I really haven't fallen off the face of the earth!

Things here are going fairly smoothly. Hubby purchased a new laptop and that used the majority of the 'extra' savings I thought we would have, but since it will make communication with him easier, I'm just swallowing my dissapointment and moving forward. Thankfully, he did buy the cheapest he could find, which was less than $700, so it could have been much worse. We aren't in the poor house by any means, but I sure was looking forward to being further ahead in the budget plans than we are now.

Logan has adjusted extremely well to his new bed. I am going to post a picture of his room this evening so you can have a look. He does wake up once a night softly crying/whining, but as soon as I go in and lay down for a moment he falls back to sleep. I'm slowly going to work that into just sitting quietly by the bed, then towards the door.. ala Supernanny...so that eventually the night wakeups are minimal. I really do not mind them, especially with the few nights a week he does actually sleep through ( a real treat!), so I know this is a natural progression. The first three nights he woke up at least twice and ended up in my bed. He gets no 'mommy bed' time now. He really does love his new bed.

I am doing very well and I am excited to share that I joined the gym here. I started last night with a simple two mile walk, but today I will do a mile warm up and then start the weightlifting. Its the local YMCA and its pretty nice. No indoor pool, but they do have an Olympic-sized one outside in the summers. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for water aerobics. Right now they offer lots of classes, like Yoga and Pilates, so I think I will add those as well to my routine to add a bit of variety. I am hoping to work up to a daily routine kind of thing, but at least a minimum of five days a week. I paid an $80 sign up fee and my monthly cost is $42. It also offers free daycare up to 9 hours a week-- Kentucky has a restriction on daycare time for these types of facilities and 9 hours is the max. My daughter also has full use of the facilities and teen center. A great bargain-- I suggest the YMCA as an option if you have a facility like it in your community.

My daughter is still in the 'mom is enemy number one' phase and I don't see it ending any time soon. Sometimes she's just an ungrateful little snot. Love her anyway.

The oldest is sleeping on the couch as I type this so I will wrap this up. He's checking in at the local recruiting office today to make sure everything is set for his shipping out to boot camp on the 7th of March. He's been telling his dad this place doesn't feel like home and I agree with him. This is just a stopover for all of us, but especially for him. Logan is following him around constantly... they are going to miss each other something awful. Then with Logan's daddy leaving March 21st... I fully expect a bit of regression with his eating and sleeping habits. Poor little man.

Sorry about being MIA!

The kids have been sick and I caught it today. My mom grabbed some real Sudafed (that Sudafed PE is CRAP) and I am hoping its enough to get through. The kids weren't terribly sick, no fevers at all, just runny noses and some congestion. I had manged to fight off illness three times already, but guess not this time.

I am just two pounds away from the weight I was when hubby and I got married 14 years ago. I can't wait to see that number on the scale. When I broke into the 160s this week I gasped so loud I scared everyone. Now I have watched the scale flirting with 170/169/168.5 the past two days. I am really working on getting my water in, especially now that I am sick. I hope to feel better in a few days with a mimimum of discomfort.

Hubby is currently visiting his buddy in Omaha for the weekend. My oldest is still in Virginia Bewach probably throwing a computer party again with his friends over the weekend. Hubby and the oldest will arrive in Kentucky on February 16, after hubby officially detaches from his command. The oldest leaves March 7 for boot camp and hubby leaves for Cuba on March 24th. So we get a good month with him and we should receive at least one check-in call from our oldest before then.

My 12 year old daughter has become a pain in my ass lately. We've hit the 'I hate my mother!' stage and she's doing everything she can to make sure I know it. The move didn't help, to be sure, but if things don't get better in the next month, I am seriously considering sending her to a counselor. If she's going to bad mouth me, at least I can get her a private place to vent, so I don't have to hear it. I have had moments where I could literally feel myself slapping her sassy mouth and that just is not good.

My mom tells me I didn't do that, but my sister did. Speaking of which, my sister sent her daughter up here to live with my parents for awhile, because she couldn't handle the 16 year old attitude along with some other...risky business she was engaging in. I am just thrilled that my niece and my daughter are now in cahoots. Its them against me & the grandparents. Ok, I'm lying, I'm not thrilled. I just keep telling myself that one day my daughter will have a daughter of her own possibly, and I pray to God she's just like her mother. Then I will just sit and cackle when I get the plaintive phonecalls about my granddaughter.

Things with my parents and I are just fine so far. My mother and I did get into it a bit over Guantanamo Bay and the situation there, but she (surprisingly) ended it quickly by agreeing to disagree. I'm just astonished that anyone, especially my mother, thinks the prisoners are better off in the camp than they were in their own country. I mean, REALLY?! We really should avoid all political talk, but this election season is starting up and my mother is a member of the local Republican Party. I'm willing to bet she asks for permission to use my yard for their candidate's sign again. I'm going to buck up and say 'no' this time.

Logan has adjusted extremely well to the move, espcially since he is sick as well. He LOVES his new twin bed. The first couple nights he did wake up and come to my room a couple times. I let him fall asleep beside me then carried him back to his room. Last night he slept right through and I'm hoping for a repeat of that tonight. I am thinking around his second birthday about starting the 'go to bed awake' thing. I'm such a wuss, I just can't do it now.

Ok, feeling tired, so off I go to bed. No video games for me until this clears up and hubby is back, anyway.

Really fast as Im exhausted and will have more to say Sunday night.

Weigh in for February 1 was 172 pounds! I lost 9 pounds and I'm ecstatic.

Having a rough time staying hydrated as I am constantly unpacking or cleaning or chasing toddler tornado strikes, so I keep forgetting to drink. Working on that ASAP.

Will have more to say soon!


(OH, I LOVE OUR NEW HOME!)

Furniture was delivered to our home this morning. What a relief!

The van being totalled was a blessing in disguise. The company paid us $3200 for it. $2000 more than we had hoped. We are paying off all our credit cards! Yippee! Six months ahead of schedule! The rest is being put away in savings, which also puts us 8 months ahead of our goal. hee!

It has just started snowing here. Wouldn't you know we'd choose the day the winter storm hit to start our trip.

We leave in a few hours. Wish us luck.
Will check in as soon as our broadband is hooked up Friday night.