Coming up for air

With only a day and a half left in 2012, I thought maybe I should post something. :)

It's been crazy since my last post. Good and bad.

Soldier Girl made it home for the holidays, and I'm thrilled to have her here for a few more days before she has to go back to AIT. The day I picked her up from the airport, we went straight to the range so she could play with some of our new toys. :) We went again yesterday and she got to shoot a Desert Eagle, an SKS and an M1, among other things. She had a great time, and we're hoping to get her back over there tomorrow to try out some other fun toys.

Christmas was quiet and relaxed, which is how I like it. 

Work is another story......

We have been absolutely swamped at the range these last couple of weeks. I don't know if it's just that everyone is off of work and trying out their new Christmas gifts, or if it's all the gun control talk, or both. But it's been very crowded, all day, every day - and gun sales have been plentiful.
I guess we'll see what happens after New Year's when everyone goes back to work.

I won't say much about Sandy Hook, since so many others have said it so much better than I ever could, but I will say that I am deeply saddened at the tragic loss of innocent lives. 

But I'm also deeply angered at the garbage that is being spewed by the current administration about "gun control." Disarming law abiding citizens is certainly NOT the way to prevent crazed criminals from killing innocent people. Criminals don't obtain things legally, so they will have guns no matter what laws are passed. Us law abiding citizens shouldn't be stripped of a means to defend ourselves when necessary.

I know I'm likely preaching to the choir here.....so I'll leave it at that. For now.

In other news.....Mr 2A and I have been very busy working on several certifications, and we'll be teaching some classes very soon. I promise to post more about that in the next week or two.

Until then, I hope everyone has a happy and safe New Year's!

Fantastic week!

We had a nice quiet Thanksgiving last week with family. I got to talk to my soldier girl twice last week on the phone, and we're counting the days til she gets home for Christmas. :)

I'm still absolutely loving my job at the range! We've been quite busy, and I love meeting all the gun-loving people I would've never had a chance to meet if it weren't for this job! They're all super friendly too, and want to share their toys!

I met a police officer that brought in an AR with an EoTech sight on it. I have looked at EoTech's in various LGS, but never actually used one, and he asked me if I wanted to shoot it. I politely declined, and he then INSISTED that I shoot it. LOL Then we had a disagreement about how many rounds I was going to fire. We settled on 5, even though he really wanted me to shoot a whole magazine. :)
I tell ya....it took SO much restraint not to flip the switch on that thing to "AUTO." But I love my job and want to keep it so I resisted. :)

My co-workers have great toys as well!

I shot one of these.....

....and one of these.....

And I got two new toys of my own this last week!

The M&P is my new EDC - or will be once I find the right holster for it. I've been wearing it at work in a Fobus, but need something a little more concealable for outside of work. I think I want something similar to TT Gun Leather's snap holster, but I'm a little shy about spending that much on a holster, having never used an OWB before.

But I'm also considering a Skeleton from PHLster.com......
Holster shopping is kind of like bathing suit shopping for me....I need to try it on and stare critically in the mirror for an hour or two before actually purchasing something (or in the case of the bathing suit....talking myself out of it and never actually buying anything!). So holster shopping on the internet is torture for me. :(

Hubs upgraded the trigger with an Apex kit, and put TruGlo sights on it for me, and I love it!
I just got an extra pinky extension for the factory mag (why do they send you ONE flat and ONE pinky extension?!) as well as a 17 round mag and an XGrip adapter. I obviously won't carry it that way (well, maybe at work just to see how many people ask questions LOL) but I will be great for range time.

The Mossberg........LOVE! We picked it up last Friday, and immediately put two boxes of slugs through it (we don't allow shot at our range). I don't know much about shotguns, but Damn. I love this thing. And I love the quarter sized holes that slugs punch neatly through paper targets.
As we arrived on the firing line with it, a couple of the guys at work said "Do you know how to shoot from the hip?" I looked at them like they were crazy and said "Yeah, I've done that. But I ain't doing that today." My soldier girl called ma B-A-M-F for shooting it from the shoulder with slugs. I just laughed at her. :)
Hubs has a running list of upgrades for the shotty already, but he won't let me see it. :(
I'll try to update as it morphs through the various stages of  "upgrades."

And on a final note for today......THIS is is the scene in my garage right now. That big tub on the left? That's a 50 gallon tote. FULL. And this isn't even all of it. So if you need brass, or know anyone that does, hit me up. I'm sure we can work something out. ;)

Have a great weekend y'all! I'm going to go help a friend with some home repairs, then go out to dinner and do some birthday shooting! :)

One of these days....

...I'll get to the point where I can sort out all of the thoughts rambling around in my head, post about them daily, and stop playing these catch up games!

JOB
New job is going great! I've met a ton of great people, seen and shot some really cool toys, have expanded my wish list a lot, and have done a little bit of one-on-one teaching.
The range has been insanely busy. I don't know if it's because we're new, or because of the Election Day outcome, or a mixture of both. But it's a good problem to have!

SOLDIER GIRL
She's doing well at AIT, and her brigade marched in a Veteran's Day parade this past Monday. Sadly, I have no pictures of that. She's counting the days til she gets to come home for Christmas (and so am I!).

CHEMO
We're still battling the monster, but making progress, we think. Another MRI coming up on Monday, and we're praying that the chemo is still kicking the tumor's ass. It sure isn't being kind to the Mr.

MISC
I have a birthday coming up, and it looks like I will be getting a new firearm! I've got my eye on a S&W M&P 9 compact. Hubs has a full size VTAC model, which I love to shoot, but it's just a little big for me to conceal. So I'm leaning towards the compact version. Too bad those VTAC sights are so expensive, though, I'd love to put them on a compact!

Hubs and I will be taking some instructor training here in a couple of weeks, and I'm really looking forward to it! I won't let the cat out of the bag just yet as to what, exactly, but it will be a great addition to the classes our range already offers.

The invitation is still out there for an Dallas area peeps to stop by (email me for details please) and visit the range! You'll love the place, and I would love to see some write-ups out there!

That's all I got. More soon!

Calling Dallas area bloggers

I'm attempting to help the gun range I work at get some positive press, and I'd like to personally invite all you Dallas area bloggers to come check the place out. :)

I don't have the authority to say "Come shoot for free" but maybe it would be enough if I told you that you can shoot pistols, rifles (up to, but not including 50BMG) and shot guns (slugs only) on a single lane (no moving lanes when you want to switch from one to the other) in a climate controlled range with clean air that is recycled every 87 seconds?

Or if you're a lady blogger, come see us on Tuesday nights, and shoot for just $5.

If you want to come check it out, feel free to email me at twoamama_AT_gmail_DOT_com and I'll give you the name and address of the place.

Silly me, I think I'm going to be able to keep my privacy now that I'm working there and blogging about it! Seriously, though...just trying to avoid crazy stalker fan-boi types - even though every one at the range open carries. ;)

Hope to hear from you, and see you soon!

Quick Update: New Job!

I'm a few weeks into the new job at the range, and I'm absolutely loving it!

The owners are wonderful people, my co-workers are already like family to me, and I get to talk guns/ammo and training every day I'm there, with customers from all walks of life. And I'm getting paid to do it! :)

If you had asked me five years ago what I'd be doing today, I never would have imagined it would be this. But I truly feel like I've found my calling in life (as goofy as that may sound).

Once I settle in a little more, I'll be taking some NRA instructor level courses, and hopefully will get to start teaching some classes! :)

That's it for now....gotta go get ready to head to my dream job! :)

Playing Catch Up Again! - Road Trip

I feel like I've been in a constant state of motion these last few weeks! But it has been a fantastic few weeks, and I want to share it with you!!! :)

On October 1st, the hubs and I piled our bags into the car and made the 16 hour drive to South Carolina to see Soldier Girl graduate from basic training. We didn't hit the road nearly as early as we would have liked (4:30PM instead of 8AM) which meant we drove through the night, and arrived at our hotel in Columbia at around 9:30AM on the 2nd.
After napping for a few hours, we got up and got ready to go to a meet up with some other army families that I had gotten to know from a Facebook group over the course of eleven long weeks.

While we were getting ready to go, I took a moment to clean my glasses and managed to snap them in half. It was a clean break right on the bridge, too. Am I talented or what? LOL

Gorilla Glue to the rescue - sort of. I got through the evening with them glued, but of course they snapped again when I took them off back at the hotel room. We re-glued again, and I managed to get through the Family Day briefing and a trip to the post optical shop where we found some new frames that my existing lenses sort of fit into. Not a great solution, but we could only do so much 1000 miles from home. At least I could see!

The Family Day briefing was incredible!!! There were speeches and live music, and lots of cheering, and then finally, this.....

Three companies marching onto the field as one.....what a proud moment for me. <3
The music still gives me goosebumps!

Once they released the soldiers to find their families, chaos ensued. Hundreds of parents, grandparents, siblings, wives, husbands, boyfriends and girlfriends all trying to find their soldiers in a sea of camouflage. LOL 
I found my girl soon enough, and managed to sneak up on her and grab her in the biggest bear hug. We both started crying. It was SO good to see her face in person after 11 long weeks!
I noticed when I hugged her that she was all wiry and muscle-y! LOL

Me and my Soldier Girl!

Me and the Soldier Girls. We adopted this gal for Family Day, since her family couldn't make it.

We spent some time doing brief meet-n-greets of her Battle Buddies and their families, and then went to sign the gals out for the day. We were restricted to on-post only, so we hit the PX (and the optical shop) to do some shopping, lunch, and visiting). Then we wandered over to the U.S. Army Basic Combat Training Museum, which was really cool!

Outside the museum.

A piece of one of the World Trade Center buildings from the 9/11 attacks.

After the museum, we did a little more wandering around, but ended up back at the PX, just kicking back at a table and talking. She had to be back at her company by 2030, and we dropped her off a little bit early to make sure she made it on time. Then it was back to the hotel for us to get some sleep, and get ready for Graduation Day!
Sadly the weather did not cooperate, and the graduation ceremonies were moved inside. This meant that these soldiers didn't get to do Pass & Review, but the graduation ceremony was awesome regardless! (Sorry for the crappy video work, but just LISTEN! Again with the goosebumps!)

After the graduation ceremony was over, we went back over to the company area to get Soldier Girl all checked out, get all her orders signed off on, and get her stuff packed into the car, so we could drive her to her AIT post.

This photo cracks me up! She actually said "Really Mom?"
I just wanted a record of her carrying 100lbs of gear without complaining! LOL

She said her first order of business was to hit up a Five Guys, but it was a little early in the day for that so she settled for Waffle House instead. :) After our bellies were full, we went back to the hotel and just hung out for a few hours. She sorted all her gear and re-packed it all. We watched TV and surfed the net (she had to get caught up on Facebook, you know!). We ran out and did a little shopping (which she griped about - she didn't want to put those Class A's back on! LOL) and then got a good night's sleep.
The next morning, we loaded up the car and hit the road for her next post. Within minutes of being in the car, I looked back and saw this:

Apparently, all soldiers fresh out of basic do this. Sleep when you can.
She did it every time we got in the car. LOL

Once we reached her new post (Friday 10/5) , we were sent to three different buildings to get her checked in. But once all the paperwork was done, she was granted a weekend off-post pass (yay for Columbus Day being a federal holiday, right?) So we went and checked into a hotel and proceeded to be lazy for a few hours. We did a little bit of sightseeing, and tried to find a gun range that fit our time schedule, but unfortunately that didn't work out too well. So mostly we just hung out, drove around town so she could see where things were, and did laundry at the hotel.

Laundry guard. And Facebook.
The important stuff, you know!

The hubs and I had to hit the road on Sunday, so we had to take Soldier Girl back to her company early (she had a pass til 1400 on Monday), but that allowed her plenty of time to get all her stuff unpacked and put away, and of course to catch up with Facebook and texting with friends. ;)

When it came time to say good bye, I was ok, until I saw she had tears in her eyes. I told her to knock it off, and then started to cry too. LOL She texted me for the next 6 hours, just talking about random things, until she finally decided to turn in.

We arrived back at home at around 430AM on Monday, and went straight to bed for a few hours.

It was an amazing, wonderful, emotional trip - and worth every single second.
I am so proud of my kid!!! She has really changed, for the better of course. She's polite & respectful, carries a crapload of gear without complaint, answers all questions with "Yes/No ma'am/sir" and cusses like a sailor soldier. :) LOL

She's two weeks into classes at AIT, and she has more freedom than at BCT. Her company seems more like a college campus than the army, except for the road marches and multiple daily formations. Everyone is really laid back - a bunch of self professed geeks. :)
She's getting to know her battle buddies, is very grateful to only have 5 bunk mates instead of 27, and pretty much gets to text/facebook her mama whenever she wants.
She scored a 90 on her first test, which makes me proud, because it's pretty technical stuff (hubs understands it, but it's way over my head!).

Sorry this is so incredibly long.....but I guess when you can't post for so long, that's just how it is!

Next up: the new JOB!!! Look for that soon!

PAR-TAY!

Soldier Girl is graduating after all!!
She got a chance to re-test on PT, and with a battle buddy kicking her ass the whole way, she scored above the standard and passed. WHEW!!!

I knew she could do it, I just didn't know if she knew she could do it! Thanks to all that said a prayer for her!

This is probably my shortest post ever, but I still have a ton of things to do before we hit the road!

I promise to take tons of pics, and I'll try to update somewhere along the way. :)

One happy mama. <3