The Music in My Head...

To have Children or Not?

2007-05-06T09:05:00.000-05:00

I've been struggling with this question recently. I've always been scared to death to have kids. It's such a huge responsibility. What if I completely screw them up? But the past year or so, I've really been feeling the tug of motherhood and decided I do want to have a baby. And then, just last week I had a scare with running out of birth control and really evaluated how I would feel if I got pregnant. I was terrified. I don't want to give up my life that I know now to raise a kid. I want to spend more time with just Armand and me so we can do all the things we want to do while we're still young. A kid would just get in the way... But then I read this article by focus on the family's Dr. James Dobson. It's a pretty long article, but it's really good. http://www.focusaction.org/Articles/A000000239.cfm It really convicted me about how selfish I am and how culture is trying to convince us that we can have a more fulfilling life without kids. Children are truly a blessing from God, and if I'm so selfish that I would rather do things that I think are fun rather than receive a wonderful blessing from God, than I'm messed up. (I already knew I was messed up, though) Anyway, I'm going to be praying that God prepares my heart for accepting His wonderful gift of children when the time comes. (and hopefully that time will be at least after I'm living with Armand)

13.1

2007-04-30T20:21:00.000-05:00

MILES! 13.1 Miles! I ran my first half marathon this past weekend. I've been training for it since around February. The farthest I had run before Saturday was 8 miles. It was so awesome, though. I finished in 2 hours and 12 minutes, which was a lot better than I was expecting. A few classmates and friends drove down to Nashville on Friday for the Country Music Marathon. Even though I'm not a big fan of country music, I love it. There were over 20 bands along the route. It was so cool how many people were along the street cheering everybody along. the 2 hours went by really quickly, but I was dead tired the rest of the day and really sore! I'm still recovering, but I had to play a volleyball game tonight. I didn't play very well to say the least. Here are some pics. After the race we checked out the Grand 'Ole Opry and then there was a free Sara Evans concert.

I'm Back

2007-03-09T17:07:00.000-06:00

Sorry for not blogging in, like, a REALLY LONG time. I actually wrote a really good blog about a month ago, but when I spell checked it, it disappeared and I vowed never to blog again, but then the Noble's blogversary inspired me to try again. (BTW, it ended up being really long, so you don’t have to read all of it in one sitting…)
It's an absolutely beautiful day here in Dayton, OH. It’s basically the first day of spring at 60 degrees and sunny skies. I took the dogs on a long walk which they very much enjoyed, since they haven’t been getting out much in the snow and freezing weather. I don't know about you, but every change in season is very nostalgic for me. It brings back all the memories that enjoyed the same kind of weather. This change of weather has brought me back to Okarche, where Armand would take walks to the post office (since they said we weren’t allowed to have a mailbox). We’d walk the few blocks after dinner holding hands or practicing flight patterns or going over Armand’s pilot training knowledge that he was learning. Fun times. This weather also reminds me of when I lived in OKC without Armand and would go with Legend to this beautiful park around a big lake not far from my apartment.
It’s so refreshing when a new season comes, because it brings hope and expectations of new and exciting experiences to come. Hopefully this warm weather will bring along my husband with it. He’s been out of the country for pretty much 2 months now. I’m really ready to see him. And we’ve got plans to go to Alaska next weekend, so if he’s not back, I’ll have to go alone. Pray for his immediate return.
God has been good to us, though, giving each of us enough grace, comfort and strength to make it through yet another day apart. I’ve been really busy with school work lately. I don’t think I’ve mentioned on here that I decided to try to graduate in 12 months instead of 18 so I can live with A2 sooner. It’s put a lot of stress on me, but it’s so worth it if I can just get a whole thesis done and written by then. I’m about to take my finals for my second quarter. That means I only have 2 more quarters left. Woohoo! (Also, really scary considering how much I don’t have done yet!)
Well, I hope wherever you are reading this that God blesses you in some wonderful way today, like He does me everyday.

Gym Etiquette

2006-11-13T17:54:00.000-06:00

Ok, I know I haven't blogged in a long time, but I couldn't pass up the chance to tell this story to everyone. So, I was in the gym today doing a little weight lifting. It was time for my to do the bench press machine, but there was another lady on it. I waited a few minutes and when she was on her break between sets, I politely asked if I could slip in in between and do a set myself. She said, "Um, no. I won't take too much longer." A little taken aback by that answer, I said, "ok." and continued to wait. After she had done about 3 more sets, a man comes up to talk to her. She enters into a conversation with him while sitting on the machine and talks for about 5 minutes while I'm standing there waiting. I finally decided to ask if I could at least do a set while she was talking, and she said, "No. I be done in a minute. There are plenty other machines." None of which are the bench press machine that I need. She continues her conversation for a few more minutes and does about 3 more sets before she finally gets off the machine. Granted I was a little ticked at her, but more so I was just flabbergasted. I was simply amazed that there are people in this world who are that rude and don't even care. There are rules at a gym. If someone is waiting on your machine, you allow them to use it in between your sets. I was tempted to report her to the front desk in hopes she'll be banned from the gym or at least be told to play by the rules. Even if it wasn't a rule, it's at least gym etiquette. Is anyone else as amazed as I at her rudeness?
Here is a link to a little Gym Etiquette http://exercise.about.com/cs/healthclubs/a/gymetiquette.htm
Here are some more rules I copied from http://www.muscletalk.co.uk/article-gym-etiquette.aspx I've underlined the violated rules.
The Key 'Do not' points:
Do not leave equipment covered in your sweat - wipe it down with a towel/tissue. People would rather not use their own towel to wipe off another person's sweat
Do not sit on equipment you are not using (especially if it's busy)
Do not hog equipment by spending unnecessary time chatting too long between or after sets (especially if you are using equipment that there is only one of)
Do not train too close to other equipment you are not using or block others access to equipment or walkways, etc (especially if it's busy)
Do not interrupt people mid-set by talking to them or asking a question. Wait until they have finished the set (this happens to me quite a lot)
Do not move too near people when they are lifting as it can be very distracting having someone walking right behind you when you are deadlifting
Do not ignore other's request to share equipment you are using while you are resting between sets
Do not leave weights or plates littered around the gym floor. The least you can do is stack them nicely or move them to one side when you've finished if you're too lazy to put them back
Do not just move equipment that has just been left alone for a moment. Check to see if it's finished with first (they may have just gone to get a drink of water or some more paper to wipe down equipment with)
Do not, if not needed, have your mobile phone on. It is very distracting having phones going off in a gym every 5 minutes then people talking really loudly above the music to be heard. If you're not expecting an urgent call then leave it in your locker
The 'Do' points we should remember:
Do be mindful of the space around you and if you are restricting other's movement to certain areas or equipment
Do ensure you maintain your personal hygiene. It's not nice for others to smell your two week old training shirt that you've been sweating in every day
Do ask to work with others between their sets on equipment you may have been waiting for
Do allow others to work with you between your sets if they are waiting for your equipment. If they look less experienced than you then offer it anyway as they may just feel intimidated
Do ask if people are finished with equipment once they have got up. Try not to assume they have
Do ask people to move if they are crowding you or restricting your access to other equipment
Do be polite as much as possible
Do train in the right areas when the gym is busy. If you can free up equipment by doing the same exercise elsewhere (e.g. bicep curls in the power rack) then do so
Do use common sense and sensible judgement with most situations
Do try and be flexible with others who may not know better
As you can see, this is not rocket science but basic common sense and respect for others.

My Airport Bad Luck -- God's Faithfulness

2006-09-29T08:28:00.000-05:00

So, Armand told you a short synopsis of my time with him last weekend. It was absolutely delightful. Here is a link to all of our pictures from the zoo, the air show, and Armand hitting 90,000 miles on his 2002 car. http://www.walmart.com/agt/bounce.gsp?ID=4C1AB05A18557143F618C3D17A3D7618A887&sharee=jeldnc%40yahoo.com The pictures I tried to take of him singing in the barbershop choir concert didn't turn out very well. It was pretty dark. The concert was awesome, though! They were terrific and the 4 quartets that sang after them were phenomenal as well. It was a night of very good music, lots of humor, and good food. You can't beat that. Omaha Zoo was pretty cool too. It's said to be one of the best in the world and it definitely showed. The coolest thing was what we started out, the Desert Dome. It's this huge greenhouse looking dome that they set up like a trail though different desert regions with the appropriate wildlife displayed. But it's not just one level...you go downstairs and there are all sorts of other cool things that come out at night. So they had a cave set up with bats and other nocturnal creatures and a swamp area with alligators and possums. It was so cool. We even got to see the famous giant albino alligator. Anyway, the air show was pretty awesome, too. Armand and I had never been to one before. We had a blast. It's such a great atmosphere with the static displays of the planes, the demonstrations, and the food!

Speaking of planes, I have the worst luck with flying commercially. It's like a curse. I fly pretty often, about once every month or two. Well, it has never failed that not just on every trip, but on both the there and back legs, something doesn't go as scheduled. Either my flights are delayed or they lose my luggage or both. It's crazy. Now, I understand it happens quite often in the modern world of terrorism in the commercial air business, but nobody I know has trouble EVERY single time. Anyway, on my way to Omaha, the flight was only delayed like 15 minutes. No big trouble there, but on my way back from Omaha, I was supposed to leave at 2:30. Armand and I were joking around on the way to the airport saying, wouldn't it be nice if my flight was delayed an hour so we could spend more time together. We knew it was actually pretty likely to happen with my luck, and just an hour late wouldn't make me miss my connecting flight in Atlanta. So we get to the check-in desk about 50 minutes before my flight was to take off, and guess what? It's delayed till 3:45! Yea! We checked my luggage and went to the park for a little while. When I finally went to my gate, it turns out my flights delayed till 4:30, so I go back outside security to spend more time with Armand, then I go back inside and it's delayed even later. Now I'm worried about my connecting flight, so since no one was at the desk in the gate area, I go back outside security and down to the check-in counter to get my connecting flight figured out. She said if the plane really takes off at 4:45 like it is now scheduled, I'll have 20 minutes to make my connection in Atlanta. This isn't my original connection, but the last flight out of Atlanta to Dayton. I ask if there is any way they can't send through a different city since Atlanta was having major storms and that was what the hold up was. She said no, the other flights are overbooked. I said fine, knowing that God was ultimately in control. I said a final goodbye to Armand who by now had to get back to church for choir practice and went through security for the last time. As I was waiting patiently, the flight got delayed again. My 2:30 flight was now not scheduled to leave until 5:45. This means I would miss the last flight out of Atlanta. I'm still not too worried, because this happens to me all the time, and God has never failed to work things out for me, so as I was standing in line at the counter to try to figure something out, they were announcing a last call for some guy on the 3:45 flight to Cincinnati. I didn't see anybody running over there to catch the flight, so I asked the guy behind me to save my place in line and ran over to that gate. I asked the lady to let me go to Cincinnati since that guy didn't show up and she said that the flight leaves in 45 seconds. But she printed a ticket for me, and I hopped on the plane. I wonder if that guy kept holding my place in line? Anyway, I got to Cincinnati and was on standby to Dayton, but that flight was overbooked by 2. I called my roommate to see if she might be able to come pick me up since it's only an hour and a half drive, but the ladies at the counter said there was still a chance I could make the flight, since a lot of people usually don't show up for this flight. In God's wonderful provision, I made it on the flight and landed in Dayton 30 minutes before I was supposed to arrive via my original flight plan had it been on schedule. Of course my bags went to Atlanta without me, so I got them on Monday morning, but isn't God good? He never fails me. Mo matter what the circumstances look like, God is always in control.

I know that was a pretty long story, so if you got this far, I'm proud of you. It's just that I don't have school today, so I don't know what to do with myself. I start my real classes to get my Masters in Physics on Monday. I'm pretty excited. :)

I've got Excuses

2006-09-11T16:35:00.000-05:00

Please forgive my complete lack of blogging. I haven't even read Armand's latest post, but I decided I'd better write mine before I try catching up on everybody's. If I don't, I'll be too tired of reading blogs to post my own.
So, where did I leave off? Oh yeah, LA. Well, I got back, the movers came and packed up all my stuff. It was pretty stressfull for some reason. Then Legend and I head off to Ohio in my little Beettle. It was packed to the brim with food, china, suitcases, and other misc things the movers couldn't take (or I didn't want them to take). We stopped overnight in St Louis, so I could cash in on 2 days of per diem, and then arrived in my new semi-home of Dayton (Omaha will be my real home until we move from there). I stayed in a hotel off base that had a full kitchen, but they only did room service once a week. I was only there for a week and a half, so I only got my bed made for me once. :( Oh well. During the time I was in the hotel, I inprocessed and got oriented to AFIT. Armand also came to visit for about 5 days. We had a great vacation. There are some fun things to do here in Dayton.
On Thurs before Labor Day, the movers delivered my stuff to my new house. I'm rooming with a girl that's already been here a while, but just had a new house built. It's a beautiful 4 bedroom 2 story house with a finished basement. The coolest thing is that it has an intercom system built into the alarm system and a central vacuum system with an automatic dustpan. You just sweep everything in the kitchen to a vent under the sink, kick a button, and woosh, it's gone. It's such a throw back to the 60's when my grandparents had the house I grew up in built. It had a central vacuum system and intercom, too. Of course, it's much higher tech now.
I left for Omaha as soon as the movers finished delivering my stuff. That weekend was great getting to hang with Armand and E. The drive was aweful, though. Almost 12 hours one way. Blah. I'm definitely flying next time (which is in two weeks! YEA!). I got to come back from Omaha to my new living quarters and spend the first night in ages (almost a full month) in my own bed in my new room. Since then, I've been unpacking, getting to know my new housemate, and taking refresher courses to get me prepared for when real school starts in October. I hope you can all forgive me for not keeping you up to date, but it's just so hard to keep up with the normal things in the midst of so much change. I'll probably get settled in soon, and begin blogging on a more regular basis. Until then, don't hate!

PS these are pics (floorplans) of my new house (mine has four bedrooms and 2 full baths upstairs, though, so it is completely different than the one pictured but you get an idea). Armand is afraid I'll like it better than our house, but he has nothing to worry about. Ours is much better. It's not as big, but we don't need to rent out rooms to people, unless their name is Ethan Kuhlman.

Short Post

2006-08-21T11:14:00.000-05:00

Hey everybody. I know it's been awhile since I've posted, and this one is going to be short, but I'll get back on track eventually. I haven't been able to post because I've been to LA and am in the process of moving to Dayton. I'm actually in a hotel in Dayton now. I arrived Sat afternoon after two days of driving and a night in St Louis. My little VW Beetle was packed to the brim. Anyway, I'll be in this extended stay hotel for the next week while I wait for my future roommie to close on her (our) new house. Hopefully I'll get to move in on the 29th. To hear a good synopsis of my trip to LA with my sister, check out her (Marci's) blog. She left out a few things, like the drama of my flying standby and our dinner with Scotty, but captured the fun trip pretty well. Here are a couple of pics. Sorry I can't say more, but I've got to go inprocess now.

Me and My Mom Don't Get Out Much

2006-08-08T20:54:00.000-05:00

So, my wonderful mother came up to visit me last weekend. She didn't really want to drive the whole way by herself, but then she realized that her baby girl was about to move far away and that she would never get to see her again (at least not till Thanksgiving or sometime that awfully far away) so she hopped in the car and made the trip.
Friday evening we basically just hung out. After going grocery shopping, I made this awesome recipe that sauted scallops in olive oil with fresh spinach, tomatoes, and garlic. We added crab meat as well, and it was delicious! Momma thinks I'm an amazing chef because I actually cook with fresh vegetables and stuff. We also had fresh greenbeans sauted with onions, and rice and applesauce to make it a well rounded meal. It was fun.
We then went for a walk out by a lake by my apartments. We took Legend, and even though it was really hot, we had a nice time. Then, we rented that movie about the 9-11 plane that went down in Pennsylvania. It was intense, but really good.
Saturday morning, I made some banana, raisin, Wheat muffins for breakfast that turned out pretty good. You have to realize, I very rarely ever cook things I've already tried, so it's always fun to me to see if the recipe I'm cooking is any good, since I've probably never had it again... Anyway, we packed a little (not much, though, since I'm planning on the AF packing it all for me) and played a little Racko. It's a game where you get ten numbered cards and you have to put the in order by drawing and discarding. It's fun. I killed mom the first game, but she killed me the second time. We decided it was best not to play a third round.
We then went to A Spot for Tea (a tea room) for lunch with my friend from work, her baby, and her mother and law. It was delightful and right next to an antique mall. So we did some shopping. I have to tell you that I got the deal of the century!!! I found the china I've been looking for my whole life and got a pretty complete set for 1/6 of what it would normally cost from the store and 1/3 what it would cost if I found everything I got on sale on E-bay. (Yes, my mom and I were so excited about the deal we got we looked it up on-line and added it all up to see just how much we saved).

Here are a couple of pictures of our new Noritake china that will go quite nicely with the curtains we just put up (See Armand's blog for pics of the curtains). I also got a couple of cool black and white photos of Okarche that we're going to frame and put in our house as a reminder of the first placed we lived as a couple.
That night we went to see Superman Returns. This is where the title of this post comes into play. Well, we decided we would each buy our own tickets, so I went up to the counter and said, "I need one for Superman Returns at 7:20, please" --Sorry, Trey. Then, knowing how expensive movies are these days, I asked if they had a military discount. She said no, but they do have a student discount, "Are you a student?" "Well, I'm about to be." Thinking about starting my Master's Degree in a few weeks, so she's like, yeah, that counts a lot of people are in between semesters and stuff. I didn't have the heart to tell her I was about to go to grad school, because I think she thought I was like a freshman in college. I look too young. Sidenote-when I was at the dentist the other day, the technician swore I couldn't be older than 21 when I told her I was almost 25. Anyway, with the student discount it turned out to be $7.50, so I was like, "Wow, how much would it be without the discount?" $8.50, which is what my mom had to pay. We then decide to splurge and get popcorn. So we get to the register and see that we have a coupon for $4 off of a #2 that includes 1 large popcorn and 2 large drinks. We're thinking, "cool, maybe it will only be $2 or $3" but we find out it's originally $12!!! So we would still be paying $8. Since neither one of us really like cokes to begin with we decide to scrap the value meal and just get a large popcorn for $4. But we do want some water to drink. So the poor guy behind the register says they have bottled water, but we're too cheap to pay for water, we just want tap water, so he says he can give us complimentary cups. They are these little tiny Dixie cup size paper cups. He puts two ice cubes in each cup (that's all that will fit) and off we go with our giant bag of popcorn (of which we get free refills) and two tiny paper cups that we fill with water at the water fountain. We finally sit down at the movie and start eating our wonderful popcorn and notice it's not very buttery. Still good, but not buttery like we remember movie theatre popcorn to be. Well, we finish the bag during the movie and decide we'll get a refill on the way out, since we want to get our money's worth and I'll eat it as leftovers later. I realize then that there is a little station where you put your own butter on. We put some on this second round. As we're walking out of the mall with our huge refilled bag of buttery popcorn we wonder whether there is a rule about taking food out of the theatre like there is about bringing food into the theatre. Anyway, the whole thing was an adventure and made us realize how little we get out.
Hope you enjoyed the story. We laughed a lot during the whole expedition, but I don't think it's as funny in print.
Sunday we went to a random church close by my apartments, then went to Bahama Breeze for lunch. It was a very nicely done Jamaican style restaurant. Really good food. I wish I had discovered it before. Then, Mom headed back to Arkansas. I know this was a really long post, but oh well.

A Wonderful Weekend With My Husband

2006-08-01T17:16:00.000-05:00

I took off work last Friday and this Monday, so I could spend some time in my real house with my husband. I headed up to Omaha Friday morning bearing my anniversary gift to him. Curtains for our dining room table. I wish I had a picture of them. Before you start saying how lame an anniversary present that is, let me remind you that Cotton is the theme gift for year 2, and I actually made these myself. I bought a sewing machine and material and started my new sewing hobby with a pretty big project. They turned out ok after many bumps in the road and having to figure out how to fix my mistakes. They are now hung in our wonderful dining room. The only thing left is to get our chairs covered to match. While I was up there, we also decked out our basement. It has the beginnings of an all out bachelor's pad. (E you've still got an open invitation to claim it for your own.) We bought a bright green shag rug and have a TV set up with a folding disk chair. My futon will eventually go down there as well as the gamecube. We've got an old school original Nintendo down there, but no power cord for it. If any of you have one to spare by chance, we'll take it. We're not even sure it works, but it would be worth a try.
Anyway, the weekend was filled with hanging out with friends (Armand's got a whole lot more friends than I do...), eating out, shopping, wine drinking, and a nice dinner date with just the two of us. I got to go to church with Armand Gene and was reminded that I absolutely love our new church. Everyone there is so genuine and really wants to get to know you and be your friend.
I'll be moving in a couple of weeks to an unknown place in Dayton, OH. I'm kind of nervous about it, since Armand won't be there to help me with it all. I'm going to start organizing and packing the things I can this week.
The weekend before I move, I'm going with my sister to LA, CA. We're going to try to get on The Price Is Right. She is a big fan, and thinks she could totally win. I always have no clue what things cost, but I'll have her there, if they call me down the aisle by mistake. We're trying to come up with ideas for how to decorate some t-shirts to wear or something that will bring attention to us. We've both got interesting names, so Marcilyn says we have a better chance of getting called down. If you come up with any ideas, let me know.
Oh, Armand says he will try to blog soon, but in the meantime, just read my blog. He has Babershop Choir practice tonight, but he might be able to find time tomorrow. Oh, I want to remind everyone that New Year's is still on at the Fondren house in Omaha. Uncle Leighton just bought his plane ticket. E, I'm sure you're coming, but are you flying or riding your future new motorcycle up? Justin and Holly, you guys should be able to fly SW cheap, right? Scott and Andy, I know it's a long ways for you guys, but you've still got to come!!!! My Sister and Brother-in-Law might be able to come, too. Well, that's enough for now. I'll try to post again soon.

Updated Links

2006-07-21T06:10:00.000-05:00

Yea!!! Armand put everyone's blog links on my page now. I've been having to go to his blog to get to everyone elses. He included my sister's blog, Marci. You should check it out and see all of the adorable pictures of my nephew. Oh, and Awesome pics of my brother-in-law doing flips on his wakeboard.

I'm so glad it's Friday. It's been a really long week. All day yesterday, I kept thinking (or maybe just wishing) it was Friday. Now it really is, yippee!

(no pics, cause you are directed to go to my sister's blog to look at pics.)

My First Sick Day

2006-07-11T10:49:00.000-05:00

Wow! I'm so sorry it's been so long since I last posted. And it was such a negative post to end on, too. So, where to start...so much has been happening. I've actually gotten to spend 1/2 a month with Armand in the last 30 days! Well, you heard a little about my brother-in-law becoming a full fledged doctor. That weekend was the start of my Armand binge. The next weekend was a long one, so Armand came to Oklahoma.
We did some touristy stuff like going to the National Cowboy Hall of Fame Museum and the park.
We bought a kite and flew it in the never ending winds of Oklahoma.

We then headed down to Ft Worth to see the family. We got to go to a concert of Janene's and hang out with the kids a little. A couple of weeks went by and then Armand's family came up through OKC to pick me up on their way to Omaha. It was Mom, Pop, Janene, the babysitter, the three kids, me and Legend with all our stuff literally stuffed in the van. It was crazy. Of course they were running a little late, so we didn't get to Armand's house until 0530 in the morning after almost running out of gas in the middle of nowhere in Nebraska. I got about an hour of sleep on that trip, so I went to bed when we got home. Armand got up and played with the kids, since they had slept most of the way. We got to take the kids to the park by our house and grill them dinner. We also made the best homemade cookies and cream icecream. It was a good time. The family then headed off on their vacation to Yellowstone while I spent the next week with Armand. I got to be a real wife (cooking for him, doing laundry, painting the dining room table...) for a whole week! It was awesome.

The last weekend I was there, we got to go hang out with this couple from church that live on the lake. We had a blast on their JetSki. Armand not only completely flipped it upside down for the first time since they've had it, he did it twice. They also had another couple from the church over that were about our age. It was so fun hanging out with them playing games and all. We brought our fondue pot and used it for the first time to make some cheese fondue for everyone. It was really salty and strong. I didn't like it. Oh well.

I then flew back home for 5 days of work and then drove to Arkansas to visit my family for the 4th. Armand flew in with Legend. Because Southwest doesn't allow animals on their flights, I had to leave Legend with Armand for that week. Anyway, we had a blast in Arkansas with my parents, sister, nephew and cousins and grandparents. We played on the lake, saw fireworks, shot fireworks (Armand has made it a tradition to put on this awesome fireworks show for the family) and watched The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe on my Dad's awesome new 6X9 ft projector screen with 7.1 surround sound. Armand and Josh helped him finish getting it all set up. It was a great time.

So then I came back to work for 3 days and last Friday had a hot date. Armand and I decided at the last minute to drive to Salina, KS (right in the middle of us) to celebrate our anniversary (today) and watch Pirates on opening night. It was great! We played a little golf on Saturday, too. So, now I'm back to my old routine in OKC without Armand. I think I'll see him again in 2 or 3 weeks, 'cause we're planning on going camping in Kansas. That should be fun. I love to camp, but haven't done it in so long. Oh, in the midst of all of that, I've decided to take up sowing. I'm buying a sowing machine tomorrow. I've already picked it out. I've got the material already that I'm going to make our dining room curtains out of. Hopefully I'll get them finished next weekend. My next project will be to cover our dining room chairs. Oh, I almost forgot, the reason I'm finally able to catch up with blogging is because I've taken my very first sick day. My throat started hurting pretty bad yesterday, so I decided if it wasn't better today, I wasn't going to go to work, so here I am.

I Need to Vent

2006-05-23T19:40:00.000-05:00

I'm the fitness leader at work for about 80 military people. I have other fitness leaders that help me out with running the three fitness sessions a week that I have to do. Well, I should say I USED to have other fitness leaders to help me out. You see, I had 3 other guys and between the four of us, nobody had to do much. Then I turned control over to one of the guys, Ed, around January. Well, he moved to another group, so he handed it back over to me in April, and he's no longer around to help out. Another one of the guys also left to go to school at AFIT (the place I'll be going in August). So, that left me and Ben. Now Ben has always been pretty unreliable, but since I took back over, he has been scheduled to run a total of 8 sessions. Only 1 of those sessions, did he actually show up. 2 of those sessions, he called right before hand and said he wasn't going to be able to make it. And 5 of those sessions, he just didn't show at all. Now that is pretty frustrating, especially since he's the only other guy certified to help me out with this fitness stuff. So, today, I got this information together, asked if he had some time to talk, and went down to his desk to tell him that his performance is unacceptable. I was very nice about it. He really didn't care though, and said his job is more important than the fitness stuff, so it's always going to come first. I said that he was right, his main job should come first, but maybe he could look into some time management skills or something, because he has made a commitment to the Fitness Program that he is not fulfilling. That wasn't so bad, it's what happened next that really made me upset...The guy sitting next to him in his cubicle says, "I'm gonna butt into your conversation real quick." Then he proceeds to tell me that this was not an appropriate conversation for 2 Lts to be having. I should have had this conversation in private. I was way out of line to be talking to Ben that way. I said that I thought this wasn't a public setting, but he said it's completely public to all the cubicles around. It wasn't like we were shouting or anything. We were talking barely above a whisper. Anyway, I finished my conversation with Ben and went to the bathroom and cried. I absolutely HATE confrontation to begin with, so going down to talk to Ben was hard enough. Then getting berrated by some civilian guy for the way I did it made me feel like a huge failure. I talked to Armand later in the afternoon, and Armand was pissed at the guy for doing that to me. He pointed out that the guy completely contradicted himself about me not reprimanding Ben in public while he belittled me right in front of Ben. Completley undermining my authority. So with Armands prodding, I wrote this civilian guy an e-mail explaining how wrong he was. It was pretty nice, but got the point across that he did exactly what he was accusing me of doing, but worse. I just did it in front of random people that I did not think had anything to do with the Fitness Program or his leadership. This guy on the other hand belittled me right in front of someone he new I was in a leadership position over. Blah. Thanks for reading this far. Let me know if you think I was in the right or wrong on this...

On a lighter note, my brother-in-law (pictured with Legend) graduated from Medical School last weekend. He's now an official Docter. Pretty cool. Armand and I got to meet up in Little to see the graduation and spend some time with my family. It was an awesome weekend. A2 and the rest of my family got to meet Legend. Everybody loved him. It was really nice to have Armand there with me, too. I love that man!!! :)

Nothing New Happening Here, Just Need Advice

2006-05-15T17:09:00.000-05:00

Legend and I are getting along pretty well. He really is a most well behaved dog. I took him to the Vet on Sat. just to make sure everything was ok with him and get his tick and flea medicine, etc. The vet and nurse were very impressed with him. They said he was one of the most well behaved Min Pins they had seen. They immediately fell in love. I gave him his first bath with me, too, on Saturday. It was great. He just stood perfectly still in the bathtub while I washed him up. I've got a great dog...So great that I showed him off to my whole family last night over the web cam. My parents, grandparents and sister and her family. They thought he was adorable. Well, wouldn't you know that that night after I had bragged about how he was already house trained and never messed in the apartment, he pooped on my carpet. Blah. I was so mad at him when I found it this morning, but knew that since I didn't catch him in the act, I wasn't supposed to reprimand him, so I just silently fumed and cleaned it up. It was kind of my fault, I guess, 'cause he got up at like 3:30 this morning, so I took him out just in case, but I didn't not want to be awake, so when he didn't go immediately, I brought him back in and went to back to bed. I won't do that again.
The advice I'm asking for is about clipping his toenails. They're extremely long since he was a stray, and the vet said his quicks are really long too, since he hasn't had is nails cut in so long. He even cut the quick when he was demonstrating to me how to do it. The problem is, he only did 3 nails, so I tried to do the rest. It was awful. I couldn't do it. He wouldn't sit still. The vet had the nurse to hold him tight when he was doing it. Cheater. My sister suggested I try it while he's asleep, but I don't think he'll stay asleep if I start playing with his feet. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
I wanted to say a little something on Armand's behalf. I know he hasn't posted a blog in a while, but it's for good reason. He's been swamped with studying for his pilot training. He barely has time to do all of that and still manage to eat three meals a day, so blogging is low on his priorities. You'll have to forgive him. He's still alive and kicking, though. I get to talk to him over the web cam...it's wonderful.

(Test picture I took with my webcam. Ignore the messy bed in the background.)

Second Chance Legend

2006-05-10T06:55:00.000-05:00

I brought him home yesterday! Second Chance Legend, the miniature pinscher. He's so adorable. I've posted pictures for your viewing pleasure. Thankfully, he's house trained already. I just need him to like his crate. I hate leaving him in there while I'm gone...he seems so sad. But my mom reminds me constantly that he's only a DOG. Anyway, we had our first night together last night. He whined like crazy, but I stuck it out. It didn't help that it was storming all night. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep. I love having him here with me, though! It's wonderful. I can't wait till Armand gets to meet him. He already did over the webcam, but I mean in person. Gotta go to work now.

So Much to Catch Up On

2006-05-07T15:20:00.000-05:00

Wow, where should I start. It's been a while, I know, but I think I've got rather good excuses for not blogging. Well, I'll start with some pictures of my 4 bedroom house while I was down in Wichita Falls. It was a pretty good class, but I was glad to be done so I could go see my hubby and new house. I did end up getting to use my 4 bedroom house to through a party for my class on our last night. I cooked some spaghetti for everyone. It was a pretty fun time. They all thought the spaghetti was great (but it's kind of hard to mess up pasta).
As soon as class was over on Thurs. I drove back to OKC to attend dance rehearsal for Swan Lake and to unpack and repack. The next morning I headed to the airport to go to Omaha! Yeah for visiting your significant other. If you've read Armand's blog, you know how wonderful he treated me. Here are some pictures from the weekend. It was the best weekend I could have even imagined. Armand Gene is so awesome!
All good things come to an end, though, so I had to leave him and my wonderful new house Monday evening. Because of my wonderful luck with United Airlines my flights were delayed of course, so I didn't get home till 12:30 Tues. morning. I then had to get up and go to my job that gives me no satisfaction. I did get to tutor the 5th graders that I tutor in Math every week. From work, I went straight to my dress rehearsal for Swan Lake. I missed the first dress rehearsal hanging out in the airport. On Thursday we performed opening night. It went ok, but it was kind of depressing for me, since it was the first performance I've ever done without anyone I know coming to see me. It felt more like a second dress rehearsal. On Friday, though my parents and in-laws came to see the ballet. It was wonderful. Here's a picture.
On Saturday, me and my parents hung out. Armand's parents had to drive back home on Friday night. I made my parents come with me to the pound to see if I could find a dog to buy, 'cause they were having a brown bag special (any animal with brown on it could be adopted for $25. I found one! It was perfect. Just what Armand and I were wanting. A male Miniature Pinscher that was black and tan. He's a year and a half old, so I'll miss the puppy experience, but I think that's best in the long run, since I don't have all day to devote to the little guy. I went ahead and adopted him, but won't be able to pick him up for another week or 2 since he was a stray and needs to get shots and surgery. Sorry I don't have a picture for you. I'll post one as soon as I get to bring him home. This being my first dog ever, any advice you pet lovers can give me, I would greatly appreciate it. Another thing my parents did while they were here was buy me a web cam. Daddy set it up for me and everything. Armand went out and bought one too, so we've been able to see and talk to each other. It's been awesome!!!!! Thus, if I don't post more often then I have been, it's because I've been busy hanging out with my husband on our webcams. I think you are now caught up on my life. Sorry you had to wait so long. Have a great day!

Good Ol' Wichita Falls, TX

2006-04-24T16:29:00.000-05:00

So, I'm still at Sheppard AFB in TX. It's been pretty boring. The stuff we're learning in class is interesting in itself, but like any good government run class, we learn about 15 minutes worth of material in 2 hours. Literally we take a 20 minute break on the hour so we're only getting 40 minutes of class time each hour. It's ridiculous. Since I've been away from home so often lately, it's kind of easy to forget where I am. Not here, though. I am constantly reminded that I'm in Texas because absolutely every time I turn around there is some kind of shape of the state of Texas. Whether it's in the gravel in front of the lodging office, the copper shapes of Texas hanging on the walls. The wooden cut-outs of Texas as the center pieces in the restaurants...it's everywhere! You Texans are all crazy. But I gotta love ya! :)
Oh, I've got to mention the ginormous house they gave me, since they were out of regular rooms when I got here. The put me up in a FOUR bedroom house all by myself. I've got a full kitchen, full washer/dryer, 2 tvs, a huge living room, a dining room table, breakfast area table, 2 full bathrooms, and a backyard. It's crazy!

Leaving Again

2006-04-16T17:45:00.000-05:00

Sorry it's been a while since my last post. This one is going to be a short one, too. I'm headed out the door for Wichita Falls for a 2 week class on Jet Engine Mishap Investigation. I think it will be pretty cool. I might not be able to blog while I'm there, so sorry if it is another long time before posts. Things have been going pretty well this week in Oklahoma. My mom (pictured holding a big check) came up for the weekend to keep me company and go to church with me on Easter Sunday. She also helped me spend a whole bunch of money on clothes (everybody needs a new Easter outfit...or two) and stuff I needed in my apartment. While she was on her way here, I was cooking dinner for her, and it was the first real meal I've cooked since being in my apartment, so I go to open a can of tomatoes and find that the hand-me-down can opener I have doesn't work at all. When I turn the little handle, absolutely nothing happens. So, I decide to look for a neighbor. That was way harder than I imagined it would be. I think I am the only one who lives here. I finally found a couple leaving their apartment and asked them if they had a can opener I could borrow, they said they were moving out, but I could use their can opener if I didn't mind the mess. I was just desperate to get to my tomatoes, so they opened the can for me. But it's not like I met new neihbors, since they were in the process of moving out. Oh well. I continued making dinner and realized I don't have a cheese grater so, I decided to call mom and tell her to pick up a can opener and cheese grater for me on the way in. She did. We eventually ate. It was good. Anyway, I really have to head out now. Hope to keep in touch while I'm in the good state of TX.

Racquetball in Omaha

2006-04-10T10:19:00.000-05:00

I don't have anything really good to say in this post, but I just wanted to let everyone know that Armand did post yesterday, it's just not showing up. He's probably not going to be happy when he finds out it didn't work. Oh well.
Right now, I'm just hanging out in the Offutt library waiting on my husband to finish up his inprocessing so we can play some racquetball. He usually whoops up on me, but it's fun getting to play together. Every once in a while I can beat him when he plays left handed. I'm really competitive, though, so a lot of times we play together I get all upset because I can't win. He's wonderful, though, and puts up with my whining and loves me anyway.
I'm sure Armand mentioned the fish in his mystery blog, so I'll go ahead and keep you posted on them. They are all still alive sitting in their tanks at his TLF (Temporary Living Facility for you people that don't do acronyms). He has stressed over them a great deal. His latest stress has been the fact that he's afraid they'll kick him out of the TLF because of his fish, so he hasn't let them come and clean his room, yet. Last night we had to make the room look spotless so Armand would let them come clean the room. He thought that if the room looked messy it would make them mad and bring more attention to the fish, but if it was clean, they wouldn't mind him having the fish in there so bad. He doesn't make any sense!
I'm sure that in his blog that didn't post he also talked about our new house. We spent about 5 hours in it on Saturday just walking through it admiring its beauty and writing down any and every little thing we wanted them to fix before we move in next week. We tried to figure out where we would put the furniture, too. It's so hard to do when it's all just in your head. I guess Armand will get to make all of those decisions for real when they actually move the furniture in, since I won't be there. T3, when you get there, you'll have to make sure he made good decisions and help him move the furniture around if he didn't. One thing you have to make sure about is that he puts my rocking chair in our bedroom. He doesn't want to because the light wood on the chair doesn't match the dark wood of our other bedroom furniture.
I don't know what picture I'm going to attach to this post, since I'm not on my computer and don't have access to any of my pictures. I've got to put some picture on it, though, it's tradition.
OO, I found one. It's what Armand and I look like when we play racquetball, except we don't tuck in our shirts and Armand doesn't have a fro, although I think it would look cute on him.

Oh, tonight Armand and I are going to check out the Sarpy Serenaders practice. It's the local chapter of the SPBESQFSRBOLS.....or whatever that big long acronym is for the barbershop singing club. He really misses singing, so hopefully he can get really involved with this, since barbershop is his favorite.
Last night Armand and I watched a most wonderful movie on tv after we made his dad's awesome enchilades. There were really good, too. The movie was "Funny Face" with Audrie Hepburn and Fred Astaire. Oh, I love it! Armand had never seen it before. It was wonderful. Anyway, I hope everyone has a great week!

Goodbye Okarche, Hello Apartment, Goodbye Armand Gene, Hello Omaha

2006-04-06T17:44:00.000-05:00

I'm so sorry it's been so long since I've posted, but things have been pretty busy in the Fondren's lives. Everything is different now, but not bad. I'm loving my new apartment in the city. We'll see how much I like it after living in it for a few weeks alone, though. Our house in Okarche is completely empty. We know longer have the keys. The AF movers came in on Monday at packed everything in boxes. On Tuesday they came and took everything away in less than half of a semi truck. Armand got completely outprocessed from Vance on Wednesday, and we had a cookout with our neighbors that night. It was a blast. We had to use their grill and kitchen and everything else, since all our stuff is either in my apartment in the city or on its way to Omaha. Armand and I spent last night there in the empty house with our fish on a blow up mattress. This morning we loaded up the fish in big trashcans and put them and their tanks in Armand's car. He's on the road as we speak (or as I type) heading for the tornados in Nebraska. Too bad he doesn't get to move straight into our new house (the posted picture is the house plans). He said to ask you guys to pray for the fish. I say you should pray for him, his safety, and his sanity as he tries to unload those fish in tornado weather.

Funny thing happened today in my apartment while the guys were installing my cable interenet hook-up. A little tiny bug flew up my nose. Thankfully I got to some tissue and blew it out before it got too far up there. It was pretty nasty feeling. I've got to head off to ballet class now. Have a great and Blessed Day, everyone.

Armand Gene is Home!

2006-03-27T20:18:00.000-06:00

WELCOME HOME, Armand Gene! Yippee Skippee! :) :) :) I missed him tremendously. This is going to be a short blogg, though, since I want to spend as much time with my wonderful husband as possible before he takes off for Nebraska next week. He's feeding the fish right now, so this is my chance to say hi to everyone. Not much is happening except for packing me up to move into my apartment in the city. I move on Saturday, if anyone wants to come up and help us. A truck would be nice. Gotta go now. Armand needs my attention...or maybe it's the other way around.

Catching Up

2006-03-25T15:14:00.000-06:00

I know it's been over 2 weeks since I last posted anything. Sorry about that, but I've been busy. Going to Maryland was a pretty fun trip, and it helped keep my mind off of the fact that Armand wasn't home, since I wasn't home, either. I had my first experience with Soft Shell Crab while I was up there. It was very interesting. Not bad, but I prefer regular crab, but the biggest problem was that they deep fry it, and I'm not supposed to eat deep fried food until Easter. Oh well, no need to be over legalistic. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity. (maybe not, but i've got to justify it somehow) Armand and I have both had one mess up now. It's been really great for us, though. I'm losing weight by not eating fried foods, which is a real bonus. We think we're going to stick with it except for an occasional trip to the Mexican restaurant for Armand's Chimichanga and my chips and dip. Armand said he'll want french fries every once in a while with his hamburger too.

The only other eventful thing that happened on my trip to Maryland was the trip up there. I puked on the plane while we were taxiing to the gate. Don't ask me why, 'cause I wasn't really even feeling all that bad, but we landed and were rolling along, and I was like, "Oh no, please don't let me throw up, and then I grabbed the bag from the seat back in front of me, buried my face in it and puked a few times. Thankfully absolutely nothing came up, but it was quite embarrassing being on a business trip with people in my office watching my puke on the plane. Oh well. I ended up going to bed that night at 6:30 and waking up the next morning at 5:45. Oh wait there was one more story about the trip. I was flying United, and I've never once had a good trip with them, so of course our flight home was delayed a little bit, so we were late getting into Chicago to catch our connection. We make to the plane, though right as they were closing the gate. Whew, we made it, but then we proceed to sit there on the plane for over an hour while they tried to fix the de-icing machine (it's was snowing pretty hard) . So I was an hour late getting back to Oklahoma and we're waiting for our bags...of course they didn't come. We then had to go through all the hastle of that, I go pick up my friend Kalli 'cause she's supposed to cook me some Chicken Parmesan, we go back to the airport to pick up my luggage, get home around 9:00 fix dinner and eat around 10:00. That's eating an hour past my bedtime. In the middle of all of that I repacked for my weekend in Arkansas that I was leaving for in the morning at 0600. Needless to say, I was tired and a little frustrated, but the food was delicious!

So, after visiting my family over the weekend, mainly my cute little nephew (the picture is of him on the left and Teddy (the wonderful bear my husband got me on Valentine's Day when I got him that stuffed heart) on the right), I had to get back to work, unpack from my two back to back trips, go to dance, and be productive while Armand's not around. I just haven't had time to blogg. I hope you guys didn't miss me too much.

The Puzzle Mystery Solved

2006-03-12T15:19:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I was working on a puzzle of the White House. Armand and I had already gotten the outer frame and some of the inside done. But Armand, being the wonderful, OCD person that he is decided he had to lay all the pieces out in a nice orderly fashion all lined up and in color groups, while I continued trying to put together the blue sky. Well, yesterday, I was working on other parts of the puzzle, and I was getting a little frustrated, because I couldn't find any of the pieces I needed. I almost gave up, when I looked over and saw a puzzle box lid with more pieces lined up nice and neat inside. Unbeknownst to me, when A2 didn't have enough room on the table to get all the pieces laid out perfectly, he put the rest in the box. I was trying to put the puzzle together without half of the pieces. Needless to say after I found the hidden stash of pieces, the progress I made on the puzzle was amazing!

I Love Everything

2006-03-10T19:29:00.000-06:00

Hmm, the last couple of days have been pretty good. I think the highlight was getting my blood taken Thursday morning. I LOVE GETTING BLOOD TAKEN! I think it is so cool how they can stick that needle with a whole in it into your tiny veins, and then blood just pours out into the tube. It's the coolest thing!

Dance was also wonderful Thursday night. I LOVE DANCING! For those of you who know me well, you already knew this, for those of you who don't, I love taking ballet. When the show "So You Think You Can Dance" was on, it was my favorite thing in the world to watch. Yes, dear, it would top Scrubs any day in my book. BTW, does anybody know when that show is going to come back on, if at all?

Also on Thursday, I got to go to a Chinese restaurant with my friend Kalli, whose down here from Alaska for a class. I LOVE CHINESE FOOD! But on my way to the restaurant, I remembered that I gave up fried foods for lent...blah, no yummy egg rolls or sweat and sour chicken. But it turned out ok...I made my own soup. I also love soup.

Well this blog turned out to be a blog about things I LOVE, so I must mention my husband in there somewhere. I've been on the phone with him this whole time as a matter of fact. It's so cool that I can talk to him and type at the same time with this cool headset for my phone that I bought this afternoon. I know your thinking, "You've just now discovered the wonderful world of hands free phone devices?" but the deal is, I've tried many headsets, but they all were miserably uncomfortable because my ear holes are too small. This one doesn't have to fit inside my ear, it wraps around it, so I could wear it all day long if need be. Oh, about that talking to him and typing at the same time...it's more like typing, and hearing (not listening) to him at the same time, since I'm an absolutely horrible multi-tasker. It's ok, though, 'cause we're still spending time with each other, even if many words aren't being exchanged.

A Lonely Melody

2006-03-08T18:42:00.000-06:00

It was a bitter sweet day today. It started out wonderfully because I woke up next to my wonderful, adorable, loving husband. We actually got up at the same time which rarely ever happens (actually, I got up first and then dragged him out of bed). We got to wake up together because I had to take him to the airport this morning. That's the bitter part. It was a lovely forty-five minute drive, me and my lover, but then we had to say goodbye. He'll only be gone for 2 and 1/2 weeks. I say only because once he gets back from this trip, he'll be gone for 2 YEARS. Although this stint is the longest we will have had to survive without each other in over 2 years, I'll know we'll make it. I realized though, that this is the first time in our marriage that he's the one leaving. I'm always the one going on TDYs to have fun leaving him alone at home, but this time, he's the one getting to go have fun while I'm stuck at home. Fun isn't actually a good way to describe what he's about to go through, though. With the meager $9 a day and getting beat up, I don't know how much fun he can have, although he did take the game cube...

Anyway, enough of my whining. I'm not reallly being a pathetic sour puss, just because my husband is gone for a few weeks. I've actually been very productive today. It's amazing how much you can accomplish when you have nobody to rush home to after a days work. Here's what I got done today after work...Went to the post office and bought some 2 cent stamps to augment the outdated 37 cent stamps we already have, got my hair cut, signed my apartment rental agreement, and got my oil changed.

That's definitely enough talk from me today. I'll try to post more often now that I don't have such a hottie living with me to distract me.

My husband made me do it!

2006-02-26T21:37:00.000-06:00

This blog is against my better judgment. Or maybe I just don't want a blog because I'm lazy...I don't know. I just know that I can barely come up with enough stuff about my day to tell my husband. What am I going to tell you guys? I guess I'll just try to translate some of the music I hear in my head throughout the day into words. We'll see how it goes. Oh, yeah, Trey, this is all your fault. Armand thinks your blog is so cool!