One month down! 11 to go

I survived the first month! Boy it was a pretty busy one also. Mom came up to be with me during the whole Kidney Stone extravaganza. We went from have crazy snow storms to having Tornados. Weather here in TN is pretty crazy. Dad finally made it up to visit and brought me a load of firewood. We spent the weekend driving around Clarksville. I showed him Ft. Campbell, we went to the museum on post, and the PX. I think we spent an hour at the PX. There was a lot to look at and we were getting goodies to send Clayton. Packages are making it to him in about a week! Clayton is doing well. He has gotten to fly some and has started to settle in. They are still having to live 3 to a room but there are rumors they may eventually go to 2 a room. I hope that happens sooner than later because they are pretty cramped. I have been keeping pretty busy. For Valentine's a group of Army Wives and myself went to Sushi. It was fun and the conversations are always good. On the 15th of February, my friend Michelle and I went to go to "Ron White's Salute to the Troops" concert at the Grand Ole Opry. He gave 500 free tickets to active duty soldiers and spouses so we stood in line for 4 hours and got to go! It was a blast. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time and I got to check going to Opry off my Nashville to-do list. The show was filmed for CMT and will air March 12. Rascal Flatts preforms along with Alex Reymundo (hilarious) Kathleen Madison (She was my favorite I believe from the night), Lewis Black and a few others. If you tune in keep an eye out for Michelle and I. She was wearing read and I was wearing purple. We were on the 3rd row to the far right of the stage. The cameras were on us a good bit so who knows we may be on TV! Since then I have just been working and hanging out with friends. I have made a few trips down to Nashville for shopping and a little night life. I really enjoy having Nashville so close. I love that city! Clayton and I are both getting in our groove of being apart again. We are pretty much in a routine now. He hasn't quite gotten the time change figured out. He has his days all mixed up since he doesn't have weekends anymore but we are making due even with the occasional phone call at 4 am on a Saturday haha. One month down .... 11 to go!!

I'll leave you with a few pictures from the Salute to the Troops.

Michelle Corcione and I

Us with the stage behind us.

Ron and Rascal Flatts. FYI Gary is pretty normal in person, he always seems fat on TV.

Lewis Black

Kathleen Madison

One Week!

I survived week one of Clayton being gone. And boy was it a rough week. Clayton left Saturday the 5th at around 11pm. We enjoyed the day just hanging, playing cards and watching a movie. Here is the picture that was taken right before we had to say our good byes.
On Monday we were supposed to get a light dusting of snow. Well, around 1pm it was a snow storm with no visibility. Our parking lot at work was completely covered within an hour and a half so we closed the clinic and went home. I don't like driving in the snow. I have done it twice now and Monday was the worst. I couldn't see five cars lengths ahead of me and it was so cold everything was sticking to the roads. What typically takes me 15 minutes to get home was well over a 45 minute drive. I finally heard from Clayton and they made it Ireland and were stuck there due to weather. They would be leaving to head to Manas in a few hours. Well, the week got even better. Tuesday I woke up and was getting ready for work and checking the weather to see when I would even be able to get to the clinic and I started having really sharp pains. I call the doctor to see if I can come in thinking I might have had a bladder infection or something minor. Within 15 minutes I was doubled over in Kidney pain and I knew instantly I was passing a kidney stone. I had all the same symptoms as when I passed one in 2005. I call my doctor back, while driving on the icy roads and told her I was coming in so they needed to find me someone to see. I got to the doctors office at 9:34 saw the nurse who then got the doctor who in return made the nurse give me a shot for pain. Thank GOD! If you haven't ever had a stone I hope you don't. It is the worst pain I have ever felt. Sitting, standing, laying, walking - I was unable to find a position that was comfortable and I was shacking from the pain. They move me to the imaging lab's waiting room for a CT scan and then nurse didn't even have to call my name. It was pretty obvious that I was girl passing the kidney stone. It was AWFUL! By the time I was done getting the CT scan the meds and kicked in and my body was finally relaxing. P.S. also while driving in the worst pain of my life not even paying attention to how fast I was going I called Mom and told her to get here now! Well, within 15 minutes my Doctor had the report from the radiologist and the scan showed I indeed had a Kidney stone, it was already out of the Kidney and on its way to my bladder. He said it was roughly 2-3 mm which typically passed without any problem. Up my water intake, take my pain meds and hopefully I was to pass it soon. Since this was my second stone they wanted me to strain my urine (a lovely experience) in hopes of catching the stone. In the meantime, none of the snow from Monday had melted because we never got out of the 20's. Mom arrived and I passed out due to the cocktail of drugs I was prescribed. I heard from Clayton again Tuesday evening. They had made it to Manas and were now stuck there. The plane that was going to take then into Afghanistan had broken down twice. Looks like they would be staying there until the plane was fixed. Wednesday I had every intention of going back to work. I got up to get ready and fell to the floor trying to walk to the bathroom. The pain was even worse than the day before. I yell for mom who brings me the pain pills and helps me back to bed. This was Tuesday time 10! I was nervous because the scan also showed that the stone was causing an obstruction in my ureter. The doctor said if I was still in pain in 48 hours come back because my urine may be backing up back into the Kidney and that will be real bad. Great I thought. Is that what is happening now? We call the dr office and speak with the nurse. She said it was to soon to come back in to basically wait it out. So, no work for Guinn. I took my drug cocktail and passed out until around 1pm. While I was sleeping its began to snow AGAIN! By the time I woke up we had already gotten another 2-3 inches. By the time to snow stopped we had 8 inched total at our house. Clarksville received the highest amounts of snow in TN from the past 2 snow storms. We are so over the snow! However Bailey doesn't seem to mind it. She has fun playing in it and it means the Mommy gets to stay home.

Fast forward to Friday - this was the first day back to work due to snow and the stone, who I have since named Spikey due to the spike that was ripping out my insides. I go to work with no sign of Spikey. I have not spoken to Clayton since Tuesday so I am a little worried at this point. One of my patient's dad flies with Clayton and they informed me they heard from him Thursday. So naturally I got upset. Well not even an hour later my computer bings and its Clayton IMing me. Turns out they were stuck in Manas for two days and got to Afghanistan on Thursday. My patient's dad was one of the only ones that made it in time to get his internet hooked up so Clayton was in his room using the internet. It was so good to finally hear from him and know that he made it in the country okay. So back at work, Lynn, our office manager along with Amanda Dowdy told me to drink a beer that they have heard it helps pass the stone. At this point I was willing to try anything. After work two other therapists and myself go grabbed dinner and I had a beer. As soon as I got home and went to the restroom - BAM, there was Spikey. Maybe it was his time, maybe it was the beer. I'm going with the beer. God for bid if I ever have another kidney stone, I'm drinking beer as soon as I leave the doctor's office. So here he is, Spikey!
And back to the 2-3 mm, judging by this I think he is more like 5-6 mm.

I heard from Clayton Saturday morning, his night and was able to fill him in on Spikey. He was in good spirits and was already going to be flying on Sunday. I hope week 2 is better than the last!

Another year apart!

For those of you who possible just received my e-mail, or maybe you are just stopping bye I figured I better update our blog. Wow it has been almost a year since I have updated. Oops. I have set a goal for myself to try to update more often. Most likely monthly unless something worth sharing happens before then. I'll catch you up on our last year using the Clift notes version.

May - Clayton got home from S. Korea, Carl came to visit in Conyers and the boys played with Guns. We started our move to Clarksville and Guinn got a job and a really awesome private practice that specialized in Pediatric Speech, Occupational and Physical therapy.

June - finished moving, drove the Pacific Coast Hwy, visited with Angela and Rory and little Gus, finished moving and Guinn started worked.

July - Mom came to visit and we had a successful garage sale, Blair came to visit

August - Carl and Betty Ann came to visit, Clayton went to spend time with his mother and Alan in Winston - Salem, Guinn went on a beach trip with her Grad school girls.

September - Tommye Sue lost her battle with cancer, Guinn turned 27!

October - Mom and Bob came to visit for Jazz on the Lawn, Guinn's cousin Kathleen lost her battle with cancer and we went back to Cali to see Angela and Rory tie the knot.

November - stayed in San Fran for a few nights to celebrate our 2nd Anniversary (can you believe we have been married that long?) cooked Thanksgiving at our house and had a few friends over to chow down.

December - Blair came up and we went to see GARTH BROOKS!! and we spent the Holidays in Conyers. Then Carl came to visit us.

Janurary - Flynt and Dana helped us ring in the new year and then we went to Gatlinburg with the Grad school girls and their significant others for MLK weekend.

Well that sums up the last year or so. As for the year apart, Clayton just left for a year deployment to Afghanistan. I will try to keep the blog updated as stuff happens that is blog worthy. Thanks for taking the time to read this and hopefully if you stop by again there will be another post. Have a good day!

House Hunting

We found a house!! Mom and I went up Thursday night to Clarksville, TN to find a rental house for Clayton and I. We had plans to meet the realtor on Friday but mom and I went ahead and drove by all the houses on our list. We were able to cross a few off based on location. There was one house that stood out from all the others. It was THE house. When we pulled in the neighborhood everything felt right. The neighborhood was so pretty. All the yard were green and well taken care of, all the houses have the same mailbox, and all the wires are underground. It was a very neat and clean look to the neighborhood. And to top it off people were out running, playing basketball and there were a few couples pushing strollers. I loved that people we out and about enjoying the outside. So as soon as I got back to the hotel I contacted the realtor to let her know which ones to can and about the house I wanted. She quickly responding informing me that the owner wasn't sure about having a large dog in house but that we should still pursue the house. Mom and I woke up and headed straight to the rental company to convince them that Bailey isn't really a dog she is a princess and wouldn't do anything to their yard or house. Mom and I put our southern charm to work and convinced the management company that we were a good fit for the house. He said he would try to talk the owner into allowing Bailey and that he would call us back and let us know if were were approved to see the house. We spent the better half of the day seeing the other houses. You would be surprised at what all we saw. One of the houses was nasty. I was shocked people would show their house like that. Another house we were told that the husband was asleep in the master so when we go in don't wake him up. REALLY!?! Well we opened the front door and the smell of dirty diaper knocked us over and there was crap stacked floor to ceiling. Our realtor turns to me and says "This is a NO!". I don't even think we were there 5 minutes. I guess some people really don't care about renting their house or you would think they would at least clean. So we got done seeing all the houses on our list and finally got THE phone call. The owner of the house was okay with us having a Golden, but he didn't run it by his wife. So we headed back to THE house and hoped to win the owner over. Just the husband was their and we hit it off. The house is just as awesome on the inside as it is on the outside. And to top it off, his mother is Korean, he was stationed in Korea where he met his wife. I quickly made it known that was were my Husband is currently stationed and that was icing on the cake. When he was walking us out named off all the neighbors. He went on and on about how awesome they are. He said the typical weekend consists of barbeque's and playing corn hole. Couldn't be a more perfect fit! And to make it even better, the owner would like to sell however he has only owned the house for a little over a year. Our realtor said there is a 3 year turn around in the housing market in Clarksville. She recommends that since we got in the neighborhood, if we are able to just stay put. If Clayton and I really enjoy the area and end being able to stay at Ft. Campbell, we hope to make an offer in a year or so. All the stars really lined up with this one. We couldn't be more happy to FINALLY be able to start living together and get to know what it is really like to be Married!!

Clayton in his free time!

So have you ever wondered what an Army Officer does in his free time in Korea? Well not a whole lot. But he has fallin more in love with cycling. Here are a few picture from his ride last weekend with his good friend John. It still isn't too warm over there but it isn't snowing anymore so they hit the road whenever they can squeeze it in.

34 days and 10 minutes!!

WOW! Sorry I have not been to great about keeping this thing up to date. I was super excited about the Blog when I started it but then life got in the way and to be honest not much changed in the daily life of C living in Korea.

Well as you may have figured out from the title Clayton will be home in 34 days and 10 minutes. May 9th at 2:40 pm if you don't want to do that math. YAY Clayton will be back state side!!! And even better he will have 40 days of NO WORK. That is 40 days I get to have him to myself!! Well, minus a few trips to visit the mom and pop's but i'm pretty excited.

If you have not heard yet our next ARMY adventure will take place at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. We are looking to live in Clarksville, Tennesse and hope to have a house squared away by this weekend. I will keep you posted! (I promise this time!)

Until next time ....

Early Anniversary!!!!

I can't even begin to tell everyone how happy I am right now! You see it is tough work when you are half a world away from one another. But let me say a few thanks to the following: Lets start with SKYPE, push a little US Postal Service in the middle, with a dash of Delta Airlines, and finally a big thanks to the folks at LG Diacom. Because without these guys, I would not be able to keep in touch with my beautiful, wonderful wife back home. So without further hesitation lets begin....

As we may all know, starting last January I began running and cycling in preparation for triathlons. In the pursuit of this awesome experience in human endurance I have spent waaaay more money than I first briefed Guinny I would be spending. Everything from shoes, shorts, shirts, swimming gear, and last but not least cycling equipment. After the dust has settled I dare mention the total dollar amount due to the fact I am afraid Guinn may completely remove my testicles in my sleep. I know you are asking yourself "Clayton, get to the freaking point"! Well here it is. I fell in love with cycling. Every moment not spent in the cockpit I am spinning away on my Cannondale (aka Canny).

So in pursuit of happiness I found the shimano 105 groupo an excellent beginner groupo for light riders who don't really "jam" on the pedals and spin along at low RPM with low torque levels. You will recognize this by your derailleurs jumping or your chain slipping when you jump up for a 15 second sprint. I began pricing some higher level groupo's that could handle the rigors of cycling along with a longevity that would justify the HUGE price tags that most carry. So as I was sitting on my couch (skipping work) watching the TDF (Tour De France or Le Tour) I began noticing a trend. The pros were using a groupo known as SRAM Red. If you have known me for more than a day, you know that once I get my mind stuck on something its hard to stop me from making it happen. I told myself and Guinn who was here in Korea at the time of the TDF, that I must have that groupo!

After Guinn politely (and as sweet as she could) stated the words I here almost as much as I love you was..... "Clayton, NO". It took many more miles on my Canny and some serious internet research to finally find the elusive Sram Red groupo at a reasonable price. Usually in the $2400 range I was able to dabble a bit and score it for half that on ebay! The cherry is that it has never been ridden or been installed on a display bike. It just so happens that my super long legs and now slender body dimensions made this hard to sell groupo easy for me to obtain. Not to many guys that are 6'4" buy pro level parts. So bonus for me, and thank you to the seller on ebay!

You all know how silly someone looks when they speed walk on the hike and bike trail. Well that's what I looked like when I got the package! I came back and opened it up to see my new power train laying in sheer splendor right before my eyes. Red, everything I see is red! My bike sits next to my rollers in my living room begging me to take her out. For the plastic "barbi dolls" in LA this my friends is my Canny's new set of boobs! She will go under surgery in the next couple of weeks. But when she comes out, well my lord what will daddy do with his new toys!

FOR GUINNY: Baby this is the greatest anniversary gift in the world. While typing this Mark Broussard (the CD you made for me) has been singing in my ear. You have and will continue to be the most wonderful woman in the world. I love you more than you like to say "Clayton, NO"! As for my next itunes riding mix, Mark and I will pedal in sequence for the love of the sport and for the LOVE I have for you. Thank you beautiful girl, thank you so very very very much. Hugs and kisses off the moon to you. I love you......