If You're Happy and You Know It...

After I threw myself a nice little pity party, I realized that, of course, I have a thousand reasons to be happy, even with my husband half a world away. Really, how could I have forgotten how awesome my life really is?! Here are a few reasons I have ditched my Negative Nancy attitude:

• My mom, aka the best mom ever, used her awesomeness to get me the BEST Christmas present ever! A homemade, black and white apron with Mrs. Liberato embroidered on it! I have been wanting one for a while now and she surprised me with it! It's even better than I imagined.

• My pink Reebok butt shaping shoes. Obviously that's not their official name but you get the point. Mom got them for both of us when I first got home months and months ago and I have gone down 3 sizes since then! Needless to say, I absolutely love those shoes [and my new, smaller butt]!

• A good book and a candle lit bubble bath...or really anything that helps me forget to be stressed about school and deployment. P.S. Bath & BodyWorks new Dark Kiss scent is my new favorite! It smells amazing.

• Victoria's Secret gift card...need I say more?

• Most importantly of all, I have pretty much accomplished my goal of Kardashian hair! I do wish my hair would grow a little longer but for now, I am perfectly content with my semi-long, dark curls.

And really, who can be grouchy when they have Kardashian hair?

Short But Not Sweet

Today I was sitting on the couch watching HGTV, happy as a clam, when I realized just how long it had been since I'd seen my husband's face, held his hand, kissed him. And suddenly I missed him so intensely that I could barely breathe. For some reason, it seems like the closer R&R gets, the harder it is for me to get through the day without constantly having to hold back tears. Maybe it's the holiday season and my reaction to seeing so many happy, kissing couples. Maybe it's the fact that I'm out of school now so I have extra time to be sad. Or maybe it's the fact that he has been gone for months and months now and it's starting to wear on my emotions. Whatever the reason, I don't like it one bit and I really hope it passes as quickly as it came.

If I don't get my husband back soon, I might just lose my mind.

Santa and I

A little known fact about Santa: He is not very good at assembling the presents. Good thing I was there to lend him a hand! After a few hours of professional direction following and expertise with a ratchet set, everything was ready for Christmas!

All thanks to me.

Sorry Santa.

The Silver Lining

I may not be able to go to school next semester, but at least I rocked this one!

This makes me feel a little less sad about missing out on next semester.

Yay me! :]

Winner, Winner!

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who entered my very first giveaway! I absolutely loved hearing about what you hoped Santa would bring you and I hope your holiday wishes come true!

Ok, now for the good part...

The winner is: Kaylee @ Devil Dog Darling!

Congrats and thanks for being a follower!

No Hangers Allowed

I'd like to think that I'm a pretty good wife. I cook, I clean, I do laundry. And when husband is home, I do loads and loads of it. After the clothes are washed, I promptly fold and put them away. Since husband deployed, I have developed the terrible habit of living out of my laundry basket. After my clothes are washed, they go into the laundry basket and then straight onto my body. No drawers or hangers required.

And let me tell you people, I love it! No folding, no organizing and everything is exactly where I can find it. If husband was home to witness this atrocious lack of housekeeping skills, he would probably have a heart attack. But since he's not here, I have begun to let my laundry situation get completely out of hand. I have literally lost all motivation to live like a civilized human being. I have officially become a heathen.

How do I know, you may ask? Yesterday, I crawled out of bed to find this mess:

Shocked by my own messiness, I knew I had to do something. However, the thought of dragging out the hangers and putting my entire wardrobe back into the closet where it belongs seemed like pure torture. So I found another, easier solution to my little problem:

I cleared a path to the door. Problem solved.

Well, at least until husband gets home and I have to resume folding clothes like a normal person. Until then, I'm allowing myself the pleasure of living like a heathen. Allowing myself to live this way may prove that I have actually gone off the deep end this time. So, is this a bad idea? Maybe, but I really don't care.

Give, Give, Giveaway!

I have found my Christmas cheer, people! And, ever so generously, I am bringing it to you, my lovely readers, in the form of a giveaway! My very first giveaway to be exact. So, as expected, I am absolutely beyond excited!

What's even more exciting is this giveaway is sponsered by CSN Stores! And do you want to know what's amazing about them? They have everything. Seriously. Everything from Tv stands for flat sceens to shoes to cookware. And just in time for the season of giving, I am here to offer you the chance to win a $35 gift certificate for CSN Stores, where I'm sure you can find anything you could ever want! Think of it as my Christmas gift to you. Or, even better, use it to ease the burden of holdiay shopping expenses and order a gift for a family member or friend!

Want to know how to win?

I bet you do!

So here's how:

#1:

Follow my blog and leave a comment on this post telling me what you hope to find under the tree this year.

[Personally, I'm hoping for my husband. Please, Santa?]

#2:

Blog about my giveaway so your friends can have a chance to win too! Then leave an additional comment with the link to your post.

#3:

Surviving the holidays without the love of your life by your side? I know exactly how that feels, so leave me a comment telling me about it and I'll give you an extra chance to win!

 [We all know deployments suck, you deserve it!]

Giveaway entries must be submitted by Saturday, December 18th.

I will then announce the winner Sunday morning.

[I know that leaves only a week until Christmas but I want to give everyone a chance to enter!]

So good luck everyone and I look forward to hearing what you want for Christmas!

*Contest open to US and Canadian residents only.

From Free to Fail

I am, naturally, very short on patience. Along with this problem, I also have a very low tolerance for stupid. Having these conditions makes accomplishing anything involving the government pretty much impossible. Like financial aid...

With husband deployed, I chose to come home to Arizona and go back to school. Go me. After my first semester back at ASU, I was given oppotunity to transfer to Grand Canyon University, a private Christian college, to finish out my degree. Normally, I would have just stayed at ASU for convenience, but Grand Canyon gave me the opportunity to attend for free. Of course, I didn't turn that down.

After I had been accepted and all of my paperwork had been signed and delivered, I thought I was home free. That was my first mistake. The school decided that I needed to verify my finacial situation. No problem, right? Wrong.

I sent in my tax forms and my bank information and everything else they asked for, except a copy of husband's 2009 tax info, which just so happens to be in storage, an ocean away from here. After all, why would they even really need his tax form from that year? We weren't even married yet! But it didn't matter; they insisted that I send it in. So I called everyone on the planet trying to get a copy. But guess what? Since we weren't married at the time, I am not authorized to obtain a copy. And that's when the real fun started.

The school started asking me to have my husband call. My response: He can't call. He's deployed. But apparently in the land of college acceptances and government forms, this means nothing. Because their next genius plan was to have him get a copy of the paper and fax it himself. Right then, in that very moment, is when my tolerance for stupid and my patience came to an end. I snapped. I was so mad, I cried. Which probably didn't make my response very intimidating but I said it all the same. My response: That's a great idea! I'm sure my husband, who has very limited time to call, can wait on hold with the IRS for hours to get a copy of that tax form. Oh, and then I'll just send my husband, who happens to be in a war zone, a fax machine. I'm sure, by some miracle, that it will magically work out there in the middle of the desert. Seriously, great idea.

So after that, I'm guessing that I'm probably not accepted anymore. Add that along to the fact that there is no way I am going to pay $8,000 a semester in tuition out of pocket, and it looks like I'm not going to school next semester. Right now, I'm still a little bit too mad to care. But I'm sure, in about 2 days, I'll be crying over this whole situation. Unless someone wants to finance my education...Please?

Christmas Cheer

It seems as though I've misplaced my Christmas spirit. I've looked every where and I just can't seem to find it.

I thought decorating the tree would help...

...but it didn't.

Then I tried baking cookies, my favorite Christmas activity of all time...

...but it felt more like work than fun.

And while I would normally love planning the Christmas party...

...this year I could barely muster any excitement.

Hopefully, by the time Santa gets here, my Christmas cheer will have returned.

Until then, Chloe and I will be waiting patiently by the tree.

Love, in Small Doses

With Chris deployed and the problems that result from his absence, it's easy for me to get a little down sometimes. But instead of concentrating on all that's going wrong right now and all of the stress that comes with it, I'm choosing to think of all the little things that brighten my day and leave me with a smile on my face. Even if it's only for a minute. Here we go:

• Husband finally got decent internet and has been able to "call" me through the computer almost every day! It's a Christmas miracle.

• I hate getting gas. It's the worst ever. To make it slightly more fun than torture, I play this game where I try to stop on a whole dollar amount. Last week, I won!

• For Christmas this year, I'm sending husband and five of his friends Christmas stockings packed full of Christmas cheer. I decided to include tons of Christmas cards with these stockings and needed to find some volunteers to write them for me. I nervously asked my class if they would help me, thinking that I looked like an idiot asking them to write cards to strangers. But guess what? I was wrong. All the girls were more than happy to help me and along with some help from a few others, I was able to send over 50 cards to the boys!

• Recently, Mom and I braved the choas of Costco [although my bruise is barely healed] to get some much needed baking supplies for our Christmas Cookie Weekend. Along with the baking supplies, we also accquired the most delicious looking carmel apple. We also had one that was Apple Pie flavored but that was eaten long before I got around to taking a picture.

• Lastly, and probably most importantly, my deployment countdown is getting really close to 50% done! Not only that, but around the time it actually hits 50%, my lover will be home with me for R&R!

And it will be the BEST DAY EVER.







Cheater, Cheater

I'm in love with another man.

Ok, so that's not entirely true. You see, my sister-in-law had a baby yesterday. The cutest baby I have ever seen. Like in my whole life. I held him today and it was love at first sight. Instantly, he had my heart.



Can you see the baby fever, plain as day on my face? Because let me tell you, it's there. As soon as that little baby boy was placed in my arms I was calculating how long it would be until I could have a baby of my very own. [Because unfortunately, baby boy had an anti-theft anklet on so I couldn't just steal him. Darn.]

 I love him already.

Welcome to the world, Baby Liberato!

Doggie Depression

We got Chloe, my dog, when I was in 6th grade. Instantly, I loved her. She seemed to love us too. But shortly after her arrival, we became aware of her condition: Doggie Depression. Having this condition, Chloe has attemped suicide several times in her short puppy life.

Attempt #1: I came home from school to find that Chloe had chewed open and eaten an entire bottle of perscription strength ibuprofen. Naturally, we immediately rushed her to the doggie hospital. As we pulled into the parking lot, a team of doggie nurses rushed over to start trying to save our puppy's life. Thankfully, after getting her stomach pumped and spending 3 days in the hospital, Chloe was deemed almost as good as new.  

Attempt #2: One weekend, my mom and I were building a metal shed in the backyard. During our lunch break, Chloe took the opportunity to run across all the metal pieces of the still unassembled shed, instantly slicing all the pads on her paws. Again, she had to be rushed to the doggie hospital where they stitched her up and kept her overnight for observation.

Attempt #3: About a block from our house is a canal. One day while we were on vacation, Chloe escaped from the house and ran straight for it. She took a flying leap off the bank and right into the water, during a storm. With the water churning and the wind blowing, no one heard her babysitter's cries for help. Eventually, the fire department came and saved her from a watery grave. Again, she came home with her little puppy paws bloody and bandaged.

Today was attempt #4. I came down the stairs to find Chloe laying amongst dozens of chocolate wrappers. Immediately, I was sick with worry. Not only is chocolate poison to dogs, I have one of the only dogs on the planet that has diabetes. So I rushed her to the doggie hospital so the vet could work to save her life, again. He pumped her stomach and kept her for the afternoon to regulate her blood sugar. Now she is home again, enoying a bone as if nothing ever happened.