Anticipation

This week is going to be one full of anticipation. Adam and I are going to do our best though to keep it relaxing and low key.
Friday night we came up to my moms with the pups. We are having a nice visit. Saturday night we drove up to Louisville and went to see Jesus Christ Superstar with Adams mom, sister, and my mom. It was a good show, but made for two late nights in a row. We got back to my moms around 1am. This morning we went to church with my mom, took long naps, and I helped my mom clean out my old room. We now have 9 boxes of yardsale stuff ranging from baby clothes to adult clothes mcdonalds toys to porcelain dolls. My mom still had a ton of crap left of hers to sort through that has piled up over the past 8 years since I graduated HS :)
Tuesday we will head to Louisville Thursday is my friend Wendy's wedding rehearsal, Friday I get to go be girly and get pampered, Saturday is the wedding :). Sunday we might go to church then Adam is staying in Louisville and I'm heading back to GA. He will be staying in Lou until time for RTC. I'm hoping the wedding stuff will keep the normal pre-separation fighting to a minimum. Wish me luck!
I apologize if I'm a but MIA this wee!

Home Management Binder

Toni @ A Bowl Full of Lemons is at it again with her great challenges.  This time it's a home management binder which I think is an awesome idea!

My Home Management Binder is going to be a work in process for the next few months while we get used to Navy life but I think this will be a great way for us to keep track of the important paperwork we will be accumulating in the near future!

My Binder

I got this great pad of weekly planning paper at Swoozies when our local store was going out of business.  I LOVE this thing and use it all the time, I decided the best place for it was in the front of my binder so I used binder clips to secure it onto the inside front cover

I love these pens, unfortunately this is the last of my stash from study abroad, if any of my Europe friends want to mail me some more I will love you forever!

I have color coded our calendar using my amazing pens.  I am pink, Adam is green, Dogs are purple, Household is brown, and important dates (bdays, anniversarys, weddings etc) are red

Our filled in Calendar for March

On the inside I labeled binder tabs:

 Schedules--This section has schedules for things that need done regularly like cleaning and car maintenance.  I downloaded a free schedule from excel for our cleaning and customized it to our needs, It divides out things that need done daily (dishes, clutter etc), weekly (laundry, dusting, watering plants etc.) Monthly (windows, refrigerator etc) and Seasonally (closets, furnace filter)  I also printed out just a blank spreadsheet to record the mileage for our cars with their maintenance schedules. 

Finances--This section has four parts, 1-I printed a check register from excel for each of our bank accounts.  On this register I will record all account activity weekly.  I carry our checkbook with me so if I am hit by a bus Adam will have no clue what we have outstanding from our account, this will give him a central place to go and have an idea exactly what we have.  2--A list of automatic payments.  Our mortgage, insurance, and my student loans come out of our accounts automatically.  I printed a list of the amounts, dates and what account all of these things come out of automatically so we won't forget.  3--Our budget.  I keep our spending tracked in excel next to our budget.  I printed a hard copy of our regular budget for easy reference.  I am going to just leave the regular copy in the binder and will print a new copy whenever it changes significantly but I will continue to track our monthly budget in excel and edit it for special occasions etc. 4--next year tax documents & records.  I printed a spreadsheet to track charitable gifts and donations but I also put into the binder this pink plastic organizer in this section.  I will use it to hold any tax receipts we receive, it also currently houses our KY tax return because we have to paper file it and I was waiting on Adam to sign it.  It will go in the mail this week.  

To Do--This section has a blank grocery list organized by section that I downloaded the template for from excel.  I added to it a box for each item to note if I have a coupon for an item or where to buy it.  I don't drive all over the town for groceries but I will go to Sam's club for some items and Kroger/Publix for others.  Also in this section I have a template of a reading list I downloaded for myself.  I have gone through my bookshelves and added the books I own but have not read on this list for me to check off as I complete the books.  The third list in this section is a true to-do list.  I have a list of my own projects (crafts etc.) as well as some things that need to be done like repairs on our house in Louisville.

School--In this section I have already put unofficial copies of all of my transcripts.  I will also use this section to hold a copy of my current class schedule and any school related "stuff" that I need to keep. 

Medical--I will keep our medical records in this section.  Currently I have a copy of my immunization records and a "pet health log" that I downloaded from excel for each of the puppies to track their shots, vet visits, and medicine.

Blank Forms--This section is exactly what it says.  I printed extra copies of all of the forms I downloaded from excel and have them in this section :)

YAY I finally finished a challenge!!!!!!!!!!!

Valentines Day Swap Number 2

My second Valentines Day Swap was hosted by The Mrs. @ Trying Our Best 

I love her blog and her tweets, the constant updates about the going-ons of her son's the Dash Brothers never ceases to amuse!

My partner for this swap was Megan @ Everyday Nonsense from a Nonsensical Girl she is a total sweetie and sent me a great present. 

This smells amazing, I have been burning it in my Kitchen YUMMY!

I love Peeps!  and these earrings are adorable!  Megan made them! 

 

 

 

 

These are yummy

White chocolate on top, milk chocolate on bottom, truffle in the middle

Really yummy, I ate this one with my breakfast this morning....

Hope everyone had a great Valentines day!  I certainly enjoyed the super sweet presents!

Valentines Day Swap Number 1

My first Valentines Day Swap partner was Meredith @ Love Life and Desserts.  Meredith was my partner for the swap hosted by Simply Sunshine and Daisys and I might add a total cutie!  Meridith's blog title fits her perfectly, she most certainly does love dessert!  She sent me a super cute valentines present.

These socks are adorable!  My boss cracked up when I showed her the cupcake ones :)

I LOVE listpads and use them constantly!  This book is really cute and my friend Laney has already tried to steal it from me.

One of the quotes from the book

Some Yummys and cute nail stuff, (this polish is currently on my toes!)

Super yummy scented candle that has been almost completely burned this week while I've been home alone.  My bedroom smells amazing right now~

Thank you Meredith!!!!



Hugs and Kisses
Shanon

I'm hosting a swap!!!

In honor of one of my favorite party days I will be hosting a swap!!! Happy St. Patricks Day!!!!!!

If you would like to participated please email me crimmson7-at-yahoo-dot-com the following:
Your Name
Your Address
Your Blog
Any allergies in your household that your partner may need to know about
Any favorite candies/scents/etc

You have until Midnight EST on March 1 to enter (lets be honest, I"m not going to check at midnight--you have until 8:00 AM EST March 2)

I will pair up all of the participants and will email out your partners no later than March 3rd,  this will give you 2 weeks to purchase your items for the swap and get them mailed out to your partner!

Please do not sign up if you are not going to carry out your side of the swap
If you sign up and something happens that makes it so that you will not be able to participate after the fact please email me so that I can make sure your partner still gets to participate.

Feel free to steal the button I created for the swap, it is also on  my sidebar :) 

I think that setting a price limit on the swap of around $10-$15 would be fair but feel free to go above and beyond just don't complain if your gift is in the $10-$15 range :)

Hope everyone has an awesome Valentines day!  Yay for Green!!!

Hubby's Home!

Adam got home last night :)  amazingly enough my 200 lb husband takes up less room in our bed than the two dogs...I got a great nights sleep!

Hubby is officially in the Navy!   We have his orders to leave for RTC (basic training) and we are going to our apartment leasing office this afternoon to renew our lease, we've been putting it off because our complex offers a military discount if you are active duty when you sign :)

I am going to type up a couple of scheduled posts for the next two weeks.  My sorority big/one of my best friends/the reason Adam and I met is getting married in three weeks in Louisville, when Adam and I go back up for the wedding he will be staying until time to leave for RTC :(  so instead of the normal 6 weeks I get roughly 10 without my husband but we decided it will be good practice.

I will try to keep some non-scheduled posts going the next two weeks, but since Adam tends to steal the laptop alot...

Vagina Monologues

Have you heard of V-Day?  In college I was a huge supporter of the movement.  I was in Vagina Monologues twice in college and helped organize bake sales the other two years to help raise money during the performances.  I haven't seen Vagina Monologues in years but decided that I want to see it this year :)  you can find out where you can see Vagina Monologues near you by visiting their website http://www.vday.org/home

For those of you who don't know what Vday is:
V-Day is a global activist movement to stop violence against women and girls. V-Day is a catalyst that promotes creative events to increase awareness, raise money and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-violence organizations. V-Day generates broader attention for the fight to stop violence against women and girls, including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation (FGM) and sex slavery.

V-Day is an organized response against violence toward women.
V-Day is a vision: We see a world where women live safely and freely.
V-Day is a demand: Rape, incest, battery, genital mutilation and sexual slavery must end now.
V-Day is a spirit: We believe women should spend their lives creating and thriving rather than surviving or recovering from terrible atrocities.
V-Day is a catalyst: By raising money and consciousness, it will unify and strengthen existing anti-violence efforts. Triggering far-reaching awareness, it will lay the groundwork for new educational, protective, and legislative endeavors throughout the world.
V-Day is a process: We will work as long as it takes. We will not stop until the violence stops.
V-Day is a day. We proclaim Valentine's Day as V-Day, to celebrate women and end the violence.
V-Day is a fierce, wild, unstoppable movement and community. Join us!


Go check it out! 


PS--I wonder how many spam comments I'm going to get for using the word Vagina so many times...

Blog redesign

So, for those of you who missed the memo (as if you could...) Adam joined the Navy!  He swore in today :)  In honor of me being a Navy wife--I want to redesign my blog.  I can't manage to come up with what I want soooo I need to hire someone.  Any suggestions?


kTHXbye!

Such is my life!

My husband is at MEPS!!!! We are so excited! Right now it looks like he will be going to basic in early may which would work out really well for us.  I am going absolutly nuts!  He isn't the best at relaying information to me so I am sooo worried that he will leave out the one detail that I need to know when he tells me whatever he does about tomorrow. 

Currently my body is serving as a wrestling ring for the puppies.  I proudly support dog fighting, as long as their tails are wagging and no one is getting hurt...unfortunately today I got hurt!  Jersey decided she needed to swat at my face and there is now a giant scratch down my cheek, I hope it doesn't look too bad tomorrow at work!  Izzy and Jersey  have decided that if I am sitting on the floor it means I am a toy...I ALWAYS sit on the floor...their new decision has made it very hard for me to get anything done on the computer.  At to it Jersey's love of typing....um yeah...

So not much new is going on.  I plan to finish the 21 days to organized challenge from A Bowl Full of Lemons tomorrow night, Adam will be back home on Thursday so then I will be back to being at his mercy relative to blog posting until he disappears to basic. 

Hope everyone is doing well.  I am still making my way through blogs from Wifey's Milspouse Friday Fill In and the organization challenge. I'm hopping to make her household planning binder tomorrow also--wish me luck!

Hugs and Kisses!

My first milspouse Friday fillin!

Posting from the iPhone but I am super excited to participate! :)

This was started by wifey of a sailor I would link to her blog but I'm not that great at blogging from my phone. I will try to update the post later.

Since most of the country has had nasty weather, what has your weather been like this week? The first of the week was beautiful. Wednesday was rainy Thursday was cold. Now I'm in Louisville and it's FREEZING!

What is/are your best money saving tip(s)? 1-don't buy groceries/cleaning products/etc just because they are a good deal. A good deal on shampoo you will never use isn't a good deal!

What was your favorite vehicle you’ve ever owned? My 1973 bug. It's for sale BTW. :)

What is a question you’d like to see asked in a future fill-in? (Your question & blog just may appear one week!) if you had one hint to share with new molspouses what would it be?

Fill in the blank: You might be a MilSpouse if….you know more about your twitter/blogger friends than your IRL ones.
(I will be including some of your answers in a future post (with a link to your blog, of course!)

Surprise!

After a two year weight loss journey, Adam hit weight this week and signed his papers to enlist in the US navy this morning. It has been a long, hard journey so far but one I am sure will turn out to be worth it. I am so excited and am so thankful to have such a supportive family and great friends IRL as well as all of my awesome bloggie friends. Thank you for teaching me so much already and in advance for your future help. A new blog layout will come soon in honor of my milspouseness. :)
I'm blogging from my phone this weekend so please forgive any typos!