Dragging On.

I'm sure this is typical of any military wife in the home-stretch of a deployment, but O-M-G, could time be moving any slower!? I'm having to look at the number of days, not the months/weeks. Even though my husband will be home before (so this is technically not a violation of OPSEC), there are FORTY EIGHT days until I see his handsome face for the first time since early September! It's just dragging out for both of us. His days there are relatively quiet now, which, while a good thing as far as getting rest goes, definitely makes the days go by slower too. You would think with teaching full time, my days would be flying, but I think I feel like they're flying, then I look at my calendar and it's been shorter than I thought, then that's just discouraging. David has decided not to look at the date on his phone anymore to help the days go by faster. I just wish I could do that, too!

I sent our car off to Hawaii this past Friday. The process was almost easy. Besides not getting very good directions on what paperwork to bring, we ran into a few roadblocks. I knew I had to have 1/4 tank of gas or less, so I only brought it up to 1/2 tank before we left for an hour and 45 min. trip to Portsmouth. My 80 minute commute to and from work each day uses about a 1/4 tank, so I figured I would be fine. I didn't consider that I'd be driving highway miles east (downhill) towards sea level. So, I got to Portsmouth and had to go to an auto shop to have my gas siphoned from my vehicle to my aunt's. That took 45 minutes. Then, I got to the POV shipment place and began my paperwork (the wait wasn't long at 10am). I'm half-way through when the woman goes to look for my registration in the stack of paperwork I brought her when she says, "I don't see your registration." And I'm like "Well, I know I brought it. It was attached to the insurance card copies (which I didn't need), which are right here. So it must have fallen out if it's not here." She double checks by flipping through all my paperwork to not find it again. So, then I'm driving 20 minutes to go to the nearest DMV when I decide to check my paperwork stack behind her. The lady stapled my registration to the back of our orders, so of course she passed over them! So then, we turned around and drove BACK to the POV shipment place, and I completed the process, including an inspection where I found out ON THE WAY THERE (because it wasn't there before), a rock hit my front bumper and chipped the paint! Thankfully, it's small--a little smaller than a dime. Then we went to Applebee's in Suffolk on the way home and had the worst service ever, but that's another story for another time.

As far as the deployment goes, my husband is featured in a 25 minute long documentary on Al Jazeera. It can be found here: The Winter War. It's a really intriguing video. It shows the 18-day mission my husband went on during Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving Day, it shows the OP taking incoming and then returning the favor--but I'd like to think a little more successfully! Here's a screen shot of him (front-right) in the video:

So handsome <3

This video is by the same filmmaker that made the 25 minute video, but this is of Checkpoint 2.5, where my husband has spent about half of his deployment in 3-4 day trips every week.

So that's about it. Other interesting tidbits: I have my first scrimmage in just six days. I'm nervous! Student-teaching is going great. My workout life is pretty excellent. I haven't lost any weight, but I'm looking much better. I really don't care about the number though. I can tell a huge difference in my muscle tone. I "deleted" Facebook in that I came to a compromise with my Mom and Aunt and kept Facebook, but deleted everyone who was not a blood relative. Their argument is that they want to see pictures and stuff from Hawaii, and that Facebook is easier than pulling up my blog. So now, my Facebook exists for the sole purpose of filling in my family on life in Hawaii. I really just wanted to delete it, but this way, everyone is happy--at least as close to it as possible. I'll be happy when we move back home and I delete the whole dang thing.

But anywho, off to watching Cupcake Wars and writing my reflection for last week's student-teaching!

The Turning Point

So as of this week, I think we are officially getting into the turning point of our time is a long-distance, deployment-smothered couple. Things are finally feeling like they're right around the corner, and we're having so many positive experiences that I can just feel it--it's just so close!!

I taught my first full day today, and it went really well! My supervising professor came and observed me, and afterwards the only things she had to say as far as improvement goes were (a) I messed with my bra strap--which was kind of weird to me, and (b) I need to walk around the room more--but we were watching a video clip for a good portion of the class, so I couldn't block their view. So, I think it went well and I did pretty good for my first day taking on all classes all by myself.

Also, a colleague (even though I'm not technically employed) of mine at school asked me if I played soccer, and I was like "Well, yeah!" and he invited me to play on his team in the adult co-ed league in the area. So, if you've been following my journey, you'll know how much this means to me. I'm so excited to play again. It's only a game a week with no practices, but that's enough for me. I want to help coach girls soccer at my student teaching school, too.

The other most awesome thing is that we are winding down the housing search! We've found a few different properties and have contacted the agents. It's just so scary because I have to put a lot of money into a place that we can't step foot into until it's already ours. I have a friend who agreed to checking out some places for us so that she can let us know if they're gross or not, and that will be a huge help to making me feel better about committing to a place. We have two favorite places that are in two different complexes, both in Mililani, which I consider to be a "suburban" area in Hawaii. Nice housing, nice schools, movie theatre, lots of restaurants and stores, but not quite a busy city area. The best part is that it's only like 5-10 minutes from base. My husband likes to come home for breakfast and lunch so that his dearest wife can cook for him and take off his boots (don't worry, I don't really take off his boots for him).

The first place has amazing floors and is over 700 sq. ft. with 1 bedroom and 1 bathroom, which means the bedroom will be a decent size. The second one is a little more expensive, but has AC (unlike the first) and two bedrooms, which will be nice for an office space and occasional family visits from Virginia. So we shall see!

I also am almost finished moving everything into our storage unit. The movers come this Friday, so I have one more day (plus a few hours Friday morning), and all I have to do is move about 4 more bins in to it--so like one more trip! Then, I send our vehicle off a week later. Back to the good 'ole '93 Jeep Cherokee for a few months!

We're almost there...

The Whirlwind I Call Life.

It's been quite a while since I've had time to blog, and I still technically don't have time. I just figured I'd take a break from life for a second. So this is where I'm at on this twenty-sixth day of January.

I'm now almost done with my second week of student teaching, and I'm really enjoying it. I was heavily considering switching from English to guidance counseling, but that was before I experienced middle school. The kids that everyone thinks are the worst are the best! I adore middle school, and I think I'll stick around in the English world a little bit longer. I have 6th and 8th grade gifted students, and I really enjoy creating lessons for them because I can dig into those deeper concepts and higher-level thinking skills. I'm going to look into getting my gifted certification, too. It's only 12-15 credit hours (4 classes and usually a practicum experience). I have a great cooperating teacher which helps, too. She's very organized and innovative. The planning is a lot of work because of the particular county I'm teaching in. I have gifted curriculum, IB curriculum, AYP school improvement plan curriculum, and technology strand curriculum, all to fit into each unit.

In my three eighth grade classes, we are reading Linda Sue Park's A Long Walk to Water. It's the true story of Salva Dut, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan, and Nya, a girl that lives in Southern Sudan now.

They will be then using Photo Story 3 to write persuasive photo essays that bring awareness to the various issues in the novel.

For sixth grade, we're doing an "alphabiography", where they'll be picking something about them that starts with every letter of the alphabet, and they'll have to write a poem (in a specified form) for each letter. I'm also going to do a mini-lesson on phonetics and we're going to learn how to write the Chinese alphabet. They'll use their new calligraphy skills to create the alphabet dividers for their poetry alphabiographies.

So yeah, that's school right now.

My neck issues are back, so I went back to the doctor--a different doctor. I found out the real reason for my pain. I have an extra rib, formally known as a "cervical rib." So I'll be doing a lot of physical therapy, and if that doesn't work, the only other option is surgery to remove the rib.

The best news in my life right now is that we are SO stinkin' close to the end of this deployment. I ship our HHG on February 3rd and our car on February 10th, and then it's just the waiting game! My plane ticket is ordered for a two-week visit right around when he gets home. Then I have to come back home and finish student teaching for two weeks, then I'll be flying out ONE WAY! I've waited for that for so long!

So that's the update. The days are flying by so fast that I feel like I'm in the middle of a hurricane. But it's a good hurricane if there is such a thing, because it's all moving towards the life that my husband and I have waited so long for!

Design Sacrifices

The last thing on our house/moving checklist was to buy our sofa, chair, and ottoman. Unfortunately, because the Army couldn't decide whether they would pay to ship anything for us, I had to wait up until this week to look for all of it. I didn't want to buy more furniture if it was going to cost twice as much to ship it to Hawaii. Literally just this past week, I got the travel authorization orders and go ahead for the HHG shipment. Anyone who has done furniture shopping knows that unless you buy the furniture off the floor, getting a couch, chair, and ottoman made and delivered in 3 weeks is impossible. After going to multiple furniture stores today, I just affirmed that. So we tried one last place, The Dump. They buy out furniture from major furniture stores (Ashley, Broyhill, etc.) that wasn't sold in time and then sell it themselves. I knew that it was either looking there or buying our furniture in Hawaii and sitting on the living room floor for a month and a half or more. Well, sure enough, I found something similar to what I was looking for. It's not as attractive as I had planned. A lot less modern, a lot less sleek, and a lot less chic, but when I saw the price tag, I knew it was time for me to sacrifice a little bit of design beauty for our bank account. The gorgeous couch, chair, and ottoman I had picked out made by Rowe was $1999. This sofa and ottoman was on sale for $754 all together. After tax, we saved about $1200. I managed to also have a breakdown in the middle of furniture store. I stared at the set for like fifteen minutes, just wishing that I could call my husband and ask him whether he'd want us to get a not-as-pretty sofa for much cheaper, or whether he'd want us to find the perfect one for a lot more. My husband always likes for us to have the best we can, just because he never had amazing things growing up. So based on that, I wouldn't have gotten this set, but based on it being $1200 and us starting our new life together with new expenses, I knew it was the best decision. Of course, thinking about the fact that it was impossible to call him, and that it was impossible to have his input, just upset me. It reminded me how far away he is, and how alone I feel sometimes. I feel so much pressure to make all of the right decisions for our life, too. I want it all to be so perfect for him. Hopefully I can use my design skills to dress this set up and make them a little more chic to fit in with the rest of the living room.

The couch I picked out made by Rowe, that I was getting until today.

Matching chair and ottoman, entire set (couch and this) $1999

What I got today for $791

I'll make it work!

Let the Games Begin!

It's a week before I start student-teaching, and my break is officially over. Life has become hectic again, but it's chaos for which I am thankful.

We got our Travel Authorization orders this morning, which make me moving to Hawaii official. I'm so confused by what they say in all of the different sections, and I've tried to Google some sort of forum or Army publication that explains the different sections and terms, but no such luck. Things get tricky because of the fact that he already PCS'ed to Hawaii before we got married. They say "all travel expenses incurred will be borne by the individual" and I'm not sure if that means we have to pay for everything, or if our HHG is still paid for. It says my "travel [must] be completed by March 3rd" but I can't leave for Hawaii until April. I'm worried that's going to cause problems. And what is an availability date? It says "command sponsorship is approved for the Soldier's dependents" so I'm not sure what that means as far as our entitlements for shipping, etc. go either. It's all so confusing. I'm going to the Transportation Office at Fort Lee tomorrow to get them to explain the orders and proceed from there with setting up my travel and HHG/POV shipment. Just having the orders and being able to now go up there is one step closer.

My university, the school system in which I am teaching, and the VA State Police have made it a marathon achievement to be able to student teach. No one is ever on the same page when it comes to all of this. I have to go to the State Police Dept. tomorrow to get finger-printing and a background check. I was supposed to have already taken the VCLA but when I looked in December, all test dates through February were full. So I can't take that until February 20th. Thankfully that test is pretty easy. My Teacher Work Sample hasn't arrived in the mail to my professor yet, either, which is annoying considering I sent it within plenty of time to get there by now. I have an Incomplete in that class until it gets there and is graded, and I'm not supposed to even student teach with an Incomplete. So I'm praying it gets there tomorrow. I am meeting with my cooperating teacher on Thursday to prepare for the following week. I'm not really nervous about student-teaching at all. I'm looking forward to just being able to do my job without all of the extra papers to write and books to read. It's long overdue. Now if only student teachers got paid...

I'm hoping by the end of this week, every issue will be solved--or at least progressed further--and I will feel much better. We shall see...