When to hang up? Friday Fill in

Have you ever tried to call into a radio station to win something?  This week I have tried to win tickets to a private Martina McBride event (Hubby LOVES her), Stagecoach tickets for my girlfriend and I to go (they are $150 each) and entrance to a Pick A Purse party... to no avail.  Here is the problem I have... how long do you try to get through?  Do you just keep calling until they announce the winner or do you give up early?  Once station was caller 25 so I called 45 times and then was done, another station is caller 102 – that one I try a bit longer but figure if they have 9 incoming lines they probably get their ‘caller’ in about 4 minutes TOPS.  I have NEVER won anything and it’s a real bummer.  SOMEDAY!

I feel like that’s been my week... calling with a busy signal.

This week needs to come to an end... thank goodness~ This weekend is going to be good, busy and hopefully I get a lot accomplished.  Head over to Wifey's blog to link up your blog and to sign up for the MilSpouse Secret Santa!

1. The best part of October was spending time with Hubby and enjoy life as a total family.

2. The worst part of October was the weather being all over the place and not getting back to the gym.

3. For Halloween, I'll be Trick or Treating with the Vampiress (AKA Diva) in our NEW neighborhood with some of our neighbors!  We have NEVER gone in our own area so I am pretty stinkin excited.

4. I hope that in November I get my chubby butt back to the gym (I think I may have seen some rear cottage cheese last night!)

Extreme Couponing Craziness!

Last night Hubby had to work SO what did this momma do... CLEANED AND ORGANIZED my closet and bedroom.  I put together my summer clothes box for the garage, then got my bag to donate (not looking back) and finally got it all organized to be found more easily.  When I was all done I took a few moments to dream and map out my closet as I see it, EVENTUALLY.  We can do basically all of it ourselves, I just want the center built in piece and have to figure out what to do with my shoes.  DREAM BIG

By the time I was done Hubby was almost off work so I took to my FAVORITE couch spot with a cup of coffee and got totally enthralled with Extreme Couponing... have you seen this show?!  These people save THOUSANDS of dollars using coupons!  I am OVER the moon if I save $30 I in a $250 trip.  So in all my 2 hours of watching last night I learned a few things:

1. IF you are going to cut coupons be organized!  This is my biggest problem but I did see a few cool ideas last night to keep me organized for a trip to the grocery store.
2. You can use more than 1 of the same coupon on several items of the same thing
3. You need an ENTIRE garage of crap you will never use in order to save a ton of money (Who really needs 274 packs of gum or 400+ rolls of toilet paper just because it was free!)
4. Saving this kind of money is not easy OR time efficient.  This one lady saved almost $1100 BUT it was in 21 transactions AND a 6 hour shopping trip.  
5. My time is WAY too valuable sitting on the couch than 6 hours at Albertsons!

When I was done watching the Vegan lady I decided that I needed to organize my pantry.  I thought we had WAY more than we do but now that I can see what we have I can start clipping my coupons and maybe... save $50!!  Now I feel the need to go coupon crazy and see just what I can do.  Crazy couponing people~

Stock in Target?

We moved 90 days ago and our garage has been about the same since then – 1 car can fit but the other one, NOT so much.  Last night Hubby and I went into the garage to find a pack of business cards... small and random at 10pm.  I commented that I couldn’t wait to get our house finished and to be able to park into the garage...  Then OF COURSE we get into this long conversation about how to accomplish the garage.  We decided that we need a bunch of matching containers – I thought getting different colors for us and Diva would be a better (and more efficient) way to do it.  I mean really... how often do you get stuff out of the garage for you?  NEVER – Yet, I am always looking for something for her.  Best part is that he works all weekend... who do you think is going to get STUCK the honor of doing it all?? Yeah, that would be ME!  I guess today I will be buying a bunch of plastic tubs to start organizing.  We also need to hang our curtains so our neighbors stop having something to look into (comments have been made, haha)

Maybe I can not whine about it this week and surprise him when he gets home Saturday night with my hard work.  I mean he still has 2 duffels, a ruck and 6 foot lockers full of CRAP... oh and one more at the unit that he STILL hasn’t picked up from Deployment (sadly his unit from last deployment kept 1 foot locker for 4 years!!!!)  I guess I will just MOVE them out of the way and get my sh*t done!  Hmmm.... can I not whine or comment this week about my crazy weekend?!

I also got some neat ideas for MY closet... yes my walkin that I LOVE.  It's not too small but it's not huge.  I would like to figure out how to make my closet like this:

NOT my closet...

look like this:

Extra Curricular out... Family In

I feel like I have had so many UNBELIEVABLE changes since Hubby got home – more have been internal than anything.  There has been so much re-prioritize of things.  This isn’t always bad, just difficult... especially when it isn’t your idea.  He doesn’t see the importance in my hobby (and while he has a hobby he considers it an extension of the gym so mine is out, I think that sitting home staring at each other is obnoxious... we are also realizing that we have no MUTUAL hobbies.  So with all this going on I have had to make some serious changes in my views... nope I have not asked him to because, lets be honest, he isn’t going to.  So my extra-curricular are out for a bit, family is more of a focal point.  I have always had a life outside of our family, because I think it’s healthy... well he disagrees.  Our lives will move into being, work, and gym and home... at least for now.  With that being said we had an awesome family weekend!

On Saturday night Hubby and I got to go to the wedding of a wonderful woman I met through an organization I volunteer with – sadly he and I were fussing for the past week and really didn’t want to go together to this but did.  I have no problem admitting that it’s a little harder than I expected and I think he is a little less tolerant and flexible than he likes to think he is.  Well, it took us 92 miles to finally listen to each other and move forward with a better understanding.  We came home being energized and in a great place.  Nothing like watching other’s love remind you of what you have.  Yesterday was our first full family function (a birthday party for Diva’s friend) that we have attended since his return... SO much fun!  We got to play with reptiles and arachnids... and REALLY cute baby turtles!  Ok, truth be told I didn’t get within 5 feet of the tarantula and secretly hoped that it would get stepped on... there I said it.  YUCK!

Thats my girl...spider on her HEAD

This gave me the willies for hours!

Her inner Britney Spears moment

Yes this cute little guy is only 3 weeks old and I wanted to hide him in my pocket BUT he will grow to be 200lbs!

TGIF - 5QF

I must say that I LOVE Diva’s new school – they are more excited about parent involvement than anything.  Our old school was great and we had Smartboards and all the new-fangled stuff (PTO fee of almost $300!) and while the new school is older and has PROJECTORS with the clear films they PUSH parent INVOLVEMENT not just parents money (our PFO is $10).  We have a music program, art program, PT program... all parent run!!  I am in love.  I am volunteering in Diva’s class 1 time per month and genuinely enjoying mommy-hood.  Tonight is their school fundraiser Carnival... Diva is OVER THE MOON excited, in fact it was the first thing out of her cute morning breath laden mouth this morning.  Daddy is even volunteering in the silly string booth!  I am in love with my Friday!!

Questions for Friday, October 21st: (Special thanks to @eah1234, @katieb38, @nicgep1114, Sandy, and Lora [no blog link!] for their question suggestions! I would LOVE to link YOU in a future 5QF, but I need your questions to do it! C'mon over to my community and offer up your best question suggestions, or watch for my Thursday shout out on Twitter and offer them up that way! Just remember to @5crookedhalos me and use hashtag #5QF so I see it!)

1. Where do you escape to when you've had enough?

At this point I have NO escape – When Hubby was deployed I would put Diva to bed or nap and write to my hearts content but right now I have no where and it’s slowly getting to me... I must find a place.

2. What shows are you watching this fall?

We are pretty dialed into XFactor as a new show SVU as a 12 year staple (MISSING my Stabler!) and a little 90210 (Guilty Pleasure).

3. What was the longest roadtrip you've ever taken and where did you go?

I hate road trips... LOATHE them people.  I would rather get p*ssed off at TSA for groping me at the airport than sit in the car for anything over an hour or 2.  With that being said we took a two week road trip when I was 13 with my parents and little sister, 2 dogs and a motor home.  While I have some pretty funny memories of being attacked by geese, canoeing in a lake that we later found out had an alligator in it... and driving home in a 13 hour stretch because of the Landers quake (we borrowed the motor home from someone who ended up LOSING their home in the quake) I am not a fan of that type of trip...

4. Do you plan on taking your kids to Disney World?

No- We go to Disneyland every year so I don’t see the reason to fly clear across the country to visit the same place.... just sayin.

5. What is something people would surprised to know about you?

I am petrified to speak in public, I wish that Hubby would go active duty and the place I want to live MOST in the entire world is Virginia even though I hate being cold.

ATE SH*T

Oh yes, there is no nice way to put what I did this morning –

I am not known for my graceful nature... I am in fact a HUGE klutz.  So much so I am truly amazed that I can pull off heels, EVER.  This morning was PROOF of my total lack of grace.

I was getting out the door; I parked in the garage (which is usually Hubby’s spot until we get the garage cleaned out but that’s a whole different story!) but was trying to hang up the phone with Hubby who had just gotten to work.... Diva was attempting to break the door get in the car but it was locked so while my arms are full I am fumbling with the iPhone to get it back into my purse (which, indecently, was full of my gym clothes) and get my keys out all while holding an evening gown as well... I missed a step or 3 and landed on my knees on the concrete.  My keys went flying; my glasses went flying however my phone didn’t.  I wanted to cry SO bad but didn’t.  I got Diva in the car and began looking for my keys.... NO WHERE TO BE FOUND.

I email Hubby to see if he knows where my extra set of keys is... no response.  CRAP!  Diva got out and helped me look but we found nothing UNTIL I thought about the stupid Armoir in the garage... you guessed it... STUPID keys flew under there into the WAY BACK (must have bounced off my car tire).  We had to get a broom to fish them out.  After 10 minutes and 2 busted knees we were on our way to school.  Oh and the kicker is I have a TV interview today to talk about the charity I volunteer with Got Your Back Network so I am dressed quite nice and was PRAYING for no blood on my NEW pants.

By the time I got to work my entire body feels like I got hit by a bus... I am SUPER achy but luckily nothing is broken and no one but Diva saw.

Have you ever totally wiped out??

Baby Gurgles

A new day, start over... I am working for that.  It’s 1:30 and I am just now writing, that says something about today.  I stayed up until Hubby got home from work last night.  That used to be an issue because with his schedule we could go days without really seeing each other – I took one for the team.  This morning I needed coffee straight to the veins BUT I was running too late to stop so I had to settle for crappy work coffee instead of my LOVED Coffee Bean.  We were all in SLOW MO today.  Funny morning to me.

Now it’s just lunch (choosing wisely), finish work and head to the gym.  I am going to do what the Hubby wishes and simplify –   I have to send emails out tonight and respectfully decline on a few upcoming things... and I am NOT good at saying no.

Our neighbor has a little girl that is 6 months old – lately she has been flexing her vocal chords in a very sweet way.  Hearing her just makes me smile – it’s so sweet.  This morning hubby looked at me and said, “Maybe its not annoyed and it’s cute to us because we haven’t experienced it but GEEZ its cute!”.  Babies are a struggle for us... we both go back and forth on a baby or an older child.  We both struggle all the time with it BUT hopefully we can make some decision in the next 6 months to help us figure out what ON EARTH we want.