Gotta Make it Work

Today I woke up at 0320, drank two bottles full of H20, peed in a cup for a small audience, ate breakfast at 1030, and started packing while I contemplated where this grand universe has chosen to take me next.

I finally returned to good ol' C Co 832d after seventeen days of amazeballs family vacation time, to finally get orders for my reclass.  A new job.  The least preferred, least promising, least appealing job of all those that were given to me as options.  GIANT le sigh.  I will officially, as of my arrival to Gulfport, Mississippi next Wednesday, be an Army 12W: Carpentry and Masonry Specialist.  Who'd've thunk it?!  Me, following in my Dad's carpentry footsteps?!  I wouldn't have thought it, nor did I really wish it.  (I know for a fact my father takes no offense to that statement.)

Now, initially, I was a tad upset because for once I'd finally allowed myself to be positive and hopeful about the possibilities that were placed before me as a new job.  But, as one of my platoon sergeants has so aptly reminded me on many occasions, "reclass is like playing Russian roullette"!  And, oh boy, yes, it got me.  Got me saddled with all the worries...what civilian career prospects does this really provide me, if any?  Will I be able to handle the daily physical rigors of construction work?  Yet alone find enjoyment in them?  Will it be challenging enough?  Will my leadership skills be utilized or will I be just a low-rank gopher?  What promotion possibilities does it allow for?

All the possible negatives.  Now doesn't that just sound like the traditional pessimistic pig that we know and love?!

But then I tried, and oh my friends, it took some effort, to look at it differently.  It's a brand new year, right?  No need to start it off totally in the dumpster.  So I realized that the class is only 7 weeks and 3 days long.  That was seemingly the only real positive that jumped out at me.  But at the same time, the single positive, means so many other things will get to happen this year.  I'll get to go home like we wanted this year, and sooner than later, too!  I'll get to enjoy a summer block leave since I'll most definitely be in the real Army by then.  MonkeyHubby and I will get to be together and really celebrate our upcoming wedding anniversary.  We're even talking vacation, maybe a cruise!  And we'll get plenty of months back together before any possible deployment pops up towards the end of 2013.  (Maybe we'll even manage to deploy together, but let's not get too hopeful, that emotion doesn't seem to be pulling universal strings in our favor quite yet this year.)

And then, when you find a couple positives, a few more positive-possibles pop through...Maybe I'll enjoy being outside on a regular basis.  Maybe doing heavy physical work everyday will give me a killer bikini bod before summer.  (The small things, eh?)

All in all, maybe it won't really be that bad.  I guess this pig will just have to ride it out and make it work.

Adios 2012!

This past year was so many things for us.  And even though we didn't make it to midnight (we don't, most years), we did go out for a few drinks and reminisce about all that we accomplished, endured, and just plain ol' muddled through during the past twelve months:

-Moved into a beautiful rental home a little ways outside of the city.

-We welcomed a roommie into the Johnson fold.

-I walked 50 miles in beautiful Charleston, SC in three days.

-OldManHB learned to rollover.

-I quit my job and enlisted in the US Army.

-MonkeyHubby bought me a bike and I learned that I really enjoy cycling with him.

-We spent a beautiful long weekend exploring Asheville, NC.

-I shipped off to Fort Jackson for Basic Training.

-MonkeyHubby shipped off to Afghanistan for his first deployment.

-I graduated basic with a broken pelvic bone.

-PFCJohnson returned home safely as the newly promoted SPCJohnson.

-SPCJohnson earned his EIB.

-Skype became one of our best friends.

-Multiple, multiple, multiple trips home to Texas.

And of course, we've had the joy of spending this year's holidays together.  Seventeen days of togetherness has been amazing after living apart since June 4, and more time together is at the top of our wishlist for 2013.  We look forward to finding out what Army job I will be assigned, celebrating five amazing years of marriage, trimming down MonkeyHubby's waist and our own personal debt ceiling, seeing if we can teach OldManHB to rollover in the opposite direction, my hip healing and being able to run and cycle together once again, and simply living more fully the adventures this crazy world continues to offer us.

Cheers, family and friends!  Welcome to 2013, and good luck!

The Ranch

Dear Cherry Springs Ranch, You were the best end to a rollercoaster trip back to Texas this worn out gal could've asked for. Fresh killed turkey, OldManHB's first sniff of the freshly dead, the ranchkeep's pet pig (razorback genetics included), haunted bunkhouse, my new favorite lab in the whole world Tikka, and our best friend Travie.  Oh, and did I mention no cell service and no internet?!  I think that part might have been the absolute best!  I only hope that we get to make it back to visit you more often.

Tinsel Time in Texas

We made it home-home to Tejas this year for the holidays.  Well, for the week before the holidays.  It was about seven days of family time and it was jam-packed-to-the-max.  We spent, oh, about 24 hours with each family.  There was wrestling and make-your-own-pizza, there was Bass Pro range time and Cafe Medi, there was a trip to the hair salon to somehow facilitate growing this pixie out more fashionably, a million goofy faces, there was Sushi Domo to celebrate living through the Mayan apocalypse, and a good ol' Joe's home-cooked breakfast with the grandparents before hitting the road to end out trip home in the Texas hill country.  But those last two days were so awesome, they deserve their own post (coming soon!).  And we did it all in enough time to be back at our humble abode in NC to spend Christmas morning just the three of us, and Christmas evening at the movies, just like has become our tradition for the past five years.  What more could you wish for out of the holidays?  Oh yea...we still get a few more days of peace and quiet, just the three of us.

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas!

Dear friends & family, Wishing that each and everyone of you was blessed this Christmas day, and will continue to feel the merry season far into the New Year!

xoxo - Monkey & Pig

P.S.  The laptop I busted has been replaced and I'm back in the digital world.  More posts to come soon!

For the Love of a Monkey and Pig: New Roomy!

For the Love of a Monkey and Pig: New Roomy!: Hey everyone, this is Munkee! I know I know, you don't hardly ever hear from me on the blog, but I'm pretty bored today and felt like I...

New Roomy!

Hey everyone, this is Munkee! I know I know, you don't hardly ever hear from me on the blog, but I'm pretty bored today and felt like I could jot down a few words for the world to read.  So late last night, our other room mate finally arrived at the house(she originally was supposed to be here in April).  The first night wasn't to bad, outside of dinner around 8 o'clock.  We put a new twist on our chicken pasta that we make fairly regularly but frying the chicken, and it was delicious!  We watched the Disney movie Brave and it was really good.  Today I woke up fairly early and took old man HB to petsmart to get his nails clipped, and since then its been a lonely day of lounging in bed with HB with golf on the TV in the background.  It's been a pretty good day, but much lonelier than our normal weekends running around with Ogie.  T'is our new life, guess we should learn to enjoy it.  This is Munkee signing off!