looks like Saturday morning training will be cancelled. :p I guess that I am just glad that this week is almost over. I'm well aware of army life, but the thing is-most units aren't run like my husband's. My friend's husband is home everyday before 5 o'clock. Granted, he isn't second in command like my husband, but there should be no reason to be pulling 17 hour days...it's a little extreme if you ask me.

Anyway, this is our last weekend together so I hope that we are able to relax and enjoy some MUCH needed quality time together. I get paid today but I didn't work two full 40 hour weeks so it will be a little less. However, when I get out of work at 2 (Fridays we leave early) I will go to the bank that is conveniently down the road, and deposit it. I'm planning on getting a much needed haircut today (haven't had one since...June? I think..oops! I also need to pick up stamps and figure out dinner for tonight. Any ideas? Keep in mind hubby won't be home until probably nine at the earliest.

What's everyone else's weekend plans? Anything fun? Exciting? Or just cleaning/laundry/organizing? I'd love to know!

Finishing One Chapter and Beginning the next and tying up some loose ends in the process...

I don't know if any of you have heard of Northern Illinois University. It is my Alma mater. On February 14, 2008 we went through a tragedy that shook me to my core. I was on the campus when it happened. The building where the tragedy took place was renovated and opened today for the first time in four years. I feel strangely at peace and I feel like I can finally close up that awful chapter in my life.

My husband deploys very very soon. I can't say when for two reasons 1: He or I aren't even sure about the definite day yet 2. OPSEC- Operational Security-If you can see what I am writing so can anyone else on the internet. It's really important to not jeopardize or put troops in any kind of danger. Anyway, I feel like all of our loose ends have been tied and now we are just watching the clock tick by faster and faster. The will is done. The power of attorney is done. Enrolling into DEERS and TRICARE is done. I've been added to my husband's bank account. There is nothing left to do.

I just need my husband to come home from work already so that we can spend the little time that we have left together...but that's the army for you. :O)

In terms of finances I spent 31.66 dollars at the grocery store today and 300 for a student loan payment.

So spending for this week:

Sunday: 3 dollars for entrance to comedy club- 7 dollar coupon!
Monday: No Spend!
Tuesday: 300 direct loans
                31.66 Food lion

Hurry up hubby-there is a frozen buffalo chicken pizza and a caesar salad with fresh parmesan with your name on it!

Where I currently Stand...last time the numbers looked so much better.

The Numbers below are my own personal finances and not those of my husband. We haven't combined finances yet.


ASSETS (Money)
Bank 1: Checking-728.42
Bank 1: Savings:-415.01
Total: 1143.41
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bank 2: Checking 1: 92.99
Bank 2: Checking 2: 151.86
Bank 2: Savings:$70
Total: 314.85
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paypal (Hey everything counts right?): 50
Total: 50
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Check not cashed yet: 329.86
Cash-$30
Total: 359.86
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Assets: 1868.12

LIABILITIES

Credit Card 1: $2,113.22

Sallie Mae:  $27,799.98

Direct Loans: $23,133.20   

Total:  53,046.40

Gulp.

I almost started crying at the local Food Lion

I seem to always struggle with making this blog more personal and to include more about my day to day life. So I thought that I'd tell you a little about my day yesterday. Work went well and I got some things accomplished. It has been a slow start to the month though since a lot of people aren't looking to buy houses right after Christmas. However, we have been starting to see some more business coming in today..which is great.

Anyway, after work I stopped at the grocery store to basically pick up some snacks. I felt like we didn't really have much to snack on at the apartment. Basically I just bought a ton of junk food, with the exception of a cucumber-I know...really healthy right? At one point I was kind of tossing food into the cart because let's face I was hungry and we all know that it is a bad idea to shop on an empy stomach-case in point. Well the main thing when I go shopping is always will S like this or should I get something that he would prefer more. I guess you could say that I am a selfless grocery shopper. :p S LOVES peanut butter...it's probably not a healthy addiction but it makes him happy. I am usually very happy to buy anything peanut butter related that I can find, cookies, candy, icecream, etc. I was putting chocolate chip peanut butter cookies in the cart...and it hit me. For the next nine months I won't be putting anything peanut butter related into my cart. I also won't be buying food for two people. I'm going to be all by myself. I seriously had to tell myself to pull it together before I became a sobbing mess at the Food Lion. Sigh. I got through the check out without letting any tears slip by though.

Anyway...the rest of the night went well. S came home around 7:15 practically early for him. We stayed in and ordered some pizza...can you tell that we are all about the healthy eating in our household? We went to bed at 11 and I woke up at 4 in the morning to unload and load the dishwasher...but that's another story for another day. :)

Notice anything different?

Let's organize this blog post by categories of my choosing...shall we?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                       Aesthetics

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I decided to hop on the personal finance bandwagon and change my blog around. I'm talking big changes folks ya'll should be impressed. Sorry, my short stay in Chicago couldn't erase the Southernisms that I have been acquiring since moving to North Carolina. Anyway, the big changes are the color- from red to teal and something else...did you notice? I changed the type of font for the title of my blog....big changes. 

Ok...more like baby steps...but hey...it's a start. Right? Well, I'm just going to pretend that you agree with me. I changed the color from red to teal for two reasons. 1. It is much easier on the eyes. I'm serious I feel so much more relaxed when I look at the blog. 2. This blog will no longer make you hungry. You are welcome. Research shows (unproven and probably not legitimate research) that the color red stimulates hunger and the color blue makes you not hungry. I blame my mom for painting her kitchen red...although it also could have been that I'd watch tv in the kitchen and just make snacks since they were at hand's reach...but that's beside the fact. Anyway, what I mean to say is...you are welcome. Ok...next category let's press on. (I feel like a British tour guide)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                              Work

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My contract with the employment agency ended January 31, 2011. I have now been officially hired with the law firm that I have been at since September of this year! I got an increase in pay as well-2 dollars more an hour! I'm pretty happy. I know that I probably could have negotiated for more but that is the amount my boss threw out so I accepted it. Also, with the new loan processor working at the firm I'm doing a lot less work...which I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. It's nice to have some stress taken off of me, but in the same way I feel like I'm losing my skills as a paralegal. Maybe I can take some CLE classes? We'll see. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Social Life

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pretty much nonexistent except for when I go out with the LT (hubby) and the other LT's and their wives. I've only made a couple of friends since moving down here but hopefully I'll still make some more. There is one girl that I really like so maybe I can start to hang out with her a little more?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Personal Life

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

S deploys in 17 days for at least nine months...umm..yeah not looking forward to that too much but it is what it is. I've just been trying to spend time with him and keep things as normal as possible.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Finances

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Christmas was brutal in terms of spending. I am going to try the Eboo's method of saving a dollar a week and then subsequently that amount to the previous weeks. Maybe I wouldn't have been charging everything onto a credit card if I had planned better. I also need to save money to send care packages when S is gone. Ok...I might update this post later with more information but I'm going to take a break from typing for now.

I am writing this on my new iPhone from Verizon. First of all I can't even begin to tell you how much I love this phone compared to my Blackberry from sprint. There is absolutely no comparison. Christmas went well and it is so nice to be home just wish they hadnt lost Our luggage.