How do you stay connected being thousands of miles away from each other?

Let's face it: my husband isn't coming home for ten more months. How do you feel close to your spouse while they're thousands of miles away? What do you send to your loved one to ensure that they know you're always thinking of them? If anyone has any ideas to add...pleaaaaase let me know :)


Here are the ideas that I've gathered so far:

-the normal...emails, letters, phone calls that are always positive
-photo books
-themed care packages
-custom photo calendar with important dates, holiday messages, count downs, and notes
-cd with music and your own commentary on it
-the book What I Love About You by Kate & Dave Marshall: you fill out one and send the other to your spouse to fill out
-hidden notes inside of the packages
-trading pillowcases: sleep with them for a while so they smell like you and then send them to each other
-spraying my perfume on pretty much anything that I can before I send it to Ronnie
-keeping a bottle of Ronnie's cologne and spray it on my bedding (especially at night)
-I tell Ronnie EVERYTHING about my day...when I do that, it feels like he was almost here for it


Well...I guess that's all for now! Any suggestions would be really appreciated!

where has the time gone?!

Day to day, it seems like time is going by sooo slow...but when I actually look at the calendar, time is actually flying by! It seems like it was just yesterday when Ronnie deployed. Everything is going great right now though! I'm working full-time as a REO Asset Manager at my mother-in-law's real estate business and on top of that, I'm enrolling back into school for criminal justice (as I'm writing this actually!).

After about a month and a half of choppy video and internet, we finally figured out a way to actually talk regularly...call forwarding! We pay about $1/hour for him to skype to my cell phone. SOO worth the money! Ronnie's been working a lot so I don't talk to him a ton or anything, but it definitely beats going about 10 days at a time without talking!

I'm just SO excited for R&R! 15 whole days of spending time together in Florida at Disney World and then Siesta Key Beach? I think yes! :)

Needless to say, Ronnie is fine so far. I'm just trying to rely on his training to keep him in one piece!  Anyway, not much else to update other than that...we're just trying to beat this deployment one day at a time :).

Finally have internet again...

As of today, I finally have regular internet again :). Ronnie has my laptop so I can only use the desktop right now, but whatever... I got my first paycheck today and a new laptop is calling my name this weekend!

It's been just exhausting since I got back to Nebraska. I literally work all day and then come home (and I ALWAYS have something to do to get the apartment unpacked...) and do work around the house. A friend has been helping me paint our bedroom a light shade of blue...but we've only got half of that done haha. By the end of the weekend, my goal is to have everything unpacked and be settled in.

It's been hard lately with Ronnie not around...he's always been the one who asks me how my day was or let me vent until it's all out. It's just not the same... but I'm starting to plan our vacation to Florida this weekend too! At least that is something to look forward to I guess. I'm just so mentally exhausted I can't even think right now.

I did get some pictures of Ronnie since he's been in Afghanistan though! (Either his hair is getting darker or he's just really dirty haha.) I posted them on my facebook just so everyone could see. I know it's not his fault but I haven't got ANY regular mail from him yet...it's been over a month already :/. I know others are getting stuff in the mail from their spouses...ugh. Just another thing that sucks at this point.

Hopefully I hear from Ronnie soon...I just need to hear his voice right now!