Friday, July 29, 2011

Milspouse Weekly Round-Up #46!!

I am SO EXCITED
 that I finally get to host this round-up!
 If you didn't already know,
 or this is your first time,
 our lovely sponsor!!


So, a little about me :)
 I am a brand spankin' new Air Force wife
 since my husband went through OTS this year
 and is now commissioned.

I had been in a few long-term
 not so great relationships,
 and then after giving up on dating
 met my husband on a dating site.
 He started visiting me on weekends at college
 WAR EAGLE
 and it progressed,
 and before we knew it, he had moved from North Carolina to Alabama
 to be with me. 
 We got married November 19, 2010
 on a ledge in the mountains, which we both love,
 with just a few people there,
 and hope to have the big ceremony sometime next year before we PCS again.
He is a CSO (navigator) in training
 and I couldn't be more proud!!

Right now we have one furbaby
 named Buster
 who I got from the pound in college
and ADORE. 
 We are hoping for a two-legged baby
 within the next year or two
 but so far that has not been as successful as we would have liked.
I became obsessed,
 and it was no longer fun anymore,
 so now I am finally at peace with it and we are waiting for it to happen,
 on God's time,
 not my time.
 Because God is the only one who really knows what our lives are going to look like in the future.

 We are just a military couple
 trying to figure all this stuff out
 while we figure out how to be away from family for the first time,
 supporting each other for the first time,
 and finding time to be in love
 amidst the chaos.
 We are so glad you stopped by,
 and look forward to having some new buddies from this!

We have a new weekly "thing" that is going to be going on,
called Totally New Tuesdays.
The button is on the side of my page :)
 Every Tuesday I'm going to feature a new-ish blogger!
If you are interested in being included,
 please email me and I will be in touch!

Next week, visit
for Round-Up #47!!


Thursday, July 28, 2011

Oh, and I Need a Person

So I am hosting the Milspouse Weekly Roundup
 tomorrow
 but I have no one yet to carry the torch
 for next week.
 It's really easy to do,
 but I need someone to help me out
 and offer to host next!
  
 Please comment if you would like to host the round-up after me!
 Help!!

It Must Be Thursday!

So it's Thursday,
 Which always means a link-up!
  
 So,
 It's time to link up with Goodnight Moon
For the What's Your Song? Link-Up!






So this week, my song
is one of my favorite workout songs!!
 And since I have been 
 AWESOME
 and am training for a 5K this past week,
 I thought I'd share one piece of my motivation team. 
And who doesn't need a good 80's throwback every now and then?


Get it?
 "Hurts so good?"
 For working out?
 yeah. :)


Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Totally New Tuesdays

So.
 The new weekly snippet
 (not really sure if you can call it a meme...)
 is officially underway!!

 I have already been contacted by a few wonderful blogger buddies
 and so I decided to make this idea
 official/legit
 :)

 So, "Totally New Tuesdays" has been born.
 It even has a button:
Super cute, I know.
 
 So, starting next Tuesday,
 I will introduce to you, a new blogger!
 And tell you their story
 and direct you to their awesome page
 so you can become their newest fan.
 Because all of us want to be rockstars,
 and all rockstars need fans.
 Obviously.

 So if you know someone with a new(ish) blog,
 direct them here!
 And if it's you,
 send me an email, at 
 acreedandapsalm@gmail.com
 Tell me your story,
 and I will

 1. Link directly to your page
 2. Display your button
 3. Share your snippet
 4. Get you followers!

 Pretty much what I'm saying is
 Use me for free and shameless advertising!!
haha :) I'm excited.



Monday, July 25, 2011

New Weekly Thing...Thoughts??

So.
As I surf around,
like I always do,
I keep finding all these GREAT blogs that are just starting out.
Most only have a few followers.
But they are SO GOOD.

And I remember how thrown-out-there it feels to be "new blogger on the block"
 and wonder "how in the world do I kick this thing off??"
 So, I was thinking.
 I want to do a new little snippet
 once a week
 featuring a "new" blogger.
 A chance for someone to get their story out there
 and spark up some interest
 and get followers
 and become a rockstar
and all that stuff.

Because EVERYONE wants to be a rockstar, after all.
 What do you guys think??
 I want to start taking submissions through my email
 so if you have a new blog and want to get it out there,
 email me at
 acreedandapsalm@gmail.com
 and write me a snippet
 or whatever you want to go in my post about your blog
 so I can free advertise for you!
 All I ask is that you follow me (if you're already not).
 I will link to your blog too.
 If I don't get any bites,
I might just start randomly choosing people.
 But here is your chance!!
Email me if you want to be included, and I will gladly start doing a weekly 
 New Blogger post. :)

Oh, and remember: I am hosting the Milspouse Weekly Roundup this Friday,
 so see everyone then!

Friday, July 22, 2011

Need A Reason To Count Your Blessings Today??

So I just came across this blog entry via Goodnight Moon
and I have been sobbing a solid half hour.
It's the post of a woman's journey over the past few weeks from when she was notified (I know we all DREAD that word) that her husband was killed in action on July 7th this year
(Yes, that was just this month).
He is a Marine Corps SSgt and was only two weeks from coming home from his 
6th deployment.

Wow.
That's really all I can say. 
It's a beautifully written post 
and my heart broke for her.

I can't imagine missing your love for 7 months
and then the first time you see them again is with a flag draped over them.
I can't imagine.
I mean, I have nightmares about it all the time,
but I can't imagine.

So please go and read her story and offer her a 
THANK YOU
for both her service and grace, as well as the life of her husband and the freedoms his sacrifice are allowing you to enjoy. 
From one military wife to another,
I will be praying for them.
And I hope so will you.


Weekly Roundup and the Friday Fill-In

If you haven't already found the roundup for this week, head on over to A Sailor's Valentine to link up and meet some new milspouses! This wonderful meme hosted by Riding the Roller Coaster is currently on week 45!! And I'm VERY pleased to say that I will be your host for next week!!!!! I am so excited! I have been trying to track down blog authors for weeks now who are next in the lineup to host, but every time I do they have already found someone! Please come back next week and invite your friends to visit the blog!

Now on to another of my favorites, the Friday Fill-In from Wife of a Sailor!
1. Do you eat raw cookie dough?
Guilty as charged.

2. When you get online for the first time of the day...what site do you immediately head to?
It used to be Facebook but since I've gotten into blogging I usually have a link-up to post, so now it's Blogger. I always want to post my link-up early on, because I've noticed that people usually visit the pages that are at the beginning of one, but not the people at the end. So I try to stay on it, but don't always succeed.

3. What was your favorite pet as a child and why?
Well, my favorite pet I've ever had is the dog that I have now (he has even actually saved my life), but when I was little all my brother and I were allowed to have were fish and hamsters because my mother had allergies. So I had a hamster named Reese, and he used to lay on my shoulder anytime I was laying on the couch and just sit there for hours. I had him for three years!

4. If you had a snail that could magically grant wishes, what would you name it?
Um... Pokey? No clue lol

5. How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop?
For me, not a whole lot. I'd rather just suck on it until I can get to the tootsie roll. If you ask the owl, it's 3.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Thursday Link-Ups!

Well, first off, head on over to Nicole's Page to participate in the
Thursday Five link-up. This week's words are:

Cheerful
Adventurous
Warm
Lovely
Delicious

1. Well, I was definitely Cheerful after my two amazing doctor's appointments the past two weeks! A tumor I found in my breast a year and a half ago has decreased in size so much that my doctor can't even palpate it anymore and says I don't have to come back anymore!! Which is great cause I was sick of going every 4-6 months! Then my GYN appt went great yesterday too so hopefully something good will come of that!!

2. I have been less than Adventurous lately. Mostly because NCLEX studying has consumed my life so I rarely leave the house. At the end of next month though, I hope that will all be over!

3. I am so sick of this weather! Warm is an understatement. I walk to the mailbox and am sticky and disgusting. And I can't even let Buster out in the back for more than about 20 minutes, so he's bored too! Come on fall weather!!

4. I finally sat back down to the piano the other day for the first time in a while and I almost forgot how Lovely it sounds. Definitely need to play more. It soothes the soul :)

5. I have to brag on myself a little bit that the lasagna I made the other night was Delicious!! And it's BE's favorite. I also made a roast for our 8-month-iversary the other night (you can find the recipe on my other blog HERE... and thank me later :)

Now on to my other Thursday favorite, the What's Your Song? Link-up over at Goodnight Moon's Page.
This week, my song is Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton.
BE is not usually very outwardly romantic.
He brings home flowers randomly a lot,
and shows his love by helping around the house.
But not usually anything in public.
Well, when we were on our cruise last month,
we were all dressed up for formal night (I love a man in Mess Dress!)
and as we were walking through the main atrium, the guy playing the guitar there started playing this song,
and BE actually stopped, right there, turned to me,
and asked me to dance.
In front of everyone.
So we danced, I cried a little, and he sang me the words,
and it rivals our wedding day for the best moment of my life.
We never had a first dance, so that was so special to me :)

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

50 Followers!! (And an update)

So yay!!!! First real milestone for the blog reached! I am so blessed to see the big 5-0 finally hit this morning and realize that I am connecting with so many people already. 

On another happy note,
GYN appointment went really well today.
After having waited on this appointment for 5 weeks, I was really hoping SOMEONE would finally give me some answers. 
Luckily the guy understood that (probably when I told him that an almost 6-week period was NOT cool).
So I start labwork tomorrow to check my thyroid levels,
and then on day 21 of my cycle I will have more labs drawn for progesterone
to make sure I'm even ovulating.

Then, I see him back, where he says, "hopefully you'll be seeing me on the OB side instead of the GYN side." He meant well and it was nice, but I just chuckled and said, "I hope." 
I would really like to get pregnant in enough time to where we would have the baby while we were still here at this duty station, and I think once that little deadline passes where it won't matter because it's past the time we'll be here,
I'll probably lose a lot of the stress and that's probably when it will happen lol.

We'll see. I'm just glad that I got a good doctor and he seems to care
and has a plan.
Which already makes me feel better.
So we'll keep trying. 
Until then, this will continue to be my only child:


Not that I mind in the slightest :)
He's pretty darn cute, after all!


Sunday, July 17, 2011

The New Age Is Upon Us (Apparently)

So I am now officially on Google+, which is apparently going to take the world by storm and destroy all other forms of social networking. Honestly, after playing around with it for a few hours, I can't decide if I'm impressed.

Yes, it will allow you to put different people in different circles (two of the pre-made ones when you first sign on are "friends" - who are the people you feel you can share "personal, deep" information with, and another is "acquaintances" - who are people you know but wouldn't want to share a lot with)... umm, is there really even a point to having people who you wouldn't consider a friend on there?? 

Personally, I feel like this is just going to allow people to be more fake. I mean, you can create a circle of all your church friends and then every day post really inspiring, "look at me I'm such a great person" posts up, and those people will think you live every day like a saint... while in another circle of "college buddies" you're posting the pictures of the insane party you threw last weekend. It's like having twenty-something different personalities, and there never has to be a "real you" that you are with everyone. 

Personally, I'd like to be a "real me" all the time.

Sure, it makes it easier to chat with groups or let certain people in on plans, or things like that. But I don't know. 

Plus, I feel like it's a lot less secure than Facebook. People you don't even know can add you to circles, and if you don't know them, you can block them, but you can't reject them putting you in one of their circles (so even if you block them, you remain in their circle, and they can still message you or send things to you)... and personally, that makes me a tad bit uncomfortable.

I debated making a page for the blog, but I'm not sure of it. I don't know if that's even something anybody is going to do. I feel like a whole new wave of unsecure networks is coming around. And honestly, I have WAY too much history on facebook to leave it. Pictures I don't have saved anywhere else, statuses my husband tagged me in way back when we first met. 

That's why everything has to be so secretive these days, you know?
I mean, I don't even have my first name on this blog.
And the vast majority of people on here will never even know it.
We are out here putting our lives out there, trying to find people to listen.
To care.
To understand.
To relate.
To sympathize.
And yet, we have to protect ourselves from people more than ever.
Ironic, isn't it?

What do you think about all this new social networking? What do you think about our privacy as individuals vs. our "for-the-world-to-see" lives? Just some food for thought on this Sunday evening :)

Friday, July 15, 2011

Milspouse Friday Fill-In!

Well, I'm sure most of you by now have been a part of the awesome meme sponsored by Wife of a Sailor, but in case you aren't, here's how it goes: head over to her page and answer the questions posed by other milspouses this week, making sure you link back to the blogs that submitted the questions. Then, head back to Wife of a Sailor's page and put your post into the Mr. Linky, and voila! Jump around and meet other military SO's who linked up!
1. If you could have a private concert with any singer, who would it be? Submitted by An Air Force Wife's BlogThat's tough. But if I just HAD to choose, I would have to say Jason Aldean. Hearing him croon out "See You When I See You" would just rip my heart to pieces. It's the song I always play when BE leaves and I'm in a down mood.

2. Is there anything you do to support your family's income? Submitted by Our Life, One Adventure At A Time
Well, at the moment I am studying to take my NCLEX-RN exam to become a licensed RN in the state of Florida... after that I will probably make more than BE lol. For right now I try to work coupons and case lot sales as best as I can and save money for us that way!

3. During your pregnancy (whether past, present, or future), what did you nickname your unborn baby before you knew the sex? Submitted by Explosions of Love
Kind of a sore subject actually. Currently we are having a hard time getting pregnant, despite my constant (begging) prayers for it to happen. Of course, everyone else around me is pregnant though lol. That's the way it goes. But because of that, I would probably just call it a Miracle... when and if I eventually experience it.

4. Have you ever won a blog giveaway? If so, what did you win? Submitted by Mrs. O's Life
Sadly, I have not! I have entered a few though. I should probably try more if I want to win some! I am thinking about doing a giveaway when I hit 50 or 100 readers though!

5. If I looked into your refrigerator right now, what would I find? Submitted by Married to the Army
Lots lol. I just went shopping! I drink a lot of juice, so there's a bunch of that, as well as some leftovers from dinners I've cooked this week. On the other side is DH's beer collection haha! My freezer is a bit better stocked right now though because I got a Food Saver for Christmas and have been using it like it's going out of style this week! Love that thing!

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Thursday Link-Up

So I FINALLY get to premier the new blog design and I'm so happy!! It still needs a little work and rearranging, but I think it's so cute! I am also happy to announce that one of my Dr. appointments has turned up a good result - over a year ago a tumor was found in my breast and ever since then I have been going for re-checks and ultrasounds every 4-6 months. Today I had another, and the mass has decreased in size so much that it is no longer detectable!!! The surgeon shook my hand and told me that he didn't see any need for me to continue the checks unless I find something else down the road. Gotta give that one up to God, who knows that I'm going through too much other stuff right now to worry about tumors!! Here is the link-up for this week:

From Goodnight Moon,




My song for this week is one that is special to BE and I (and who doesn't LOVE them some Tim McGraw??) Enjoy a classic :)

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Oh, Wednesday

Well, today is back to Day One with the hubs - CSO school officially began for him bright and early this morning (the alarm went off around 0430 and I wanted to punch him), so I'm left to tackle my NCLEX-RN studying alone, which I thought would be a good thing but in reality has completely and totally killed my motivation with no one in the background like a second father telling me to STUDY! constantly. So Animal Cops Houston has been the majority of my morning lol (Buster watches tv if there are dogs on it, and we're all about some justice seeing as how he was a humane society dog himself). While my husband struggles to survive death by powerpoint, I am left to stare slack-faced at my computer screen for the rest of the day, and try to break it up with chores around the house as I go.

I am pretty excited to be going to see Winnie the Pooh in theaters this Friday - judge me all you want but I LOVE those old stories and can't wait to see what they did with it in movie form. You are never too old for Disney.

One week from today I FINALLY have my GYN appointment. Only took me over a month of fighting to get it. You would think being on your "week" for over a month would be considered slightly emergent - guess not. Luckily I have stopped (for longer than two days this time - WOOHOO!!) and so BE and I are back on the baby-making warpath. I am treating this like a personal battle against my own body - and trying to overcome my faith doubts in the process. It's hard seeing people like Casey Anthony and young adolescents having children and then look at us - married with a home, the finances to support it, and all the love in the world to give - and make sense of it. Sometimes it's easy to convince myself that either God has abandoned me or that he doesn't hear me when I fall on my face and pray. It's easy to waiver in faith when your body doesn't work "the way it's supposed to". Somehow I have to trust that he knows my heart and how badly I want this, and trust that he has the power to make it happen. Fingers crossed that he will.


Friday, July 8, 2011

Friday Fill-In (And I'm Featured!!!)

So here is the Friday Fill-In from Wife of a Sailor, which I always love, but that is so much more exciting this week because one of my questions has made the cut! I can't wait to see how many newcomers visit the blog and become followers! Hope everyone will stop back in within the next few days to see the blog's facelift and totally new template!! :) Happy filling!

1. Does your significant other read your blog? Why is this a good or a bad thing? Submitted by Mrs. Alana's Miscellany
Actually, BE does read my posts usually the day that I post them (probably because they show up in his Facebook newsfeed). It has its good days and its bad, mostly because he keeps a lot of things a lot more close-vested than I do. For me, this is a catharsis, so I tend to let it all out, but for him sometimes he rolls his eyes and says "did you really need everyone to know that??" Sometimes guys just don't get WHY we do it.

2. What is one item in your house that holds the most sentimental value and why? Submitted by The Albrecht Squad
Wow that's always such a tough question to answer. I always try to think of it in terms of "if the house was burning down and I only had time to save one thing, what would I want it to be?" and when I think of it that way, there is only one answer. My strand of pearls. Before you judge me, let me explain. Pearls are a big deal in my family - a girl gets her first strand from her fiance/husband either soon before or soon after the wedding; it symbolizes the beginning of a new chapter of womanhood, and I have been waiting my whole life to get my own. My husband presented me with my strand of pearls the night before he graduated Officer Training School, as a thank you for sticking by him and enduring our first separation with him. I wore them the next morning to his commissioning and cried like a baby. I had only ever mentioned the pearls once before - but he remembered. That's why they are so precious to me. :)

3. When it comes to water fun in the summer do you prefer the beach, the pool, a lake, or the sprinklers? submitted by The Tervo Times
Definitely the beach!! I think that's why I love living in Pensacola for the moment so much. The sun, the sand, and the water all in one... plus, I've managed to (falsely) convince myself that I get a better tan there than anywhere else ;) LOL

4. Now for MY QUESTION!! What is the one special thing that you do for yourself to get you through the first week of a deployment/separation? Submitted by yours truly :)
To jumpstart my first week alone, I always make myself a list on the magnetic dry erase board on our fridge of the ten things I want to accomplish during that separation (no matter how big or small). That way I see it every morning and it encourages me not to just sit around the house! Also, I get a new kind of coffee creamer :)

5. What is your biggest guilty pleasure website? submitted by Christine's Little Blog
Ok, so I could spend HOURS on Facebook, but that's no surprise to anyone who knows me! Other than that I'm a total sucker for E! Online. I MUST know exactly what the Kardashians are doing at any given moment. It's bad.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Facelift and Other Ramblings

So I heard back from the blog layout company and the new layout should be done soon!!! I am so excited to see how this facelift for the blog hopefully brings more readers as well as just makes it look a lot more professional than I was able to do myself. So excited :)

Let's not even talk about the Casey Anthony trial... all I have to say is that thank goodness eventually there will be justice for that poor little girl when her family is judged by the One who doesn't need lawyers and reasonable doubt to hand down a verdict. Personally, I think they all probably had a hand in it. But I guess no one will ever truly know what happened - too many lies have been interwoven now to make much sense of it all.

I read an article the other day that said that 85% of women get pregnant within the first year of trying. So far it's not looking good for us. I'm so frustrated I can barely stand it. I just want my body to work right, the way it's supposed to. Once I stopped my pill I had two normal cycles and then a week after that second one I started back again and haven't come off my "week" yet (over a month later). After much argument with my PCM, I couldn't get an appointment for a month. So now I'm still waiting on that. Who knows what that appointment will tell me anyway, other than that despite lots of trying, I'm not pregnant. I think about it all the time. It probably doesn't help that since we've started trying it seems like every friend I have is getting pregnant. No matter how excited I am for them, it still doesn't take away from how badly I want it for myself, and jealousy hits me hard sometimes. I hate how this is the one thing in my whole life that is entirely out of my control, and I go back and forth between praying harder than I ever have with my face to the floor and wanting to hate God for the fact that everyone else's body seems to be working except mine. Even though we haven't been trying for a super long time or anything, I guess you just always assume that your body is going to do what it was made to do and unfortunately, unlike a broken snack machine, you can't just kick it and make it do what you want (I wish). So every time a big fat NO shows up on a test it hurts. So I guess we'll just go to the appointments and try to get some answers, keep on trying, and keep on praying.

On a happier note, the Blue Angels come to town this weekend for a show, and we have some friends coming over for it (which I am super pumped about because I haven't seen them in a while) so hopefully it will make for a fun weekend! Plus it's always nice having someone to cook for.

I also scheduled my NCLEX-RN exam today (eeek!!!!) so now the nerves can really kick in (and studying also HAS to become a priority...sigh...). I'm really nervous about it since everyone I know has passed it so far and I don't want to be that one dud that doesn't. Plus, I really need to start working here soon so that we can afford to do a little more and save some, especially since I want a new camera SO BAD. I started editing some of the pictures I've taken with our dinky little old digital camera in the meantime so that by the time I can get my Canon Rebel I'll really be a pro. One day I would love to be good enough to photograph peoples' weddings and things like that. Anyway, in the meantime, here are a few I edited yesterday :)