Marriage Retreat

This past month was a blur of busy. Organization Day kicked off the crazy. They had it at BLORA. I enjoyed myself. But boy was it HOT! This spot had no shade and the little shade we found, the park ranger kicked us out of. The units did set up camo nets but come on it's still burning up outside. They had a few activities for the kids. They served sno cones before lunch was served. Lunch consisted of burger, hot dogs a few sides and best of all watermelon! Yum Yum. They reserved the air conditioned pavilion but it was mostly occupied by the officers. There wasn't enough seating for everyone and there were so many people in there that it wasn't even that cool. Either way my son and I had a good time but here's a heads up to everyone; If your going to have an Org day in 100 degree weather and make the soldiers stay out there for the full 5 hours let people know that maybe should bring 2 vehicles or something because my son was dying of the heat. It was just too hot for those little ones.
A week later hubby's unit hosted a marriage retreat. I will definitely attend another one of these. I had never been to one or really ever heard about them until I heard another wife mention it.  I decided this would be a good thing for the hubby and I to do to strengthen our marriage, maybe help out a few problem areas. "I" was all ready for seminars and discussions actually "Learning" something. All my husband was thinking about was a weekend without our son in a free hotel room. Well we did get both. We got to the hotel (we stayed in the Holiday Inn) and checked in. We sat around for a while then we were served dinner. The first class started after dinner. The class was called, "Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage."

It was a 6 part class that was spread throughout the 3 days. This class was not only hilarious it was insightful. It made me stop and think and re-approach some things. It did change my way of thinking. Of course it went through hubby's ear and right out the other, but I know I did MY part to change and the rest is up to him. Oh, also daycare (free) is provided during these classes. After 2 parts of the series we were released for the evening. A few of us went out for a few drinks and to play some darts. The next morning we had breakfast and watched another 2 parts of the series and were then released for the rest of the day around 11:30am. Daycare was provided for the 2 classes and until 5pm that afternoon. I think that was good to let couples have a little free time. We were completely free since our son was with my parents. Another couple and us went wondering around town and called it an early night. The next morning they offered breakfast and a church service which we skipped and then finished the last 2 classes. We were given the book that corresponded with the dvd. Over all I had a very good time. I enjoyed meeting other people. There were some things I would have liked to change. Since we had to transport ourselves to San Antonio there were people showing up and all kinds of crazy hours. Check in was at 4. Some people didn't show up until after the classes were already over which was about 9pm. There should also be a little bit more mandatory attendance. A couple we know showed up Friday after all the classes, missed the first session on Saturday and didn't even show up on Sunday. These 2 are constantly and I mean always fighting. The 2 that needed it the most didn't even attend a session. I hate to see nice things get abused like that. Ruins it for the rest of us. oh well, I will certainly attend the next retreat I hope it is as insightful and this one was.

"I Love Me" Book

I was asked what an "I Love Me" Book was... Let me educate you young grasshopper so you can spread the word. An "I Love Me" book is a binder of everything about you. It's your army life in a nutshell.

This is my "I Love Me" Book

It is a combination of civilian, military, and post military things. I have one, the hubby has one and I made one for my son. My son is mainly birth certificate, social security card and shot records/growth charts but it will expand once school starts. Ok This is whats in my "I Love Me" Book. I use dividers to make organization easier. I keep each section in chronological order with most recent first.

1st Divider: Civilian

In this divider I have:

• Marriage Certificate
• Birth Certificate
• Social Security Card

 Some people choose to have their familes birth certificates or other important paperwork in this section(i.e EFMP, daycare info, Emergency Contacts)

2nd Divider: Orders

I keep all of my orders (PCS, TDY, Deployment and discharge) under this category. I keep them in chronological order from most recent to oldest. In my husbands book I put a sticky note with the date and location of all his orders. Just something to make things easier.

3rd divider: Certificates/Training

This section you put every certificate of training you have ever recieved. Certificates of Completion, DA 1059, Drivers Training, Licenses, AIT, Basic, whatever class/computer course you have taken put proof in this section. It makes things very easy when updating promotion points worksheet. I like to keep the DA 1059 behind the certificate for easy sorting.

4th divider: Awards

I like to put the DA 638 behind the certificate. It helps keep things together and easier to sort through. I also keep my promotion orders in this section or you can put them in the "Orders" section. My husbands book has a "Promotions" section.

5th divider:???

This divider can be anything you want. In my book I have all my college info, transcripts, VA approval, separation checklists, DD214, GI Bill info, Power of Attorneys my husband has given me, and paperwork turning me from a sponsor into a dependent (:( sniff: sniff)

In my husbands book this is for his enlistment paperwork. His reserve, active, and re enlistments. This would be very helpful to keep, to make sure pay and years in service is kept straight.

So these are our "I Love Me" books. I hope this was helpful. I know there are more elaborate ways to organize things but I think this is a simple and easy way. If you have any questions, comments, suggestions please feel free to comment below. Also leave suggestions for upcoming entries.

Boring...

So these past few weeks have been pretty boring. My husbands truck has been out of order for a while. His fuel tank was leaking. We looked at every pick-n-pull/salvage yard we could find and every tank was punctured. Why do they do that? Don't they think someone might want the fuel tank. Any way, we called dodge just to see how much it would be and they wanted to charge us $885. WTF! my husbands truck is a '99. WOW. I finally convinced him to check San Antonio because I knew they would have one and of course we found one. Thankfully I can have my car back now.

Memorial Day weekend we went to Ikea. I bought a few things but the best thing I could was some flatware for my son. It looks so grown up. He still can't handle standard size flatware and the plastic toddler junk doen't let him pick up any food. This set is perfect. I bought 4 sets.

Fabler 3-piece flatware 601.375.71 $4.99

My P90X workout has been going great. I haven't really gained but 3 pounds but I can see my body changing. I just started phase 2 yesterday. I love this program. I feel great.

Oh yeah so my husband turned in his awards and certificates to get his ERB and promotion point worksheet updated before he went to the field. That was on May 6th. Well here we are and they just updated his awards which is better than nothing I guess but they told him they don't know how to do the rest. ??? S1, S1, S1....  wtf! Why does his S1 suck so bad? I was lucky to always have a good S1 and so was my husband until this unit. 1 person knows what is going on in that shop. Why don't we educate the others. Hell I will go in there and work for free just so you stop screwing over soldiers. My husband's friend didn't make cutoff last month because they didn't update his weapons qual. So because of that he didn't get promoted. He raised hell which is exactly what I would have done. Especially since he asked them several times to do it because that's what he needed to get promoted. I don't know whats happening everyone in this unit is so jacked. They even told the hubby when he got there if your high speed you better get over that because no one here is. lol That' great advise.
Well a few up coming events are "O" day, and a couples retreat. The couples retreat was suppose to be at the Great Wolf Lodge but I figured that got too expensive so we are going to San Antonio. oh yay. Well it's a whole weekend with just me and the hubby so I am not going to complain. They dropped the "D" word too so lets hope S1 can get this man's ERB fixed so he can send his NCI packet in and get him promoted before he leaves. Ugh what a miserable boring time thats going to be.

My Lilies

I just had to show everyone this picture of my lily. I planted these lily bulbs in march. They grew really fast and made buds. I was so excited for them to open. These buds were on this plant for seriously over a month with no sigh of trying to open. I was like when the heck are they going to open? Then I read that they just might not open at all. Great! So I honestly just gave up hope. Yesterday I noticed that one bud wasn't green anymore it was pinkish; I started to wonder if this could be it. This morning hubby came home to take a shower and there it was in all it's glory. Beautiful!

Oh my achin' body...

Geez blogger is finally up and running. I haven't been able to get on all week.
Anywho, so the hubby's out playing army so I decided this would be a perfect opportunity to start p90x. The hubby and I had been discussing starting it before  but once I got all the equipment together I got no motivation from him. I decided to do it on my own. I am doing this for toning really. I'm not trying to get buff I just need to add some shape to my "twig" body. I have always been a skinny girl. My parents were both thin when they were younger so that's where I got that from. I was expecting to keep on the weight after I had a baby, like my mom did but that just didn't happen. When I joined the army I was 113 lbs. Ony 1lb above my minimum weight for being 5'8". After I graduated basic I was 145 lbs. I LOVED it. I was curvy. (hee hee) I was still pretty thin but I had a shape. I pretty much maintained that weight until I deployed a year later. I was 120 during most of the deployment and up until I was pregnant which was a year after I got back. After I had my son I made it a point to keep that weight on but being a new mom I just couldn't do it. I was too hungry and too sleepy to really care about anything else. Now, nearly  3 years later I am going to do something about it.

It's not all fun and games being skinny either. People always think I'm anorexic; then they see that I eat like a horse and then I become bulimic. Clothes are the worse. I am not a small or a size 2. I always think about how models are suppose to be 34-24-34 and are like 5'10". I am 5'8" and have larger measurements why do I look thinner than them?  Makes no sense.
So since the hubby is gone I decided that now is the time to do p90x. I am currently on day 6 and... omg. I started on Monday night after my son goes to sleep and Tuesday morning I couldn't move a muscle on my upper body and on Wednesday I couldn't move my whole body. This program is no joke. It's not necessarily hard it just uses all the muscles that I never use. As a runner, I have never really done upper body workouts. I started Monday at 117 lbs and as of Friday I am 119.2 lbs. I am really excited. 2 lbs in 5 days. Woohoo! I have been using a spreadsheet I found online and it has a calorie counter on it. According to that thing I should be taking in 2800 calories/day to reach my goal of 130 lbs. What?! I would have to eat all day to achieve that. I have been looking for a weight gainer to take to supplement some of those calories. I am taking a Whey protein supplement right now and that is helping. I'm really starting to get into this weight lifting process. Who knows, maybe I'll go a little further.

The New Promotion Point System

Promotion point UGH! The best part about being out of the army is I don't have the stress of getting promoted; Now I have the stress of getting my husband promoted. Yay! He came home today and said he finally got an appointment with his "wonderful" S-1. He also tells me that they are changing to promotion points system. "Great" I think. So he goes through his excellent "I Love Me" book that I made him to make sure he has everything. Come on I'm more organized and on top of things than he is. Who's he kidding. I'm up (2am) thinking how is this going to effect his points. "I" have been working really hard to motivate this man to get promoted. I make him work out with me when he gets home, I watch his eating 2 wks before a pt test. I tape him to see how much more I need to starve him (ha ha) I make him take every military class he can. I bug the hell out of him to do those STUPID correspondence courses (don't miss those). He's a crack shot so I don't have to worry about that but I do all of this because he refuses to do college I don't force him because college just isn't for everyone. This means I have to push him to do better in everything else if he wants to make up for the lack of civilian education.  I did a little research to see what kind of impact this change was going to have and I find that it's going to effect everyone a lot.

Well, the biggest thing is now the commander's points and board points are basically a Go and No go deal. That hurts because those were pretty much free points.

Next is awards, if it's a young soldier trying to fast track this will hurt. If you are a seasoned soldier you aquire Good Conduct Metals, ARCOMs, and AAMs like nobody's business. Escpecially if you deploy. You automatically get something for deploying and usually get an award for PCSing. Unless you get a company who doesn't like doing paperwork. :cough cough:

Military education I'm not too sure about yet. This still covers NCOES and ACCP but only courses, not sub-courses. Those receive 1 pt for every 5 hours. But DA 87 (certificates of training) I'm not to clear about. It says that DA 87's will only be accepted unless the course is formally listed in ATRRS or AR 350-1. Now when I checked AR 350-1 there have been some courses removed and added so your going to have to look those up.

Civilian Eduction: This is going to help some young soldiers out a lot since for SGT it has been dropped to 75. They have also changed the pt value per semester hour. What used to be 1.5pts for semester hour is now 1pt for semester hour. It's a smaller impact on the overall score.

Military Training: Here's the pick me up. They are now awarding points for combat experience.

2 pts for every month in combat. 30 pts max for SGT. 60 max for SSG

Of course APFT and Weapons Qual will be judged on a different scale.

I've been reading some comments on another website and have realized that this has a bigger impact than I thought. Some peoples points have dropped from 710 to 406. I hope that this also has an impact on the "skillport" certificates and that actual good, well trained, experienced soldiers will become NCOs. The army needs experienced NCOs. I used to absolutely hate it when there was a kid that fast tracked ahead of me because they had more college than I did and had no idea what was going on with anything. That just gave me more work. I had to do my work and make them look good because some how if they didn't know what was going on I would get in trouble for it. If they can't do their job why the hell did you promote them.  I hope this squashes that problem.

For more information on the new promotion points system check out : ncopromotionboard.com

Cameron Park Zoo in Waco

This past weekend the hubby had a 3 day weekend with early realease on Friday for Earth Fest. It was a combination of environmental awareness and a celebration for the month of the military child. They had free food and drinks. Inflatable bouncy houses, games, and events for the kids. We all enjoyed ourselves very much eeven though we had an incident with parents letting their kids run around without supervision (it always happens to me) but thankfully the event volunteers were aware of the situation and took action.

Saturday the hubby woke me up and said that he wanted to go to the zoo. I was shocked. He never tells me he wants to do something. So I got up and did all the preparations. This time I did thorough research since what happened with the Austin "zoo." We do get a military discount. The Cameron Park Zoo is the most beautiful zoo I have seen. It has a few parks around it since it is adjacent to the Brazos River.  It was very big and clean. It was very easy to go through. If an exhibit was off the main the main trail it would take you in a circle back to where you started so you wouldn't have to back track. This was nice since a lot of times we are thinking. "Did we go this way yet?" The Lemurs have their own island on the lake. There are also lots of tables on the deck so you have a nice view. We saw EVERY animal. They were all out in the open. I'm thinking we were there around feeding time since the lions, and tigers were pacing by the zookeeper's door.  All the exhibits are well put together and nice and open so you are able to see the entire exhibit. They have a nice aquarium with lots of interesting fish. The had a "nocturnal animals" house that was kind of creepy. You open the door, it's pitch black and all you see is a manikin of a bee keeper. This house is only lit by dark lights, so takes a minute to adjust. The only bad thing I found about this place and not really bad but there is only one concession stand throughout the park. It seemed to be right in the middle of the park but I would still have to walk to/back to it. Then to top it off their credit machine wasn't working. Luckily there was a tiny gift shop next door that had bottled drinks and took credit card. We had a great time and plan on returning to the zoo and the many parks around it.

Waterfall at Lemur Island

My son and I at another waterfall in the zoo

One of the many statues. This one was so big and life like it was scary. Right across from the real one too

An interesting fish in the aquarium

This slide went right through the river otter exhibit. I could not pull my son away from it. The otter would swim around him and he would be fascinated

For more information please check out: Cameron Park Zoo