Santa's Castle

I had come up with an idea to have a classwide donation for this place on post called Santa's Castle.

Santa's Castle is a place where ONLY military members can be suggested by their chain of command to get FREE Chrismas presents for their children when they are in need. Many of us know the Army doesn't pay the best, and many times we have a hard time making ends meet. (My mind goes back to the song "American Soldier" where the lyrics say, "I don't do it for the money, there's bills that I can't pay" ... gosh there are times for ALL Soldiers that these words ring so true.) Santa's Castle is set up to provide every Soldier who is accepted into this program with over $100 in toys for every child. These gifts are a something that can make a Christmas without Daddy a lot more pleasant when it's hard to celebrate without him.

We have this Facebook page set up for the families of the Soldiers in training with our company (Echo 2/47) and I gave them a call to action. We asked them if they felt so compelled to donate 1 new unopened toy for a child from birth to 18 that we would make a large donation on behalf of the whole class. We told them that we'd have the donation box set up at the meet and greet. We asked all the Drill Sergeant's wives to bring a toy so they box didn't look empty. Well of COURSE we were late to the meet and greet - thanks John Haines - and when we got there the box was OVERFLOWING!! This was epic! I can't believe the donation given, but that wasn't all of it. Later that night, a couple came up to us and had quite literally a car load full of toys! They said they didn't have grandbabies and wanted to give back. The next morning at family day toys were still pouring in! This was sooo awesome! At the end of it all we had over 400 toys for our classwide donation to Santa's Castle.

Graduation ... FINALLY

John's current class of privates graduated last week and I can't tell you how happy I am.

Being "on the trail" as they call it, isn't as hard as I thought it would be. With that being said, I don't enjoy the whole waiting to make dinner until 9pm to find out that he ate with the privates at 6pm ... but hey that's just the kinks of this list style that we have to work out.

Now that he's home though, I am totally going to be a happy girl with this cycle break until late January! The only thing that truly sucks is that we had planned a cruise for early January but was told that John picked up 2 days before our cruise returned to port so that went out the window. Then we found out about 2 weeks ago that the pick up wasn't until late January but we'd already spent our cruise fund :(

Oh well ... onto more productive thinking ...

I certainly am excited about the fact that John will be around the house more to help with the mutts and household chores more!

During graduation, John got to be a squad leader in the "demo squad" (which in my opinion is the coolest part of the ceremony). He got to lead the privates out onto the field through smoke and gunfire. Below are some cool photos of him.

I am hating school!

I'm helping John with his classes this go around and I just have no drive to take this dang comp class. Thank God I made it through good ole MC (Maryville College that is) because I swear I don't think I'll ever want to go to college again.

I admit it, I'm lazy. I'd rather watch TV and play online than read a book and write about crap I honestly don't care about.

This is something I've gotta change (the laziness that is) before too long. When we have little ones, with me working and John on the trail I know that I will need to better manage my time, I just need to get on it. Grrr ... can I please get a good helping of motivation? I'm super motivated at anything that makes me money, but pretty much could care less to lift a finger otherwise. That's really embarrassing and petty. I started a few weeks ago, going to the gym and was loving it, but quit last week because "I was too busy" but I think that really translates into "I'm too lazy and would rather loaf around at home.

Grrr! That's all I can say!

Holiday Shopping

OMG I have to get on it this year! I've got big plans for John but I can't get my act together and actually get him his gifts, lol.

Thankfully we will be diong Christmas with my family AFTER Christmas so I can hit up some good sales before heading to TN for New Years/Papaw's Birthday.

We've decided to spend Thanksgiving with my family in TN, which will be a whirlwind of Mom's house, Papaw's house, and Dad's house in the few short days. Not to mention I can't find a formal dress in this town that's worth buying so I'll be on the hunt in TN for a dress for the formal on December 4th.

Christmas will be spent with the Haines' family in Florida, not exactly the picture perfect Christmas - the Florida and sand thing, not the family thing, lol. I can't wait to spend time with my Haines family, I love them so much and miss them just as much as I miss my family in TN when we're gone from them for a long time. I'm so excited to see my baby niece, Riley, for the first time. I can't wait to have a baby around for Christmas!

Here's the big issue ... I have NO CLUE what to get my family (the Haines side) for Christmas! I'm completely at a loss and I hate asking people what to get people, but I am at a dead end with them. So here's to hoping I come up with something soon ...

On the other hand I have a whole list for my amazing hubbieee and can't wait to get him everything that he deserves! Now that I'm a "worthy" part of our marriage and have a job that pays worth something I can't wait to spoil this man :)

My plan for next Christmas .... Ski resort!!!! Well, let's be honest, it probably won't happen next year, but I'm definitely planning on it before we leave Benning. I'm roping my Father in law away from work if I have to hog tie him myself!

I wish we could/would buy a house

This morning while reading the news online I saw an article about the awesome house prices around the country, specifically what you can get with less than 100k!!

I'm so wishing we would've thought of buying a house but when we got here we didn't know the area or anyone to trust as we had no friends here in the beginning to tell us the good areas. I'm praying very hard that when we leave here we will get stationed at Carson (our number one choice, by the way) and you better believe that we'll be buying a home!

Official Employee Now

Well, after 10 months, one separation, and a lot of tears and worrying - I'm now an official employee with Aflac!!

My journey started last December when I came in as a temp through Manpower. (Side note: I will always use Manpower when we PCS because I have had the best experience with them helping me find a job - and I would suggest this to ANY military wife that is in search of a job when they PCS start with them.)
I came into Aflac as an Administrative Assistant for 15 Market Vice Presidents of Broker Sales. This was a completely new module to this department so I was flying blind with these guys. It was a lot of work, but we got into a grove. Soon there after I was told we would be getting some extra help with the 15 guys as the department had been allowed 3 admins for these guys. Not long after (about April) I was told that the company had to help some dislocated employees and my job was bring replaced with internal employees instead of hiring me from the outside. This was so hard to accept because the department wanted to keep me but just couldn't. I was completely heartbroken as I've never been "released" from a job.
I found another position soon with a local property management company, but it turned out to be the wrong fit for me and my family.
I was blessed with a phone call from Manpower that my old team at Aflac needed me back, but on a temporary term again. I didn't care, I wanted to go "home" so I left a permanent full time position to go back to Aflac. I was now working for the department head who is known as a tough man to work for. Well maybe I just mesh well with this man, because he is really easy going and helps me learn when there's something he needs that I don't know how to do off the top of my head. He also teaches me a lot and I love the fact that my job is now a challenge.

Well I was given the opportunity to apply for this position on a permanent level in August. For the last month and a half I've been on pins and needles hoping I was the right fit for him. Well on Tuesday, September 28th I was offered the position to support Ron full time, as an official Aflac employee.

THIS WEEK HAS BEEN PHENOMENAL!!

I can't wait to turn in my neon yellow badge and parking hang tag for a regular badge and actual sticker on my car!! I can't wait for the challenges ahead of me and am so blessed to be given this opportunity! I have made some of the best friends at this job that I've ever had and will take them in my heart with me where ever I go after here.

My Boss

Can I just say that even though he may be very tough to work for and a little intimidating, I am so thankful for how he keeps me under his wing. Since I'm a temp, some people treat me like crap as I'm not an official Aflac employee. Ron always makes me feel like I am an employee and that really goes a LONG way.

Just today this lady was very snipity with me because I could not reach him on the phone and at the last moment called her back to let her know and she totally chewed me out that she didn't have time and when I tried to apologize she said "Okay, okay, okay" and hung up on me.

Well just in passing I mentioned to my boss that I was still waiting on dial in informaiton for a call he needs to be on. He asked me why and I simply told him the answer and he said put me through to her, this is unacceptable.

I just am very thankful to work for a man who cares about his staff. He's a great lead by example kind of person.