Spring- Nebraska... no corn here!

Summer- Mama and I in CA

Summer - Franicsco and I in CA

Fall- Rick back from deployment

Winter- Michelle and I at Christmas Party

Sunday Dinners

2007

Whoa, this is by far the fastest moving year. I've been told in the past that as your get older, time goes faster. And they sure as hell were right about that. This has been one awesome year. I have a wonderful family, a great group of friends and have finally said, "I'm okay," with living in Omaha.... That took a while. ;) New babies coming into the world (BabyW) and new ones were made and coming in this next year (Michelle and Chris', hehe). I'm hope that it will just get better and better. I hope that everyone has a safe, wonderful New Year's and I wish everyone the best for 2008.

Enchanted Oaks

(It's nice there but close to NOHTING)

Leo sitting very comfortably with us up front

Paris..... Texas

On our way home.... somewhere in Kansas. I hate that state.

WHOO HOO!!!

I have a new template for my blog. I'm going to have to play with it so that I can see what color and fonts look good on it. I wish they had more font selections.

Rick and I just got back from Dallas. We went for Christmas and stayed with his dad. It was a lot of fun. Relaxing and eating a lot. I am not going to step on that scale for a while. While we were there, we noticed that

Rick's mom's cats weren't getting a lot of attention. They probably hadn't been petted in about 5 months. They are between 14 and 16 years old. We brought them home. We have 5 CATS!!! Crazy, but we think they are in a better place now, our house and hopefully they will live out their last couple of years in peace.

I will try to write before the end of the year....

I know I know! It's been forever since I last wrote in this thing. Well, I've been busy. Thanksgiving came and went and now it's almost Christmas. At this time, I will still be staying home for it and Rick will be going to Dallas to visit his family. SUCKS. But hopefully by the end of the day, I will find out if I get the time off.

Yeah, nothing much else going on. Just been going out a lot with friends and having fun. We had Rick's Christmas squadron party a couple of weekends ago. That was a lot of fun. We finally got an excuse to really get dressed up and dance and meet all the people that Rick has mentioned in the office but I've never met before. Though, I still don't remember their names. lol.

Katie, Tim, Rick and I

Sophie, Michelle, Me, Shawna

Katie and I

So yeah, it's been fun. Our really good friends Michelle and Chris just found out recently that they are having a baby. It's really exciting and at the same time a little bumming.

Michelle and I

They're our best friends here and we do everything with them. I don't think the baby will change our relationship, we just won't get a chance to play with them as much. But they are the first ones to really do it in our group of friends, so we'll see who gets baby fever first. lol! I'm betting on my friend Ashley. She just got a puppy though so that might take care of that desire! I'll be going with Michelle to her doctor appointments while he's deployed these next couple of months. I can't wait to find out what it is so that I can get it something. :)

It's almost the end of the year and I am still at this stupid job that I LOATH with a passion. So my New Year's resolution is to be out of here before my two year anniversary here, which is at the end of March. So good luck to me! I'll try to write here at least once more before the end of the year. Ciao!

YAY!!! HUBBY IS BACK!!!!

On Wednesday night, Rick finally got back. It's been so good to see him. He came in later than anticipated, but he was well worth the wait. He has a week off and then it's back to work for him.

Okay, it's been a while since I last wrote something here and the last time it was not a very positive one. And it still hasn't improved, my work life that is. I've had a good couple of weeks of fun. My friends are so awesome, trying to keep me happy and occupied while Rick is gone. Hanging out, going out for my friend's birthday, and Sunday dinners is what keep me from getting bored and fat. Haha.

Michelle

Phil

It's me

Actually, I've lost weight since Rick left. I got myself an elliptical, named her Lola, and have been eating smaller portions and healthier. So I've lost a total of 10 pounds!!! Whoo hoo! That was my goal will Rick was gone. Hopefully I will be able to keep it off and lose a couple more when he gets back. I'm ready for Hubby to come home and take care of me and not have my evenings just be me and the kitties.

I can't believe my work life right now. I can't believe that I'm putting up with all it's crap. I can't believe that I've been able to stay here and be somewhat sane these last 6 months. My OM has quit, right before our move in mid-October. Not that I blame her, I was thinking of donig the same thing if I had found a job. But I haven't and so I haven't been able to leave. Who knows if I will be able to now. Great.... So I'm stressed, to say the least and I don't really care about being here at work at this very moment. Dang it.

Rick's still on his deployment. We hit the mid mark, so at least there is about a month left until I see him. I've been sending e-mails and he's been doing better about calling me and letting me know what's going on in his life. I miss my hubby. I wish he was home so I could cuddle with him and he could make me feel better about work.

Yeah, nothing much else going on. Getting as much sleep and trying to lose weight. I've lost 5 so far of the 15 or so that I've been wanting to lose this last year. I finally got an elliptical and it's been great! Especially on rainy days, I have no excuse of not working out anymore. Hopefully Rick will return and find his hottie wife again. Haha!

Okay, well, I hope that the next posting will be in a happy tone. Fall is coming to Omaha again, and it's been beautiful. I hope it stays this nice til Rick gets here.

It's been really busy these last couple of weeks. About 2 weeks ago, Rick's brother Jack came to visit. It's crazy on how so alike they are, even though all together, they have only spent about week together in 10 years. Hopefully, he will be making his way back here more or Rick and I going to Florida to visit him. Jack and the face he makes in EVERY picture.

The weekend after his visit, it was our friend's Spencer's birthday. It was very chill, some cake and food and then just watching a movie on his BIG TV.

Spencer and his birthday cake (not and bad pic that I took!)

We knew that we only had so much time before he left today, so we out to dinner on his last night, hung out with a couple of people and then came home. I had planned to sleep in, have breakfast with Rick and then go out to lunch and drop him off at base. Well, we get a call around 9am the day of his deployment, saying that they don't have to come in for another 24 hours. Whoo hoo!! So awesome to hear! But then I got up and went straight to work, so that I could have the time off today.

So today, Rick finally left. It's been a long sad day. The house is quieter and WAY lonely. My cats have already noticed something is not right. Hopefully, they will sleep with me tonight. It will make me feel better. It's crazy to think that other people have to deal with longer and even worse conditions on their deployments. I have lots of respect for the spouses that have their loved ones on those deployments.

Friday the 13th. I never had a problem with that day except for now. It has taken 25 years for me to finally have a problem with that date. Work has been horrendous. I just hope my evening goes well.

It's been a while since I last wrote. Let's see, I guess the most important thing is that I finally made it home to CA. My mom was going to have surgery on the 26th of June. Her pre-op appt. was on the 21st. So I got in on the 20th and went with her to her appt. Well, since her health hasn't been great and her blood count is so low, the doctors decided to not operate. Well, that's good because we got to play a LOT. But bad because that means I wasn't really helping out and that she has to wait another 2 months to see if she is getting the operation then. We'll see what happens.

So me and my mama got to play the whole time I was there. We went shopping at Stanford Mall like 3 times,

Francisco and Mama at Stanford eating at our fav coffee place.

the District Assembly on Sunday,

Me and Mama

Francisco and Andy trying to look cool.

going to the beach,

It's MEEEEEE! And the beach.

more shopping, LOTS of eating of great food,

YUMMY pizza in Mountain View.

sleeping, shopping, seeing some friends,

Andrew and I

getting mani and pedis (first time for me to get a perdicure!)

FEET!

and shopping. Shopping was a huge priority. The clothes are easier to find for me out in CA than here in Omaha. I don't know what that is all about. But it was a lot of fun and we got to talk a lot about what's been going on and I spent a a lot of time trying to convince her to come out to Omaha. I have no idea if that will ever happen. But we'll see.

I need to go home more often. The flights out to CA are not very long and it was kind of cheap. So I might go home more than just once a year. Depends on the job though, if they let me go. I would be so IRKED, but I still haven't found another job, so I have to stay here until I can find something better. :-/

Francisco and I on my last day.

It was so awesome being with my family. I always think about them, I miss them everyday and hope that they are doing well everyday.

For our friend Ian's birthday, we decided to all meet up for dinner at Upstream. It's one of our favs here in Omaha. Well, it took a lot longer than expected to get a table. First of all, we thought it was only 6 of us, then it grew to like 13 or something. So we had to wait longer. It was a great dinner though in the end and made some new friends.

Ashley going a little crazy waiting for a table. hehe!

Finally seated!

The next day, our friends Eunice and her husband decided that they wanted to make dinner for Ian since they didn't get a chance to make it to dinner. It was delicious and lots of fun. They just bought a house and we finally got a chance to see it. It's really cute. They have a son, Nolan, and he's just the cutest thing! He's a funny little boy.

Zynda, Ashley, Rick and Enuice

Ian and Baby Nolan

Zynda and Baby Nolan

Enuice, Ian and his friend Brandy

Lots of things have gone on in the last couple of weeks since I last wrote. First, the Tim and Faith concert. That was a lot of fun. I was able to take Rick with me, I didn't know if I was just because I know he hates concert but give him a little alcohol, then he's a semi happier person. It was really good though, they have great voices and are able to the whole crowd up and singing. We weren't that far from the stage as I thought it would be. Anyways, that was a fun night. I was so tired the next day at work; it was a Wed. night concert. ECK!

Rick and I

Tim and Faith

Memorial Day weekend was nice and long and I did NOT want to come back to work today. But alas, I did, with a great sigh and hope for a better week.

On Friday, a couple of us went out to dinner and then went to a bar. It was a lot of fun, though I was the DD but I got to have my fun on Sat. Saturday was a busy day for us. Rick and I went to the Farmer's Market on Old Market. Then lunch at Spaghetti Works. After that, we went to our neighbor's birthday cookout and ate and hung out until about 9ish. Then we went out to Old Market again and this time I got to drink.

Zynda, Ashley and I at Mixxers

Ashley and I at Nomads

On Sunday, I don't remember what we did in the morning. I think we just hung out at home. And then we went to Ashley's place for Sunday dinner. YUM! And then we went to Rumors, which was kind of weird, since it was hip hop night and it's not the usual crowd that we are used to. On Monday, we went to Chris and Michelle's place for another cookout and that was fun. Hung out, watched some tv and the guys played quite a bit of video games. We got home by 930. TIRED. And now I'm at work, just doing whatev for another 2 hours. I hope that the afternoon goes by fast like this morning.

Michelle and I

The hubby and I

Yeah, nothing else is really going on. It's been really good having Rick home and I am NOT looking forward to him leaving in 2 months. :-/ These last 2 months have gone by quickly. And that's because he got out to the desert early and then left late. So yeah... :-/ But then we will have Christmas, New Year, my birthday and Ashley's wedding to be together for next year. AND A TAX FREE YEAR! Which means our next year's return will be nice and BIG!!! :) YAY!

Last week, after a LOOOOONG day at work, I came home and found Rick with a big ole smile on his face. He asked for a glass of water from the fridge, and when I got there, there was a dozen roses just hanging out. I was so surprised. Since we have been together, I have gotten flowers 3 times from him. So this was a super big deal for me. They were beautiful. So I asked him what he was up to since I rarely get flowers. Well, he told me to start going through my steps of what I do when I get home and there would be a surprise. So I went through them and still couldn't find his surprise. Finally he told me to just lay down on my bed. I laid my head on the pillow and when I went to curl up with it, I found my surprise.

He had gotten me a gun. It's a 357 Smith & Wesson revolver. It's the coolest! It's big and heavy and it's the most comfortable gun that I can shoot. I've tried other ones. But I like this one the best. We finally took it out to shoot at the Bullet Hole on Sunday. It was a lot of fun and I'm so glad that he got it for me. He will be leaving this summer again. And I don't like that I only had his rifle for protection and that I don't like shooting it. So I'm glad I have the revolver. And then yesterday he got himself another gun, I forgot what it's called but it's a little one and it's also kind of cool.

It's so weird that I would be so interested in guns. I grew up in CA, where guns are usually associated with gangs and killings or kids doing stupid stuff with them. So it's weird to come out here and it's more open and not associated with all the negative stuff. We will be showing in the future our kids the proper way to take care of a gun and how not to use them, how they are not for shotting people, etc. Though I find that there's still a lot of people that don't like guns and have never used them. For now, it's just for going to the range and shooting for a while and for the protection of myself and the kitties when Rick is not home.

Lately, work has been getting to me. I don't think there is a single day that I am at work where I get to go home and I'm in a good mood. Or at least an okay mood. Everyday, I'm tired, cranky and just not wanting to deal with anything at home. I don't know if it's depression or if it's just the life that I have at work affecting me to the point that it's affecting the the rest of my life. I have no idea if that made sense, but do you know what I mean? I want to get home happy and ready to clean and cook and make the hubby happy. I don't want to vent about work or think about how miserable I am.

I just don't think I can take it anymore. I am grateful that they sometimes do things for me, like they DID give me the time off to go see my mom in CA. But there's so much more on the CONS side that makes me want to turn in my two weeks notice and not give a shit about what I am leaving behind. Which is HORRIBLE of me, I always want to leave my job on a good note and make sure I still have friends there. But here, here I don't CARE.

We'll see what happens tomorrow. I turned in a couple of applications on Tuesday last week because I didn't know if they were going to give me the time off and I finally just decided to grow some balls and just do it. So I got a call back from a company that wants to meet me. We'll see what happens. Perhaps this my next step to a happier life.

These past 2 weeks have flown by so quickly. With Rick home, it has kind of thrown my schedual off and I am finally getting used to having him around, and not working out and eating more. Haha. I need to lose these pounds!

HOME! I miss home...

I talked to my mom a while back. Rick and I have always planned to go back to CA for at least a week this summer. But my mom is having surgery done in late June. So I decided that I would go then. The place that she lives in is too small and with her not feeling well after her surgery, it would just make it uncomfortable for all of us to stay there. So Rick is not coming with me. That's okay. He will get to play with the cats and I get a chance of alone time with my mom and get some shopping done! I can't wait!!!

My favorite place in the world: Stanford Mall!

I was scared that work wouldn't let me go. I know that other people were wanting to take that time off and did get it and I would have to stay here. Well, that was fine until I found out the dates and I told them that if I didn't get to go, then I would have to think about my position here. So yesterday they informed me that I got all the days off that I wanted. Which is really cool. But that means a less motivation to quit here. :-/

The weather has been really nice here lately. So nice that my cat Leo has been running way from home and not coming back for a while. It freaks the hell out of us. And last night he did it around 9pm. During the daytime it's easier for us to look for him of course. So I was really mad at him for doing that last night. He has had his outdoor privilages taken from him. Eck! Poor cat. maybe that will stop him from doing that now.

Yay! The hubby is home! He came in at around 7:30 last night. It was so awesome to see him. Before I went onto base, I stopped by Starbucks to get some chai teas. And they gave them to me for free when I told them I was picking up Rick. That was really nice of them.

He's had to go into work today really early, but hopefully he will get some rest in the next week or so. Yay! Rick is home!

Rick gets in today! Excited! But now I just found out that his plane is delayed by 4.5 hours! GRRRRR!!! It's not fair! I just want to see my husband. It's not fair! :( Nothing I can do about any of it, so I just have to learn to be paitent and calm and cool.

i carry your heart with me

by e. e. cummings

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in my heart)

i am never without it (anywhere

i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done

by only me is your doing, my darling)i fear

no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want

no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)

and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

I am only 15 days or so away from Rick. Yay! I'm so excited! I hope that he doesn't mind that the kitties have taken over his spot on the bed! Leo and Bella curl up with me every night.

I've starting cleaning up the house more. This past weekend, I cleaned the kitchen and the living room. I have to hit the dining room and office this week. Eventually I will get to the bathrooms.

I HATE cleaning bathrooms. I seriously was delusional when I was living with Nikki, my roommate when I was living in Monterey. I thought there was like a bathroom cleaning fairy and it was all done nice just for me. Ummm.... NO. It was actually Nikki cleaning the bathroom all the time. I was really lucky to have her as my roommate. The best one for sure. I only have a short time with other roomies, but it was weird and it was so scary living in a house in Seaside, up a couple of blocks from a high school and the ghetto. I am thankful for my Nikki. We used to do the funnest, silliest things, and I could totally go and talk to her when I needed to. She is so smart and so purty. :) She and the hubby Ron live in Washington and he's deploying soon. Sad. :( Hopefully I will go and visit her sometime soon.

I MISS YOU NIKKI! COME VISIT ME SOOOOOOOON!!

So.... while Rick is busy saving the world, I try to stay busy and not as lonely. I have my friends to pick me up and keep me happy while he's gone. I have some very awesome friends and there is one couple that's just always so much to go out with. Chris and Michelle have been married for about 2 years. I met them once we came out here to Omaha and we hang out with them quite a bit. While Michelle was on her deployment, we kept Chris has busy was we could on the weekends especially. Well, they in turn are keeping me busy on the weekends. I don't think I have been out this much since the summer of 2005. Whoo wee! That was a fun summer! And this season has been really close to it. Except that I'm married now, so I don't end up going home with someone. Haha! And that's a good thing!

Anyways... these are pics from just 2 nights of going out with them. And we went out last weekend, so I will have to get those pics from them soon.

Michelle and I with our Long Islands!

Okay, that was just a funky pic

Michelle and I at Bullfeathers

Me with the famous fishbowl! That was just start...