Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Over the last few days I've been considering the possibility of starting a new blog...one a little less personal and a little more professional. I would really like to start a blog that is designed to further cultivate the human-animal bond. A blog that has tips and tricks for your pets- whether its just helpful advice or concerns that you might not hear elsewhere- mixed with fun and random facts from veterinary medicine and stories about my own pet! I guess I'm just wondering if that's even something anyone would read...so feel free to give me your input before I venture out on a failure of a limb! :)

Even as I type, our 6 month old cat is trying to sit on my hands, purring desperately for attention and some petting, our 3yr old lab is hiding in the hallway because its starting to thunder and the 1 yr old cat thinks she's too good to socialize with me and Milo. Her loss. Tomorrow I get to go grade some more lab sheets and work on a lecture on Trematodes! Fun right? Trematodes are a parasite in case anyone is wondering, and because I'm a major nerd I love Parasitology. I love being able to say those big long names and know all the weird and crazy things parasites can cause. Unfortunately it also makes me a paranoid pet owner...for example tonight I saw a slightly reddened patch on our dogs stomach and I was like "ringworm?? no, there's still hair there and its not round...a bruise?? no, not dark enough...." and then I saw a bug crawling on the floor and I could have SWORN it was a tick but it only had 6 legs so it couldn't have been...ah the perils of knowledge!


On another note, litterbox liners are amazing, cats can chew through a "cat kong" and growing kittens eat a LOT of food....but its time to sign out now, as I've clearly bored at least one member of my household to sleep with my ramblings (see photo below).

I hope everyone has a wonderful evening...peace out from the south!

Sunday, January 29, 2012

The Longest Month

I'll admit it, I'm depressed. Great way to start a blog post, right? Well I figure its better to be honest at least! This morning Mark left for a month of training in WA, so I'm missing him already and feeling pretty down that he's gone for such a long time. I didn't even feel like cooking dinner, so I had cereal. :-P Since his flight left around 11am, I've had pretty much all day to try to stay busy and I've tried to do just that. I did a bunch of cleaning/tidying around the house, washed dishes and wiped counters, ran to base to do some errands, went for a 2mi run at the gym, returned our movie from last night...and it was still only 5pm. Jordan is happy about the new situation though, as she gets the other half of the bed now, but only until Mark gets back. :-)

Mark and I have also been calorie tracking for several weeks now and it has made a big difference! I've already lost 5lbs, but I've got a bit more to go yet...I'm aiming for my pre-wedding weight! :) We usually get to the gym about 3 or 4 times a week but now that its just me, I'm going to try for every night, even if its just for a quick jog. 

I'm sure I'll stay busy, with three pets and a house to take care of, not to mention full time work! Plus I'm teaching a class this semester so that has definitely kept me quite busy!! I really want to be purposeful with my time when he's gone and not just get lazy once I'm home from work. I think its important for me to develop good habits now for future deployments...not that I'm looking forward to them I just think it will be benefit both of us.

Ah well, almost to the end of Day 1.....peace out from the south!

Friday, January 6, 2012

4 months in a (very large) nutshell!

I don't know how I let time get away from me, but it sure is a sneaky little bugger. Here I am, 4 months from my last blog and trying to figure out how to condense those months into something that won't be completely boring or way to long to wade through....yeah not looking promising. :-P

Basically, because I'm now working full time, I have very limited down time and that time is usually spent trying to relax with Mark, keep the housing in working order, non-expired food in the fridge and get enough sleep to make it through the next day. I don't know if its the 30 min drive or just the shock of full time hours after a summer-long break, but it sure is getting to me. It has been absolutely wonderful though to have a purpose, be drawing a paycheck again, and to feel like I am able to use my knowledge and experience to help equip new technicians for the real world of Veterinary Medicine. I have my own office, my own phone number, business cards, a computer....I feel so grown up! And while work can be challenging at times, the physical stress is nothing compared to working in a vet clinic, so I definitely have that to be grateful for!

Since I last blogged, SO many things have happened, most of them exciting and some of them have been good learning experiences for us. As you may or may not know, Mark was in UPT with the dream of being assigned a fighter slot, but he had requested to stay here and be an Instructor Pilot for 3-4 years first, and then receive his permanent assignment. Well, his assignment night came and he was assigned the MC-12. It is a pretty new aircraft to the AF inventory so we don't really know a whole lot about it yet, but we do know that we will be stationed at Beale, AFB in California. Quite the change of scenery and not what we were hoping for but God has a plan in all this, our struggle is trying to figure out what it is. It has caused some very in depth conversations for us as a couple about hopes and dreams and what we do when they're not fulfilled but ultimately we're both excited to get to move somewhere new and see what God has for us there.

Once of the most difficult things for me has been the fact that I will be leaving my job after just 6 months to move somewhere new and begin THAT whole process again. Stinky. I think that many people underestimate how difficult it is to be the spouse of someone in the military, and although they normally think about how tough it must be to have them be gone for long periods of time, it has an impact in more than just that aspect. The job field is definitely one of those...especially when the hubby is in pilot training, because they know you'll only be here a short period of time. And I know legally they can't discriminate against military members or spouses, but they do. It happens, and I'm sure if you called someone out on it, they'd have some different reason for why they didn't hire you, but it seems awful ironic when ALL the Air Force wives have trouble finding jobs in any and every field we're in. Ah well, such is the life I have been "assigned". :)

Sometime in the last couple months, I know that Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years happened, but it was all a blur of family, friends, traveling, house-hunting, and catching up on sleep. But if I remember correctly: Thanksgiving was a peaceful, quiet one in the wake of cooking for 13 people and having 6 of those as house guests for Mark's graduation. Over Christmas we flew out to CA to check out our new base and peruse the housing options. We have decided not to live on base, but are planning to buy, and praying that God would provide the perfect house for us, BEFORE we move.... :) New Years Eve we enjoyed a fun evening in with good friends, yummy food, games, burning Christmas trees, and fireworks.

And now I'm back to working hard and Mark is back to hardly working-I mean, waiting for his training!-until the end of January. Then he will be gone for about a month, at which time we will begin to box up our house and live out of suitcases until we begin our cross-country trek the end of March!

Hopefully I will have time to blog again with a housing update before we actually leave...but at my current rate I might not be checking in again until May! :-P So until next time- peace out from the south! :)