tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-107235202026-05-14T06:46:16.646-05:00Big Al's Army Life is an online diary of my husband's Army Reserves Nurse Corps adventure.Al's Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02738914519925052668noreply@blogger.comBlogger139125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10723520.post-49097878120824451152010-07-02T02:21:00.000-05:002010-07-02T02:21:40.456-05:00

Well, I have been completely horrible about keeping up poor hubby's military blog. The life of an Army wife whose hubby is not usually full-time military usually doesn't focus on military stuff 24/7 when hubby is not deployed to Iraq. So I found out when Al came home in January '06. Al switched from the MS National Guard to the Army Reserves also so that really made our lives quiet for a while.

Al's Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02738914519925052668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10723520.post-78077605272249044692009-03-20T22:30:00.003-05:002009-03-20T22:31:33.569-05:00

I took off all the fancy/schmancy formatting that I had so that the posts would be easier to read. Something corrupted in the files and it was making everything impossible. I am 're-learning' all the HTML that I used to know when I did Al's blog originally. Hopefully, I can snazz things up around here a little bit again soon.

Al's Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02738914519925052668noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10723520.post-283386778017903082007-03-14T12:50:00.000-05:002007-03-14T13:07:13.635-05:00

Hey everybody! I know that we totally fell off the face of the earth when Al came home - and I want to apologize for that. When you are National Guard and your life has been on hold for soooo long - all you want is for things to go back to 'normal' as much as possible when your soldier comes home. Al and I have been immersed in 'normal' - working, kids, church, etc. - since last January. We moved

Al's Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02738914519925052668noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10723520.post-1137085439534731652006-01-12T11:02:00.000-06:002006-01-12T11:21:18.830-06:00

Wow. I can't believe that it's been an entire week already that Al has been home. How crazy is that? Time sure does go fast when you're not counting it - lol.We sure hope everyone is doing great - almost everyone should be home or is already home from the the 155 BCT - YAY! I know that it is a good feeling for everyone to not have to worry constantly, wait for the phone to ring or everything else

Al's Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02738914519925052668noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10723520.post-1136462946762289902006-01-05T06:07:00.000-06:002006-01-05T06:09:06.786-06:00

More details later this week - I am leaving to see my hubby!

Al's Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02738914519925052668noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10723520.post-1136316736453649122006-01-03T12:55:00.000-06:002006-01-03T13:32:16.516-06:00

Well, just 'a few more days' until Al is home for good. Thank GOD! I will be so thankful for him to be home - and for us to just act like an old married couple! I miss him so much and getting to see him again (finally) will be absolutely wonderful.The Army can still change everything - but I'm praying that we will stay on track. He almost did his entire 365 of "Boots on Ground" time - almost

Al's Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02738914519925052668noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10723520.post-1135534877912415122005-12-25T11:51:00.000-06:002005-12-25T21:02:54.583-06:00

Well, you may notice (if you pay really close attention to this stuff, which I doubt that anybody does - lol!) that my day counting got messed up - so it is corrected with this post - I kind of knew that somewhere along the line that it got screwed up - but until I got closer to the end of our year - I wasn't going to take the time to fix it. Well, our year is almost up - I went and counted

Al's Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02738914519925052668noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10723520.post-1134138027764147592005-12-09T08:16:00.000-06:002005-12-09T08:20:27.803-06:00

There are lots of soldiers coming home. Not Al, not yet - but soon. I pray that everyone who has their soldier home from the 155 - or who will have them home in a matter of days - has a wonderful reunion and a great Christmas too. Thank God this almost over.http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/state/13361495.htm155th BCT soldiers expected the begin coming home on SaturdayHOLBROOK

Al's Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02738914519925052668noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10723520.post-1134068454906141672005-12-08T12:43:00.000-06:002005-12-08T14:51:42.556-06:00

I'm not sure how consistent my entries will be, but I am officially 'back to blogging'. I apologize for needing such a long break - I am really thankful for everyone that kept checking back - and for all the comments and emails.This blog has seemingly gone so many directions since it's conception, that I'm unsure what direction it will take from here. When I originally conceived of this notion,

Al's Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02738914519925052668noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10723520.post-1132355725659459712005-11-18T16:51:00.000-06:002005-11-18T17:23:08.550-06:00

Just wanted to put up a little note to let everyone know that I am thinking of them. I want to apologize for the lack of blog entries. At the very beginning of this deployment, I remember reading a blog from an Army Wife who had stopped her blog mid-deployment saying that she couldn't continue to post her feelings and emotions in such a public way. At the time, I couldn't understand that. Well,

Al's Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02738914519925052668noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10723520.post-1130963204662016492005-11-02T14:16:00.000-06:002005-11-02T14:57:45.456-06:00

As you know, I have literally been living under a rock lately. Having gotten knocked down HARD with the worst bout of bronchitis of my life - has not allowed me to do a lot of blog reading lately. I finally had the opportunity today to start to get caught up with visiting all of my blogarrific friends - and I discovered that today is the day that donations have started to be accepted for the

Al's Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02738914519925052668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10723520.post-1130872907870823222005-11-01T13:05:00.000-06:002005-11-01T13:21:47.926-06:00

Yes, I am wishing everyone a happy 'All Saints Day' - that's because I was too lazy/tired/whatever last night to edit our Halloween pics and get them posted in time - lol. So, instead of admitting to you that I have once again shirked my blogging duties, I am choosing to live in denial by only acknowledging 'All Saints Day' instead.First, if you haven't noticed the countdown ticker on our blog -

Al's Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02738914519925052668noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10723520.post-1130641851270755022005-10-29T22:08:00.000-05:002005-10-29T22:10:51.270-05:00

Well, this sucks. I am STILL sick. I can't believe this. I emailed Al yesterday telling him that I was still coughing like crazy and not doing good, etc. He emailed me back at 0430 this morning telling me that I had to promise to call the dr. today so that I could get other medicine. He also called me twice today too - so I guess he must be worried, lol. Well, I did call, and they said that I had

Al's Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02738914519925052668noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10723520.post-1130210323830214202005-10-24T22:12:00.000-05:002005-10-29T22:08:26.433-05:00

Ugh. Well, I'm sorry that it's taken me f.o.r.e.v.e.r. to update our blog - Em and I have had a SERIOUS case of fall sickies - like one step away from the bird flu or something - yuck!I started feeling like junk two weekends ago - which progressed into sinus stuff/sore throat by last Monday - which led to a full scale, coughing-all-night fit last Tuesday. I missed work on Wednesday and Thursday (

Al's Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02738914519925052668noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10723520.post-1129125603156422892005-10-12T08:33:00.000-05:002005-10-12T09:00:03.186-05:00

Em and I were able to get out of town this past weekend to see my best friend Melissa and her hubby in Chattanooga, TN. We hadn't stepped foot outside of Birmingham since Al was home in early August, because of hurricanes and gas prices, but, we needed the break and breathing room - so it was wonderful to go and see friends for a few days. Since Em goes to her dad's house every other weekend

Al's Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02738914519925052668noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10723520.post-1128606950760469952005-10-06T08:55:00.000-05:002005-10-06T09:01:54.060-05:00

Thursday Inspiration!For today’s entry, I wanted us to examine for a moment the things that happen to us in our life – and the way that even a negative experience can be used to benefit us . . .I received this story in my inbox last week, and I thought that it was very applicable to what our theme was going to be for this week:This is Good...The story is told of a king in Africa who had a close

Al's Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02738914519925052668noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10723520.post-1128359877856021232005-10-03T11:57:00.000-05:002005-10-03T12:17:57.880-05:00

Seriously. This stuff has to stop. I have to stop spending my weekends organizing my sock drawer. You guys don't even know - I think that I have easily become the most lame person on the planet - second only to maybe Bert of Bert & Ernie fame - and his bottlecap collection - except he's a puppet and not even a real person - so I win. I am officially the most boring person on Earth.In honor of

Al's Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02738914519925052668noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10723520.post-1128003863336640902005-09-29T08:55:00.000-05:002005-09-29T09:47:34.176-05:00

Hey everybody! Well, I decided to be uplifting today - I have been very contemplative lately - so I decided that since Al has several months of deployment left, that I would start something new for Thursdays. I thought that everyone needed more encouragement in their life - so I will do my part!! LOL. Hope everyone is having a good week. Al's job in the sand has been changed and moved around and

Al's Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02738914519925052668noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10723520.post-1127610349550552552005-09-24T18:39:00.000-05:002005-09-24T22:04:02.686-05:00

It's hard to type what I need to type to y'all today. It's hard to admit to a large group of people that your life has basically sucked for the last month. It's even harder to admit that you know that you have been a complete and total "B-Word" for that month. Even if you know me "in real life" (ie. outside of the computer) - this admission may be a complete surprise to you - because other than

Al's Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02738914519925052668noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10723520.post-1127306079543378642005-09-21T07:34:00.000-05:002005-09-21T07:39:52.796-05:00

Well, another week is gone. I haven’t been down in the dumps but I haven’t been exactly jumping for joy either – my rhythm is messed up. With Al back in the sand – and another four to five months of this crap – just existing is becoming a way of life. There is another hurricane coming – this time for Texas though. My good friend from California is in TX right now doing hurricane relief work,

Al's Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02738914519925052668noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10723520.post-1126621428602290662005-09-13T07:56:00.000-05:002005-09-13T09:23:48.650-05:00

First, let me say that I am very sorry for taking such a long break from the blog. It wasn't intentional -- after the Hurricane and all the stuff that went along with it, I just didn't feel like I had anything important to say in light of "real life" events going on. I was so glued to the news - and trying to help out locally and just being freakishly introspective - so, I apologize for my

Al's Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02738914519925052668noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10723520.post-1125347838261841022005-08-29T15:11:00.000-05:002005-08-29T15:37:18.280-05:00

Let's see, how to put this? Life has been interesting since Al has been back in the Sand. This Saturday marked his one week anniversary of being gone - and that was kind of a rough day - Em and I stayed to ourselves and didn't venture out until my neighbor took us out to dinner that night. "Nanny" is my landlord, next door neighbor, Em's adopted grandma and a real sweetie most of the time - she

Al's Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02738914519925052668noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10723520.post-1124979357488767452005-08-25T08:31:00.000-05:002005-08-25T09:22:15.970-05:00

Something kind-of neat happened yesterday as I was stumbling along the web. I discovered that on the Army National Guard site, that our blog was being listed as an example of what a National Guard blog is. LOL. It was listed under the "You Can Make a Difference"/Recruiting Action Center section on the Virtual Armory site.If you haven't been to the Virtual Armory yet, I really encourage you to go.

Al's Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02738914519925052668noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10723520.post-1124886287339928822005-08-24T07:12:00.000-05:002005-08-24T09:23:59.216-05:00

Please pray for "Some Soldier's Mom" and her son, SPC Noah Pincusoff. She received word yesterday that Noah was "injured in a VBIED attack ... a serious spinal injury... being operated on in Iraq". Her blog has been a source of inspiration to me personally - and you can just see her love for her son in everything that she writes. My friend, Stacy, called me about this last night - and she is so

Al's Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02738914519925052668noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10723520.post-1124804136692083412005-08-23T07:38:00.000-05:002005-08-23T08:41:49.666-05:00

Hey y'all. Well, Al left this weekend to go back to the sand. I haven't heard from him since 10 p.m. on Saturday night - and he hadn't left Dallas yet because of mechanical problems with the plane. I know that he will call as soon as he is able to but I am still pretty numb and sad about all of it. R&R was absolutely wonderful and amazing and I couldn't believe how instaneously comfortable we

Al's Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02738914519925052668noreply@blogger.com9