200

I know I just posted about deployment goals yesterday, but today at the gym I blasted through one of my biggest goals. I set a goal months ago to dead lift my body weight. I have always been floating around the low 100's, but I wanted to get above my body weight for my one rep map. Well today not only did I hit my body weight, I went way beyond that.

 I dead lifted 200 lbs for my one rep max.

 That's almost 50 lbs more than my body weight. Y'all it felt amazing. That is not at all something I thought I would be able to do. I had an incredible support team cheering me on and encouraging me to keep adding weight. 

This is one reason that I am so passionate about encouraging other women to lift. You get this incredible sense of accomplishment from being able to do something you couldn't mere weeks ago. There is enormous confidence in physical strength. I feel like I am more confident in other areas of my life when I feel physically strong. 

Now the whole getting bulky thing. I have gotten considerably smaller since I started lifting weights. This is my favorite quote on the subject: 

Obviously everyone should lift safely, but don't be scared to pick up the bar and throw some weight on that bad boy. I absolutely love it and could never imagine stopping. 

Deployment Week Twelve

*This is my series of posts in which I document my feels and accomplishments throughout my husband's deployment to Afghanistan* 

So excited to be reaching the three month mark of this darn deployment. At a recent FRG meeting someone mentioned that the end of the summer would probably be the hardest part of this deployment. Goodness I hope they are wrong. It hasn't gotten easier, but time is definitely going by a bit faster. I can't wait to get through April and then just focus on my trip in May/June. By the time I am back in NY, it will be practically July. That is awesome. 

Happy Picture 

This is one of my favorites from our wedding. I made those Mr. and Mrs signs and they are now hanging in our bedroom. We decided to have a little sweetheart table at the wedding and it was a wonderful decision.

Deployment Gratitude 

1. I am grateful for other crazy dog owners who will take their dogs to the park in the rain and mud. Asha had an absolute blast playing at the park. However, she hated getting hosed off afterward. Check out that face.  She is passed out asleep next to the couch now thanks to all that exercise. 

2. I am grateful for the financial benefits that come with deployment. As of today we have paid off almost $11,000 dollars of debt since Lane left. Our previous goal was to pay off $20,000 of debt (almost entirely student loans) before he came back. We are upping that to $30,000. It is a pretty ambitious goal, but I really think we can do it. We are so close to crossing another loan off of our debt snowball. It feels awesome! 

3. I am grateful for consistent internet access for Lane. This has been the biggest blessing of this whole deployment, and I don't take it for granted for a second. I know there are so many wives who don't have the same access, and I feel so grateful. I'm pretty sure this will remain on my list at least once a month for the rest of deployment. 

4. I am grateful for helpful government employees. I had the most wonderful experience today at the post office. The nice gentleman helped me make sure I had all my paperwork in order to change my name on my passport. He was so kind and went out of his way to help me out. It made such a difference. 

5. I am grateful for wonderful customer service. A jewelry store in Watertown shortened a chain on a necklace for me free of charge. I didn't buy the necklace from them, but because it was relatively easy they did it for free. 

Deployment Projects 

Buying the camera was a biggie on my list, and I am happy to report that the body of my Canon t3i arrived on Friday. After the advice of multiple photographer friends, I didn't buy one of the lens kit cameras that comes with the body + lens. I bought the body from the Canon's website, and found a a great deal for a 50 mm lens on Amazon. The lens should be here next week. 

Here is a summary of the goals I have for deployment:

House Goals

 Art for the empty wall in the kitchen- done with free cork board

Map Wall gallery for the Living Room - decided to hang British maps instead

 Curtains For the Living Room

DIY Goals

 Repair Asha-Destroyed Arm Chair

Sand/Paint/Add Cushions to Greek Style Chair

Finish Sanding School Style Desk

Fitness Goals

 Dead lift my own body weight

Do 1 Pull-Up

 Lose another 2% body fat

Blog Goals

 Do An Outfit of the Day post

Do two giveaways - I did one giveaway 

 Get to 100 Followers

Financial Goals

Pay off $20,000 dollars of student loan debt

  Get to a 0 balance on both credit cards - Whoo! Done back in February

Pay Every Month’s bills on time - So far so good 

Things to Buy

DSLR camera- Cannon T3i - Purchased in April 

2.      You & Me Print

3.      Sewing Machine

Ok so the things to buy list is probably a lot longer than that. However, I wanted to highlight that I am making some serious progress. I am really proud that we have taken such a chunk out of our debt while still getting so much house stuff done. It feels awesome. 

Can't wait to see what I can accomplish in Week 13. 

Mailbox Happiness

Hello Friday! 

I am celebrating with a morning spin class, followed by a trip into town. To give a high five for all that is Friday, I am liking up with Lauren at From My Grey Desk for High Five For Friday. 

1. I am getting my haircut today. It has been over a year since I've had one, and it has gotten out of control. I am so excited to get some life put back into this mop of straw on my head. 

2. High Five that Army Tuition Assistance is fully reinstated. I'm sure some of y'all have been following the craziness with T.A. We heard weeks ago that it was reinstated, but it wasn't until yesterday that money was actually available for soldiers to enroll in classes. We did a TON of registrations yesterday and it felt awesome. I am glad T.A is back for many reasons, but one of them is that I would have likely lost my job if T.A was permanently cancelled. I love seeing all these soldiers able to start taking classes again. 

via

3. These pictures of golfer Bubba Watson and his son at the Maters Tournament. I am not really into golf, but these are just the sweetest thing. I love his son's little custom shirt.



4. Thursday was seriously the best mail day ever. I got a sweet package from a good friend of ours. He sent us chocolate, gorgeous Celtic salt and pepper shakers, and a fabulous Game of Thrones mug. Also, apparently we paid too much in taxes so I got a check from the IRS. Our tax refund already came through, so I am trying to figure out what this is.



5. My print from Melissa arrived! I already have it framed and happily hanging on my wall. It is such a lovely reminder of the wonderful time I spent in Italy.

Happy Friday Y'all =) 

Bloglovin

I am finally catching with everyone else and posting: 

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I suppose I should jump on the bandwagon and get my blog sorted with Bloglovin. I am clearly behind the curve, but if you want to follow me over there, please do =) 

It's Ok To Be Morbid

Being married to a member of the military presents all sorts of challenges. The moving, the separations, and the demands of the army can all be stressful. One of the factors to which I am starting to get accustom is the chance of something bad happening to my soldier. Before deployment you talk about wills, power of attorney and funeral arrangements. That was bad enough and I had to take multiple breaks to go cry in the kitchen. During deployment, it is a different kind of anxiety. 

Now that Lane is gone, the chance of something happening is always hovering around my mind. Lots of military spouses have ways to deal with the anxiety of their husband's being in harms's way. I have gone with the "pretend it's not happening" approach. Now because of Lane's position this might be a little easier for me. However, every once in while something happens and I am hit square in the face with intense anxiety that something will happen to Lane. I have developed a highly scientific strategy for dealing with different high stress situations.

My thought process when someone knocks on my door: 

• "I talked to Lane a few hours ago. There is no way the Army has its act together enough to get a notification officer out here this quickly."

Also, I want to pass a law that no one can knock on your front door or ring your doorbell during deployment. I am thinking about getting a sign that says, "Please call before knocking on the door."

When I haven't heard from him: 

• "Oh look someone from his FOB is on facebook. There would be blackout if he were hurt or dead. Therefore nothing bad has happened."

When there is a blackout 

• If I just keep staring at his name on fb chat sooner or later that dot will turn green. It's literally the same as a middle school girl staring at the phone waiting for it to ring. Only much scarier. Seriously the worst. 

For my civilian friends, a blackout occurs whenever something happens to a soldier in the area. They want to make sure that no rumors or stories slip out until they can actually notify the family. There is zero communication.

When I hear about yet another helicopter crash or service member death 

• Do an immediate calculation to the last time I heard from him and if he dropped any hints he would be leaving the FOB. 

These may sound ridiculous, but they seriously are what goes through my head in any of these situations. 

What were y'all's coping mechanisms? 

Rainy Wednesday

Happy Wednesday. I am blogging from the couch and not sure if I'll be able to go out. Having super fit friends has gotten me into trouble. We did another Cross fit workout, and I can barely move tonight. I am linking up with Jaime at This Kind of Love for What I Am Loving Wednesday. 

Family Picture and One of My Favorites

1. Snuggling with Asha in bed this morning listening to the rain. It made getting up and going to work much more difficult than normal. Is it terrible that I am excited for rain? It hasn't been warm enough to rain and not snow in months. The fact that it isn't snowing makes even the dreariest weather wonderful.

2. I'm loving that I've made it to Cross fit two days in a row. What what! I am definitely feeling it, but I am happy that I am on my way to increased strength and overall health. 

Canon

3. My new Canon T3i is on its way to my happy self. I got a fantastic deal from Canon's website for the body and Amazon for the lens. I can't wait to improve my photography skills. 

4. Loving 30% done with deployment. I am really focused on hitting 33%, but seeing that first number change is always a good thing. 

5. Yay for two trips to the dog park yesterday. I took Asha right after work and then again after the gym. I am hoping this equals a very sleepy puppy tomorrow. Poor baby will be in her crate way more than she normally is and I always feel better about it if she is really tired.


Happy Wednesday =) 

When Frames Attack

During a deployment everyone talks about Murphy's Law; anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. My list isn't too bad so far. In February my heat broke for 72 hours. Now in Georgia this wouldn't be a big deal, but this is Fort Drum and it is really freaking cold in February. My dishwasher broke and most recently the circuit to my bedroom lights is busted. I've changed the light bulbs and flipped the circuit breaker multiple times, but nada. I should just call maintenance, but that would mean cleaning my bedroom. Eh, I can live in the dark for a few more days. 

Things can also seem a lot scarier during deployment. A few weeks ago I posted about this gorgeous painting I had commissioned for Lane's birthday. I was happy as a clam and hung the pretty thing up in my dining room. Well at about 2:00 AM that night I wake up to breaking glass. 

Now my first thought is "%$%#& someone is breaking into my house". I go downstairs (ok I grab the shotgun first and then go downstairs) to see what is happening. Asha wasn't making a peep so I immediately started to doubt that someone was actually breaking in. It turns out that the hook on the back of the frame came completely detached. This caused the whole darn thing to come crashing to the ground. I called Michaels (where I bought the frame) and told them what happened. Luckily Michaels was very apologetic and let me get the painting custom framed with a significant discount. There might have been some theatrics over the fear associated with waking up to shattering glass while your husband is deployed.

I am hoping that I am spared too many more dramatic events in this deployment. I would love to hear y'all's stories of Murphy's Law.