What's going on at "home"

As you've probably read, Chris is off at Fort Jackson and I am at "home". I say "home" because I'm at my parents home, which used to be mine, but I'm staying as a visitor right now for an extended time. It's been good so far. 2 days before Chris left we had morning coffee with my mom (a ritual each day she is home from work!). Her opinion about it all was, "well... this could have been really bad... but it's not". She and my dad have been great at making us feel welcome and helping us anyway they can. It was really cute on Saturday (the day Chris left for South Carolina). She came home and said she was quiet at work all day because she misses Chris! We had a lot of fun over the last month hanging out because Chris and her get along really well. Now... it's me and her! We get along well too... but I have to be careful about how much I try to "change" around the house. So far so good.

My mom took this week as a vacation so that we could hang out and I wouldn't get too sad. We've been busy so far. She wants to get in shape so that she can give bone marrow to my uncle in a few months. We've been going to a school down the road with a trail around the fields. We take resistance bands and mix muscle work with walking laps! We've done 2 days so far and I'm hoping she'll be able to walk today (yesterday's workout was a little harder than I meant it to be). I'm also doing my own workouts (p90x), so this should be a good month in the weight loss category! I've lost 18 pounds since January, an I am hoping to lose 2 more this week, and be at the 20 lb mark. I had to eat gluten during the month of June, so needless to say, I ate everything I couldn't have for the last 5 years and was happy that I didn't gain! Now, I'm off the gluten and feeling better than ever. Today I have an arms and chest workout for myself and I'll be working out with my mom and her friend Diane this evening.

I do get to go see family and Chris in two weeks. I'm going with my mom and dad to Florida for a week and a half. We're going back to Sarasota, which is where Chris and I got married. I'm excited to relax and enjoy time with good family. We also hope to head a little south of there to see some family from St. Louis as well. On the way home, my parents are going to drop me off at Fort Jackson and I will stay for a long weekend! It will be fun to hang out with Chris. I LOVE staying at hotels. I figured out it is because there is nothing to clean! As long as I am home, I have trouble relaxing because there is always something to be done. At a hotel, there's not much to get done, so it is easier to relax. It will be a fun few days. I know Chris is also looking forward to it!

I'm also looking into more information about work at Fort Campbell. I've looked up substituting jobs and teaching jobs on base. It's about the same pay I was making while teaching in Chicago, so it would be interesting. If I were to work for 2 or so years, we could pay off all student loan debt, cars, etc. It would be pretty fabulous to be debt free, considering that our housing would be paid for. I don't think I'll work right away, because I do have unemployment benefits for 6 months. But, I am more open to the idea because of the debt free future it allows for us. I also think it would be better for me to be working when Chris gets deployed. It would be hard for me to not have anything to do. Unless we have a kid before then, I do thinking working would be the best situation. Once the kids start coming, I definitely don't want to work a full time job, and would probably not want to work at all. I am still thinking about getting a personal training certificate. I would have to do the online option because there is not a school nearby Fort Campbell.

That's about it for now. I'll try to update more often so that the entries are not as long! Have a great week.