Is This Normal or Is It Me?

QUESTION:

"before your spouse deploys are you irritable? is your spouse getting on your nerves?"

A few MilSpouses have told me that that is a normal thing to happen before your spouse deploys. I'm not going to lie, I'm a moody person - not 24/7, thank goodness - so I know I get annoyed and irritated really quick (ie: the TV maybe too loud and BAM! I'm irritated.) But lately its getting to the point that DH is getting on my nerves more and more. I feel like his picking on every little thing I do lately. I feel as though I barely see him and when I do see him he's "not there" but on the phone talking about work. I obviously don't say a world because I know he's deploying soon and I know he has to help the other Marines get their things together, I understand. But...is this normal or is it me?

Song Link-Up

You all should totally go over to Amber at Goodnight Moon to participate in the Song Link-Up. it's simple, just blog about your song of the moment.

I'm currently obsessed with Adele's new single "Rolling In The Deep".

Happy Birthday To Me!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME 

(image credit: We♥It)

Today is my 29th 25th birthday :) 

I can't believe that I'm so old young! hahaha

In the words of DH: "Babe, you're not old, your vintage!"

VIVA Las Vegas

This past weekend DH and I headed to Vegas for my birthday weekend, even though my birthday isn't until Tuesday...YIKES!, and to get away from 29.

We stayed at our regular place, don't I sound cool saying "our regular place"?, Treasure Island.

(image credit: Online Tickets USA)

We love staying there because its just in the perfect spot on the strip, the rooms are modern and nice, AND I can play $5 BlackJack with the machine lady (ps. I can't count, seriously, so I never go on the table...hahaha).

part of the Strip

Friday:

We arrived. Had dinner and did some gambling. DH got lucky and won A LOT, but obviously lost it by the end of the trip. I guess that shows you that "whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" is true :)

Saturday:

We walked all over the Strip. I of course did some small, but much needed shopping. We then headed to have some tapas, which I have been dying for since I've been to Spain last, at "Jaleo". DH didn't quiet enjoy the tapas as much as I did, but I am also guilty of never taking him to a Spanish restaurant. The food was divine there, but the wine we ordered was uh....YUCKIE. 

Here's some of the food samplers:

There cool menu!

Chistorra (normally eaten in Navarra, northern
part of Spain)

Chicken croquetas and I'm not sure why
they are served in a shoe...ODD

Pa amb Tomaquet (Pan con Tomate)

Jamón Iberico

Cool coaster

After dinner we headed to see Cirque du Soleil's "Love" (The Beatles). It was spectacular!

Our tickets!

Entrance ceiling to the show.

Sunday:

We checked out and headed to some outlets nearby. After that we went on our merry way home. Now, we had about 3 gallons of gas left and we knew we had to fill up and we also knew exactly where we going to do this, in a town right on the border with California. Since this was the first time we drove to Vegas and back in my car, the Prius, the GPS took us on a different route home...through the Mojave desert...at night. Picture this: no cars on the road, pitch black, no cellphone reception and no gas stations anywhere. By the time we made it halfway and realized there was nothing we GPSd our way to a gas station...which was 30miles away and we had only almost 2 gallons of gas left. On our way to civilization DH was able to get signal and call a buddy and let him know that we might be getting stranded. Luckily we arrived to a gas station with only 10miiles left in our gallon...PHEW! We then proceed to calm our nerves with some tasty "Bob's Big Boy" (it was my first time there and I loved it!). We filled up and went on our merry way again. We did end up going through the Majove again, but that's because we had a full tank and it was much quicker than going the other routes. 

Now we are back to reality...BOO!

Welcome To Your New Unit!

So today I finally got to meet DHs unit. I met some of the wives, his coworkers/buddies and, included in all of that meet and greet, there was whole lot of awkwardness for me. I should clarify to you all that I am not a sociable person. Don't get me wrong, I will talk to someone if they ask me a question but I will never be that person in the group who is outgoing and such. I'm the kind of person that sits at the back row of meeting, such as the pre-deployment brief we had today, and keep to myself. Its sad, I know, but its what I feel comfortable with. Trust me I have tried to be the sociable person but lets just say that my sense of humor is the dry kind, the kind that no one gets, the kind that when a joke is done no one laughs....that's my sense of humor...LAAAAAME! I know. But that's me.
So anyways, back to todays event. We had a pre-deployment brief and a "Hail & Fairwell", which was ok, but, like the brief, I didn't know anyone there.
I had known about the brief for a little over a month when the FRO emailed me about it. I was definitely, without a doubt, going to attend; because, well lets face it, this is my first deployment and I wanted/needed to be informed. I entered the meeting hall and directly moseyed  on down to the last row so I can get a better view of the "scene" and people-watch, which I secretly love doing :) Everyone's husband was there but mine. It kind of stung being there alone, but DH had to help out one of his fellow Marines, which was understandable, I just wish it had been done sooner rather than last minute...you know?
After the meeting I headed home where I met up with DH and then we both went together to the "Hail & Fairwell". I met some of the wives and they all seemed nice...for now. We'll see how it goes.

Any advice?

Zumba vs Ines

Let me first clarify that I am by no means a athletic person. Seriously, I huff and puff going up the stairs. I don't like going to the gym because I'm very self conscious, therefore I'm constantly thinking that others are judging me in what I wear and how I use the machines. BTW, when I work-out I look like a hot mess...I know, I  know, sexy :)
So for Christmas last year DH bought me the Wii Fi, not because he thought I needed to exercise, but I had been saying how much I wanted it, or maybe he secretly did....hhhhhhmmmmm :) Anyways, I used the Wii Fit, which is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G btw, and started getting into shape. You would've laughed seeing me do the hoola-hop. At one point I was crouched all the way down to the floor, my hands were doing something not normal, my butt and tongue where sticking out...YUP! DH almost took a picture of that but I had to stop him so I could keep some of dignity.
I then stopped exercising on the Wii. The place we lived in before we moved into housing was so badly insulated that when it started getting hot outside the teeny tiny AC unit couldn't hack it. So I stopped.
Last weekend I decided to buy Zumba for the Wii. I have never done Zumba before, but I've been hearing rave reviews for it and thought, "HECK! why not? I need to start exercising again." So I finally tried it out this afternoon and let me just say: AWESOME! And even though I looked like a complete fool doing the exercises, it felt sooooooo great!

Brownie's Training, Thus Far...

So here's a quick update on Brownie's misbehaving. She's actually doing great. She's been going in her crate and sniffing it out, napping in it and just hanging out in there:

*sniff* my little girl is growing up
so fast :)

She's also been going less and less in the house and more and more outside (I made an executive decision to get rid of the pee pads). Obviously, she's still thinking the tile floor is her bathroom, BUUUUT at least she's doing a lot better.

Since the trainer came, I have been working with Brownie a few minutes a day with her exercises/commands and she's been doing excellent, although sometimes she gets distracted and SQUIRREL!

Its funny, I never thought I'd be one of those dog owner's who'd have to get a trainer or a crate. At the same time I thought my dog was going to magically train itself...go figure. I that I had paid a little more attention to my dad when I was little when he trained our dogs. He never used a crate, so he took advantage of the garden we had...and it worked for them.

Well, I must leave you all. I hear Brownie "chirping" outside :)

Dog Training - Brownie

For those who are my FB friends know that for the past week I have had issues with Brownie tearing up her pee pads and wrecking more of the damaged carpet she's already destroyed [click here and here to read old posts about her destroying behavior]. This all started up again Sunday before last when DH and I came back from the outlets. We came home to find this:

she had destroyed all her pee pads.

DH and I obviously scold at her but at the same time we could't contain the laughter we had in us when we scolded her. Picture this: Brownie low crawling against the wall. She basically looked like a platypus...hahaha. Keep in mind that we haven't crate trained her (bad Ines, bad) just because we felt bad having her in that little cage all by her lonesome. So the next day I come home from work and find this lovely surprise:

she re-destroyed her pee pads along with t
carpet that she had previously destroyed which
was covered by a little carpet we had bought
just yesterday to cover that mess up.

So this is the second day in a row and I'm contemplating going to Walmart to buy a crate, but I hesitate. Well, I was wrong and I shouldn't have hesitated, the following day she did the same damage. I'm of course livid at her and at DH and I for not preventing this any sooner. After work I go to Walmart, purchase the crate and hope and pray that this works.

The following day I'm getting ready to go to work upstairs. I come downstairs to get something and what do I see? Another demolished pee pad. I was stunned. She's never done this when we are in the house. Needless to say that I was desperate in finding a solution. For the following three days I had her in her crate when I'd leave for work and DH would let her out when he'd return. That was going great, EXCEPT that she did it again...while I was upstairs getting ready for work she destroyed more of the carpet. I said "THAT'S IT" and headed over to our fridge where I have a card of a dog trainer that I got at the vet. I called and scheduled an appointment for today.

The training went well. We were at it for about 1h 45mins and I think she gave me the sufficient advice and techniques on how to train her and make her stop destroying things. She told me to keep at them everyday with a leash until the time is ready to take the leash of and she can do those techniques on her own.

Brownie getting told to stay. She was not
happy with that leash.

After she left and I came upstairs to starting writing this post I hear Brownie being to quiet. I go down stairs to see the make-shift carpet that we have used to cover up the damage to the carpet slightly moved and with some carpet fuzz on her. This is going to be some long training.

Have any of you used a trainer? How'd it go? What's your opinion on crate training?