BIG Project

One day when I met Matt for lunch, I was looking around his work building and came across some history/scrap books. As I began to look at these two oversized books, I noticed how horrible of shape they were in. These books were the perfect example of what can happen to articles and pictures over time. These articles and pictures were from the later 1980's and up. Some of the articles were barely readable. Everything was turning yellow, the pages in these books themselves were begining to 'decompose' Lucky the articles that are more recent (early 1990's) were legable and not being 'eaten' by the book.
Well I took it upon myself to ask permission from the "boss man" of the unit to redo these books in hopes of retaining the history. As you all know, scrapbooking is a love of mine so I got quite excited when I got the 'ok' to carry out this 'mission' Matt did however make sure it was clear that I was to have him approve what I was doing. I knew he was afraid that I was going to go crazy with stickers, and cut-outs, and other girly scrapbook things. But I promised I wouldn't do anything that he wouldn't be proud of.
So here is where the adventure begins... EVERYTHING in this book in stuck on the pages. There is no way I am able to pull the articles and pictures out without completely destroying them. So now I am getting really mad at whoever it was that made these in the first place. I had decided that I would just cut out everything and make copies and pack up all the originals. Of course the originals are going to continue to be eaten by page that remains permanetly attached to it..... Well this is all well and good but what about all those articles that CAN'T be copied because they are in such horrible condition... Here is where the time consuming task begins. I am going to go search the libraries in hopes of finding these articles and printing them.
I am also hoping to recruit my friend Angie to help. She too loves to scrapbook and she is also an army wife.
Needless to say this is a BIG project, but I am excited to be able to do this and preserve the history of this unit.

Married Life

I have now been Mrs. Hamilton for 5 weeks now. At first it didn't seem real... Matt and I both felt as if the whole wedding was a 'whirl-wind' event. The honeymoon was GREAT! Lots of relaxation and beautiful sights. We began all the administrative 'stuff' of marriage when we returned to TN, which wasn't as bad as I had thought, and I became an official army wife...ID card and all.
As most of you know, I'm not working while in Clarksville. Thus, I guess you could say that I am a 'house wife' or 'homemaker'. But the thing is...there isn't much for me to do in our apartment. I did clean the kitchen one day...and I mean CLEANED. I never knew how much 'stuff' could collect under something that hasn't been moved!! So a word to the wise...if you are going to clean any room that has never been cleaned by a female... WEAR GLOVES. I also do the laundry and grocery shopping, etc. One day when Matt came home he said' "Thanks for taking care of the apartment. You seem to be doing more than what needs to be done. I appreciate it." (Isn't he sweet)
To fill in between all the cleaning and other stuff, I have become quite fond of sleeping in late. This however is something that I have never had trouble doing, especially since working night shift. I have also been doing a little discovering in the lovely town of Clarksville. I have visited a nearby scrapbook store several times...each time spending more money than the last.
Unfortunately, I have spent lots of time getting ready for Matt's deployment. The administrative stuff that has to be done, shopping with Matt for "things to make Iraq not suck", and watching him pack up. This is definately going to be the most emotional event in my life thus far. On an average I have 1-2 crying spells a week.
Anyway, happier subject. I have to say that my favorite thing about being married is having somone to snuggle up to at night when I get cold. I also must say that I enjoy all the quite times just sitting and watching tv, joking on eachother, and believe it or not...'gas' has become something quite amusing to both Matt and I. I have also enjoyed living with someone again. I really missed having someone always there to talk to or ask for advice. However its not quite the same as when I lived with Jessica in college. I can't share clothes with Matt, and Matt doesn't understand when I say, "I can't decide which one of these shirts to wear, will you pick for me", however I'm slowly making progress on this issue.
Overall, I'm loving married life and loving Matt.