I've been very fortunate to be able to talk to Kolt a few more times this week. He sounds much better than he did. He's getting about 4-5 hours of sleep per night, even with his roommate who snores. He told me that he's very frustrated with the leadership of his flight but is dealing with it. They assigned leaders based off of rank, and it turns out they are not the most qualified group of people. He says that everyone in his flight has a problem prioritizing and meetings that they have that should last 10-20 mins are lasting hours. They also have homework assignments that are due on the computer and half of the computers are down. Most everyone has at least one of the two in their rooms that work, and of course Kolt and his roommate have none. He's falling behind because of this, but he's used a fellow flightmember's computer and login to do the modules, but there's no way for him to prove that he did it himself. He has a great attitude despite all of this and actually believes they are creating this chaos on purpose in order to teach the airmen priorities and dealing with the stress. Kolt has a great perspective and is not letting the little things get him down, and I'm really proud of him for this.
Today was his first fitness evaluation. If he passes then he doesn't have to worry about it again throughout the rest of COT, if he fails he will retest Monday, if he fails then, then they give them more exercise to do and fitness instruction and will retest more towards the end of COT. He said he was placed in the top half of the whole group for his running time and is confident he will pass today.
He says the time is flying by and can't believe he's already done with his first week. He's grateful to be done with the beginning part, he says they are already lightening up on the yelling and once the airmen understand a concept, they get out of their face and relax.
Kolt said that when we take our little trip to Florida after graduation that he's probably only going to sleep, which is fine with me. He will be so exhausted that I can't blame him, he'll definitely earn that rest time! Plus, i know him and know he won't really sleep the whole time.
I'm doing well. I got moved out of our storage unit in Idaho this week and on Tuesday am moving out of our apartment in Salt Lake. I'll be happy to have that part of this experience over, but I do worry that I will have much less to do once I go up to my sister's and that the remaining weeks will drag by for me. I miss Kolt so much but have stayed pretty busy, if the time goes by any slower, I don't know how I'm going to make it! At least I have Halloween to look forward to next weekend with my sister and her kids, then it will be November! Just 2 1/2 more weeks after that.
My weight loss is coming along amazingly well! I'm down 6 lbs in 9 days and am ahead of schedule. I'm being really careful with my food in take and exercising hard. It seems to just be falling off and I'm so excited! If I can be 2 sizes smaller the next time he sees me, it will be the best thing ever!
That's all of the excitement for now. I'll check back in next week with more updates on Kolt's progress!
Friday, October 23, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Day 6 of the Separation
Well, Kolt arrived in Alabama on Saturday safe and sound. He was able to meet some fellow officers and have dinner the night before COT began, unfortunately none of them are in his flight. (Flights are groups of 9-12 men and women, and everything they do while in COT is with their flight).
I was able to talk to him briefly last night and he sounded so drained and overwhelmed. I asked him what he did that day and he really couldn't tell me anything. He said there was a lot of yelling, but they didn't do any of the things we thought that they would. I was pretty worried about him because he just sounded so exhausted, and it was only the first day and he had gotten a good night's sleep prior. He told me he didn't have a roommate, but I guess last night he got one at midnight, no clue why so late. This roommate snores very badly and Kolt said he only got 2 hours of sleep and to top it off he forgot to buy ear plugs and wouldn't have a chance to go back to the store until the weekend. Poor guy.
We have been able to text a little and I've been grateful for any contact I have with him. I was expecting to hear nothing from him for this whole first week and he called last night and texted today! It helps a lot to be able to have even just one text from him, I'm such a baby! I don't know how wives did it even ten years ago before texting and cell phones. My Aunt Laura and all of the other wives from past generations are my heroes!
I am doing pretty well. I had a hard time saying good bye to him yesterday when I thought we wouldn't be able to talk at all, but now that I know I can get even one text I'm better. I've been eating well and working out like crazy and am right on track for my 20lbs in 5 weeks. At this point I'm down 3 lbs in 5 days, and very happy with that.
We got our storage unit moved today and that was a LONG day. They arrived 3 hours late and took much longer than I thought to get it loaded, but they were nice and I'm happy to have it done. Just one more move next Tuesday then I'm all done for now. Woohoo :)
I was able to talk to him briefly last night and he sounded so drained and overwhelmed. I asked him what he did that day and he really couldn't tell me anything. He said there was a lot of yelling, but they didn't do any of the things we thought that they would. I was pretty worried about him because he just sounded so exhausted, and it was only the first day and he had gotten a good night's sleep prior. He told me he didn't have a roommate, but I guess last night he got one at midnight, no clue why so late. This roommate snores very badly and Kolt said he only got 2 hours of sleep and to top it off he forgot to buy ear plugs and wouldn't have a chance to go back to the store until the weekend. Poor guy.
We have been able to text a little and I've been grateful for any contact I have with him. I was expecting to hear nothing from him for this whole first week and he called last night and texted today! It helps a lot to be able to have even just one text from him, I'm such a baby! I don't know how wives did it even ten years ago before texting and cell phones. My Aunt Laura and all of the other wives from past generations are my heroes!
I am doing pretty well. I had a hard time saying good bye to him yesterday when I thought we wouldn't be able to talk at all, but now that I know I can get even one text I'm better. I've been eating well and working out like crazy and am right on track for my 20lbs in 5 weeks. At this point I'm down 3 lbs in 5 days, and very happy with that.
We got our storage unit moved today and that was a LONG day. They arrived 3 hours late and took much longer than I thought to get it loaded, but they were nice and I'm happy to have it done. Just one more move next Tuesday then I'm all done for now. Woohoo :)
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Day 1 of the Separation
Well, the day has finally come. Kolt left for officer training this morning and is on his way to Alabama right now. His goal is to get to Sidney, NE today, then Kansas City, MO tomorrow, Memphis, TN by Saturday and then finally roll in to Montgomery, AL Sunday afternoon. He has to report for in processing at noon on Monday.
After all of the waiting and crying and more waiting, it seems like this snuck up on us and got here too fast! This last week has been a whirl wind of spending time with friends and family, packing, shopping, and going up to the base to get things ready for our move.
The plan is for me to stay in SLC and work Friday-Monday, then go up to Idaho and be there when our stuff is moved from storage on the 20th. That is the bulk of our stuff and we were so happy to find out they would move us out of two locations. Then I think I'll come back to SLC and work for one more week until they come on the 27th to move our things out of our apartment. After that I think I'll head up to Pocatello and stay the remainder of the 3 weeks with my sister, Piper. I may come down and stay with my friends Brandon and Lauren to work one more weekend in November, and to try and break up my weeks. I worry that once all of our things are moved and the dust has settled from that, the last few weeks will DRAG by for me :(
Kolt's parents and I were going to road trip out to Alabama a week before the graduation to bring out another one of our vehicles, but we decided to return it since it was leased under the Servicemember Civil Relief Act. It was really simple to do, make a phone call, send a fax and an email and 24 hours later our car was gone. We loved the Xterra but figured we wouldn't need an off roading SUV in Texas. So now we're down to 2 cars and a motorcycle, which will make everything a lot easier for us. Because of this though, now his parents and I are just going to fly down on the 18th of November. I was really looking forward to the trip, but this is what worked out best for all of us.
After COT graduation on the 20th, Kolt and I will make our way to SA and on the 23rd meet with the housing office to get our on base housing set up. Then we'll fly home, do Thanksgiving, try to see everyone we need to, then drive back to SA. While we will have on base housing, we've decided it will likely not meet our needs and so we will hopefully be buying a house not long after we get there. We've been looking online and have already seen so many that we like and that are SO affordable, it will be exciting and I'm really looking forward to owning a home again.
One of my goals while Kolt is gone is to lose 20 lbs. One of the JAG officers he talked to prior to leaving said he dropped 20 lbs while he was at COT and so it was my goal to lose more weight than Kolt while he's gone :) I understand that 20 lbs will be really hard to lose in 5 weeks, but I want to set the goal high to give me something to work hard for.
I will update the blog with Kolt's triumphs and blunders from his experience at COT as he tells them to me. I have a feeling that he won't call me very often and even when he does he won't talk very long because he'll have so much to do. I'm really excited for him and I know he'll enjoy the experience and will grow so much from it.
After all of the waiting and crying and more waiting, it seems like this snuck up on us and got here too fast! This last week has been a whirl wind of spending time with friends and family, packing, shopping, and going up to the base to get things ready for our move.
The plan is for me to stay in SLC and work Friday-Monday, then go up to Idaho and be there when our stuff is moved from storage on the 20th. That is the bulk of our stuff and we were so happy to find out they would move us out of two locations. Then I think I'll come back to SLC and work for one more week until they come on the 27th to move our things out of our apartment. After that I think I'll head up to Pocatello and stay the remainder of the 3 weeks with my sister, Piper. I may come down and stay with my friends Brandon and Lauren to work one more weekend in November, and to try and break up my weeks. I worry that once all of our things are moved and the dust has settled from that, the last few weeks will DRAG by for me :(
Kolt's parents and I were going to road trip out to Alabama a week before the graduation to bring out another one of our vehicles, but we decided to return it since it was leased under the Servicemember Civil Relief Act. It was really simple to do, make a phone call, send a fax and an email and 24 hours later our car was gone. We loved the Xterra but figured we wouldn't need an off roading SUV in Texas. So now we're down to 2 cars and a motorcycle, which will make everything a lot easier for us. Because of this though, now his parents and I are just going to fly down on the 18th of November. I was really looking forward to the trip, but this is what worked out best for all of us.
After COT graduation on the 20th, Kolt and I will make our way to SA and on the 23rd meet with the housing office to get our on base housing set up. Then we'll fly home, do Thanksgiving, try to see everyone we need to, then drive back to SA. While we will have on base housing, we've decided it will likely not meet our needs and so we will hopefully be buying a house not long after we get there. We've been looking online and have already seen so many that we like and that are SO affordable, it will be exciting and I'm really looking forward to owning a home again.
One of my goals while Kolt is gone is to lose 20 lbs. One of the JAG officers he talked to prior to leaving said he dropped 20 lbs while he was at COT and so it was my goal to lose more weight than Kolt while he's gone :) I understand that 20 lbs will be really hard to lose in 5 weeks, but I want to set the goal high to give me something to work hard for.
I will update the blog with Kolt's triumphs and blunders from his experience at COT as he tells them to me. I have a feeling that he won't call me very often and even when he does he won't talk very long because he'll have so much to do. I'm really excited for him and I know he'll enjoy the experience and will grow so much from it.
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