Friday Morning and all is well....

I admit I have been bad about keeping my blog up daily but things have been moving a mach II around here lately. We finally have an official date for our separation from the Army (9/20/06) so now we are rushing around with appointments, picking up paperwork, getting medical checks, discussing moving, packing, what we keep and what we toss and of course our workouts.

We have a couple things that are the "must do's" such as heading to Florida first and dropping off my son, going to Kentucky and visiting my in-laws, swinging through Kansas to visit hubby's grandmother, going through the NC mountains and visiting the rez before we head west. I want to see my friends and family before I headed across country, if it possible.

My workouts have been going great and I have been undergoing routine annual checks and having routine testing done so now I just wait for the results.

Through all of this, there is also a sense of loss. I think this stems from the feelings I have for hubby and his love of his job. I know he feels that loss and in turn, I feel it. But retiring is going to be great and give us so much more time together. We could have never hoped for so much time together while being in the military.

So onward and upward as they say. The focus...household organization, workouts, diet and retiring. YAY!

Catching up and the new challenge!

The new challenge begins today...the next three week focus will be the glutes. Goodness knows mine needs all the support and help it can get. *snicker*

Hubby is taking the challenge with me so we got our before pics and measurements done yesterday and we all ready to start.

The weekend was not a good one for workouts, I am having a horrid first couple of days of TOM and have spent most of the last two days in bed with a heating pad. Oh it can get so frustrating! But, I am ready to kick it into high gear. I will see how I am feeling today to determine if I will be working out tonight, but it is my plan to hit the gym hard later this evening.

Summer is here but in our house it is business as usual. As a homeschooling mom, it makes little difference on the summer months. It is nice and flexible for us because when we need to take some time off we do and we just go all year with her schoolwork or until she completes the year's curriculum. I really cannot wait to get moved to Washington and start trying to get settled in. It is going to be a great time and a fabulous learning experience for Cheyenne, she is looking forward to the move as well.

Well off to do breakfast and enjoy the quiet time of my morning before she wakes up. Maybe I will wake hubby up early so we can have a few minutes together before the house gets moving.

It is Tuesday....

Well we are week 3+ without Air Conditioning in the gym and I have spoken to the District Manager had smoke blown up my A$$ by him, emailed the corporate office and received no response yet and well I am very 'pissy' over the whole affair.

My blood pressure will not allow me to workout with the intensity that I want to with not only NO cool air in the gym but with NO fresh air whatsoever. The heat is an entirely separate issue. It really is becoming maddening to say the least.

My workouts are going well as are my eats. However in the hotter months it is much harder for me to eat a lot because I tend to eat less in the hot months. But I am focusing on and working on keeping my eats good.

BuffMother has issued the "Booty Challenge" which begins on June 19th and ends on July 7th. The focus for the next three weeks will be our Butts. Reshape, lift, bulk, build, fat bust and whatever we can do to them in three weeks of hard work and focus. So..on to a bigger better butt as they say.

Tonight is Back, Bis and abs. YAY! Last night was Chest, Tris and Forearms. I had a great workout just not as much as I wanted, as intense as I wanted or as heavy as I wanted. But good none the less.

Off to cook dinner and get ready to head to the gym later.

The weekend in review

The weekend went pretty good. Friday of course was my arm workout at the gym, so I worked the biceps and triceps to the point I did not want to pick up anything else heavier than my hair brush. Man did I feel that burn when I woke up Saturday morning. The crappy thing about the workout was that the AC at the gym was out. It was very uncomfortable in there and I over 2 litres of water while working out my arms.

Saturday was meg day...I love leg day. So I hit the sumo squats, plie squats with dumbbells, hack squats, incline leg presses and everything I could think of hitting that I had time for before the gym closed. OMG my quads were screaming on sunday. I had a difficult time going down stairs without whimpering on each step. Ya gotta love a good workout.

Sunday was my son's 22nd borthday and also my parents 46th wedding anniversary. So I called my parents to generally harrass them about putting up with each other so many years and had a great chat with them. We took my son out to dinner and I did something I have not done in about 6 years or so...I had a couple drinks. I ordered my son a Kahlua n cream also and he did not like it so I ended up drinking his. That is more than I have drank in 10 years. Dinner was excellent and we had a good time.

Today was a good day but much errand running and grocery shopping, which can be a depression event when feeding a small tribe. LOL. Tonight is Chest, Triceps and Forearms. So I am going to chill for a bit in a hot bath and then take off for the gym once the crowd thins a bit.

All in all...a good weekend. I will just be much happier when I am spending my weekends in the NW instead of here.

So sick and tired of the military's crap!

I am so ready to send a battalion of these little guys marching on the Physical Disability Agency and Fort Bragg! Well it seems that our lives are completely irrelevant to the morons who operate our military and the various moronic agencies involved. Finally, we get our decision from the PEB and get husband's disability rating for medical retirement and think 'YAY we are finally almost through' but not just NO but 'Oh Hell No'. We seem to be caught in either someone's worst nightmare or in the middle of a agency pissing contest. PEB says 40% and medical retirement for these injuries blah blah...the agency gets it for final approval and sends it back! Not because there is anything wrong with the rating, the findings, the medical records, the diagnosis but because they do not like the damned code used on the injury classification. I mean WTF? So again WE FRICKIN WAIT! When this is all over and I am free, I am going to write one of the most nasty, open, no holds barred TELL ALL stories or books about these morons so everyone in this country knows what assholes we have at large and in charge!

So what started as a stressful holiday weekend with my son's cat (more below) which then turned out okay, has ended up for crap! Mark my words on this, quote me, write it down, copy this post or whatever. When I am finally free from this and settled across country, may god and country help the first individual who dares try to tell me what I can and cannot do or make decisions affecting my life without my consent! I will beat them senseless with my own two hands! I have had enough of this shit...plain and simple!

Well the cat. A week ago Tuesday evening, my supposedly grown son takes off with some chickee without leaving contact info, itinerary and etc. with the exception of stating he 'should' be home Saturday night sometime. Here comes friday and his 14 year old cat starts acting really weird. This is a mean cat who has suddenly decided he can only lie around and sleep...and is lying everywhere with his head on his paws, clearly very unable to get comfortable and just not feeling right. So at 9 pm I have husband take a look at him and his response "I swear, I think he is dying". So off I run with the cat to the Emergency Vet Clinic to have him looked over. Once there, I am greeted with the news he has a urinary blockage, possibly kidney damage and will require extensive treatment and an estimated cost of $850.00. So, kitty stays, I come home and have no way to contact dear son about his cat. So I sit and make three times a day calls to the vet to check his progress, stew in my anger with son for his lack of responsibility and show of maturity and WAIT! So much for a holiday weekend of fun!

Long story short, he came home finally on MONDAY, he did not bleed, kitty is now home and son is scrabbling to pay us for what turned out to be a $643.00 vet bill. And then comes the latest Army crap. If I drank, I would need a stiff one right now.

Well that is all for now...that is enough.

Appointments and Stuff!

Military doctors can so 'bite' sometimes. They have attitudes announcing their officer status but displaying a lack of knowledge and bedside manner for sure. I went with hubby to the VA office on post and we began the paperwork for filing his VA claim. The VFW representative that we saw is a real sweet man, former marine who really is an advocate for the soldier. It is nice to have someone in your corner that is not on the side of the military for a change. This has been such a long hard road and battle to get them to take care of husband the way he deserves to be cared for and finally, someone else to fight for us as opposed to me fighting for him. I think I am going to enjoy this sitting back and letting someone else fight for a change. I think I need to send this kitty to visit a few of these military doctors. *snicker*

The princess is getting excited about moving to Washington state and spending the summer in the tipi. She thinks it will be so cool. She is also looking forward to gardening with Phoenix and learning all about planting stuff and making it grow. She really has an interest in gardening so she and Phoenix should have a fabulous time together outside.

I am looking forward to the trip down to see my family before the move. Once we get down there and deliver my son, we can relax for a bit and just spend time with my parents and then run across state and visit with my sister-in-law before heading northward to Kentucky to see the in-laws. We have so many people we need to see on our way across country that it may take us weeks to actually get there. LOL.

Well that is all for now, I shall post anything exciting that happens, which is not likely. I do hope everyone has a safe Memorial Day Weekend.

Catching Up...

Well the past couple of weeks have been busy busy and well...Busy! We have been overcome with appointments and various orders of business to take care of as Hubby and I begin to transition from active duty military to the medical hold unit and onto retirement. We finally received the ruling from the hearing back and the percentage given was great but he is to be place on TDRL or temporary disability retirement list. Meaning they can keep him on this list for 5 years and re-examine him once a year before determining on retirement, separation or returning to active duty. This is pretty standard and nothing to be alarmed about by any means, as his injuries prohibit him from working in his MOS, but they have not reached what the military considers "maximum improvement" level. So he will be re-examined and evaluated in July of 2007. But at least the long awaited response from the Board and the Hearing in October has finally been reached. YAY! Now we can make our plans and get our ducks in a row in preparation for our 'new' life.

We have been discussing what items we will pack to have the military ship and what items we will carry with us to Washington State. We have come to the conclusion that since we will be spending the summar and possibly some of the fall in the tipi, we will take mainly clothes and our camping gear. Of course, the princess' schoolbooks and stuff as well. We are also making considerations for our two furry boys for the the trip as well. So, I chose a pic of the inside of a tipi to depict the beginning part of our 'new' life. We cannot wait! Just to have the freedom to have a great time together as a family will no one really to answer to daily, at least for a little while. We both feel like we have earned that.

This past week was full of appointments and a couple disappointments. The biggest disappointment for me was yet another loss at the Triple Crown of horse racing. Barbaro, a strapping strong colt that won the Derby with ease, broke his leg in three places about 100 yds into the start of the Preakness. Very horrid breaks and luckily, he is survived the repairing surgery and seems to be doing well. Now the wait is on to see if he can recover and remain infection and disease free long enough to heal and become a career stallion. Also, the recent loss of a dear friend's mother who has struggled for so very long with bone cancer. While losing a parent is not an easy thing, you still must take a moment to smile at their life and breathe freely knowing their suffering, fight and pain are all gone. The other disappointment was the collapse of a project I have been working on. It was not a total collapse but just a long series of having my time wasted by business people who, in the end, showed complete unprofessionalism and business sense. So, the project has been re-directed into a new direction and is going along just fine.

So more on all that later. In the meantime, workouts are going and eating is going and all is tiringly well here.

The Weekend Review

Friday was a night off from the gym so it became 'Date Night' with hubby. Which is very cool as we do not get a chance to do that very much. We went to see 'The Sentinel', it was a very good movie about the CIA. Keiffer Sutherland, Michael Douglas, Eva Longoria and Kim Basinger did an excellent job showing some of the ins and outs of the Secret Service and the Presidency. It was a good night for us.

Saturday it was back to the gym. I went somewhat easy today but hit the legs and shoulders. I kept the weights mediocre as I am out of my liquid glucosamine/chondroitin and was in no mood to hurt my shoulder or knee so...here it is:

Dumbbell Sumo Squats (30 lb DB): 3 sets of 25 reps.

Hack Squats: 135 x 10 x 5 (varying feet position - sumo and standard)

Incline Leg Presses: 225 x 10 x 5

Lateral Raises (DB 20 lb): 4 sets of 10 reps

Dumbbell Shoulder Presses: 30 x 10 x 2

Dumbbell Shrugs: 30 x 10 x 2

Now I am sitting back enjoying my shake and glutamine (Leather n Lace) and debating what to cook for dinner.

Sunday was a good day, no gym but good. Now it is Monday and we are back to the grind. Back into trying to sort through all the stuff before us with the retirement issues, determining move arrangements and etc etc. Tomorrow we have a couple appointments on post but all should be well once those are done and over. We are getting closer to being out of the Army...slow and steady but at least progess for a change.

Thursday Night Back and Biceps

I had a very hectic day dealing with the Army and the Medical providers, trying to get husband signed into the medical hold unit in order to begin his transition out of the Army. We are both so ready for this to be over that we just want to be able to sit down for an hour and breath slowly and relax.

I headed out to the Gym about 11:15 pm and got in an excellent Back and Bicep workout...my arms are literally limp! But I feel good and luckily I do not have to lift my arms to type my posts or I would be in deep crap. LMAO

The Workout:

Back Rows:
Wide Grip 70 x 8 x 3
Regular Grip: 70 x 10 x 1; 80 x 8 x 1, 85 x 8 x 1; 90 x 8 x 1

Cable Pulldowns (Front): 50 x 8 x 1; 60 x 8 x 1; 70 x 8 x 1

Cable Pulldowns (Behind the neck): 50 x 8 x 1; 60 x 8 x 1; 70 x 8 x 1

Barbell Bicep Curls: (+ 15lb bar): 40 x 10 x 5

Dumbbell Bicep Curls (each side): 20 x 20 x 1; 15 x 20 x 1; 10 x 35 x 1 (to failure)

I am taking it easy on the back and shoulder during this week cycle. I am doing consistent workouts to maintain I am focusing on the arms and legs during this cycle. I went light on legs last cycle as they are my extra fast gainers and I struggle with added mass and size to my arms so they are the focus this time around.

I am feeling good and keeping my pain manageable, although it is getting harder and harder to do as it is slowly but surely increasing. But I will keep up the workouts, stay focused and keep moving towards my goals.

It feels good to be back home with my wonderful husband and the kids. Tomorrow (aka today) is a new day.

Back from Seattle and back to the grind

I had a wonderful trip to Seattle/Tacoma. It was non-stop with party preparations, cooking, cleaning and having a total blast. I really missed Sherry so it was so great to be able to see her and spend time with her. It was even better to see her so happy as she put a torch to her Battle Dress Uniform and bruned her former life away...no more military for her. So as a civilian she had a most excellent time at her retirement party.

I got off the plane and had husband take me directly from the airport to the gym...I missed working out and wanted to get a workout in. Very weird as I had just spent over 12 hours on planes and was exhausted...but I was so happy to be back in the gym.

Tonight was Chest and Triceps...great workout and it felt good!

Chest Press: (+15 lb bar)25 x 20 x 1; 35 x 10 x 1; 45 x 10 x 1; 55 x 10 x 1;65 x 8 x 1; 55 x 8 x 1

Dumbbell Flys: (20 lb dumbbells) 3 sets of 10 reps

Tricep Pushdowns:50 x 12 x 1; 60 x 12 x 1; 70 x 10 x 1; 80 x 10 x 1

Dumbbell Kickbacks: 15 x 10 x 2; 20 x 10 x 2; 15 x 10 x 2

my eats all day were clean and right on the mark as was my water intake. I am still on my supplements and just started the creatine again because I hate lifting without it and I had taken about 3 weeks off of it. My weight is still doing great...I am up another pound to 132 lbs. YAY!

Well off for the night to cuddle up with husband. *smile*