40 WEEKS DOWN!!

Day 281
Another week down! WOOHOO!!

A year ago today, I was all packed up in the car with Rigel, making an 8 hour drive from Junction City (Ft. Riley), KS to Colorado Springs (Ft. Carson), Colorado. Joe was driving in front of me. Rigel is a good little traveler, my little nomad. He has his own little seat belt. He likes to look out the window and bark at birds. And stick his nose in the air vents and smell the new air. That white blanket was his Christmas present from my mom one year. We always put it in the front seat when he's traveling with me. And that puffy silver white thing? The best jacket I have ever had!! Growing up in Arkansas, a heavy sweater would be sufficient during most winter days. But after going through a winter in Colorado Springs, and starting another one now, it's the best $15 I've ever spent at Wal-Mart. Yeah, it's a $15 Wal-Mart jacket, and I LOVE it!! I have a black one in the back of my car all the time, just in case. Rigel also likes to lay on it. It's gets snugly warm really fast.

It's amazing how a year can go by so fast. And so much can change. And so much can stay the same. I think back to that day. I was so nervous about the move. I was leaving so much behind. It was my first duty station. I had built a life there. We were told that we would be there for 6 years. But nope, 2 years, on the dot, we moved. I was leaving a job and wonderful friends. People I relied on. I was nervous about a new command. And we were certain that a deployment was in Joe's future, either that March to Iraq or in July to A'stan. New friends to make. A new job to find. A new life to start... alone. But I have made some AWESOME friends. And I have been able to go back to school. So this move may have been a blessing in disguise. And the deployment money has made a lot of things possible. We will pay off Joe's car in just 2 years. And we have a nice little savings started for a down payment on a house in the not too distant future.

So just in time for Christmas, the Springs had a massive wind storm that managed to throw something into my car window. And not just a regular window, oh no, it was the tiny triange piece that apparently costs more to replace because it's smaller than the rest of the glass. Well, I was expecting the replacement cost to be close to $300. But I found a place online that has great reviews that will come out to my house and replace the window for only $149 (tax, labor, mobile service, and the actual window are included)!!!! I've never had to replace a window before. This is all new to me. But that sounds like a great price compared to the other places I called; they wanted to charge between $217 and $256. They will be out here today between 0800 and 1130 to replace it.

All in all, it's not a bad situation though. I was sitting in my house steaming, f*cking window. Damn wind. And it hit me pretty hard, as things go, it's not the end of the world. December 20th, I could be worrying about much bigger stuff. But I'm not. It's just a window. Very fixable. I have many things to be thankful for, so I'm not going to let a silly window get to me. Many people are having a very rough December, because of jobs and the economy and the holiday at the end of the week. But we have the money to fix the window, and we wont be strapped because of it. Gotta think about the big picture.

And I woke up to this from my love this morning: good morning beautiful. one more day closer to kissing your face.