Coping with OCS Distance

Distance is hard, I don’t care who you are.  When Jay was still in college only an hour away it was hard only seeing him on weekends, if that.  He has officially been in OCS (Officer Candidate School) for a little over a month.  Time has indeed flown by, but at the same time it has dragged along.  I have thrown myself into hobbies and school work in order to help the time pass.  Here is a list of things to do to help the time go by a little faster.

1. Go on a trip.  I visited my brother, sister-in-law, and niece a few weeks ago.  I went for about a week, but it helped so much.  I wasn’t thinking so much about Jay at OCS.  This also made the days before my trip go faster because I was packing and getting ready.  It made the first two weeks fly by.
2. Enter a craft fair/5k/something you have to prepare for.  I entered a craft fair and had about two weeks after I got back to get stuff together and prepare.  This makes the time fly by.  You are counting down to a close certain date and you have to work toward the goal.  I painted which took hours each day.  If you enter a 5k, you have to run to prepare.  That’s at least an hour a day.  It is something to keep your mind occupied.
3. Focus on Improving your health.  When Jay left, I swore I was going to lose 30 pounds while he was away.  Well, you know how that goes.  It is now more like 10! haha But I am still trying and it keeps my mind on that.  I try to work out each day and eat better.  Even though the scale isn’t going down as fast, I can feel a difference.  And trust me, he will see a difference too!  He is going to be shocked at how long my hair has gotten.  It has grown at least an inch since he left!
4. Hang out with friends and family. If you’re anything like me, your friends have busy lives without you, but if you ask, the good ones will make time.  I try not to bug my friends to hangout because I know they have lives, but at least once a month I try to get together with my two closest friends.  I do hang out with my family quite a bit now.  More so because I know I will be moving away soon and I try to cherish the time.  Even the annoying times when they drive me crazy!  All these people are there to support you.
5. Join his class support group for friends and family on Facebook.  I joined the support group for Jay’s class and let me tell you, it is so helpful!  People know things that you don’t know or didn’t even think of!  Everyone is extremely supportive because they are all going through the same thing.  And if you need to talk to someone, there are plenty of people on there willing to listen!
6. Take a class or join a play.  Do something that takes commitment for a few weeks or a month or two.  I took a class before Jay left, but I wish I took one while he was gone.  It gave me something to look forward to and something to work at.  I love to do plays at my local community theatre.  I wanted to do one while he was away, but the production dates were around his graduation date and I did not want to miss that.  It is so much fun though!  Even if you are new to acting you can audition.  If you don’t want to be on stage there are plenty of other ways to help out the production.  I guess the main goal here is to have a small commitment to pass the time.
7. Plan his CandiO box!  I am so excited for this!  I have already made a Pinterest board about it and am getting ideas.  I keep asking him what he wants in it even though it is a few weeks away.  If you are crafty like me you will love it!  A quick search for CandiO box will show you what I mean!
8. Plan for his graduation.  Yepp, only 7 more weeks!  I have been looking up what type of dress I want to wear and where to buy it.  I have been looking at what shoes I want and forming an outfit in my head.  It’s kind of a fancy event and since I don’t go to many of those I have to plan ahead.  What hairstyle, makeup look, jewelry, dress, and shoes.  I get so excited and it gives me an opportunity to go shopping!

The Glitch is Solved!

A few days ago I shared how the plan to move to Florida may not go in motion.  Well, things have worked themselves out!  The class is actually online!  The class information was wrong.  Yesterday I received an email saying that the class I signed up for is actually online and that the information was wrong.  This made me so happy.  After hearing I had to stay in Indiana another semester, I basically started bawling.  I didn’t want to go another four months right after three months of OCS without him.

So all is to go as planned.  When Jay finds out he will be going to Florida for the first part of flight school, I will join him after he goes and gets settled in.  The plan is for him to go and stay on base then I will fly down and we will find a place to live.  I will come back up and then move all our stuff down there.  I’m so excited to be moving there and to take the next step with our relationship!

In other news, I have started working out again.  I took about a three week hiatus when I visited my brother and got super busy when I came home.  My workout lately has been Jillian Micheal’s 30 Day Shred Level 1.  I love it!  I feel so strong after and I can definitely tell a difference.   I have lost around 20 pounds so far.  A few people have noticed.  I’ve observed they compliment you after you mention it. Haha  I will talk more about health and weight loss in other posts as this is a well rounded blog!

A Glitch in the Plan

Well folks…I’m devastated.  I have one semester left in my Bachelors degree.  Usually all the classes for my particular degree are online.  Well of course my last semester they throw in one class where I have to go to campus.  One day a week! Like seriously!?  This is such a glitch in the plan!  When Jay goes to flight school in Florida, the plan was to finish online down there so we could live together.  Sometimes I feel like life is against me, but I truly think there is a reason for this and that God has a plan.  It may not be the plan I envisioned, but a plan no doubt.

It’s going to be so hard after not seeing him during the 12 weeks of OCS and then go another semester without him!  Maybe he will have to wait a few weeks or months before he is transferred there.  And I will be able to take trips to see him.  I feel like this is a test.  If I can’t handle this, then I wouldn’t be able to handle deployment.  Well…I can and I will!  He is worth it.  We have already waited so long to live together and start a new chapter of our lives, we can wait a few more months.  Plus I will then have a degree so I can get a better job where he is stationed.  Maybe I can focus on getting an internship for the spring semester.

In other news, Jay emails about every night, which is so nice!  He didn’t call this weekend because he had guard and colors (which is the raising and lowering of the flag).  So he said he was too busy.  It is still tough for him.  The other day he emailed me about being homesick.  I wrote him some encouraging words and I think it made him feel better.  Only two more months!

Getting Calls and Emails

So after the third week of Officer Candidate School, Jay now has email and can call home once a weekend.  It’s nice to hear from him in email once or twice a day, but it’s also hard because I feel more distance between us.  On the positive side he only has like 8 and a half weeks left!

The phone calls are short.  He only gets 15 minutes and he has to sign up for a time.  It’s even harder because this weekend he split up the time between his parents and I, so neither of us got the whole 15 minutes.  Emails are nicer.  They are still short, but I know he is busy.

I had only received two letters from him before he had email.  Pretty soon I will get to make him a CandiO box for him after like week 9.  I will do a separate post about it when I make it.  Its kinda far away, but I can’t wait to fill it with items he hasn’t had in a while like beef jerky and Swedish Fish!

He has done pretty well.  So far he has passed everything so he hasn’t had to hold or roll back.

I have been very busy myself.  I am currently just a babysitter.  It has been a great flexible job for me while in college.  The family I work for has needed me a TON the past couple weeks.  I also went and visited my brother, sister-in-law, and niece in Maryland.  Now I am preparing for a craft fair this weekend.  Plus doing homework and exams on top of all this!  I’m kicking myself for complaining about not having much to do while Jay is away!

First Letter from OCS/Holding Information

On Tuesday I got my first letter from Jay.  So just over a week since he left.  He seems to be good.  A little homesick I think.  He said it was overwhelming because there is so much information.  It made me so happy to get his letter, especially since I wasn’t expecting one for a while.  He passed his medical exam (which was harder than he thought) and initial physical exam.  He wrote it early on because he said they were mostly doing paperwork and haven’t met their drill instructors or P.O.s yet.  Half of the letter was about how much he missed me, which even though I felt bad he was missing me also made me happy because he was admitting he missed me. Haha.

I joined a Facebook group for friends and family for their class and got confused on if he was being held.  His section is H after his class number and people on the site kept saying their LOs were in class H which meant they were being held.  I found out that H is just his section for his class and that it would just say Class H instead of a class number.  So I had a mini freak out thinking he might not be home for Christmas.

Wednesday was my first breakdown since the day I dropped him off.  I had a rough week and someone had an attitude toward me at work.  So I just sat there and cried while reading his letter over and over.  He has always been a good venting person so it was hard not having someone (besides my parents) to vent to.

This week I have been visiting my brother in Maryland and his family.  He is also in the Navy.  It keeps my mind off of him being gone, but I still miss him.  He wrote his family Saturday and they just got it the following Thursday.  Hopefully he can keep writing letters.  I wrote him one letter right before I got his.  I just got an address I figured out on the internet.  When I got his, I realized I got basically everything right except I didn’t know about his section letter.  So I quickly wrote him another with the proper address.  Hopefully he gets both.

I try to keep myself busy.  I will be doing a craft fair in a few weeks so I need to prepare for that.  I would like to redo my antique steamer trunk.  Hopefully I will remember to do a tutorial on that.

Timeline of Navy Officer Candidate School

So I don’t know every detail of the Navy Officer Candidate School timeline and what they do, but I am going to tell you a little about it.  I will tell more when Jay is done and can talk to me about it.

Navy OCS takes place in Newport, RI.  It lasts about three months if everyone does well and there are no delays.  You can either drive or fly there, they will reimburse you either way.

Officer candidates check in at 0900 at the base.  The officer candidates in there last leg of training welcome you and treat you like a human.  They help you fill out paperwork, get your uniforms and supplies, get fitted for uniforms, and all other initial things.  You get a haircut.  Burred for men and a bob for women.  This is about $12.  You go through a thorough dental and physical exam.

After all initial and preparation steps are taken, the leader officer candidates turn on you.  They will suddenly be yelling at you to tie your shoes and untie them again.  They will scream a bunch of ridiculous commands in your face basically to show you who is boss.  This is to train you right off the back to take commands and train them to give commands.  About three days in you will meet your drill Sargent.  Better known as wake up Wednesday.  And by meet, I mean he will come banging on your door early in the morning and you need to be ready.

The first 3-4 weeks are all about physical training and getting yelled at.  You will learn to take instruction.  This is when the most candidates drop out of OCS.  The navy is testing you during these weeks.  They need to know if you can be depended on in stressful situations.  The instructors do not just look at your athletic performance.  You need to be extremely organized in your room.  They go in there and I kid you not…they use a ruler to make sure everything is perfect.  You will continue physical training throughout the remaining OCS weeks.

The next phase of 3-4 weeks is classroom learning.  You will learn about leadership, weapons, engineering, navigation, sea power, naval history, naval operations, and seamanship.  You will still do drills and pt, but the majority of your day will be in the classroom.  The stress changes from physical to mental.

The last phase is where you become the leader.  You then become in charge of the incoming class and you get to yell at them.

Here are some helpful videos about OCS.

http://todaysmilitary.com/videos/navy-ocs-arrival

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6LBuyxy6Ns

OCS is there to test you mentally and physically! It is there to wean out the weak.  Do not give up!  If you really want this you can do it!

Airport Goodbyes

Well, Saturday was the day Jay left.  His flight left at 11am and I got to take him to the airport.  It didn’t go as I wanted, but it was still a good goodbye.  It takes about an hour to get to the airport from his parents’ house.  I went to pick him up at 8:30am because he wanted to get there early.  But being the procrastinator he is, he was still packing and getting ready.  We didn’t leave til 9 and he still had to stop at the bank because you have to bring $300 cash with you to buy uniforms, get a haircut, and whatever else you may need.

Even after I drove the fastest I have in my life (which isn’t really that fast, I drive like a grandma), we made it to the airport a little before 10 am.  Since he didn’t want to miss his flight in case something came up, we decided to just say goodbye at the drop off instead of me going inside with him.  It was probably better this way because I had to hold myself together to drive home instead of being a blubbering fool.  Another guy in his class was also coming from Indiana so he got to have someone with him at least.

After arriving at his hotel, he met the third officer candidate from Indiana.  It was nice he got to know some people before going into this life changing 3 months.  Sunday he had to check in at 9am.  Hopefully I will be receiving a letter within the next couple of weeks.  He has only been gone a few days, but it feels like weeks.

One Week til OCS

Well, it is now one week until Jay leaves.  His mom cries a lot and then I feel terrible because I’m not crying.  She is very close to him, but it is not the end of the world.  I guess I’m not sad because I will be moving to Florida with him.  There are too many positive, exciting things going to happen after he is done that I don’t feel the need to cry.

I shouldn’t speak too soon.  I will probably cry when we say goodbye before he leaves.  All I can do is pray that everything goes smoothly for him.

Our 7 year anniversary is this Wednesday.  We probably won’t get to even celebrate with how crazy this week will be.  He also has a birthday in October, which I also wanted to celebrate early, but you never know.

All I hear is Taylor Swift’s Wildest Dreams in my head.  Mostly the line…”Say you’ll remember me, standing in a nice dress, starring at the sunset babe, red lips and rosy cheeks”.  Seems perfect for the occasion.  I just hope these next three months go by fast.  Hopefully he will graduate before Christmas and be home to celebrate for a few weeks.  Who knows?

My It Works! Wrap Review

First off! I am NOT a distributor for It Works! nor do I work for the company in any way.  I just want to give my honest opinion about the wraps and my personal experience.  The results WILL VARY! No body is the same!

Any whooo…

I have a few facebook friends (not personal friends) who are distributors and they keep posting and posting and posting about the products and they do look pretty awesome annnddd pretty damn expensive….for me.

So I did what I always do and turned to good ol’ ebay and amazon and got 4 of the It Works! wraps like $30 cheaper than they are if sold by the company/distributors.  I was sooo excited when they came.  You know whenever there is hope to get skinny without all the work…HA!  I slapped that baby on and wore it for about 4 hours on my stomach.  I did measure, take pictures, and weigh myself before an after.  Nothing right after as expected you know things don’t happen right away.  The next morning I again measured, took pictures, and weighed myself.  Same weight, but I did look TONER and I lost a whole INCH!!  A couple nights later I did the wrap and the same routine.  Same weight, slightly toner, and another inch.  Two INCHES!! I was pretty pumped.  The next wrap I decided to cut in half and do it on my obliques to get that little fat fold on my back.   EHHH…not as good of results.  No difference. Blaghh!  Then I got busy and kept forgetting to use the last one.  So a few months later and here I am writing this review and wearing the last wrap at the same time.  I do like them.  They are warm and tingly when I wear them.  They smell like a sweet icy hot (I think it smells good but others don’t).  I think they do work, but they are not a fat melter, more like a skin toner.  I did follow the rules and drank plenty of water.  I do not think that they need to be that expensive though.

Other products I use are Thermofit and Fat Fighter.  I use the Fat Fighter when I eat a big meal, like fettuccine alfredo from Olive Garden.  I must say it does help prevent gaining weight the next day, at least for me it does.  It may not do the same for everyone.  You take it up to an hour after eating and it absorbs some of the fat so it does not absorb into the body.

The other is Thermofit.  I always forget about this.  You are suppose to take it daily to increase metabolism, but since I forget and it is pretty pricey, I take it along with the Fat Fighter.  It basically has a bunch of ingredients recommended for boosting metabolism.  I do believe it works for me, but since I don’t have a steady income I don’t want to constantly buy it.

Again, I am not a distributor.  This is just my honest opinion.  What were your results from these products?

Make Money with Inbox Dollars!

Another great way to make extra cash is through a site called Inbox Dollars!  I personally have done this and received a check so it is legit!  Basically you make an account and make money by doing offers, checking e-mails, and doing surveys.  There are other ways on the site, but these are the three I used to make money the most.  You have to make $30 in order to get a payout.  I have already received one check and am $1 away from being able to cash out again.  This second time was mostly done by checking e-mails!  It took a long time, but it only took 5 minutes or less to do so everyday.  So easy!  Plus you get $5 free just for signing up!!!

You can check it out here:

http://www.inboxdollars.com/?r=ref16628179