Today was Derrick’s first day of 7th grade… as tradition here is a picture taken just before he left.

Of course Xavier wanted a picture of his “1st day” of school… gotta love his double cow licks…Geno calls them his “horns”

Things have been hectic here. I’ve been in class for a week and have only ONE request… HELP! It is going to be a very hard semester. I have the same teacher for both my biology classes - and that’s not a good thing. He has a “different” way of explaining things so Geno was a sweetheart and got me a digital recorder. For Microbiology the professor informed us that we need to study 2 hours a day/7 days a week to get a “C”! I think the chemistry portion is what is going to get me. We are starting some study groups and it’s good to know I’m not the only one feeling a little out of sorts.

Derrick got his braces off (I couldn’t remember if I’ve already mentioned that). This past Friday Derrick and I went to the dentist. Derrick has NO cavities and was told a beautiful smile. I on the other hand had one cavity (which I’ve known about) and I also have an infection where my root canal was done. I have to go in for a re-eval this Thursday with the dentist who worked on my mouth for the crown. Chances are he will recommend me to see a specialist to get it taken care of

Other then that everything is going well. I will give you guys another update here in a couple weeks - if not sooner. I will add photos as we take them - including Xavier’s first densist appointment this Friday!

Take care everyone…

I can’t believe it either, two posts in less then 4 days!  I’m trying to do better, especially since I know school is coming up fast and who knows if/when I will find the time to update this.

Thursday evening we had a HUGE storm. We had quarter size hail, strong winds and crazy lighting.  I am so bummed though, Geno bought me a new SD card that is supposed to improve shutter speed, which it does but out of ALL the pictures I took of the storm not ONE of them caught the lightning.  Luckily, no cars were damaged. Pictures are on Flickr

 Friday I did a lot of running around - including stopping by housing to check on a work order we have for the house.  It turns out that there is a leak in the garage.  We have an alcove in the garage where Geno keeps all his Army gear. Well we have been trying to clean out and organize the garage and when we went to sort through his Army stuff we were greeted by moldy gear and a TON of creepy crawly things.  It had been almost over a year and a half since we looked at that stuff…  You can even see on our roof where the shingles are bowed.  Anyway, I checked with them and it was like they were accusing me - asking why we didn’t notice the water going down the wall - because there isn’t any! They are coming tomorrow to take a look at it. Plus, the gear that was ruined has to be replaced.

Saturday we went to Myrtle Beach to do some shopping.  We wanted to hit the outlet malls, Broadway at the Beach and soak our toes in some water. I also was on the look out for a new pair of shoes my neighbor has been telling me about.  They are the Nike Free’s.  I found them at the outlet mall on 501 and believe it or not they had my size!  Derrick got some play clothes, Geno and Derrick both got new running shoes, and Xavier got new sandals - SIZE 12!!!  On our way back to Fayetteville we stopped at a farmers market and we bought cherries, green/black seedless grapes, peaches and homemade ginger ale!

Today we did a good portion of the garage.  I planned on putting toys and stuff on eBay but have decided just to sell them at the garage sale we are having on Saturday.  Less trouble organizing it and packaging it up… Other then that we just relaxed and enjoyed a movie.

So there you have it… have a great week!!!

Os, so the last post was really short…it had been a long day.  So now I’m sitting here, relaxing and thought this would be a great time to catch everyone up on the crazy life of the Fort Bragg (for now) Lolli’s…

I will start with me this time.  My good news… I received a letter stating that I qualified for Pell Grant’s for school.  This is WONDERFUL news and it took a TON of red tape to get it.  I had to turn in our tax returns and a few other papers THREE times!  Luckily, though it paid off and we got a little extra money to help us out - which as everyone knows is always nice!

School starts in a little over a week now and I’m really getting nervous. It’s going to be a VERY hard semester but I have great men at home to help!!

Well, last Friday started the beginning of “Tax Free” weekend here in NC.  I’m not really sure how many other states do this but NC has 3 days that all school supply stuff, clothes, computers and computer accessories are all sales tax free.  Which is awesome when you go to buy college text books and they cost over $550 BEFORE taxes!  Derrick spent the day with me on last Friday and it was great to have mom/son time together.  We started the day at Bojangles - Derrick LOVES the steak biscuits and I’ve NEVER tasted a better bacon, egg & cheese biscuit. We then went to my school and got books and parking passes (which reminds me I need to put those on the cars).  Then we headed to Edward McKay’s which is a used book store and found out they had 3 books that I needed - so I got those and returned the ones from the book store - for a savings over $100!  Now it was school supply shopping time.  We decided Staples would be the place of choice since I had some Staples rewards and they have a pretty good selection along with decent prices.  I’m sure Walmart might have been a tad cheaper but the crowds would have done me in.  Afterwards it was time for the fun stuff shopping! Geno and I had spent all of Thursday night comparison shopping for a new TV.  Our old TV works great but because there are so many big windows in our livingroom the glare is really bad.  We never realized how many choices there were when it came to LCD tv’s - besides the obvious sizes there is also pixels & Hz.  We thought we found the perfect one and ALMOST bought it but after sleeping on it Geno and I decided that it was more then we wanted to spend.  So Friday after Derrick got all his school supplies we headed over to Circuit City. After doing a little more leg work we brought our information over to Best Buy.  We really wanted to buy the TV from Best Buy since their warranty plan is better.  Turns out that they didn’t have the TV we saw at Circuit City but for $10 more we could have one that was by the same manufacturer but 2” bigger!  AND if we used our Best Buy card we could have it for tax free as well! Since the TV isn’t considered a “back to school” item it would have been taxed if we used any other method of payment.  Next on our shopping agenda was Target for school uniforms.  We picked up enough uniforms to hopefully last until the winter but with the rate he’s growing I might be able to squeeze him in to them through September - he’s just about as tall as my 5′9”(OR 5′10” frame).  Afterwards we stopped back to Best Buy and picked the TV up…then we headed home since Geno was just about to get off work (the 1st Friday of each month is a short day since it’s the first payday of the month).  Derrick had gotten into trouble a day or so earlier and was grounded, however, a friend of his that is only here at Fort Bragg until the end of this month.  So he headed over to Tyler’s house and it was just Geno, Xavier and I for the weekend.  We tried unsuccessfully 3 times to hang a wall mount for the TV, however because the house was built with a metal frame it was impossible.  When it was said and done we were glad to leave it on the stand (though it did waste 6 hours trying to hang it). We ended up rearranging the livingroom Saturday evening and it’s amazing how open it seems now. I will post pictures so you can see for yourself.

Saturday morning we did some grocery shopping at the commissary. Believe it or not it was the first time since before Geno left for Iraq that we did down and dirty grocery shopping.  After a down right rude checkout lady we headed home.  Derrick stayed the night again at Tyler’s house and we just relaxed.

Sunday morning Geno made bacon and I made eggs. Geno, for the first time, tried the Southwestern Egg Beaters - they taste so good! Then we headed to church and to do a little bit more school shopping.  I needed a new flash drive for school (Derrick got my old one) and we needed a backup hard drive since our other one was full.  I needed new sandals but Kohl’s didn’t have any so I talked Geno into possibly going to the beach in a few weeks to get a new pair…take the new Jeep for a drive!

Monday Xavier went on his first field trip with school.  They were headed to Gillis Farms. I was going to go with them but decided that he needed to go alone with his teachers, since they are relatively new.  That way it enabled him to learn to listen to them rather then have his mom tagging along.

I also started on the back part of the garage on Monday. The sad part is I hadn’t been able to get back in there to do more cleaning.  I’ve asked Geno to help me today for an hour or so. I’m really hoping to have a garage sale a week from this Saturday.

I also started a new running plan Monday. I’m starting from the very beginning of a running plan and my goal is to get into shape to run the Army 10-Miler next June.  I’m trying to get two of my neighbors to also join me. 

The rest of this week has been doing miscellaneous errands.  Geno had CQ last night so he was off yesterday and today but had to work from 4pm last night until 9am this morning. The boys and I brought him dinner last night and Xavier and I stopped by this morning before I took Xavier to preschool to see his daddy.

This weekend we don’t have much planned. I need to find some new sandals, new pillows for the couches - something with color and a few other odds and ends.

Derrick has decided to forgo soccer this season and try to make the football team at his school.  There is a chance he won’t make it and he won’t play a sport until basketball but that’s a risk he’s willing to take for his chance at football.

Ok, well that’s about it for now…I know I’ve written a book. I will get pictures of the new livingroom design this weekend.. Also, take a look at the cool storm shot’s I’ve been able to get. We live at the top of a hill and can see some really crazy storms brewing!