What do I do?

For those of you who are within talking distance, I usually get the question, "So what do you do when Charlie is gone?"   Well today I am going to tell you!

I always SAY that I'm going to clean the house and get things done. But does this ever happen? Maybe, once in a blue moon.  Usually I do a lot of this.....

Some of this....

But I've found a new thing that I love to do.  I have started watching cooking shows. I know it sounds so funny. Even though I'm thinking to myself, "I would never make or even eat that"  I just enjoy watching them cook.  These are my favorites...

Now how do I do this without Cable or Internet do you ask?  The same way I am writing this blog.  I go to out public library!

I've always loved the library, but since Charlie has been gone, I go there so much more often.  I go to use the Internet for free. When I am done I go and peruse the aisles for new books I can envelope my self in. I go get a stack of magazines and sit at a table by a window and indulge in Hollywood gossip. I go through the Cd's to see what new music I can listen too. I've also found that the DVDs they have are pretty awesome.  They have so much variety.  I've found tons of old movies to documentaries to my latest guilty pleasure of cooking shows! Love it!


So for those of you so curious as to how I spend my time,  I've given you a glimpse into the life of Jessica! A true Truckers wife!

P.S  Charlie is coming home tonight for a 2 day visit! Oh Happy day!

Not long enough : /

So I haven't written in a while because my Charlie was home!  When he doesn't get that much time off, I have to enjoy what little time I have with him. :)  


This time, my Charlie was home for almost a week! It was absolute bliss! The only way I can explain how I feel when he's home is...complete.  When he's gone, I stress and just feel an emptiness inside.  Little things that shouldn't upset me, set me off. Things that should be easy, look daunting.  But when he's home, all is right with the world. I feel so content.  I feel I can conquer any task with him at my side and I do.  I forget why I got so upset at little things. But enough with the cheez. :)


While Charlie was here, I wanted to get things done and have fun at the same time!  When Charlie was home he did all the man stuff that I usually have to call my trusty friend Jeremy to do.  He mowed the lawn, trimmed and thinned the peaches and apple trees!  Now I don't know what comes over me when Charlie is home, but I go into this domestic mode and cook and bake up a storm. I really enjoy it. :)  

One of our date nights I was really excited about and planned really hard.  It was a camping date!   Unfortunately, it didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped. :(    The plan was to have foil dinners.  Chicken, potatoes and carrots.  I saw a way to make french garlic cheesy bread in foil as well. In addition to sliced bananas with chocolate chips inside wrapped in foil. (all ideas care of pinterest. )  I was super stoked about the food and thought it would turn out delicious!  The day started to get windy and stormy. :(   So we put up the tent and started cooking the food.

Now that problems start.  We have a bunch of pallets in the backyard that we could chop, but they had a bunch of nails and didn't want to leave them in the fire. Then after we chopped up the first one, we found a huge wasps nest in the rest of them. :( so we didn't have much of a campfire.  Then to cooking the food. Well I've never actually personally made foil dinners before, I've always just helped and watched. meh.  Nobody told me that you should put a little water in them.  I didn't know how long to cook them either with our makeshift campfire.  First we ate the bananas with Chocolate. Charlie liked them alright, I however, was NOT a fan. I don't like mushy bananas. oh well.  Then when we went to eat the foil dinners and bread, I found out that they weren't burnt. and not just burnt, charcoaled.  We tried to eat some of it, but it was grody.  Charlie was such a good sport and said it was good as he ate around the charcoal. : /    The one good spot was I got an idea for Soda Pop ice cream from pinterest. This turned out delicious!   Just take a 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk and your favorite flavor of soda pop, pour it in an ice cream maker and 30 minutes later, Poof! you have this delicious soda pop ice cream!

Charlie and the ice cream maker

After that we decided to watch a campy movie in the tent on Charlies laptop.  We rented RV with Robin Williams(which is actually super funny)  It was fun.  Then we had a late night stop decorating my friend Christine's Car for her birthday. :)    It was late then, so we decided to call it a night.

Now the problem with camping in your backyard is that you know that your comfortable bed is right inside. I've come to the conclusion that sleeping in a tent is fun when your camping in the mountains or somewhere other than your home, but not so much in your backyard.  I tried to make it comfortable. We had an air mattress with lots of blankets on it so it was soft.  The problem with sleeping in the backyard is it gets hot and you hear all the noises that are muted in the house. dogs barking and people driving by in loud motorcycles and cars.  I will say that we were troopers and stayed outside the entire night.  It wasn't very comfortable though.  At about 6:40am, we called it quits and went and slept the rest of the morning in our nice comfy bed with air conditioning. :)



That was just one day of Charlie being home. He was here for almost a week.  We didn't do a lot of special things, but just being together is special enough for us. :)  We had fun laughing and playing together.  Seeing our friends and watching movies.  We worked out at the Orchard on Saturday. After that we made a trip to Albuquerque to go to the temple, and I was soo glad that we did. I totally feel rejuvenated and connected to my husband in a whole new way! :)

IDK why my hubbie is such a cheez!

 On Sunday we went to church the whole time together(that hasn't happened in a LONG time)  We had Sunday dinner out at the in-laws.  We went and saw the new Batman and then later that night the new Step Up.  On Monday we made each other dinner. This was one of the more fun nights.  We made my favorite meal. Fried chicken, Mashed Potatoes and Macaroni and Cheese.  I taught Charlie how to make these so he could make them for me at a later date whenever he wants. I really enjoyed teaching Charlie how to cook. :)  Plus the food was  UH-maz-ing!  On Tuesday we were able to go to my niece's 1st birthday party and help before the party.  


I truly enjoy that Charlie has embraced my family as his own and loves them as I do.  When he's gone I tell him all about what's going on at home and he comments that he can't wait to see them.  Whenever my nephews see him they get all excited and scream, "Charlie!!!" and go give him big loves.  Charlie is going to be a great dad someday. :)


I dropped him off yesterday. :(  I met his trainer Flavio,a very nice, but very large Mexican man. :)  I sent them with a bunchy of food, cuz that's just what I do.


Whenever Charlie is home the thought that he will be leaving again is always in the back of my mind, but I put off thinking about it until I am actually in the process of driving him to the truck.  It always hurts when I hug him goodbye and my throat constricts when I say I love him.I'm so grateful for technology and that we can talk on the phone whenever we need to.  That his comforting voice is just a phone call away. I think I would be a big mess without it.    But even so, I know that this is a good choice for us at this time and that it won't last forever. We just have to get through the hard parts.