Basic Training Graduation/Ft. Sill

Johnny joined the Army in mid August. I knew he would at some point in time. He had been talking about wanting to join for the past three years but just never did it until recently. I was very worried when he started talking about joining. I finally came to terms with it when I realized how much he wanted to do it and how good of a career opportunity this could turn out to be. He is enlisted in the Reserves for now which really doesn't mean anything. He could still be deployed.

Last week was his Basic Training graduation. I was so proud of him! He graduated with honors and his platoon was the honor platoon for this cycle (4th Platoon Ruff Riders! WOO!). He already has two pins, one for Sharpshooter and one for Expert in Grenade. Needless to say, he really took off with this Army business. I couldn't be happier for him.

He was at Fort Sill in Oklahoma. I was able to go see him graduate and participate in family day as well as take him off base for two day passes. He showed me around the base and went shopping at the PX. I have to say, I absolutely LOVE the base. Lawton on the other hand was not someplace I'd visit again (no offense!).

Anyway, here are some of the pictures from the trip!

Oklahoma is not a very exciting state. This was my view for 4.5 hours.

This was the best thing ever. Basically, it was in the morning before going to family day and I was flipping through TV channels. I stumbled upon mug shots displayed on TV so I had to stop and watch. My favorite part was the very current rap/r&b music playing in the background. I wish we had this in Missouri!

First day going on base! I was SO excited!

This was his graduating class (I always forget the proper names for everything in the Army) marching out for Family Day demonstration. It was really cute. There was a group who showed off all three uniforms, a group who demonstrated the "first day" of marching and then what they learned while there, and another group who did the same for Physical Training. After all of this I got to take him off base!!!

He was on the phone with someone in my hotel room and I snuck a quick picture. Love it!

At lunch the first day. He looks so handsome in his dress blues!!!!

GRADUATION! It was funny because they had to sit like this until they were told to move. So family members were crawling everywhere taking pictures and they had to keep looking forward. Johnny is all the way down on the other side of the second row!

OH YEAH! Honor graduate! There were more pictures but this was the best.

Being sworn in, Officially US Army Soldiers! 

We went to the museum on base right afterwards. I wanted this little guy.

I thought this was so cool.

Very cool! Too bad it was ungodly windy and cold out that day.

So official looking! 

There isn't much to do in Lawton. We found a sign on our way out of Walmart that said something about a "Holy City." We decided we needed to go find this city. On our way we found a rock formation that was similar to a very small mountain. So, we drove up it. 

So pretty! It was awesome at the top. We would have gotten a picture but I almost blew off because of the wind.

His beret kept moving around into unacceptable positions. 

Lucy, my Jeep, really enjoyed the drive up there. I think she felt like she was in her natural habitat. (Yes, I do indeed name my cars. I happen to really like Lucy from Charlie Brown.)

Those are a couple pictures from during Basic Training that I really like. 

Over all the trip to Fort Sill was a success. I discovered that I really love the base and he got to move closer to home for AIT. He's now located at Fort Leonard Wood here in Missouri! I get to go see him on Friday so we'll see what that base is like. More pictures to come!

Domesticated.

I would never claim to be a very ... er ... domesticated woman. I am too lazy to cook even though I enjoy it, I hate doing laundry so I never do it, cleaning only happens when the health department comes and tells me that my neighbors are becoming ill from the new germs I'm breeding. However, I've been on vacation since last Wednesday and suddenly became very bored today. So I decided to start scrap booking. Here are the results thus far...

*Warning* -- don't judge me, I'm a newbie.

 My tools. I had the paper but decided to go get some stickers. Lucky for me, they were 40% off at Michael's!

 I didn't have an extra $30 to spend on buying a scrap book. I decided to make the cover and back myself. I did this by gluing three thicker sheets of paper together. I guess it turned out okay. I decided to decorate the front...

 Not too thrilled with how it turned out. If I ever have extra money I'll probably splurge on an actual book.

 This is my boy! He just graduated basic (pictures from that adventure to come).

 I found some cool Army stickers. Not too thrilled with how this page turned out either.

 I think this page is okay. He got these cool little desk calendars so I decided to put one to good use.

 Map and graduation letter. Man, I'm not good at this stuff!

 Graduation program. Wow...


So scrap booking apparently takes some practice. It would also be nice if the stickers and stuff weren't so expensive. Maybe I'll get better as time progresses or maybe I'll continue to suck at it. Either way, it's our memories and they will be saved on real paper now.

(And if you have any scrap booking tips, I need them.)

I decided to organize some of my cooking utensils...

 I got those nice pots and pans last week. I was so excited to get them. I had been using the same really cheap set since 2007.

 My kitchen isn't really set up for cooking. Everything is so out of reach. I got this cute little owl at Urban Outfitters a while ago and had intended on using him as a coat hook in my office. Then I had a better idea for him...SPOON HOLDER!

 I also got some new measuring cups and spoons. I think their new location will keep me from losing them.

I framed these pictures yesterday but wanted to show them off. Hopefully I'll have something for the missing square soon!

Color.

About 6 months ago I started looking for a house to rent. I knew I wanted an older home, preferably a bungalow. Well, bungalows are everywhere in this city, the trick was finding a nice one that wasn't trashed by college students. I found it! The only problem was that it was very expensive and it looked as though someone had gotten white paint and pumped it through a hose while covering the entire interior of the house. The owner doesn't live in the state so he didn't realize how bad it was. With a little bargaining I was able to get the rent knocked down with the understanding that we would paint the house and make it look beautiful. Boy, what did I get myself into for a rental house? Oh well, its history now. We've lived here for about 5 months now and couldn't be happier!

Here are some before and after pictures. Be prepared to be outraged if you love details in old homes.

Our cute little house! The exterior was in excellent condition!

The living room... before.

The living room. Beautiful mantle. Before.

This house has excellent original panelling and built in book shelves with scalloped edges. Someone decided to make holes in the back of the shelves. I'm assuming it's not the same person who drown this beautiful detail in white paint. Before.

Along the back of the living room and into the little hall connecting the two bedrooms and the bathroom. Before.

 Living room after. We added a medium chocolate brown color to the wall and then repainted the panelling in a warm glowy color.

 After.

After, going into the dining room. That was a mess as well.

 Close up of the panelling in the dining room. Poor house. Before.

Dining room after. I added a chocolate brown that's a shade darker than the living room and continued the same glowy color on the panelling. Excuse the mess, it had JUST gotten finished.

 This is the kitchen before. My dad was sanding down the shelving because it had such a thick coat of paint on the edges that it wouldn't shut. Overall, the kitchen wasn't terrible.

 Kitchen after. It's an okay kitchen. I left the cabinets that dirty streaky white because it looks more shabby chic in person than it does in these pictures. I hate how there is NO counter space!

 I chose a really lovely dark red. I knew I wanted something in the house to be painted dark red. I just didn't know it'd be the kitchen.

 The door to the backyard and Dieter (the cat). The wood floor is beat up really bad but I kind of like it. Goes back to that shabby chic thing I'm trying to do.

There are the cabinets that my dad sanded down. They still don't shut all of the way but it's the best we could do.

 This is the bathroom, before. I didn't get a great picture of it before I painted it. Just so you get the point, it was all white. ALL WHITE. Dripping in white. So much white paint that the electrical socket was not useable because it was caked into it.

 I took a bit of a risk and used a very dark purple paint. I wanted something different from what was in the rest of the house. I love it with the white accents.

I didn't do a good job of painting in here. I don't think you can tell by the picture. Originally I painted it the same color as the living room but decided that was weird.

 I didn't get any before pictures of the bedrooms. This is the master bedroom after. The color on the walls is a very soft sage color with an almost grey accent in it. I adore this color.

LOVE this color!

So, that is my home. I'll be posting more pictures when I do something different with the rooms. I never did paint the second bedroom. I'm considering making it into a cave type thing for the boy. I may have to decorate it in Army stuff. I think he might like that and he really needs his own space to relax. Now to find time to accomplish that.

It was kind of cool when we were painting. We would peel back the tape on the trim and reveal the original colors of the home. The panelling was all this really weird green color that I can only describe as being similar to split pea soup. I also found some interesting gold/yellow color. I really hope those colors weren't used together. I won't hold my breath.