Jennifer Hudson in my new inspiration!

I'm sitting here watching Oprah. 


Jennifer Hudson is talking about her weight loss.


She is STUNNING!


I am looking at her legs and I'm thinking, " I WANT THOSE LEGS!"


One of the hardest things to do lose weight.  I think it is more than difficult to stay motivated and make the necessary changes in your eating habits and your lifestyle to lose the weight and keep it off.


I started a weight loss journey about a year ago.  It was after I saw pictures of myself at Christmas time.  Now while I have never NOT considered myself as FINE, I was not the fine that I wanted to be.


Don't get me wrong, y'all, I was still walking down the streets having guys snapping their necks to get a second look!  But there was something that I was not happy with.


These last few months since Hubs has returned from the desert, I seem to have lost my way.  Somewhere along the line, I gave up on my "new lifestyle" and stopped trying to be healthy, stopped working out, stopped eating right.  I miss those days.


Since I've arrived in AZ, well.... since the movers picked up my scale in GA.... I have gained 7lbs.


I'm going to leave it at that and not talk about me anymore.


Back to Jennifer.  She looks awesome.  Weight Watchers has worked for her.  I want to be like Jennifer.  As of this moment, she is my inspiration.  She's a size 6.  One size smaller than my goal.  I want to be her and I have to stop procrastinating and just get there!


I passed out a few days ago.


My alarm went off and I pushed snooze.  My alarm went off again and I pushed snooze.  It went off again and I got out of the bed.  I stood up and thought, "Wow, I feel dizzy."  The next thing I remember was being on the floor and hearing Hubs say, "You okay?" and grabbing my hand to help me up.  I hopped up and said, "I'm okay."  I went on to continue my morning as if nothing happened.  Felt a little shaky, but I was good.  While I was in the hospital to pick up a prescription at the pharmacy, Hubs convinced me to see the doctor.  They blood work and told me to come back in 2 days.


Well, today I got the results and je suis bien.  I'm good.  They didn't find any reason for why I fainted.


So, I think that I want to get healthy.  Time to start making some changes and stop making excuses.  Jennifer is going to be my inspiration!  I mean , she is HOT at a size 6.  
And if she looks that good, then I'm so sure that if I lose my weight, 

I'm gonna be STAGGERING!!!!

Can't WEIGHT!

Stinkin ebooks!

Last Semester, I pulled through my classes with an A- and a B+.  Not bad for someone who was traveling across country, staying in hotels and dealing with the holiday rush all at the same time.  BUT I no longer have a 4.0.  I'm down to a 3.83, but I guess I can live with that.  

This semester, I'm not going to like having to do my marketing class with an ebook.  I don't like ebooks.  I don't like not being able to highlight stuff , you know, so that I can go back and and read the important parts.  I think that if they should give the option of an ebook or a REAL book.  I'm so sure that this is what the world is coming to, well with Nooks and Kindles, but when you're talking about academic, it just seems better for a girl like me to be able to highlight and tab and fold pages and stuff like that.  

With all that being said, please hope with me that I am able to find a niche with this class without a conventional book and somehow come out with a 4.0.

Anyone use ebooks successfully and find them easier?

It's so COLD in the AZ!

It's really amazing how COLD it is in AZ.


I'm completely surprised because apparently it is normally flip flop weather at this time of year here.  


I guess this is my WELCOME TO ARIZONA!  


It feels like Michigan here... just without the snow.

How COLD is it??


Yesterday morning when I got into the car to taxi the kids off to school, my temperature read 8.  YEAH EIGHT!  And that's after the car had been running for 30 minutes!  By the time we got the the gate at Ft. Huachuca, the temperature read 11.   


WHOOO HEAT WAVE!
 *************************************************

HOW COLD IS IT??


Had to do laundry yesterday.  Living in an apartment sucks when you have to carry all of your laundry to the laundry room.  It was absolutely freezing outside.  You'd think that I had walked a mile the way my fingers felt after walking to the next building.  Cold really does bite.  


In between cycles, I took the dog outside.  She's not allowed pee in the grass here.  The apartment cherishes their grass.  There's not much grass here in AZ as you an imagine.  Our little apartment complex actually has grass.  The keep it painted green.  Yeah, it's painted grass.  But the dogs are not suppose to pee or poop in the grass.  They recommend you take the dogs to poop in the rocks.  Ginger didn't like that much at first.  You know she's such a lady and she was prancing on the rocks as if they hurt her feet.  So when I walked her with me to the laundry room, she peed on the side walk.  When I went back to put the clothes in the dryer 20 minutes later, the peed on the sidewalk had frozen!  I thought I'd be frying eggs on the sidewalk here!


I know... GIVE IT SOME TIME!

Apartment life means that I have to get up in the morning and actually walk the dog.   I can't just open the back door and let her roam the yard now.  This morning, I armed myself with 2 coats (one leather, one wool), a pair of leather gloves and a velour hat.  Oh and my turtleneck sweater.  

Did I mention I have always hated turtlenecks because I feel like I'm being choked?

*********************************************************************************
How COLD is it??




Off to take the kiddies to school this morning.  Temperature was much better than yesterday.  20.  Still cold and the kids are dressed up like Eskimos.  I had to go to our storage to get their big winter coats.  It was cold when we left Georgia so I let them bring them for the trip.  Glad I did because pipes are freezing up around here.  They said the pipe froze while they were at school yesterday.  And guess what?  School was closed today.  I drove all the way on post and the school was CLOSED.  I picked today not to check my Facebook and come to find out, school was closed.  GREAT.


I could have slept in.


How cold is it?

Apparently the post tenants were asked to turn their thermostats down to 55 last night because the post is running out of gas to heat the post.  On the coldest night of the year, they ask you to turn down you heat?  

Kinda glad I'm not living on post yet.  I kinda like it cold at night, but not in the daytime.

What's great is that by Monday, it's suppose to be 69!  So I can't complain because soon enough I'm going to be complaining about the heat!

The Girl Who Cried Boar

Me: Okay, Ma.  I need to get off the phone and take Ginger for a walk.  OH!  Speaking of walk!  The other day, me and Ginger almost got attacked by a wild boar!

Mom:  GASP!  What??  Oh My God!

Me:  Okay, maybe not "almost attacked".  But we did see one from a distance but he ran away.

Mom:  That's not really nothing like almost attacked.

Me:  (Laughing)  I know, but it sounds a little more exciting...

Happy Birthday To MEEEE!

Yesterday was my Birf-day!!!!

Happy Birf-day To Me!


Considering that it is my first one away from home... and by home I mean Georgia... It was ceratinly a day that brought a smile to my face.

I received my first birthday text sometime in the middle of the night and when I heard it, I immediately knew that it was my Beat Friend, wishing me a Happy Birthday.  She always waits until after midnight and is ALWAYS the first person to tell me happy birthday on my birthday.  

My family called to tell me happy birthday through the day, my dad did a photo tribute with tons of pics of me on Facebook and my friends wished me happy birthday on FB all day long.


Hubs was off work.  He is on permissive TDY for 10 days which means he's home chillin'!

He took me to one of my FAVE stores, Cato, to pick out a little something.  I got 2 pair of jeans because they were on sell for $11.99 and I couldn't pass on the deal, a shirt and some jewelry to match.  Cato is one of my favorite places for jewelry.  They always have the cutest little accessories, bra and pantie sets that FIT a D cup, and shoes.  I picked up a few things, but decided against.  There was this adorable silver butterfly necklace that was actually a clock, but I decided against it when Hubs said, "Uh, you're not going to get that, are you?"  Guess not.

Then I shot over to Marshall's and pick out this cute green sweater.  Now I know I'm in Arizona and wont be able to wear this stuff for much longer, but they really haven't put out any spring clothes yet... I guess in hopes of getting rid of some of the left over winter clothes.


So, anywho.  Time during the day is short because the kids have to be picked up WAY earlier than they did in GA.  I've gotta be in the car rider lines to pick up Miss Missy at 2:15 and then it's on to pick up the boys at 2:55.  Yeah, they go to different schools.  K-2 at one school and 3-5 at the other.  

WIERD, BUT I GUESS!


But, my point being, that cuts the day really short, it was on to lunch at Applebee's.  We were gonna see a movie, but time was not on our side.

So... we pick up the Kiddies and Hubs says I needed to leave the house for a while so that they could prepare a little something for me.  


2 hours or so later, I come back to the house to a SURPRISE PARTY complete with birthday hats, blowers, and pink and blue balloons and streamers all over the dining area!!


They are so great!  There were 2 small cakes.  One vanilla (Miss Missy doesn't eat chocolate) and a nice chocolate one ( I LOVE chocolate!)  

AND... there were PRESENTS!  The kids got me perfume and....... THAT CUTE LITTLE BUTTERFLY NECKLACE I was eyeballing at Cato!  He WAS listening!!!  LOL!  

We spent the evening playing Michael Jackson The Experience on the Wii and Mario Brothers.


We finished off the evening with a HUBS-COOKED dinner of Steaks, baked potatoes and green beans!  YUM!


I have to say, this was a pretty awesome Birthday.  I wouldn't trade it in for anything !!!


Kay

Who knows what the future holds

You know, perhaps Sierra Vista won't be too bad. 

It's quiet to so that least. 

A retirement town.

Here's my plan.

Finish my degree and figure out what I really want to do with the rest of my life.  I'm slight over 25 now :-) and it's time for me to figure out what I want to do when I grow up.  I've always Always ALWAYS wanted to go into real estate.  I can certainly see myself as an agent.  I love people, I love houses, I HATE math.  One downfall, I suppose.  But, as a recommendation from my cousin, I'm thinking of changing my degree plan from Business Administration to Healthcare Administration.  It's a good field and much needed.  The money is good.  'Nuf said!

But, don't know yet.

It's one of those days when I'm thinking about my future.  Hubs is almost done with a career and I have yet to start one.  He is about to retire and I have to find something for me. My life can't just be about the kids.  When they are grown and gone, I don't want to look back and say, Now what?

I ablsoutely love working with my camera, but I am in no way good enough at it to do anything with it.  You know what it's like when you think that something is for you and then you realize that you're really not good at it?  Like singing.  Love to do it in the comforts of my home, but if I did it in public I'd be booed off the stage.  I think that's what my photography is like.  I've never tried to get serious, but I'm in no way good enough to go that route.  LOL!  I wish I was more like my old neighbors who started doing it and grew into AMAZING photographers!  But I digress! 

Anywho, pics of the beautiful Arizona are to come!

Trying to get settled in Sierra Vista.

I'm sitting here watching the travel channel show breakfast restaurants around the United States.  I should be doing some catching up on my homework, but instead I'd sitting here in this Extended Stay Hotel room salivating over all of the breakfast food I can't cook while residing in a hotel.  It's torture, I tell you.  You should have seen the size of the cinnamon rolls they serves at a restaurant called The Machine Shed in Iowa! 

The kids had their first day of school yesterday.  They were more than ready to go.  I guess they were a little tired of being cooped up in a room with their parents.  I know I would have been.  The all said they had a great day.  I was so happy to hear that.  Changing schools can be pretty hard, but they seem as if they will adjust just fine.  They all said they made friends on the first day and are so ready to go back on Monday.  Well, I mean Tuesday, as Monday we will be observing Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.  I loved the fact that Miss Missy came home and told me all about Martin Luther King and how he wanted Black people and White people to be friends and how a lady went to jail because she wanted to sit down on the bus and that wasn't fair!

I'm not asking for a Black History 101 course, but a little history at this time of year is great!

So, I bet you're wondering how I'm liking being in Sierra Vista, AZ.

Well, when we drove into Sierra Vista, I have to admit there were tears as I looked towards what looked like the most depressing place ever!

DRY DRY DRY!

Where are the TREES?

Where is the GREEN?

Okay, it's not as bad as it seems. But it's still bad.  We are still in a hotel, as I mentioned earlier, but we should be moving to an apartment for about a month on Wednesday. Then, it's on to military housing.  A brand new 4 bedroom HOUSE.  House is good.  Housing in the past has always been apartments, duplexes or quads.  HOUSE is good! I'll have to post pics it's done being built because these new houses are pretty nice.

There's an alien space craft hovering over Sierra Vista.  It's in the form of a blimp.  The first day we were here, I was like, "Oh Cool!  A blimp!"  The next day, it became creepy and I had to ask what the heck it that thing! I did a little research and found out it is an aerostat drug blimp, used to keep drugs from coming over the Mexican boarder.

Yeah, we're right next to the Mexican Boarder.

Before we moved here, a lady I didn't know came up to me at the school and told me that if I was moving to Ft. Huachuca, I need to get a gun.  Wow!  That's something to tell someone!  Then, last night Hubs told me about a lady who said she lives in a city outside Sierra Vista and that Mexicans that have crossed the boarder would come to her door and ask for water!  She said she'd give them water them call the boarder patrol.

I'm in a whole new world over here.  We're surrounded by mountain and somewhere over that mountain in Mexico.  The sun seems brighter over here.  The skies have been blue since we arrived.

I'm still not sure how to feel about this place, but I'm hoping that it gets better.  Oh, did I mention that the city pretty much closes down at 9pm?  Oh, gosh!  And I thought there was nothing to do in Hinesville!

PS. It's appears that my blog page is the only way I will be seeing and snow!

Seen enough. Take me home!

Okay, I've seen enough of Ft. Huachuca.  Can you take me home, please???

I think that the closer we got to our destination, the worse I started to feel.  It had to be the fact that the closer we got the more depressing the outdoors looked.  Is this nature?  Nature is suppose to be trees and streams and dear with their young following close behind.  The nature here is nothing but dry land.  The birds are even scarce!


We were 25 miles to Sierra Vista and out in the distance I could see the city.

THE. ENTIRE. CITY!

That's when I started to fight back tears... unsuccessfully.  I his them behind the dark shades I was wearing and remained quiet while Hubs babbled on about how much he had to do in the coming days.  All I could think about was WHAT THE HELL HAD I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO? and THERE IS NO WAY MY ALREADY FRACTURED AND BRUISED MARRIAGE WOULD SURVIVE THIS PCS. 

The city is surrounded by mountain, and rock, and cacti.

The guest lodging is Budget Motel quality.  Put me in mind of my teen years when I skipped school and....

Wait, TMI!

Stuck in a 2 bed room with 1 TV, a microwave and a little tiny fridge.  This same size room was denied to us at all of the hotels because of the fire safety policy, so how can it work for the military?  Do they not go by the fire safety policy as every other hotel in the US?

Anywho, once we went "out on the town" for dinner, I felt a little better.  The city itself is not so bad and is actually much bigger than my home town in Georgia, Hinesville.  There's a Mall.  However small, it's still a Mall!  There's a Target, Walmart, Sams, Petsmart... pretty much all of the essentials.

Soon, VERY SOON, I am going to have to find a nail shop!

But I suppose I should concern myself with the small things like getting the kids enrolled in school first, huh?

Today, we're off to find a hotel to stay in.  This is just not going to get it.  1 room, 3 kids, for at least 10 days? no privacy.  No separation.  Nuh un!  I just can't do it!

And please tell me why this cleaning lady is standing in the window with her hands cupped around her face trying to see if we have checked out??  The window is tented and she can't see in without getting close.  See, THIS is why I don't do motels with outside doors and THIS is why the Ft. Huachuca Guesthouse is beneath Budget Inn Quality!

On the Road Again!

Never been able to see a whole train before. 

We’re in Texas. I’m not loving Texas.  Just got on the 10 from Interstate 20.  Somewhere between our last stop in Odessa and our next stop in El Paso, the place where I spent grades one through three when I was a kid.  

The farther we’ve gotten into Texas, the dryer it has gotten.  There are almost no trees now… at least not any traditional trees that you see in GA.  There are cactus and these dead-looking stick like bushes.  You can see for miles.  You can see land and mountains.  We just passed a train and I could see the train from its beginning to its end.  I’ve never seen that before.  Back on the east coast, there are tons of trees and you’re lucky to see more than four cars at a time while it’s passing.

 We just stopped at what had to be the worst bathroom on Interstate 20.  A little small gas station out in the middle of nowhere.  We were only able to pick up Hispanic radio stations.  We were at about a half tank, but pulling a trailer and not seeing human life for miles around makes you think that you better fill up and empty when the chance arrives.  Well, I think I would have preferred to cop a squat next to a cactus.  We walked into the bathroom and Miss Missy immediately expressed her disapproval of the smell.  I had to concur.  There were 3 stalls but only 2 toilets.  The toilet in our stall was brown on the inside and I couldn’t tell if it was stained or if the patron before us had left us something to remember her by.  After THICKLY tissuing the toilet seat so that Miss Missy could squat without ANY of that YELLOW commode touching her body, I reminded her obsessively not to touch ANYTHING!!!  When we were done, we skipped the hand washing as I was sure being close to the sink would surely give us some kind of deadly fungus.  When I walked out of the bathroom, Hubs must have read my disgusted facial expression, because he immediately started laughing.  His bathroom horror story of the men’s bathroom sounded even worse than mine!

Our Travels Begin!

Our 6 DAY drive to Arizona begina today.  We have spent the last 2 nights in a hotel after the house was cleaned and I am already unsure how I am going to be able to tolerate 6 days with 5 people in a small confined area.  I already wanna scream!  It hasn't begin yet and I can already feel hyperventilation coming on! 

2 very active boys, 1 very sassy, very agravating little sister and 2 grumpy adults.

This should be fun.