Just Say Julie

I finally got my Girl Scout Cookies today after ordering them ages ago. Right now I am sitting here with a box of tagalongs and a Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper. Just what I need the week before Wild West Night. I order 4 boxes of cookies this year. Two each of the tagalongs and samoas. I figured I could send Shawn a box of each and keep one for me. I just hope I make it to the post office before I eat all 4 boxes. Why can’t I resist these cookies? My thighs would thank me if I could. Well, I just thought I would share. I hope everyone else has enjoyed their cookies too!

While this is intended to be about Alabama, many of the things talked about here can apply to Texas, the state I currently call home. Keep in mind that I was born and raised in Alabama so most of this relates to me. I am adding my own personal commentary to this in italics after each comment. 1. You can properly pronounce Arab, Opelika, Oneonta, and Eufaula. Add Mobile to this list of cities to be able to pronounce correctly. I get tired of hearing people butcher my hometown’s name. 2. You think people who complain about the heat in their states are sissies. I thought Alabama was hot until I moved to Texas. All I pray is that I don’t have to leave my house during the summer in this state. 3. A tornado warning siren is your signal to go out in the yard and look for a funnel. I have never lived anywhere that is in tornado alley. Hurricanes, however, are a different story. 4. You know that the true value of a parking space is not determined by the distance to the door, but ...

“The greatest legacy you can ever leave is what you write. The greatest tragedy is that most of us will end our days with our words unwritten, our songs still trapped in our hearts.” Mark Twain So true. I just hope I have the ability to leave my legacy behind. I am trying to write about the things I have learned through the deployments. It is just a matter of taking the time to get it all down on paper.

I discovered the joys of sleeping pills this weekend. One of the biggest problems I have had through both deployments is my inability to get a decent night’s sleep. I hear every creak and moan that my house makes and convince myself that despite my well working alarm, someone is breaking into my house. Needless to say, the last six months have been filled with many sleepless nights. Early in the deployment I bought a package of Simply Sleep but I only took a couple of them because I still felt groggy the next day at work. Thursday night Shawn called at 12:15 AM my time which of course is 9:15 AM his time. I should have been upset for being woken up in the middle of the night only he didn’t wake me. I had been lying in bed for two hours trying to sleep to no avail. If I had even been remotely close to sleep at that point, it wouldn’t have mattered. If I carry on a coherent conversation with someone, it wakes me up. So I headed into the bathroom and there in the bottom drawer w...

Wow, for once I actually had plans for a Saturday night. Some of the girls from Can Can were getting together to go see a play at VLA and the invited me along. I am still not sure why I got invited. If they think of me as someone they could be friends with or if they just asked out of pity. Whatever the reason, we all had fun. I hope that I will get to tag along again. Maybe I soon find a place to plug in in this town. I thought I would be better adjusted to Killeen six months after the move. Unfortunately the opposite has happened and I feel more out of touch than when we first arrived. It is still weird for me to go out in public and never run into anyone I know. I know I should give it time but I am not a patient person.

Well, I guess I am going to try my hand at blogging again. I ran out of things to say the last time so I took my blog down. It was fun to chroncile my move to Texas when it was fresh and new and I was excited about all the things Shawn and I would get to do together. However, the Army has yet again changed my plans. I am hoping that Shawn and I will get to spend an entire year together as a married couple soon. Hopefully, he won’t have to go anywhere for a while after this deployment. We are busy preparing for Wild West Night. I will have to put the picture of me in costume up on my pictures. I now know that I can’t dance at 28 like I could at 18. I am so out of shape. One dance and I am breathing heavy. Two dances and I can’t hardly move. I don’t know how I am going to make it through 6 hours of this in 3 weeks! Well, I guess that is all the interesting stuff I have to say for now.