Hola Weekend!

Oh dear weekend, you couldn't have come at a better time!  I'm uber-stoked that this weekend not only will we be working more on getting the new rental house all put together, but we'll also be visiting the movie theater to see the Hunger Games movie, we'll be smoking a yummy just-like-we're-in-Texas brisket and sharing it with crowds of friends on Saturday, and, if we're weather-lucky, we'll pull the bikes out for a nice ride on Sunday!  Oh, and did I forget to mention that stinky Mr. HB is getting groomed this weekend, too?!

Now...all there is to do is for the mini-monkey and I to wait for our big Monkey to get home and get this bash of a weekend started!

We're Here! We're Home!

What a past few days it has been! *whew*

We've managed to move 99% of our stuffs to the new rental house.  Well, I should say, PFCJohnson and his soldier buddies managed to move 99% of our stuff.  I've felt uber-useless due to an Insanity-induced back injury that I've been nursing since last Thursday evening.  (I actually took all day off work today to stay off my feet, let my back rest, and enjoy and uber-awesome massage courtesy of Ms. Jennifer at our local Massage Envy.)  But it's exciting to not be in a third floor apartment anymore, even if things are still totally not put together in the new place, and tons of stuff is still filling the garage.  Oops!

Ogie has even moved in with us.  He will be Monkey's roommie once I ship off for Army training come June.  It's interesting having two men in the house, but not too bad.  Although, Ogie is out in the field tonight and Monkey is working a CQ shift, so I will, already, be spending my first night alone in the house.  We'll see if the wonderful darkness of the bedroom (so very dark compared to a third floor apartment with street lights constantly shining in), and the quiet of an out-of-the-city neighborhood, turn out to be too much!

For now, I'm enjoying HB enjoying the wooded view across the street...

Monkey Props!

So MonkeyHubby has been somewhat out-of-commission since his incident Monday.  Not able to work, not really able to make a ton of packing progress either.  But, he has been absolutely amazing in the 'making-annoying-but-necessary-phone-calls' division that inevitably comes along with each new move...cancelling the current electric bill, setting up the new electrical bill, transferring cable and internet, signing up with the county water department, etc., etc...

In order to acknowledge all he's done to help out, I doodled him a little picture card at work today. :D

You really do rock MonkeyHubby!

<3Pig

Amen!

So everything seems to be getting 'kinks' in it lately...the move is a little more complicated than expected, MonkeyHubby's incident has somewhat sidelined his assistance, my job is going nutso-crazy-busy right now, and, a family-health situation has arisen at home (prayers to BigPapa for my Uncle Joe).

And in times of craziness, I have a tendency to stress out (ask MonkeyHubby, he'll roll his eyes and tell you all about it!), but I'm trying more and more to keep the Pandora tuned to a good station and keep my heart distracted.  Today it's been all about the Audio Adrenaline station, which happened to just play a Brandon Heath song which totally clicked for me today.  Not only did it remind me that my current situation may not be comfortable, but it's going to have a comfortable end, but that the endeavor I will embark on this coming June, will be anything but comfortable, but worth every second of hard work and strife.

I googled and googled to try and find a real music video, but below is the best that YouTube seems to be giving me.  Enjoy and let it love all over you like it did me...

Pig's Ramblings

Dear PFC Johnson, You are constantly impressing me with your PT advancements.  Why just the other day you were sharing your apprehensions with me about being able to do the 6 pull-ups necessary to pass a RPFT (Ranger Physical Fitness Test).  Not only did you accomplish those 6 pull-ups today, you did it after being called into work at 0400 after 3.5 hours of sleep.  AND you still did you push-ups, sit-ups, and 5 mile run.  You are awesome!

Dear Crazy-Job w/a Crazy-Boss,  You still stress me out, but today wasn't too bad.  I showed up at 0800 and left promptly at quittin' time.  I'm pretty sure Queen-Drama-King wasn't ready for me to go, but by-golly I had stuff to take care of and happiness to keep. I am, however, counting down and loving the fact that I only have 13 days left to go with you!

Dear Insanity Fit-Test, I totally rocked your socks off today and that felt amazing!

Dear MonkeyHubby, You had a small accident today at work, but luckily Womack took good care of you.  Man you got my heart pumpin' when you called and said you were on your way to the hospital!  I'm anxious for you to get home this evening so I can pamper you.  Although, this little incident may make for a loving new nickname, Mr. Frankenstein-Hand!

MonkeyHubby got a dozen stitches on his left hand today after a pretty nasty knife cut...what's the most stitches you've ever had??

Peace&Gig'em - AJ

What a Weekend!!

Happy Sunday REST-day folks!  Man, it's been one heck of a weekend, right?!  Friday was quite a rough day at work for me, luckily, I'm counting down the remaining 14 work days until I can let go of some meaningless environmentally-induced stress.  On another note though, my husband and I had a wonderful quiet Panera Bread date Friday evening to relax and talk it out.  Some giggling was much needed, and well handled. :)

Saturday was spent errand-running and packing up my craft room.  But we did manage to squeeze in a few green drinks and grilled steaks with some friends for St. Patty's Day.  What green beverage did you enjoy?

Our move is coming up SO quick...NEXT Saturday we will spend our first night snuggling in the rental house, I'm sure with boxes still all around us.  But it'll all be worth it to park my car in a garage the next time it rains, and watch Hurley Burley hop through his new doggy door and sniff all over his giant backyard.  There is still quite a bit to be done in order to complete a successful move, and unfortunately, I've now gained all of those responsibilities instead of half of them.  Poor PFCJohnson will be out training in the field Monday - Thursday of this week, and Monday - Friday of the following week.  I should probably pick up like a dozen Red Bull tomorrow to make it through the coming weeks!

Speaking of, I actually need to get back to some packing/changing addresses/transferring services.

xoxo AJ

Monkey Props!

Today I was so very proud of my MonkeyHubby.  He had a PT test this morning at work, and after being on profile (in Army speak this means something along the lines of reduced physical activity due to an injury/illness, etc.) for almost a month, unable to really run due to a sprained ankle and tendon issues, he still scored a 275 out of 300!  That means Mr. Strong-Monkey did 69 push-ups, 67 sit-ups, and ran his 2 miles in 13:05.  In our household this gets a hooah AND a whoop!

Love & Gig'em!
AJ

Pig's Ramblings

Today has been a LONG day! But at least it's getting to be bed time and that means it's pretty much over.  Work has been crazy hectic, and tomorrow is an out-of-town-appointment-filled day that I have been dreading all week.  I am desperately counting down business days (18 to go!!) until I am no longer under the influence of my crazy uber-high-maintenance, totally-unaware-of-anyone-but-himself, boss.  I've even nicknamed him QR (Queen R****) and the entire office has caught on to this nickname...that's got to say something about the way he is, drama-papa!

Send me up some prayers tomorrow folks, I'll be spending all those out-of-town hours with him, and just him.

On a better note, Monkey is home from the field, and after a week of working nights last week, it looks like we will finally get some normal nights together this week, whoop!  Time to bite the bullet and start packing...

SAD FACE!

<3AJ

Pig's Ramblings

My MonkeyHubby is out in the field tonight, running around, pulling the trigger, and training with his buddies, so, of course, I've been exploring the internet for entertainment.  (After I finished my Insanity workout, enjoyed my leftover baked pasta, started taking down pictures to pack for our move, and finished up the laundry, of course!)  And I came across this pretty interesting, and giggle-filled, article about rage comics, those crazy hand-drawn meme-faces that MonkeyHubby has fallen in man-love with.  I've been on the fence about whether to join in the fad, but after reading a few comics, a few back stories about the faces, and some tid-bits from the creators about what they want them to represent here, I'm about to jump the fence and join in.  Shhh!  You can't tell MonkeyHubby, he might rub it in my face!!

Any of you out there into the rage comic phenom? What's your favorite face?

Waiting for ALL the comments!

xoxo - AJ

Thankfuls

1. A week that went by uber-quick...having Monday off always helps!
2. Lazy, lazy, LAZY Sunday mornings in bed, TV on, HB at my toes, and time to play around with the blog.
3. Sweet text messages from MonkeyHubby while he's finishing up his golf game...

4. Washer and dryer for the new rental house have been checked off the to-do list!  Delivery is set and ready to go for move-in day...which, btw, is only TWO WEEKS AWAY!
5. Easy going dinners with really good friends.  Oh, and throwing in a couple brand new puppies who are the cutest little things ever, never hurt.  Welcome to the Army-family Boss & Reagan!  But best of all, it's amazing to have Coop back with us...Afghanistan did not get the best of him!

6. Not feeling too much pressure to finish today's chores.  I mean, it's all got to be packed away soon anyways, right?!
7. My birthday gift from my parentals finally arrived - a trip home to Tejas in April, just uber-excited!

xoxo - AJ

Love Reminders

Every once in awhile there are these little universal God-blessings that just seem to remind us, me specifically, that our love is still alive, thriving, and, more than anything, uniquely special.  Today MonkeyHubby and I shared not only one of those rare sparkling kisses (the kind where when your lips touch you catch a strong spark and your heart skips a quick beat), but we unison-sneezed and giggled ourselves silly afterwards.  Today's little love reminders...

:))AJ

Oh what a day!

Well after getting home last night shortly after midnight, I actually slept in until almost 9 this morning which is very odd for me these days.  I started my day off with an awesome workout with our buddy Curtis, we worked out back and biceps out to the point of muscle failure!  After that I got to go deal with fucking chipotle during their lunch rush.  Luckily they were able to get my piggies order right, but the dumb bitch didn't wanna listen to me and just started throwing all kinds of lettuce and whatnot on my burrito that I didn't want.  I really wish that Freebirds would begin to expand out this way.  After getting out of there I went and met my lovely piggy and took her over to Hawley's bike shop where we purchased her an awesome little road bike!!

She had decided to open up her mind and give bike riding a chance so that we can have a fun outdoor activity to do together! This makes me a very happy Munkee!  We are aiming to one day be able to do all kinds of charity walks, run, rides together.  And now we've come to that point in the day where I have to get ready to go work another night in the field :(  Well that's how my days gone, till next time....

AIRBORNE!!!!

Pig's Ramblings

Dear MonkeyHubby, I'm so happy that we signed our lease today!  Can't wait for the 24th to roll around and get the keys to our first *rental* house!  I also find it quite awesome that you spent some of your day bike shopping for me.  I'm a bit nervous about delving into this new hobby, but you're so excited about being able to ride together, I can't help but catch some of it, so contagious!

Dear PFC Johnson, You've been working nights this week which sucks a tad, but it's not too bad.  It's given me the opportunity to focus on kicking off week one of mine and the gals' 60 Day Insanity Challenge.  Although, you're sneakiness coming in last night still has me baffled!

And to the entity most on my mind as I uncomfortably lounge on the couch this evening...

Dear Insanity Work-Outs, You are, excuse my lack of creative adjectives, INSANE!  I am sore in all sorts of crazy places, and am at the same time determined to make it through one of your workouts without having to take extra-uber-breaks to catch my breath.  You will definitely have me in rockin' shape before I head off to basic, and for that I will thank you.

What are your favorite workout moves?  How do you recover?
Hope everyone had the happiest of hump days!
Peace<3AJ

Walk Schmalk!

50 miles you say?  In three days you add?  Challenge accepted!  Challenge completed! (Minus Saturday's outbreak of thunder and lightening that resulted in walker's being pulled from the course for safety reasons, of course!)

What an absolutely wonderful weekend, and what an amazing experience!  And I was quite stoked to share the experience of my first MS Challenge Walk with my previously exclusive e-friend Melissa, now turned proper girlfriend. :)  She also introduced me to her friend Leslie who has MS, but was still walking in the walk with us.  What a strong girl!  She was quite inspiring and such a trooper throughout the whole weekend.

Without too much yap-yapping, I'll just share the highlights of the weekend with a few good pictures...

The three of us before starting, early Friday morning.

The two mile bridge we walked across.  One mile up hill, one mile down hill.  Down hill is much better!  We were all very happy that lunch and a sit-down break was at the end of this bridge.  It was even better that my Momma and MonkeyHubby were waiting at the lunch-spot to check on us and cheer us forward.  They would randomly pop up here and there on the route during the afternoon, and were faithfully cheering us as we crossed the first day's finish line.  What great supporters!

Somehow we were still smiling at the finish on Sunday!  Maybe it was the fact that they fed us pizza and cupcakes at the pre-finish, one mile prior to the finale finish line. :)

And of course we found some married-folk-fun-time during the weekend (and maybe a tad shopping too...something we both love).  MonkeyHubby can make me giggle like no other!

All in all, my tootsies may have been quite tired and sore, but they're stronger and tougher for it.  And they will always be willing to donate their time and a few hot spots, for such an amazing cause.

Peace, Love & Awareness <3AJ

P.S. If you ever visit Charleston, SC, make absolutely sure to check out the Wild Dunes Resort on Isle of the Palms.  Our service was spectacular, the food was quite yummy, and our room was out of this world!

Well Here Goes Nothing!!

Well this is my first official blog entry, and I'm not gonna lie, it feels a little weird for me to put my feeling and thoughts and whatever else out there for anyone to read.  But like I said, here goes nothing.....This weekend was an amazing weekend for me and my wonderful piggy wife!  We were in Charleston, SC for the MS challenge walk that she participated in, and she did amazing I might add.  We stayed in at the amazing Wild Dunes resort in Isle of Palms, and got to try the Fuel Cantina from Food Networks Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.  We couldn't help ourselves and ended our weekend at the tanger outlets for a little shopping before heading home to Fayetteville.  Well its now Tuesday and Ambers back at work, and since I had a late call to work this morning I figured I'd pull my bicycle out of the closet and go for a ride this morning.  The bike works just like it did when I put it in the closet a year ago, but my ride was hardly enjoyable.  I believe the wind chill at 0730 when I took of this morning was in the mid 20's and shortly into my ride my fingers, toes, and ears were close to numb.  So I'm thinking I need to look into some actual winter riding gear before I try another chilly morning ride such as this one.  Well that gets everyone pretty much up to speed with Mr. Monkeys world, and soon I'll head to work to jump out of a plane and play GI Joe all night.  Till next time....

Munkee