PCSing: Reserve Style!

For the non-military PCS stands for "Permanent Change of Station"...which is kind of a strange term to me because the change of station is very rarely "permanent" but anywho....

Usually when you hear PCS you think of the active duty side of the military but not always the case. There are different orders that the reserve half can get that makes it very similar to PCSing on the active duty side. They hubby made E7 just a few months ago and now they unit he has been at since 2004 no longer has a spot for him so orders were cut for him to go to another unit in which he was not crazy about.

Now our family is considering taking on an active duty position. Two have been offered up to him over the past two years but it was never the time. The two places were in North Carolina and Jacksonville, FL. Both places were offered before he made E7 so we are not 100% sure how things will work out now that he has advanced. If these don't work out there are others (for instance Charleston, South Carolina - and other places I am not sure if I would be willing to go yet!).

Our family has prayed & decided that we feel a move to Jacksonville, FL would be a good change of pace for us. We have spoken to our family about it and they are being very supportive. We DO NOT want to leave forever but for a few years it would be nice. Money is a huge factor in going but not the only one. It puts us closer to some of our best friends that we don't see often enough. It also puts us closer to my dad and to my sister in law. It is closer to the beach and we have researched the schools & churches and think there are some good options for our family. 

Right now we are in a holding pattern waiting to hear if we can go there or not! It is so annoying to finally have all three of us and our families on board and not know! :/ Anyone in the military will tell you that is the military life. The hubby hasn't spoken to anyone that "calls the shots" at the new unit yet so sending up prayers and keeping fingers crossed that we find out this week something! I would be disappointed if it was a no but at least it could give us the option to start looking at other places. I hate to even research other options until we know it is a "yay" or "nay" in Jacksonville, FL.

I will update once we know more! I hope once we do move (if it is in God's will!) to use this blog to keep our family updated with our little life! :)

I got a J-O-B!

I am so excited! I applied at the VA hospital as a student nurse tech earlier in the year and I got the job! I start tomorrow and have two weeks worth orientation. I am excited and hope that this helps me out in the future of looking for a nursing job! :) I am excited to work with the patients! I will update on how it goes...soon! :)

Cruise Baby Cruise

After all the hype of everyone's stories of cruises we were so excited! All in all, we had a decent time. It was fun but still probably not as "exciting" as we expected. I know A LOT of people LOVE cruises so this is nothing at all against them but to Brian and I we wouldn't list it as one of our top vacations. I just think it is kind of like the difference between people who like the mountains and those that like the beach...nothing personal but just a preference. :) The food was okay...there was not really anything we could just brag about. The entertainment on our cruse was amusing but I wouldn't say it was the highlight of the trip. It felt more like we were being "babysat" while on the boat versus entertained. The port of calls were okay but they shuttle you through these gift shops and when you get through those...and the whole time you are in port...people are constantly trying to get you to buy something. I think we will try it again one day but if we do it will probably be through Royal Caribbean because we saw their boat "Oasis" and it looks amazing! We promised we would take Baylee on a cruise so it will probably be that one...that way we can try it and take her on the same trip in case we don't ever want to cruise again we can knock out two birds with one stone. :) OH...I also heard Disney Cruises are great so I would love to try one of those if the Royal Caribbean one works out. :)

C25K! :)

Well the vacation didn't turn out so well....as in I ended up getting food poisoning that led to colitis! Needless to say, I ended up losing a few pounds while on vacation and the week following! I am finally feeling better but tomorrow I start a new job and not sure how the food thing will play in so my biggest two things this week are water and exercise. I HAVE GOT to get better with drinking water which is an ongoing battle with me. As far as exercise...I have decided to try the C25K (Couch to 5K) route which brings me to the title of this post. :)


Brian and I did a walk/run 5K a little over a year ago and I have always wanted to do more but haven't. I decided I need to be exercising anyway so why not get motivated and take the next 8 weeks of my life before I start back school in August and train with the C25K program. It basically gets you to jog a 5K in 8 weeks by adding in a little bit of jogging each week and less and less walking. We shall she how it goes. I will do it Mon/Wed/Fri starting tomorrow. I will have to try to blog about it each of the nights. I have to do more research to see what kind of exercise I do or don't need to do the days I am not doing the C25K! 

Vacation Game Plan!

The hubby and I have never had a honeymoon so (after almost 12 years of marriage!) we are going on a cruise next week! I am so excited! These next few days I am going to try to do better on my diet....drink tons of water mainly because I feel so swollen! I know that there will be tons of food on the cruise but other than just the usual walking/swimming we will be doing all day everyday I also plan to:

1. Drink diet drinks and not the real stuff
2. Drink un-sweet tea
3. DEPENDING on how the water is I will try to have a few glasses a day
4. Walk a minimum of 1 mile for "exercise" each day (in addition to the walking we will be doing)
5. I am going to try to login to my fitness pal at least two times while I am gone. :)

Here we goooooo......

Don't Change What Works!

It has been so long since I have posted here. I didn't realize I would miss it. I started using my fitness pal which has been great but I feel like I need to write things out here as well! It is like I felt more accountable to put it here on a public journal. So here I am...making no promises as to how often but I am here...so to catch you up!

A few weeks ago my family came in from Arkansas. My cousin Traci and I (You can see some of her older posts on the sidebar) again talked about our journey of losing weight. For the first time in a long time we were able to spend some alone time to talk this out ... this weight loss thing ... and I did...and still do...feel more motivated. I STILL want it. It is constantly in the back of my mind. It is important to both of us and I know it will take some time but as long as week keep working towards the goal I KNOW we will get there!

These past few weeks I haven't done as good as usual but I realized there were several key things I wasn't doing that I did before when I had success. Here they are:

• I have not been getting my water in! I think this has been the number one key thing!
• I have not been journaling regularly. I have been documenting on my fitness pal each day which is great but I need to journal a few times a week here as well...accountability!
• Exercise...I wasn't doing anything but walking...and getting my house cleaner than usual because I was more active but since I have been out of school I have been some kind of lazy! :/ Brian says I just bottomed out and I guess that is okay, too. So back to more moving around!
• Diet Drinks - I had done so good about them but here lately I haven't done good at all! I just kind of drink what I want but gotta get back at not drinking the "real" stuff and make diet drinks be the new"real" stuff. I have to remind myself if I am thirsty enough I will drink what is there.
• The last thing I have done is just not saying "no". For instance, if someone asks me to go out to eat with them I feel obligated. The scale nor the wallet can handle that kind of pressure! Gotta get with it!

So...here we go...back to those things and a reminder to Don't Change What Works!!!!

No News Is Good News

I haven't blogged in awhile but there is still that part of me that likes to hold on to this blog as my online journal even if no one reads it. I could advertise more especially to family & friends but it really isn't about the audience to me as much as it is about just the knowing I can come here to say what is on my mind!

For now, no new "news". I am finishing up my third semester of nursing school, Baylee finishing up middle school and Brian has a few months before he is 100% done with paramedic school! Things have been stressful but thankfully we are going on a cruise in less than three weeks. We didn't really need to spend the money but boy oh boy do we need a break!

Well back to studying! I have my last chapter test tomorrow and my final next week! I will try to do a post about my third semester journey...after I see that final grade! :)

Continuance

Continuance - the act or instance of continuance.

I almost titled this post "starting over" but I decided that doesn't accurately reflect where I am in this journey. I have strayed away for a few months now but today I am "continuing" where I left off. Yes, I have gained a few of the lost pounds back but not all so I will continue to lose weight! Yes, I slipped off the wagon but now I will continue with the same focused mindset that I had before!

Let's do this!!!!!!