The Move From Hell

I'm sure some of you are wondering how the move is coming along. Well....let's just say that this move has officially been dubbed "the move from hell." The moving company that moved us is by far the worst we have ever worked with. We're talking, people not returning phone calls, and worse.

Our household goods arrived on Tuesday (YAY) at around 4 in the afternoon. Seriously. The truck pulled up at 4:00 pm. The driver and one other guy unloaded everything and started putting some of our furniture together and finally left at 10:00 pm. Nothing had been unpacked because they told us that they were just movers, not an unpacking team. They also informed us that they had been sitting in the office since 8:00 that morning waiting to get dispatched to bring us our stuff. WHAT?!?

So anyway, we're happy to have our stuff and call our move manager the next morning (Wednesday) to see about have an unpacking team come to the house. She didn't answer and still has not called us back. D called the local JPPSO office Wednesday about mid-day and the manager there told us that if we hadn't heard from her by yesterday at noon to let him know. Well, we let him know. We also let him know that we were going to unpack and that someone needed to come get all the garbage when we finished.

We are still unpacking, the completion date for the contract has come and gone and this is what our house looks like now:

AJ's room. Yes, that is the crib leaning against the wall, unassembled.

Living room.

Bedroom.

Kitchen.

I'm a little annoyed, to say the least.

I Need Workout Music!

After my run yesterday I realized that I am badly in need of some good workout music. I tried scouring my iTunes and found a few songs that I like to run to/get me pumped up, but that was it. Unfortunately, D tends to listen to "screamy" music when he works out (is this a guy thing?) and that is just not going to work for me.

With that being said, does anyone have any suggestions for music that gets them going during a workout? Here is what I have so far (to give you an idea of what I like to run to):

So What by P!nk
Since U Been Gone by Kelly Clarkson
Your Love Is My Drug by Ke$ha
Low (feat. T-Pain) by Flo Rida
Rock That Body by Black Eyed Peas
Spiderwebs by No Doubt
Empire State of Mind (feat. Alicia Keys) by Jay-Z
Turn My Swag On by Soulja Boy Tell 'Em
Poker Face by Lady Gaga
California Gurls (feat. Snoop Dogg) by Katy Perry
Don't Trust Me by 3OH!3
Paper Planes by M.I.A.
Let It Rock by Kevin Rudolf & Lil Wayne
Whatever You Like by T.I.
I Gotta Feeling by Black Eyed Peas
Tik Tok by Ke$ha
Alcohol by Barenaked Ladies
Paralyzer by Finger Eleven
Tangerine Speedo by Caviar
Right Round by Flo Rida
Paparazzi by Lady Gaga

I really want to add a bunch more stuff to this play list so that I don't end up listening to the same songs over and over again. I know that I will get really sick of running to it and then I'm back to hoping there is something good on the TV attached to my dreadmill. The other downfall of the TV is that it really fails to get me pumped up, especially at the end of my run, and I need something to keep my feet movin'!

HELP!

Super Cute Stuff and a Fabulous Giveaway!

The Mrs. over at Trying Our Best is hosting a fabulous giveaway for military families or anyone who knows someone who serves our country. She is giving away a handmade blue star service banner, like this one, to one of her readers (note that it will be unframed).

If you are not familiar with what a service banner is or what it represents, she has an excellent link that explains it on her site. You should go check it out. You should actually mosey on over there anyway and enter the giveaway yourself if you haven't already!

Her mom has an awesome Etsy store and she sells super cute stuff in addition to the service banner she's giving away. I headed on over to her store and was checking out the selection. I ended up buying two other things from her. If I don't win the giveaway, I'm going to go back over there and buy a service banner for myself.

Happy Birthday!

Just wanted to send a big happy birthday shout out to 2 wonderful people celebrating birthdays this week!

Hutchy's was June 13th, so Happy 25th Birthday Hutchy!

My brother and Hutchy hanging out a few years ago.

And Mandy's is today! So, Happy 26th Birthday Mandy!

Me and Mandy at her wedding last September.

Day 1 Completed

I meant to get on last night and let you all know that I started my exercise regime yesterday. I went to the gym here on post and plodded ran on the treadmill. I ran about 2.5 miles. It wasn't pretty. I walked some (I didn't count the walking in my mileage, in case you were wondering). I just had to keep reminding myself that if I keep it up, it will get easier. I also weighed myself, which I think was probably the scariest and ugliest part of the trip. Ugh.

Today is day 2, so by default, it shouldn't be quite as bad as day 1, right?!

On a side note. The movers still aren't here. We were assured that they would be here today and that they would call us in the morning to let us know when to expect them. Well, the clock is ticking and the morning is slowly slipping away. Its 1028. I'm guessing that we would be wise to not expect them today. GRR. I was really hoping to have furniture and not have to sleep on an air mattress for another night. We have officially been "camping" in our own house for 7 nights. I just don't understand what could be taking them so long to get here. You had better believe that when the survey comes and its time for us to rate these people they should run and hide. I'm not going to sugar coat it.

The same exact thing happened to us this move with the packers. The company said that based on our inventory, our house would take 2 days to pack. We told them that we didn't have 2 days, so they said that the packers would be allowed to take overtime that day to get it all finished. Well, the packers took advantage of that and literally took 4 hours to pack one room in our house. It wasn't even the kitchen. Needless to say, when the manager stopped by that afternoon to check on progress, he wasn't happy and yanked their overtime. The company sent out a crew of packers along with the loaders to finish the job the next day. Seriously though, I think the packers thought that they would milk the whole overtime thing and slack off. So annoying.

Now the movers know that they have until the 17th as the last possible day to deliver our HHG without penalty. I'm thinking that they're just taking advantage of this as well. Sure, if something happened along the way that held them up or whatever, I understand. That is why they add the cushion in the delivery guarantee. However, we have called them numerous times, both the driver and the dispatchers and never got in touch with them nor did they ever call back. That is completely unacceptable, and unprofessional and you had better bet the Army will hear about it from me.

Ok. Rant over. Have a happy Tuesday everyone!

I'm Motivated!

I'm super motivated as of late to start working out and more specifically, start running again! I have been a total blob since AJ was born and honestly, I think I deserved it. Now though, its time to get serious! I'm ready to lose the baby weight and get my skinny belly back. Not to mention the plans I have to run a half marathon in November. Eek. Saying that reminds me how much work I have to do. I can't just start training for that. I have to get in shape first, then start the training.

I've done it before. I went from out of shape to half marathoner in a few months back in 2007, but that was a little different. I wasn't fresh from a C-Section and I was also 3 years younger! Pregnancy aged me a bit, I'm afraid. But honestly, I'm having visions of myself in cute workout clothes, buff (but not in a yucky way) and feeling good about myself again. I'm envisioning a fitness guru. Okay. Maybe that isn't going to happen, but I would like to establish a healthier lifestyle for D and myself. I mean, how are we going to teach AJ and future children the importance of staying fit and healthy when we are sedentary?

Obviously, we didn't do a great job teaching our first "child" good habits since Abby is about the laziest dog I've ever seen. I swear, she would sleep 24 hours a day if I didn't make her go outside to potty. I blame myself, but more importantly, I vow to break the cycle. AJ will have good role models for parents.

Helping my cause is not only the impeding half marathon in the early winter (I guess its technically late fall), but a conversation I had with a friend over a lunch of gyros and fries (don't judge, my lifestyle change hadn't started yet) last week. She is running the Disney Princess half marathon in Disney World in February. AJ and I are planning on being in Florida for the month of February. Do you see where I'm going with this? I'm going to sign up for it!

I can see myself becoming a runner (again)! I'm so excited for both of these races that I really think I'm going to stick with it. I really tend to be a lot better about working out and making time for it when I have already committed to something, like signing up for a race.

My next move is to register for both of these races. Then I'll be forced to do it. I'll be locked in. This is it.

I can't wait to be healthy again and take my family with me!

Thank Goodness for Internet!

We finally have Internet and cable in our house. This means I can do everything so much easier! The only downside is that we still do not have our household goods, which means we have no furniture, pots, pans, dishes, linens, clothes, etc. other than the stuff we brought with us in the car. Our TVs are part of that shipment. We will just have to download shows on iTunes and watch them on the computer for a little while longer. We're hoping our stuff will be here Monday.

So you're probably wondering what the first thing and Internet addict like me did when we finally got back online. D, AJ and I hopped in the car and went to the farmer's market! Seriously. We got a bunch of great produce and some bread as well. Before you go getting all excited, just envision a park with 2 tents housing some Amish people selling tomatoes, zuchini, homemade bread, and blueberries. That is where we went. They also had some homemade laundry detergent which I might be adventurous next time and buy.

This afternoon will be spend installing the new Apple AirPort Extreme wireless router that we bought last night at the PX. We are so excited to finally have a Mac compatible router! I know, some of you are thinking, "all routers work with Macs." Yes, they do. They don't work well with Macs. The router we had typically required a whole day of phone calls and tech support from India just to establish a shoddy wireless connection to my Mac. D has a PC, and the Internet is always fabulous for him.

We did some research and found this router. In the description and the reviews it says that this is the best wireless router for mixed Mac/PC households, which we continue to be for the time being. Once I finally lure D to the dark side (a.k.a. get him a Mac) the router will still be just as easy to use! Hooray for simplicity!