It's been a while since I've last written but I've been dealing with some things.

Surgery from the gallbladder removal was successful and I am recovering well. I haven't lost any weight unfortunately from the removal so I'm back to losing it through persistence (which wasn't that great to begin with...).

So not long after the surgery, I went to get my first mammogram (turned 40 last year, so therefore I get to have one).

They found a lump and after a biopsy it was simply put, a non-cancerous tumor. My options are to have it removed or for the next two years, to have a mammogram every 6 months.

I've chosen to have it removed but not until September. There is simply too many things occurring right now for me to have surgery.

My 1SG (and the incoming 1SG) has informed me that I will not be able to reenlist until I go to the promotion board and BLC. That means I will not be able to reenlist til September at the earliest... I only have a limited amount of time to reenlist and that cuts my window down even more. This means that I'll have to start the getting out process even though I intend to reenlist because that's how the army works.

So not only do I have to contend with the tumor and getting rid of it. I also have the added pressure of now completing school BEFORE the surgery. And I also wanted to get back to college to complete my degree.

Although, I have been making promotion points for the past 15 months in a row... so it's just getting old now.

But it is what it is...

Well it is the beginning of the third day after surgery and I'm doing better than the day of lol.

The day of surgery I arrived at the hospital and while waiting, the power to the hospital went out but the emergency generators did kick on. So my surgery didn't happen at the time that it was anticipated. The Surgeons wanted to wait until the power was stable. They had to actually stop in the middle of another surgery when it first went out.

The surgery did go well and my gallbladder was successfully removed. It was done by laparoscopic so therefore I only have four small incisions in my abdomen. Three of them don't hurt at all but the one in my tummy button is the worst. That's the one where they pulled the gallbladder out. I figured that they went in at an angle because it's mostly the center of my abdomen that is painful. The doctor was very cool and gave me pictures of my insides. One of my gallbladder before removal and after it was gone (I asked if he would be able to). SO COOL.

I had a friend stay with me the first night but I'm on my own for now although she does check up on me. Both myself and my parents are very grateful that she was able to do so. Especially since it was last minute and I didn't know I needed someone to stay with me until a few hours after my surgery was done. I take my pain medicine and try to stay ahead of it. I've learned to only take one of my percocet instead of two no matter the pain, which is less than the abdominal pain I suffered BEFORE surgery. It somehow affects my breathing when I take two. I don't understand why but I think it's the dosage. It didn't do that in the past... I also have grunt candy (ibuprofen 800mg) that I take to supplement it as well per nurses orders.

I do have only one current issue that should go away in due time. I cannot sit up for long periods of time. I tend to start getting light-headed. It feels like my blood pressure is dropping but I don't have a BP monitor to check it. Guess I should purchase one eventually... But the time I'm able to sit up gets longer and longer. I do get up and walk around my apartment so I'm not always laying down.

Other than that I eat only when I need to and very little. I like the chicken broth I bought but should eat more, but since my tummy hurts when I eat I keep it to a minimum. (I see how people lose a lot of weight after an abdominal surgery)

My incisions are glued together on the outside so I don't have to worry about having my stitches taken out. Last time the nurse missed some and I ended up finishing the job when I returned home. LOL.

I contact my parents daily by video call, so they can monitor me too. My follow-up is in one week and hopefully if I can't drive by then, I'll find someone to take me. My friend will be on holiday then so I'll have to find someone else.

I'm pretty much just laying on the couch with my wedge pillows (best thing I ever bought right now) and I have almost 30 books to keep me company all within easy reach. I'm drinking water but definitely need to eat more.

At this point, I'm hoping that this post is clear and understandable. Being on the medicine I'm on makes me feel loopy which I distinctly dislike. I've gone over this post several times so I hope it's good to go and forgive me please if I am rambling.

So what had happened was.... lol

For the past month I've been having abdominal pain. REALLY BAD abdominal pain. On a scale of 10 it was about a 7.5 at worse. So a few weeks ago I was in the ER, on morphine.. Between then and now, I have had 3 pregnancy tests, 1 CT Scan, and 2 ultrasounds.. NOTHING... absolutely nothing was found.

So finally the Doctor ordered a test to see how my gall bladder was functioning because I'm the right demographic for it (I'm 40 years old). So the test is to last two hours and occurs this past Wednesday (Feb 1st). I showed up at 0830 and was told I'd be given this radiation so that they could track the functioning and I could actually watch it on the monitor. They allowed me to sleep the whole time because I wasn't allowed to move anyways.

So as two hours slowly roll by, I'm watching the monitor and talking to the technician. The whole time the only thing that shows up on the monitor is just my liver and large intestines. So they decided to do a delayed test which means that I had to do another one at 1300... Again, nothing on the monitor but liver and intestines. So she calls the doctor and lets him know what's happening and he's like "come see me right now".

So off I go and at about 1400 he tells me that my gall bladder isn't functioning. So I get recommended for gall bladder removal surgery because if it's not removed then bad things like death will happen.

So I'm like ok, I'll get surgery within the month or so, not a big deal. The surgery department calls me THAT DAY. Not even an hour later... Tells me to come in the next day for the consult. So I'm thinking.. maybe this is serious...

So I see the Surgeon and she tells me that I'm getting surgery NEXT WEDNESDAY (the 8th)! DEFINITELY SERIOUS. This is being considered as emergency surgery. After she talks to me for a bit, and I'm telling her stuff that has happened. She states that the time that I went to Korea and about this same time last year when I was vomiting and having nauseau was when my symptoms actually started. I even had an EGD and the Doctors there were like "it's just bad acid reflux" and gave me prescription prilosec.

She also tells me that if the pain spikes again (because my tummy is always tender and I'm in pain a LOT), to go directly to the ER and they will do the surgery then and there. (I hope it doesn't spike because I need to clean my apartment and car lol).

So now I'm a few days from surgery and about to clean my place and do as much as I can before Wednesday.

The good thing that I learned is that I should lose weight, at least an average of 15 pounds. This is great because I'm still trying to lose about 50 pounds.

But I am very grateful to know what the problem is and have it taken care of. Ironically there have been about 4 other people in my company that have had this same surgery. I don't know if it's the altitude here or what... (I live in Colorado).

By the way, I don't have gall stones at all. My gall bladder is just no longer functioning correctly.

I'll keep ya'll updated though!

Well folks, it's about that time! I'm getting ready to move to a different duty station. I'm not ready to say where yet but I've been REAL busy this last month.

The first thing I did is get all my stuff out of storage and now I have it all in my roommates house. Which means I REALLY have to go through it. I'm getting items ready to go to a yard sale and to donate. I'm going to utilize the internet a lot as well as the newspaper to get rid of a lot of stuff because I really don't want to take all of it with me.

My roommate has actually offered to help which is very nice of him. I figured he could go through all my paperwork and pull out anything that has to do with the military and then I can organize that later.

Hopefully I'll make a couple of hundred out of this and can put it in my savings account!

I'm considering changing my number for personal reasons. How what were the cons socially that was associated with this. I've had my number for a LONG time.

I have only two years left of paying alimony! YAY ME!!!

I've already been paying for four years and the time is coming up for that to end. I AM EXCITED!

WHOOHOO!!

=D

It's a new year and a new time to get things started. Of you haven't don't it last year because "things came up" then erase all that.

I excited! There are things I didn't accomplish last year but I will make it a point to accomplish this year. I also want to start the wheels rolling on things that will take a while to accomplish like my degree.

Happy New Year Everyone!

This morning at around 4:30am I received a call from a number 473-520-9762 which came up as unavailable. It rang twice then hung up. My being in the military I started assuming that someone was trying to get in touch with me from my unit.

I don't believe that was the case.

I've tried calling the number back and although the music is REALLY up my alley it just keeps stating "please wait for the operator".

Has anyone else received a call from this number?

I have no idea from what and to call at 4:30am is RIDICULOUS.

By the way, I've looked on the internet and some people have stated that the caller ID for them is from Grenada but that is all.

Yes, I have been remiss...

I have not been as diligent concerning my finances as before. Life has gotten in the way and I have not let finances be a part of my life. Well that will be changing this month. Why?

My birthday is on the 18th! Time to realize what changes I want to make and make them. Not only financially but physically and mentally as well as emotionally.

I've even gained weight in the last few months...

So I've started back to being physically active and eating better. (destroyed 3lbs so far).

On a good note the interest rate on my timeshare has FINALLY gone down from 17% to 6%. And they backdated it! They applied a savings of $1,693.68 to my account which means that my principal went from $6,849.48 to $5,155.80. Mind you I got this in Aug 2011 and the principal was $7,618.52. Plus my payments went from $132.80 to $85.07.

So now my objective is to redo my finances and see how to apply the extra amount to my finances.

Just bought baby clothes yesterday for about $30 from a friend's wife. I will also be cruising the yard sale this Saturday because I'm looking for a road bike. I may also purchase more baby clothes.

As for entertainment I will be going to bingo this Saturday. It'll cost at least $17 but I thought I'd give it a try and also there is a chance to win prizes. If I win, I win but my intent is to have a bit of fun.

This month one of my goals is not to spend as much even with my "allowance". There are some things that I want that I'm going to try and find a cheaper price for. Such as a road bike. This weekend there is a yard sale on my post. So I'm going to look there for a bike and baby clothes for the grandchildren.

But other than that, I've only been spending money on things that I need. Which is great but then again it's only the fifth day in LOL!

Today I went to pay my rent. I was expecting to pay more because last month I didn't pay for the washer/dryer I'm renting from them because they put it in after we moved in.

'Lo and behold when I got there they stated that the are not charging me for the partial and I just pay the $860. WOW!

I just saved money again! Even if it's about $25 I'm satisfied with that! I really do like my new place. =D

A lot has happened in the past few weeks...

I was pretty much kicked out of my apartment. Why you ask? Because they didn't want for me to rent it for the amount that they put on the contract. It was for half of the amount in which they intended. They stated that they sent me an e-mail (which they sent to the wrong address) which only gave me 3 hours to vacate the premises because my current contract was up at noon that day.

I was already at work (I'm military) and didn't have access to any of that information. My parents sent me a text stating that I need to turn in my keys. This was at 11:00am. I didn't get to the apartments at 11:30am. They stated that I had 30 minutes left to vacate.

Mind you, this was almost 2 months after knee surgery and I couldn't carry anything heavy by myself. I had to contact my roommate and she arrived a bit after noon.

The complex then gave me till the close of business to vacate. My roommate and I pretty much moved out by ourselves (with my not really being any help :'( ).

I signed a new contract with a new place and have been VERY satisfied with their service. The new place has given me $1,450 in incentives when I move in. $250 was for the security deposit that I did NOT have to provide. And I'm using the $1,200 to put towards my rent ($100 off monthly).

The only thing I needed was furniture which I now have. I did purchase a bedroom suite which I have divided among my bedroom and living room. I am not purchasing dining room furniture because we're using that area as a home gym.

I feel lucky that I was able to purchase my dream bedroom furniture (except for the platform bed) but whenever I move into my dream home, I'll just put that into the guest bedroom. LOL!

At this point I'm still unpacking and will be going through my things to see what can be donated, sold, or thrown away.

So right now my rent is $960, but with $100 off it's $860. Then my roommate pays half so it's $430. The only utilities that we have are electricity, water, and internet.

Electricity is $57.22 for 16 days. $30 is the activation fee so it's actually $27.22. But I will expect to pay about $80 per month.

Internet is $68.86. This includes a modem rental of $5 per month ($60 annually). I will try to find a modem for less than that so I would no longer have to pay them for the rental. The internet is actually $29.95 the first year then $49.95 after that.

Water bill is $15.27 which is exciting to me.

So all in all for the new place, it costs me $1,101.35 for the first month and I have $100 off every month which equals to $1,001.35. And since I have a roommate we only both pay $500.68. I'm VERY happy with where I am and I'm looking forward to the next 11 months here.

Does anyone use WOW! internet/cable service? If you do can I use you as a referral?

I believe that it may be up to a $100 referral bonus!

Just leave a comment in my comment section, I check on it constantly.

Thanks!

Long story: New Apartment and breaking the lease...

The apartment people finally informed me of the new apartment that I'd be getting. They told me it'd be on the first or second floor if I remain in the same building, but if I want a floor on the second floor then I'd have to move to a different building. They also stated that they didn't have any 2-bedrooms on my current floor because they signed them out to others a "long, long time ago".

So what that means is that I signed that contract in good faith that they'd give me what I promised. A 2-bedroom apartment on my current floor so that when I moved it wouldn't aggravate my knee (ACL surgery) going up and down stairs.

It also means that they lied purposefully as well. They told me that I could move earlier in July if I wanted to be on a different floor, but if I want the same floor then I'd have to wait 'til August. It was a no brainer. Wait 'til August...

If I'm going to move on a different floor/building I may as well move to another apartment complex and a better one at that!

My roommate and I have looked and will look again today. There are only two that are in the running but I believe that we've already made a decision based on the floor plans. One has storage closet on the patio while the other one does not. Storage is pretty big to us because we're both military and we need a place to put our gear.

The new apartment (the one we REALLY like) is a lot bigger than what we currently have and we still have or own rooms/bathrooms. Stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, screen enclosed patio, two linen closets, laundry room, pantry, coat closet, walk-in closets, dining room and a computer desk niche. only responsible for trash but we asked and the tenants normally pay about $100 for water/electricity. I've already done checks for internet and it'd only cost $40/mo for the first year and $60/mo thereafter.

So after doing the math the new complex will cost $1,065 so I'll just say $1,100 but split between two people it'll only cost us $532.50 (current place was $547.50)!

New complex apartment will cost us LESS.

BUT...

Now we need to get furniture. I'll be going to estate sales and craigslist as well as looking at stores.

I almost considered going to a payment place like Aaron's Rent-to-own but after looking at the interest (40%!) it'd actually be cheaper to put it on my credit card LOL. But that'd be a last option.

The only things I'm looking for are bed, sofa, entertainment center and dresser. We found a tall-ish nightstand that's a bit on the wide side for about $40. I'll be purchasing the sofa myself and my own bed.

We've already decided on just getting bar stools and not a dining room set so that the dining room area will be our home-gym area.

The only downsides is that the washer/dryer is an extra $35/mo BUT there is a laundry facility within the complex. Also coming out of the complex is rather difficult depending on the time of day. But that should only be an issue for us during the afternoon rush hour.

It is convenient to the shopping centers and entertainment areas.

There is also one other LARGE issue of breaking the current lease.

I talked to the new apartment people and they stated that if we move by the 31st we'll get $1,000. So what I'll do is go to the current people, and state that I want to go on a month-to-month lease.

This is why:
breaking a lease will require a 60-day notice while a month-to-month lease will only require a 30-day notice.

The plan is to go to month-to-month and put in a 30-day notice. Use the $1,000 to pay rent for one month. Therefore it's not a lot of money out of my pocket on that issue.

I will have to come up with funds for furniture but that's not biggie. I'm more than willing to do that. I won't have to buy ceiling fans but we still want to paint the apartment (just one wall in each room). So that fund is less than it originally was ($110 to $30) but I found my 10% off Lowes coupon! Which ironically is literally down the street from the new apartments!

Last month I made plans to move into a new apartment next month. I'm going from a one-bedroom to a two-bedroom.

(I'm literally moving across the walkway at my apartments... LOL)

This will mean less rent but more towards debt freedom!

We're very excited! Today we looked at paint colors because we've decided to paint the walls. Only one wall in each room though (living room, and both bedrooms). This way they is some color without being overwhelmed with trying to paint the whole apartment...

We'll also be putting in ceiling fans which we'll take with us because we won't be compensated if we leave them when we leave the apartment... Go figure...

The fans will cost us $80 each and the paint and supplies will cost $60 all together. Also I have a 10% off coupon at Lowe's which I need to find... UGH!

But at least we've decided on our paint colors today which actually helps a lot. Less pressure to do now instead of days before the move.

I'm hoping that I can gather how much money I'd need to pay if all my student loans were due right now (monthly) and apply it to the debt. (paying the current due minimums and putting the "left over" towards the chosen snowball debt)

I'm looking forward to this and so is my roomie. WHOOHOO!!

So I'm sure that plenty of you have already figured this out. But I've now become part of a new credit union that I'm enjoying, but I've never participated in automatic bill paying.

Here's the setup...

I have a car loan in which I've been able to now pay off two months earlier because I refinanced at 50 months for a 48 month loan.

But I used to pay bi-weekly on the loan which meant that I'd be paying less interest and more principal.

So this is what I'm doing now:

I've currently setup my automatic bill paying for weekly payment. This should pay more towards principal in the long run but I'm not sure if it'll pay it off sooner.

But paying this off now isn't my main objective because this loan has the lowest interest rate. My main objective (the account I want to payoff first) will also be on weekly payments but at the last day of the month (28th), I will make a larger payment to it at that time. (I want to be sure that I have the extra funds needed for that month).

I'm definitely going to start doing this with as many of them as I can (which I've already input into the system).

So here's to paying off my debt with less interest as well as sooner. YAY ME!

A while back one of the LTs let me have their children's old clothes that they were going to give to Goodwill. All the clothes were girl clothes.

I went through them and my mother and I sorted them out. There were a LOT of clothes.

My eldest granddaughter is turning five this week and will be starting kindergarten soon! So my mother was kind enough to send her the clothes for me (I had taken them to my parents when I was on convalescent leave from surgery).

My eldest daughter has thanked me for sending them the clothes because a lot has happened over the past month and they didn't have enough time to get everything they needed for her.

I'm so glad that I was able to help them out. There were clothes for both of the girls (one month and five years old).

This made me feel really good, and I still have some clothes left that I'll send them soon hopefully!

It's about the little things! =D

My FREE motorcycle class starts tomorrow! I'm excited! I filled up the tank earlier today and it only cost me $10! My current budget is approximately $25/month. I'll have to see if that increases later on.

Unfortunately I've been having an issue of a drained battery but I believe I know what the issue is. One of my neighbors use to have a bike shop so I'm hoping that I can use her assistance. I'm not buying a battery until I figure out the issue. No point in buying a new battery if that get's drained as well. It costs $115 but I can afford it. I have a jump starter that I can use to charge it in the meantime. After it's warmed up it'll start on it's on.

I did have to buy a new helmet. I found out that my helmet should only be a maximum of four years old and it was eight. So I bought one in which I could put a Chatterbox on it later on (Bluetooth) which costs $250. It's not a priority right now so I'm putting that on the back burner.

I did put the tires on my bike and was able to reuse the tubes so no extra costs there.

I did have a good budget for this so I'm not worried about the monies. But I'm glad it's working right now. I'm excited about my class tomorrow. YAY ME!

So I did it, I bought a motorcycle!

I paid for it fully up front so the only thing I'll have to pay is maintenance and insurance. Of course I need to pay for the initial registration/titling but that's to be expected.

I currently have it in storage. FOR FREE. A friend of mine is storing it in his garage for me as long as I let him use it for the motorcycle safety course that, as military, we are REQUIRED to take.

I don't need to purchase a helmet since the person I purchase the bike from included that. I do need to purchase safety gear which would only be a motorcycle jacket, which can cost me as little as $60 but as much as $300 but I technically have everything else. As long as it has armor and keeps me cool in the summer and warm in the winter, I'll go for the $60. (as long as it's NOT pink...)

I did find out that the motorcycle safety course is free for me so I'm even golden there.

The bike gets about 50 miles to the gallon and it only costs $12 to fill up the tank. So I can actually visit my brother for less than $24 a trip! $24 would only fill up about half my tank in the SUV...

I also do need to purchase a motorcycle permit which will later turn into a motorcycle endorsement on my license. But again that was expected.

My residential state doesn't have vehicle state inspections so that's not an expense that I have either.

I do need new tires but I knew that when I looked at the bike.

Also my auto insurance had gone down earlier about $30/month. With the motorcycle it went back up $30/month. So that is a wash.

But overall I'm happy! I'll save money overall on gas going to and from work and sometimes it will save me some cash on trips to certain places also!

My twin grandchildren were born earlier this week!

A boy and a girl! Both weighing in at 5 lbs. 8 oz.

So as of this week I have a total of FOUR grandchildren. Two girls and two boys! YAY ME!

On another note, I'm recuperating from surgery well. Today would have been the first day without pain pills but some women decided to kick my foot while I was sitting in the waiting room. Everyone else went around or stepped over me but she had to kick my foot. HARD! Yes I have on a HUGE brace (from top of the knee to my ankle) and crutches.

Other than that I have been doing my physical therapy at home and the current goal is to bend my knee to 90 degrees (it's still quite swollen).

So all in all this week is a good one for me. Four healthy beautiful grandchildren and finally on my way to recuperation for my knee.

AWESOME!

Last month I informed everyone that I would be getting surgery on my knee due to an injury that I received downrange (Afghanistan). They eventually told me that I had a torn ACL that needed to be repaired (of course after 4 months of my knee not healing I knew that it would need surgery and that it was more than likely a torn ACL).

This past Friday (two day ago) I went into surgery. I came out without any complications. There was also a small meniscus hole about 1 cm that was also fixed.

I'm glad that part is pretty much over with.

Tomorrow I start physical therapy. My parents are helping me out a lot by allowing me to stay with them for about a month. Then I'll go back home and continue therapy there.

I'm excited that I'm not on my way to recovery!

In case you haven't read in my previous postings, while I was in Afghanistan I fell off a trailer (while getting off the trailer...) and injured my knee. This occurred in late Nov 2012. I've been having issues since.

I've received physical therapy for approximately three months. Both in Afghanistan and in the states. I was informed that when I arrived back at the states that I would get an MRI.

I never did get an x-ray until I arrived back in the states but it still wasn't until the beginning of April 2013 when that occurred. I finally received an MRI which I had been requesting since January 2013.

I have been officially diagnosed as having a torn ACL....

I have finally been scheduled for surgery to fix this. My surgery is scheduled for the beginning of June 2013...

So by the time I've had surgery I would have been injured for a total of six months.

Awesome...

I'll have a month of intense rehab after the surgery and will be laid up for some of that time probably. But at least I know that I won't really be buying anything at that time (such as groceries) since I'll be living with my parents during recuperation. Then back home because actual rehab lasts about nine to eighteen months.

Wish me luck!...

As of right now, I have a beautiful grandson that was born just a few hours ago! I'm very happy that my child and grandchild are doing very well!

I can't wait to visit them VERY soon! I knew that she was going to give birth in May! LOL! And just before her own birthday as well! =D

Happy Birthday my sweet beautiful grandson!

I am currently looking at my credit reports and scores from all three bureaus. I am doing this for a number of reasons:

1. clean up report of anything incorrect
2. check to see if it looks better
3. looking to purchase a home within the next 6 years
4. check my credit scores

When I pulled my three scores from all of them, I was pleasantly surprised. I have just learned that not only did my scores come up A LOT, they are actually high enough to purchase a home!

I haven't had scores this high in a long time, but I'm glad that it has finally happened. What this truly means for me is that I no longer NEED to work for my goal which has been reached. But now I have a new goal.

700s HERE I COME!

I moved into my new apartment earlier this month. To me it's incredibly small so I have to be almost OCD-ish about organization. Fortunately my bed and couch (it comes furnished) are high enough so that I can put things underneath them.

I've also just went grocery shopping so that I can take my food with me for lunch and whatnot. I'll get organized sooner or later but it seems to be taking a long time. I want everything done by the end of this month.

My parents gave me a small digital TV so I don't have a need to purchase one anytime soon. It just depends on how long this one lasts.

I'm going to have a facility next week to have them file my taxes for me. And there are still other things that I need to do this month but I knew that would happen. Clothes and all kinds of other things... (I didn't have any clothes when I left for basic training in 2011 since I had lost so much weight and haven't really had an opportunity to purchase any when I had graduated before my deployment.

Bought a small calendar so that I can keep up with my bills/appointments/events instead of always glancing in my financial software.

I'll keep ya'll informed but it's been a busy time...

My youngest (21 years old) is pregnant with a little boy and my oldest (24 years old) is pregnant with... yes you guessed it. TWINS!!! Both a boy and a girl. So by the end of this year I will have two granddaughters and two grandsons. I'm both scared and excited. I'm worried that my daughters will have extra to take care of when they are still learning to take care of themselves.

I've actually (recently) offered them a budget software. My conditions are that they must go to the website and download the 34-day free trial (www.youneedabudget.com) and if my girls with their significant other uses it then I will considered purchasing it for them as a gift so that they can get their finances together. This is software that I will be using myself.

Recently YNAB is also offering a workbook to go along with the software, and I would also purchase this for them (i'm actually going to purchase the workbook for myself as well. I starting a new life for me when I get back and I'm goin to arm myself with as much tools as possible. And I want my family to be well armed as well. I've even offered it to my ex-husband. The more finanically stable he becomes the more he won't rely on the alimony that he receives.

My plan to help out my children and myself is that when I get home to start immediately start working on ourstockpiles. I want a six (6) month stockpile for all of us but I'm thinking that it'll take about three (3) months to do this. This will allow for them to be able to get their finances in order to be able to set themselves up in a better financial situation.

I just don't want them to learn what they need to know in order to be financially stable by the time they're m age. It's frustrating if they wait to long. Hopefully the will learn quickly but I'm hoping the software will also help them. I just wish it was around when I needed it at their age.

But I'm SOOO looking forward to seeing all my grandchildren.

HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY you lovely beauties! =D

Although the babies are due in June and July, I have a feeling that my grandbabies will be all arriving in May. This means there will probably be a slight change to my 2013 goals. In fact I believe that I will change that to just 'GOALS' instead. They will include both short and long term goals but it'll be an overall instead of a yearly. I'd prefer it that way. It's not really rushed and I won't feel as if I didn't accomplish anything if I didn't complete my list by the end of the year.

But I'm definitely excited! I'm already wondering what they will look like but as long as they're healthy I don't care. I already love them! =D

I am excited! As you know I'm here in Afghanistan but I'm excited because I'm almost home. What I mean is that this year in 2013, I will actually be going home to the states!! YAY ME!! We got here in 2012 and this is what we've all here been looking forward to (even if it's not happening anytime soon). 2013!!!

I'm REALLY excited because it means that I'll be able to take control of my finances instead of having my parents do it for me. It means that I will be able to get a debt pay off calendar in the works. It means that I'll be able to drive my own car. It means that I'll be able to wear jeans. It means that I'll be able to use a bathroom without having to get completely dressed in the middle of the night and having 5 "neighbors" right beside me. LOL!

It means that I can finally have a room by myself instead of three to twelve roommates. I can have my laundry room and have my clothes done in an hour or two. I can eat what I want instead of eating what's available. I can actually take control of a lot of things instead of relying on someone else to do it. I can actually be able to wear my hair down!

To all of you that haven't been deployed, you have no idea it is to be restricted in what you can and cannot do on a personal level. Everyday we work. There is no "off" time. It's 24/7 here. And it gets even harder if you get injured here which is the current position that I'm in. I had a previous injury that healed when I came here (fractured foot) and at the end of Nov I injured my knee. I've literally have not been injured for about one month (no pain and able to actually walk/run without any adverse effects).

I've been trying to lose weight since I've been here and have only managed to lose 6.4 lbs as of this past Saturday. Yes it's all about my diet mainly but it's almost virtually impossible to count calories or carbs here. It's about portion control and that's the reason that I was overweight in the first place (248 lbs at my heaviest before I joined the military).

Right now as long as I can pass tape I'm good to go. But I'm working on passing weight which might be something I may not be able to do. Why? Because after doing a body-fat percentage on myself, I have 143 lbs of lean muscle mass. For me to make weight I need to weigh 154 lbs. I need to actually LOSE muscle in order to make weight. So my plan would be to keep the muscle I need and lose the muscle I don't need (do you know how hard it is to do push-ups?!).

In fact I can't even do standard push-ups right now because my knee gives out when I put weight on it. Just kneeling on my knees is difficult. (I injured my knee when I fell of a trailer, I believe that I hyper-extended it at the time. Right now the P.A. believes that I don't need surgery and that the ligament was torn. So it'll be a slow recovery. I believe that I need physical therapy which I've asked for but I haven't received it as of yet). I will do push-ups on a stability ball so that I can at least keep up with it. My idea is muscle fatigue for push-ups then try doing them with a weight on my shoulders. I want to be able to do 50 standard push-ups with no issues.

At least I have no issues with doing sit-ups as long as no one is holding my feet. So I do 100 of them with a 6.6 lbs medicine ball and will work my way up 13.6 lbs. My goal is 80 sit-ups in two minutes (I currently do 61 because I keep stopping).

There is nothing I can do for the running right now. I will start walking/biking again next week as long as my knee doesn't swell up like a balloon again...

I just can't wait to get back into things in the states! I REALLY want a subway sandwich! HAHAHA!!

Appreciate the little things in life people, you never know when those will be taken from you. Then you'll realize how much you miss being able to call/visit your family whenever you want to. Or even go to the grocery store. You have no idea how much I want to just go to the grocery store just because I can. And I HATE to shop. LOL!

See ya when I see ya!!! =D

Here's a little bit of information about me that will probably put things in perspective.

I'm 36 years old and currently legally separated from my spouse for the last 2.5 years. I have two beautiful adult daughters (one just got married) and one beautifully rambunctious granddaughter (and another grandchild on the way).

I use to work in a call center for an insurance company (was an agent in 21 different states for auto/home insurance) and later for a bank. After 7 years of working at the bank and 3 years in the same position I received a raise of .98% (it literally only added $600 to my pay at the end of the year).

After taking a look at my life and realizing more things needed to change (by this time I was already separated) I re-started working towards a goal that I had started almost 10 years ago. To join the military.

The reason I did so was because I wanted to have a career and not just a job. I wanted something that I chose and I wanted to be able to retire when I reached retirement age. I no longer wanted to "survive" and I wanted to start living my life. I knew that this was a way for me to move forward despite a certain disadvantage (I currently PAY alimony but that will end in 2016).

I lost a lot of weight (about 60lbs) and joined the U.S. Army Nov 2012. I actually turned 35 years old in basic training (and no I wasn't the oldest person their. i'll leave that to my good friend