Happy 11th Birthday, Damien!!!

 We were right in the middle of moving into my new apartment when we took a pause to celebrate Damien's birthday. 11 years old! Scott, Damien, and I all went to Pizza Ranch for dinner and then came back to my apartment to open gifts and eat cupcakes. It was a low-key event, but I think Damien enjoyed it. 

The birthday boy!

So excited!

Opening gifts

Ooooh what's that?

From Great Grandma and Tom: A Star Wars puzzle, an alien "gem dig", a video game called Aerea, a silly putty dragon kit, and a target. From Grandpa and Grandma Hanks: Table Topics Family Edition (which we use most nights) and spending money (to which Damien picked Robux and a new bath mat). From mom and dad: a gaming headset, a new shower curtain and trash can, and some chocolate. He also received money from his Great Grandma Whitehill. Thanks everyone!

The headset will be nice for gaming with Scott

I ordered cupcakes at a local bakery. Damien wanted marble cake so I surprised Damien with the colors to look like fire.

Fire cupcake with a dynamite candle lol

Singing Happy Birthday

Nom nom nom

Damien's new shower curtain

Damien and I took turn making tons of designs with his silly putty dragon kit.

One of my creations

Damien didn't like this one lol

It "melts" so quickly!

Damien's new bath mat...so he can air dry comfortably lol

First Day of Middle School

 Lots of big changes this year--Damien started middle school! He now has 7 class periods a day, a locker, and a gym uniform. So far it's been going as well as I could hope. He has friends that he likes and I haven't heard one complaint about a teacher yet. The only gripe is that it's "boring". I can live with that :D

Hardship

 I don't think I'm ready to get into a lot of specifics, but Scott and I are separating with the intention of getting a divorce. To say that I am heartbroken and devastated would be an understatement. This blog will be strictly from my perspective so I won't speak on Scott's and he probably won't be a part of this blog much anymore. The goal now is to try to be good co-parents to Damien. 

Due to the separation, Scott and I are selling our house and have each moved into separate apartments. This has been a rough transition for me so far. Damien seems to be doing alright. He likes our apartment and the only real issue is that he can't do his play-fighting here because it would make too much noise for the downstairs neighbors. We'll figure something out. I'll post pictures of the apartment once I'm fully moved in. There are still quite a few things at the house to sort/move over. I'm just taking my time because it's already overwhelming enough. 

Damien's favorite pastime! And I can spy on him from the living room lol

Trying out the indoor pool

An apartment must-have! So handy!

Keesler Course

Okay I'm ready to really put this site to the test and see if I can make a proper entry...starting with my work trip to Biloxi, MS! I was there for three weeks for a training course to gain access to a specialized system. It was great training, my instructors and classmates were awesome, and I had a nice break from my day-to-day and had some new experiences along the way. 

Base lodging for 3 weeks. It was perfectly acceptable.

I went for a lot of long walks around base. Great for thinking!

And dealt with the humidity!

A cool souvenir shop

Where I lived during tech school 17 years ago! Very surreal

I tried donuts made from potato flour. They were very good, but I wouldn't say my favorite donuts of all time.

I also tried boba tea which I first saw on a TV show and never had the opportunity to try. The tea itself was absolutely delicious, but I could do without the tapioca balls. 

Some of my classmates and I went to the Hard Rock Café for our last meal in town. Of course I had to get as much seafood as possible. SO GOOD! Best meal of the trip!

This is a test post. I'm testing to see if this site still works. According to my google searches, blogger isn't supposed to have a size limit. I can't even find anything in the settings for how large it even is. I actually completely forgot this blog site even existed! If this is truly free and unlimited for content then I might as well use this instead! Then I don't have to worry about hosting or a domain name.

It appears to be working--yay!