Officially a food nazi?

People who know me well have begun realizing I'm one of those types who stands there reading labels in the grocery store (and most likely putting the item back on the shelf with disgust), rails against processed food, and gets angered by the nasty chemicals that are allowed to be in our food. But if you don't know me well, I can demonstrate that the above is true. 

Last night I was taking a little quiz online for my government class. Here was one of the questions:

Which of the following is NOT a public good provided to you as a resident of this country by the government?

1) Safe food

2) Military defense
3) Paved roads
4) Crime Prevention
5) Job security

My hand immediately moved to click on the "safe food" option. 

And then my common sense kicked in and I realized that actually "job security" would be the answer the program was going to be looking for. Haha!

But I still maintain that both 1) and 5) should be considered the correct answers! ;-)

My Guest Post

Recently I've been doing a little guest blogging for some fellow military wife bloggers, and here's the first one, which I totally forgot to share until now: a review of Ft. Bliss.

My other guest blog will be coming up next month, and it is about what I learned through my first deployment. I'm excited to share that one so stay tuned!

Back to normal

Well, NTC is over and done with, and I'm proud to say I "thrived, not just survived," a la Switchfoot. That's a really good song, by the way. I am pretty obsessed with the whole "Vice Verses" album, but "Thrive" is one of my favorites. Check it out:

Anyway, I digress. ;-) In some ways the month flew and in others they dragged. I certainly kept as busy the rest of the weeks as I did the first week (which I related here), and between church, Bible studies, concerts, movies, game nights, lunches out, cooking dinner for friends, craft sessions, FRG meetings, ESC board meetings, volunteering, prayer groups, etc. the time seemed to pass so quickly. But once it got closer to Andrew's return date, it felt like the longest month ever since I had seen him! After lots of uncertainty about return times and then delays (would it really be the Army without either of those?!), finally I was in the parking lot waiting impatiently for the next dirty soldier loaded down with packs and rucksacks to actually be mine. I swear, no matter how many times you pick your soldier up from a long training cycle or a deployment, that moment never gets old. =)

Although he got home later in the week than I would've liked, we still had time for a relaxing weekend together before school started for me. We slept in late both days, had dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings, and watched The Hunger Games on DVD as well as a few things I had saved for him on the DVR. I love being out and about, but weekends like this are honestly my favorite.

The only thing that marred the homecoming and weekend was the knowledge that on Monday we were going to have to do a very hard thing. We had decided a couple months ago to adopt one of the cute stray cats who hung around the house.

He was so sweet and had the cutest meow when he wanted pets and cuddles. I finally got around to taking him to the vet for vaccinations last week, only to find out he tested positive for FeLV. Since we can't risk the other cats (even though they're vaccinated for it), the only choice was to have him put down. Andrew went by himself and did it yesterday. It was super hard on him, and I've broken down over it more times than I can count since Friday. We are definitely going to use this as a lesson to get any future cats tested before we get so attached to them. But considering we're both such crazy cat people, I don't think this is the first time we're going to have to put a cat down. Loving things so much definitely increases the amount of pain you're going to experience throughout your life, that's for sure. =(

Okay, don't want to talk about that anymore.

School started on Monday. I'm taking 5 classes this semester so I'm definitely going to be busy! Based on the syllabi I've received so far I don't think there's going to be a ton of homework besides reading and studying my textbook and class notes. I'll take that!

I'm well aware my blog has been all over the place lately. Hopefully with my life regaining structure I'll be able to add more structure here as well. In the meantime, be patient with me! ;-)

Furry Friday: Pictures for Daddy

I love my cats all the time, but I think I love them especially when Andrew is gone. They save my sanity! Who can go crazy when they have cute furry babies to talk to and take care of?

Andrew always misses the cats a lot whenever he's gone, so I make sure to send him pictures. Here are a few I sent him over the past couple weeks:

Sweet cuddle-bug

I think he wants to go to the gym?

The Basement Cat is looking very basement-y. 

This picture didn't get send to daddy, but I had to include it so the little Albus wouldn't be left out. It may not look like it, but this is actually his "please rub my belly" pose. =)

Link up your own furry post!

Monday Morning Coffee

One of my favorite bloggers, Jenna over at Eat, Live, Run started a new feature on her blog that she referred to as a "virtual coffee date." As in, what she would say to a friend over coffee while catching up on life. I love that, and since she also borrowed it from another blogger I figured it would be okay to borrow it for my blog too!

So, let's pretend we're sitting at a lovely little cafe sipping coffee, and you just asked me what I've been doing lately. =)

Two Fridays ago Andrew left for a month of pre-deployment training with his brigade out in the California dessert (it's called "NTC"). It's been a long time since we've done NTC and he has not had to be gone very much since he got home from his last deployment in 2010 so I will admit it's been an adjustment all over again. But, as always, my method of coping with him being away is staying as busy as possible and this time has been no exception!

I was so blessed a few weeks before the brigade left to meet a large group of wonderful ladies whose husbands were in the same brigade, and even better, they were all Christians! I've been really praying for more Christian fellowship and support, especially with the deployment looming, and bam, God answered all of the sudden right when I needed it most. He's pretty cool like that! So here's how my first week or so of NTC went:

Friday: spent the evening with new friend and fellow military spouse blogger, J, watching the Olympics opening ceremonies and chatting about everything under the sun

Saturday: yoga, errands, and then a get-together at Summer's house on post

Sunday: church, lunch at the PX with a group of church people, and lots of Olympics watching

Monday: coffee with Shannon, errands, and the gym

Tuesday: grocery shopping, lunch with Heather, brigade Bible study

Wednesday: craft morning at Meredith's (where I finally started working on doing something with my wedding pictures!), yoga, and a few other misc. things

Thursday: morning prayer time at Heather's with a few ladies, house-cleaning, and had Krista over for dinner

Friday: doc appointment, helped Lizel with a car situation, went to dinner and a movie with Allison and Meredith

Saturday: farmer's market and lunch with Lizel and Brigitte, girls' game night at the home of a lady from church (which included some crazy rounds of Catch Phrase--love that game!)

Sunday: church, lunch with church friends, and then a lazy afternoon

Whew. Is there any doubt my week went by fast? =) This week is shaping up to be just as fun, although I am trying to slow down a little just because I neglected the gym a little more than I planned. Oops! 

In other news, school starts up in a few weeks, so I've been getting my financial aid and textbooks lined up. I'm excited to start; I miss school! This semester I registered for 5 classes so we'll see how that goes. I will definitely not have much free time, that's for sure. 

Okay, I think that's all I've got. Time for chores before I hit the gym! Have a great week, my friends!