Christmas decorations and new furniture!

These are the paintings that Ditters gave us!

This post is dedicated to Mama. :)

Pictures and Orientation

Andrew is in his second week of orientation and things are going really well for him. They're working him hard with tests almost every day that he studies hard for and does very well! He's also getting harder PT now, but enjoying that as well. We're both very excited that he gets a 4-day weekend this week for Veterans Day, which means today is like a Friday! We have some things we'd like to get done, but we're also planning on doing lots of relaxing and spending time together. We're both mindful of the fact that he'll soon start leaving for two weeks at a time and we can't take for granted the time we have now.

We're still getting little bits of our apartment put together, hence the pictures. We recently got a little entertainment center, but I'll post pictures of that once we also get our coffee table! Then it'll look like a real live living room. :) 

We're having a few friends over for Thanksgiving, which we're both excited about. It'll be another couple we know and mostly single guys that aren't able to go home or anywhere else. I'm a little nervous about cooking my first Thanksgiving dinner for around ten hungry people, but maybe the pressure will be what I need. I'm sure the nightmares of burning the turkey black will start soon...

Andrew and I are still praying that we can come home for Christmas. At this point, it's still 50/50. We're hoping to get more information about it this weekend, so we'll see. Either way, we're very grateful that it looks like Andrew will have quite a few days off for Christmas! That doesn't necessarily mean we can go home, but at least he'll be home with me. 

It's been a while since my last post

Mainly, to be honest because there's not much to post about. Andrew and I have gotten into a routine that we're really enjoying. Unfortunately, that will probably be changing in the next couple of weeks. He's been hearing that he will be dropping into a class and his orientation (aka training) will start. That will be around 2-3 weeks of intense work for him, from what he has been told. After that he will start his schedule of two weeks on, two weeks off. He'll be standing watch for two weeks straight with the rest of his company. He'll eat, sleep, etc. there for two weeks and probably will have little to no contact with me or anyone else. Then he'll be home for two weeks to relax. He might have to muster occasionally or PT, but for the most part he'll just be home! So it's definitely a bittersweet situation for us. The two weeks where he is away will be hard for us. It will be weird for me to adjust to him being gone and find things to keep me busy for that time. However, once he gets home we'll basically have two weeks of vacation to just and relax and enjoy our time together. Like anything else, it'll take some adjusting, but I'm sure in time it'll start to feel normal.

Anyway, until then it's pretty much life as usual around here. I'm still working on getting things done around the house while Andrew's at work everyday. We recently got a washer and dryer (hooyah!), so we had plenty of laundry to do. I've also been enjoying trying out some new recipes for dinners and Andrew has graciously tried and liked them all, according to him. :) Tonight we're off to see Paranormal Activity 2, which will undoubtedly be followed by cartoons and Oreos. I wouldn't be surprised if we slept with our lights on tonight.

Here are a few pictures I've taken of the house, the cat, etc. Just a little taste of our lives, I guess.

This doesn't capture it at all, but I just thought the trees looked so pretty when we were out driving today. They're all really changing!

Until next time!

Philly

Here's a couple pics of our new kitty, Philly!

Couches and Kitties

Andrew's first week at work went well, for the most part. He spends most of his mornings and afternoons just sitting outside with the rest of Alpha Company studying for tests and talking. He almost always gets a two-hour lunch break, though, which means he gets to come home and be with me halfway through the day! Always a nice way to split up the day. He also does about an hour of PT every afternoon and is usually home for good anywhere from 1530 to 1630.

I spent this past week getting our apartment organized. It's definitely not completely finished, but everything is at least put away in closets and neatly organized piles in our spare bedroom. I still have plenty of things waiting for me to do this coming week, but pretty soon it will be time for me to start job searching! That will be interesting for me to try and find hours that will match up with Andrew's, but as I like to say, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. :)

We did get our couch delivered today! Andrew and I are extremely excited to have somewhere comfy to sit while we watch TV in our livingroom. I also was finally able to put together our bed at the end of last week, so we have no need for our air mattress anymore! Getting our furniture into our apartment really helps the place start to feel like home. I'm also beginning to hang our posters and pictures around the house. Tonight Andrew and I had our first home-cooked meal! I cooked meaty calzones with mozzarella cheese and pasta sauce. Mmm. Very yummy - if I do say so myself. I also made a chocolate cake the other night. Once I got all of my cooking supplies I just couldn't wait to start cooking and baking.

I took my first major shopping trip for the week at the Commissary this past weekend. It went well except when a female employee in her 60's insisted on helping me out to my car and then expected a tip. I'm pretty sure I can manage my own grocery bags much better than the elderly and I can't afford to be generous these days. Next time I'm putting my foot down.

Andrew and I spent most of Saturday afternoon at the Humane Society adopting a kitten! Yes, I completely talked Andrew into this decision. However, he'll even admit that he's kind of excited to have a cute little pet around here. I'm picking her up tomorrow afternoon while Andrew's at work. Her litter box and food and water bowls are all set up and ready to go! We decided to name her Philly (for obvious reasons). I got to hold her for over an hour on Saturday and she is the sweetest thing. She fell asleep on my lap for most of the time. She seems like a good mix of playful and cuddly. Pictures of her will most likely be coming tomorrow.

Andrew had off today for Columbus Day, so we got up and made pancakes and had a very relaxing day. We're going to start a movie before we go to bed, so I'll leave you with some pictures of our new couch.

Then with the framed print that Cindy and Dave gave to us:

Video of our apartment!

I promise I'll actually write an update on our lives soon. But for now, enjoy the video!!

I'm trying to upload the video of the tour of our apartment

But it's being difficult. So until then, here's a video of a cat talking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCbI-j7FnkQ

Taking a break from unpacking to post a few pics