happy new year!

alas, i enter 2009 with a bit of a cold/allergy thing happening, but thats ok. i'm getting better and now sound worse than i feel. my christmas in wichita was as enjoyable as it could have been, being my 2nd christmas away from my husband; and i'm extremely grateful to my friends and family for making it so. highlights definitely include a trip to elizabeth's house, hanging out with my mother in law and her family (a suprising joy), and a trip out to the lovely town of goddard to spend some much overdue time with the woodburn clan and my little michelle. don't feel bad, mom, the enjoyment of the typical family traditions were not at all diminished.

pictures:

a rare "acceptable" picture of me and my super snuggly dog. she must have known i was in need of some snugglage.


a camacho christmas morning: yes, that is dad and his flame pants. no day is complete unless dad is sporting the flaming pants.

Betsty, dad's dog. i love how this picture give some miniscule hint as to how mischevious she really is.

the newly-married Mr. and Mrs. Oakley.

a bonus: i figured out how to make my camera take black and white pictures. i love this one of Alyssa, Charles' neice.

ronda and i had to try several times to get Chloe to kiss her long enough for me to get a picture and even so, it's not a great one, but here they are. the girls really enjoyed their presents, which was extra fun for me because i had no idea what to get them. i was glad i guessed well.

just cute - you're such a great mom elizabeth. i love to watch it unfold.

mr. gabriel brown - i'm not entirely sure that is isnt aging twice as fast as he is supposed to. didnt he just turn 5? rumor has it he will be starting linebacker at carroll next year.

logan, whose face looks exactly like gabriels did when he was that age. i generally dont get too bothered by how much i really am missing by not living so close to everyone until i see things like this. but everyone is happy and healthy and well-loved, so all is right in the world.

the anual photo:

i'm not dead. i think i'll go for a walk.

well, not so much on the walk, actually. i just took the dog out and i'm pretty sure it's -250 degrees outside.
so anyway, clearly i have been slacking on the blogity situation lately, but as i am the one among us with no kids, i will use that as my excuse for not having very exciting news. and as i find myself killing time until i get to talk to my husband (hopefully), i will just rant and rave about whatever comes to mind and you must sift through my ramblings to find cohesion.
this last week or so has brought some pretty awesome readings at Mass. i LOVE the liturgy for the immaculate conception and just when i sit in the pew and think to myself "this is my most favorite liturgy EVER!", along comes the 2nd reading this last sunday. my priest did a really great homily centered around the idea of "rejoice always!". truly, that is a beautiful thought. rejoice always. in all things be thankful for this is the will of God. how's that for a message of everyday situations? i just love it. i have found myself growing closer to God lately, and especially Mary. the last several months have been trying and have really helped me to center my life. i'm very glad to have a focus and i'm very glad that that focus involves God. so thanks to all my inspiring friends who have been close to God all along.
i'm not sure what's happening with my health. i have been getting bad headaches again, and i just went to the eye doctor last month so i know that's not it. i am afraid to go back to the neurologist. as it is, i'm not fond of the medication i already have because while it is necessary and i am glad to have it, i dont know that i will be able to continue with it when we are trying for a baby. so likewise, while i want my problem to be fixed, i dont want to be put back on another pill that might cause me complications down the line. in the mean time, i take generic headache medicine which doesnt do much at all and i avoid social interaction.
i put a deposit on the vacation of the century today. i had a bit of a freak out though. $2100 for 5 nights at a disney resort, food, and park tickets. yet to be paid: plane tickets, 2 nights near jacksonville, rental car, universal park tickets. i should be able to keep costs very close to the $3000 i promised charles. but regardless, we are both so rediculously excited about our trip that i dont think it will matter much.
so thanksgiving was cool. i took a couple of pictures but they are mostly of charles' family, the dogs, and pie. i will do better at christmas with the picture taking, especially since i am losing weight and have a nice hair cut.

re-living my teenage years? ..... AWESOME!

yea, the movie was GRRRREAT! actually, seeing a teeny bopper movie was FAR better than it would have been if i were actually a teenager. as a 26 year old married woman, i had a hard time containing my inappropriate lust for the hottest vampire ever. as a teenager, i probably would have embarassed myself. it was very strange, there were parts in the movie that i could tell that if i were 10 years younger (wow! that long? yes...) that i would have totally been swooning. instead i just smiled to myself. i could definitely go see that movie again, and i have intentions of doing so. i'm quite excited that the movie did so well, not only for the sake of the actors and producers, as well as the writer, but because now they will go forward making the rest of them!
cute guys aside (and fear not, in real life the actor is 21 - NOT "17" as he is in the movie), it really was a good movie i thought. it stayed very true to the book, which is always good.
back to reality:
CHARLES IS GETTING PROMOTED!!!!!!! he found out friday, he will make rank in a ceremony on the first of december. staff sergeant buford. niiiiice. this is a monumental career move - the average person makes E6 (staff sergeant) in 6-7 years. he is making it in 4. he will get a couple hundred extra dollars a month and also get more responsiblity. he is very excited, as am i. he has definitely worked hard and earned this position.

killing time

alas, things have slowed down considerably at work, which is nice. it's been a long couple of weeks and i'm quite excited for the weekend. i havent deep cleaned my house since before charles came home - september. that is rather disgusting. and those who know me well know that i didnt used to be that much of a neat freak... but surprise, aparently i kind of am now (a little). it probably doesnt help that i have wood floors and a dog, so when i sit on one side of my living room, i can see dust elephants underneath the couch on the other side. no thanks. so my saturday and sunday will be spent in clean-mode.
friday night, however, i am going to turn into a 15 year old girl! "but how?" you may ask... i am going to see Twilight! maybe it's because i dont get out much, but i am rediculously excited to see this movie. i have read all the books and although the stories are slightly juvenille, there is an underlying romance story that is quite fantastic, and the writing in general is great. so i'm in. i fully plan to lust after Edward along with all the other pubescent girls in the theater. i'm going with a friend and we're going out to dinner first... perhaps i will have a margarita with dinner just to feel like a grown up. we'll see.
i'm missing my husband really bad. i guess since he left i am going through bits and pieces of the cycle again from when he originally left, although this time is WAY not as bad. it still kinda sucks sometimes because i've gone out with friends a few times since he left and that's generally when i miss him the most. we had so much fun when he was here and it reminded me of one of the reasons why i enjoy him so much. now that he's gone, things just arent as fun anymore. but that's ok, such is life. and he will be back soon.

possible vacation on the horizon

yes, we still live at 54 Kansas. :o)
So i am doing my best to convince my husband that we need to take a week or so and take a vacation together. When he returns to the states, he flies into a base in Jacksonville Florida, so my proposal is that i meet him in Florida, Orlando, specifically, and we take a week to have some fun. my arguments are thus: we never got a honeymoon, this is the last chance we'll get to do this before we start our family, i am getting a very large chirstmas bonus which can be put towards this adventure, and this can be our christmas present to each other. i have pitched it to him before with little success because of finances, but yesterday i finally had all my ducks in a row and i really laid it on thick! :oD he was whining a lot but i think i might have him. it is now my task to come up with the cheapest way possible to accomplish this.
in other news, please say some prayers for me when you t hink of it. i have discovered that one of my greatest weaknesses at this time is LAZINESS! i am seriously overweight and would like to lose 5 pounds a month to be at my goal by the time he gets home - i want this to happen very much but i am losing the battle with my laziness to accomplish it. any help would be appreciated. thanks. :o)

yuup

in response to the "when does he come home?" question - March-ish. i've got it all figured out though: this month i will be busy through next week for work things that i'm planning, then after that i have Thanksgiving at home to look forward to (now that i know i have the day after thanksgiving off!!! HORAY!!). then december will mostly be spent in a state of panic-driven, work-induced frenzy as i attempt to buy presents and plan for all that stuff. January will be pretty slow, February will probably be depressing for the first half, but exciting for the 2nd half. and throughout, it will probably balls cold and so i'll be too busy shivering to really notice the world around me. so all in all, i think it will be a sucessful and swift 4 months. now i just have to keep my fingers crossed that my rediculous employer doesnt can me before christmas, and i should be good. intiuged? (sorry, i'm not sure how to spell that)
yea, so it is not much of a secret that i am totally miserable at my job - and not so much because of what i DO but because of who i do it for. that company has turned me into a hateful and negative person and i am having a very hard time keeping a good attitude. and me with a bad attitude tends to free up my mouth, which in turn makes things come out of my mouth that will get me into trouble pretty soon. so anyway, in a state of unhappiness, i asked my boss for a letter of recommendation... there is a story that led up to that state of unhappiness, but i dont feel like typing it, so just assume that it was really rude and back stabbing and you'll get the idea. so yes, letter of recommendation requested partly to see if they would fold and give me the promotion that they dangled in front of me, and partly because i wanted to secure that before i went off on them all and got fired anyway. well, as a result of my honesty with my boss, they began interviewing for my job while i was gone - without telling me and in spite of the fact that i told them i wasnt leaving any time soon (seeing as i havent even really looked much at all). so now i feel like the rug is totally getting pulled out from underneath me and it is about the worst time of year possible for that to happen... not that any time is good, but come on - Christmas?! so yes. this is part of my life in a nutshell.... (no, THIS is my life in a nutshell! how did my life get in this bloody great nut shell? look at the size of this nut shell! what kind of a nut has a shell like this?!)

post husband visit update

well, October came and went entirely too quickly but it was most definitely a fabulous month all the same. i honestly dont think i've ever spent a more wonderful month with my husband than i did last month. our obvious improvement in our relationship (and communication) made it a very peaceful and loving time. The impending stress of his family wasnt too bad, but i admit i was still on the defensive in that area and had a couple of issues on my own, but i think that is par for the course really.

so - i picked him up from the airport looking exceptionally hot (and a bit slutty) on the 5th. the dog remembered him immediately, much to our joy. she was very happy to see dad and loved snuggling and playing with him when we were together. now that he's gone, she's a bit mopey, so we snuggle.

here is a bit of relaxing on the first day:

after a day of togetherness, we headed to wichita to spend the first week together there with family. he got some more tattoo:

here is an exceptionally cute picture at his mom's house of the girls. the youngest neice, chloe, had not seen him since she was about a month old - clearly she did not remember him and just ignored me altogether. didnt bother me, but he still tried to make friends.

here we are at the house of some good friends of mine from work. this is charles and joe playing Singstar - yes, we kareoke - but only in living rooms. orginally it took me a few drinks to really get into the spirit, but now i am game for it any time! although admittedly i dance much more during songs when i have a couple in me. but since charles is equally fun sober or otherwise, he was just a rock star. period.

here we are in wichita again all snazzy for his mom's wedding on the 25th. we were the most dressed up people there, but then, we like to dress up and i think we're pretty good at it. please excuse my fat face.

and for the last week of the month we were here at our house staying up late watching movies and then sleeping in and then laying around in our pajamas most of the day. he did some video game playing, as below. when asked, he said that his favorite part of the whole vacation was the 5 days spent here with me relaxing. that works!

and he left on halloween but i was well-taken care of by joe and claudia. they invited me over and joe made thanksgiving dinner and we handed out candy and watched movies. here is Beanie's costume. she wasnt really into it, but i thought it was halarious!!!