Delays

Yesterday I had a good day, when my husband called me {eeeeearly in the AM} he was happy and excited, and I think it rubbed off.  I woke up happy and excited, getting up, and taking the dog out before the heat of the day {and stopping on the way to get myself some Starbucks}.  My parents came by and we tackled the front and back yards...My dad even fixed Jesse's car {on which the battery has died at least three times this deployment}.  We topped the day off with going and getting some Mexican food.

This morning he called me and you could tell he wasn't quite so cheery.  There's nothing definitive on when he's going to be coming back, because of course things start to bottleneck after a while.  Me, as much I try and stay positive, but I can't seem to pull things together.  I have zero motivation to get my house in order.  And I really need to pull everything together.  Of course estimating how many days I have left without him {subject to change of course} if I don't pull it together soon...I might not be prepared.  Ugh...

So, I'm getting myself off the couch {and getting a later start to the day than I need} and I'm going to attempt to get some stuff done!!

Wish me luck.....I think i'm going to need it! ;)

Happy Sunday!

Getting There

I know I've been avoiding a true blog post for a while....But I wanted to tell you that a certain someone's homecoming is coming up.  Yep.

I don't know when...But soon.  So you might have to excuse my lack of any blog posts in the recent days!

Last weekend was great...Saturday I went to a wedding, Sunday was the 4th and I hit up two BBQ's before I ended the evening watching the fireworks at the Puyallup Fairgrounds from South Hill with the fam.  Yesterday I had my parents over and we tackled the yard work.  Mom and I redid the flower bed in the front of the house (it was overgrown with weed like plants) and my dad did all sorts of stuff in the back yard.  He tilled around the patio, hung brackets for my plants, hung the plants, weed whacked, mowed the lawn, swept, put together adirondack chairs, and swept the patio.  You could imagine my amazement when I went in the back yard and saw next to everything done.  He did a spectacular job.

Today I decided it would be my errand day.....I still have a few things I should do on the computer before I got to bed.  But tomorrow is my day to tackle the downstairs of the house, making sure everything is in order.  I want to have a nice relaxing weekend (I work monday), so I'm going to get the entire downstairs squared away.

So, if you don't hear from me....You know why!  I'll post some before & after photos of some of the work we've done another day :)

Have a great week!

Sweet Blogging

Thank you to Just a Girl and Ines for the lovely Sweet Blogger award!

The rules of this award are just to pass it on!!  So, to share the love I gave this to:

Kristen @ Requires Heavy Lifting

Laura @ Diamonds and Dog Tags

Chantal @ Chantal's Blog

Now I have to admit I've been ridiculously behind on getting to know everyone from the blog hop!  I will try and touch base with as many of you as possible in the next week.  Things have been a little crazier around here than I would have wished them to be!

I have to say here in Washington, we are enjoying an amazing streak of beautiful weather.  It's been gorgeous outside.  I love it when it's this pretty.  This morning when I woke up though, I wished it was rainy.  The sun was filling my house (I really have good light in the house) but I had absolutely no want to roll out of bed and face the day.  I'm hitting a slight hill in this deployment where it just isn't fun.  He's not around....Still.

I managed to get out of bed, and things got better.  I have to say in Washington if it's sunny, people drive like idiots.  Hopefully after a stretch of sun it doesn't rain, too, because no one will be able to drive in that either.  Trust me on this one.

As positive as I tried to be today, there were lots of hiccups.  My dad and I were going to take the dogs out for a walk, and last minute my mother wanted to go so we had to take two cars (3 dogs + 3 people + 1 car = no go).  We met dad at the park where he had already let the dogs off the leash, and this park we go to isn't specific for "off-leash" dogs.  The dogs are always off leash though, so the proceeded to make it extremely difficult for me to pull into the park, and then jumped on the car.  They scratched the $#*% out of it.  One dog in particular.  And it wasn't mine (there were only 3 dogs there).  I do have to say that my dad attempted to fix it, but he does things pretty spaztically, and missed multiple spots.  Sigh.

I did everything I wanted to do today, but as we were about to watch Oceans Thirteen the remote broke and there was no way to manually change the TV over to recognize the DVD player.  Yes, my parents have an old TV.  UUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHH.

But other than that my day was ok.  I plan on having a relaxing morning/afternoon and heading to the dog park with my adorable pup.  Maybe do some fam stuff, and take the doggie in for a mini-check up to see if he's keeping on weight (which I can tell you he is).  The next month is likely going to be a busy with work and all of that....I'm looking forward to May being behind us!

Have a great weekend,

Wednesday Craziness

Oh, where to start?

I'm sorry that I've taken a while to do a post.  And as you can probably guess, I haven't been ontop of the new followers.  So, I'm trying to catch up!  Hang in there!  I added some feeds to my right with everyone's pages...If I missed you please let me know.  I separated people by branches...And I think that I need a section for "Those Who are Good at Keeping their Branch Secret" section.  SO if I missed you and you want me to mention you, drop me a line.

So in news with me:  Stryker went to the vet.  They ran blood and stool, I have yet to get in there to drop off a urine sample (now doesn't that sound fun....Let's just say I have to get it mid-stream).  They think that his issues could be:

1. It's spring, new things are blooming.  He could have gotten into an animal's...Well...Business.  So basically we have to keep an eye on him if he's in the back yard...Or anywhere...To make sure he's not getting into anything abnormal.
2. He could have allergies.  I find this somewhat not possible, because I feed him an allergy-free, byproduct-free, wheat & corn-free, natural food.  This is because he's had some bowel issues in the past.  But, I am not always as cautious when it comes to treats.  Which brings me to point number...
3. He could have something they call Irritable Bowel Disease.  This could equal him being on a limited diet indefinitely.

I have to give him two pills a day (for the bacteria they keep finding in his intestines), dewormer (covering our bases), and a bland diet.  I also have to get some blood work from our previous vet in Georgia for the current vet, get an outline about Stryker's diet, and turn in that urine sample.  I believe that's everything, and to top it all off the dog hasn't pooped in two days.  Yes, I know that's TMI but ya know.  Just not normal.  He hasn't gotten his energy back either - which breaks my heart.

I was surprised that Jesse wasn't as mad about the entire thing as I thought he might be.  Now, he doesn't blame me or the dog, but he's gone to the vet probably 7 times in the last 7 months.  Vet bills = not cheap.  Enough said.  AND if this keeps happening, we get x-rays.  I better get a second job.

In other news, work has been busy.  Mother's Day coming up, which I'm sure everyone knows.  So we're just handling that.  Between that and our printer at work dying (I do everything handwritten that way) it's been no fun.

I am also going to be doing some FRG stuff...Which is going to take up some time, but I'm looking forward to plan and organize some events.  That should be fun.  Tomorrow we have a meeting which I'm looking forward to.  Redeployment, baby.

Jesse got to where he needed to be, and is adjusting to the conditions at his new location.  I talk to him enough to make me happy.  I am going to be mailing him a package in the next couple of days which I'm excited about.  Getting closer to that cut off date!

One last thing I want to say....  Katie at Life of an Army Wife is having a giveaway which I encourage you to be involved in.  I love Emily Giffin!

Thank you all for your thoughts & prayers...I am going to try and enjoy a margarita!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter Everyone!

I know it's super late in the day to be saying this, with only 2 hours left of the holiday left on the west coast, but better late than never I always say!

This year I had Easter dinner at our house.  My mom and dad came, my brother staying up at school today.  We tried to call him, but of course he ignored didn't answer the phone when we called.  Go figure.

I started my day with a brief conversation with the hubster, then got ready for the day.  Stryker and I went out to Steilacoom to the dog park out there.  Let me tell you, I've been missing out!  I really have to say that in all the time I've lived here I haven't truly brought Stryker there.  He had a good time playing and meandering out of my eyesight, but slept like a baby when he got home.  Thanks Nikki for bringing the dog park to my attention!

So when I got home I did some laundry, some vacuuming, and stuck the ham in the oven.  I frosted cupcakes, and by the time I had started that mom and dad arrived.  We made dinner which was an awesome ham, balsamic potatoes, a green salad with strawberries and lime dressing, brown sugar carrots, and crescent rolls.  For desert we had cupcakes.  This is my little display:

After we measured a million windows (mom is going to make me curtains) they headed home and I started my second load of dishes through the dishwasher.

I hope by the end of this week I have some amazing news to share.  I hope that everyone has a great week, and again, Happy Easter & Happy Spring!

It's April!

Before I start rambling, I want to say thank you for my new followers!  I feel like I'm getting new people, and I'm following so many, I had to adjust one of my feeds...It was getting so long!  I will probably work out a  few more adjustments yet before I call it good.

So the "issue" that I've been working on -- and mentioning -- in my past few blogs I think I've worked out. Lets just say it's Army related so I don't want to jinx it.  I know that most of you know how things in the military can be, how things can change at a moments notice.  So, I don't want to jinx it.  Chances are if you have seen or spoken with me in the last week you know what's going on, but I still don't want to talk about it.  Which, is very frustrating because I have a lot to talk about.  No complaining here, I feel as though the leadership in my husband's battalion has been amazing, supportive, and helpful.  If things don't pan out, I feel like at the end of the day I won't have anything negative to say.  Honestly, seriously, and wholeheartedly they have been amazing.

There's not a lot more to talk about besides I just realized my Easter cards are waiting downstairs for me to finish up.  Here I have most of the week to get them done and...Nope.  So, I think I'm going to get crackin.'  Tomorrow is friday, here comes the weekend and a mandatory day off.  Heck yes :)

So I am going to go because nothing important is going on in my life as of now.  Tomorrow the 'rents are coming over to help with some tasks, so we'll see if I have better things to talk about then.

Happy 1st Day of April!

Looking for Words that Start with "M"

So the boring unoriginal person I am decided to think of a word that started with an M because it's Monday.  People often times are clever with this, I on the other hand am not.

So as I'm looking at different places for inspiration, I fell upon the website The Devil's Dictionary.  I think it's worth taking a look at if you're in need of some sarcasm, or a laugh.  Just to warn you, it can be offensive too.

In other news, I worked today, Stryker went to doggie daycare, and I haven't heard from Jesse in a little while.  With word of a surge, and the weather heating up over there, I can only imagine this is going to become more frequent than not.  Lets hope more on the not side.

I got off work today and stopped by the commissary.  I wanted to hit it just right:  not a payday, a weekend, or a combination of both.  So I got there on a monday afternoon, which wasn't too bad.  I have to say I forgot how cheap things tend to be there, even as cheaper often times leads to spending more money than intended.  Something I obviously need to work on after this trip.  If the commissary only had a meat counter - which, I can't recall if many do?  How quickly I forget.  Not having a meat counter (or a the ability to carry wine...I'll save that for a later post) kinda sucks.  And by meat counter I mean a place where you can pick out fish, beef, chicken, etc...Not the sliced stuff.  They have NO selection of FISH.  Which brings me to my next point:  I am a fish snob.

More importantly, salmon.  Salmon I love.  I am from the west coast, and more importantly pacific northwest.  Salmon is awesome (and even though I don't love it as much so are clams, oysters, etc.  You get the picture).  Love it.  Love the fact that all the rich in omega-3's, wild caught, brilliant colored fish live here (or in AK, I'll give them some credit too). It seriously makes me cringe to think of buying Atlantic farmed salmon.  See?  Fish snob.

I have to commend the commissary though, because I found organic bulgar and quinoa that I didn't find easily in my local Fred Meyer store.  Even though giving Fred Meyer some credit, they have great fish and an AMAZING wine selection.  Not to mention their breads int he organic section = love.  Yes, I have issues.

So anyway I am home now, one of my friends are going to come by to drop something off.

My week is going to be decently busy.  Oh, and Jesse and I may attend a Cavalry ball come summer (ball = formal).  The unit he's attached with invited him.  I contacted the FRG to ask them some questions, and they were so excited that I inquired.  I think it would be a blast.  Two days of dressing up (because we'd definitely attend his unit's ball), getting my hair done and looking gorgeous?  Why would I say no?

Have a great week, all.  I know it's spring break for many....Enjoy!

So it's Saturday

I feel defeated today, but for reasons I can't yet explain.  I truly don't want to make this a "teaser" for you, but I'm still trying working on an issue, not a huge issue, but a decent sized one.  I just would hate to jinx it now.

Yesterday I did nothing.  Today was pretty much the same.  I hoped today for some retail therapy, but when I got to the mall I felt out of place.  Like I shouldn't be there or something.  It's a strange feeling.

Any motivation I once had seems to have fizzled.  If I could wrap myself up in a blanket and sleep all day, I probably would do that.  Thank goodness for Stryker I guess, who keeps me from completely losing my mind.

Speaking of Stryker, I watched him finish off his Kong (I started giving him this as his treat again for before bed).  He's quite amazing, how he knows how to get stuff out of that thing.  He literally stands it upright for a moment, then knocks it over to look and see if the treats fall out.  Yes, I have no life.

I will try and update more soon on our current situation.  I really hope it is a positive outcome.

Have a good weekend,

Tears

So today I'm in the car driving home from my parents house and that new song by Train comes on.  I like the song, it seems very happy-go-lucky, and gives me a good happy feeling.  So as I think about the song, I think about Jesse.  I think about how I'm going to react when I pick him up for R&R (getting closer now!). I don't know why I think of this reunion more than his actual homecoming, maybe because he's invited a zillion people to come to his homecoming (not thrilled about that) and this is just going to be me and him.  No one else.  That feels pretty good.

So as I start thinking about that I think of how I'll probably cry.  Now, crying is something I have been doing much more freely since he has left.  I cry at the Biggest Loser, when a man or woman cries on TV (real or fiction), when someone loses a spouse or almost loses one (real or fiction again, lol), or when I start thinking about men and women KIA, MIA, and wounded and their families.  This is something that is a bit more new to me -- tears coming so freely.  I believe it's a combination of his absence and me being alone enough to cry.  Nonetheless it's just about ridiculous.  So, I believe I'll be crying when I pick him up from the airport (likely I will be meeting him at his gate) and I can only imagine that I'll be making a scene.  Thats what it looks like in my head, at least.

I then start thinking about how I thought I was going to handle him being gone.  To be honest, I thought I was going to be a complete mess.  I have been around a few women during a deployment who were pretty much that:  a mess.  I think to an FRG leader I met a while back who told me that before deployment she had everyone picked out:  who was going to be the problem and who wasn't.  She said that everything ended up being the exact opposite of what she thought.

So I am curious, when you learned of your looming deployment, how did you think you would handle it?  Did it end up being that way?

Me, I am not a complete mess like I thought I was going to be.  I (even though I cry when I'm alone with the TV) am holding up quite well.  I dealt with Jesse after his previous trip to the middle east, and even though I didn't know him before he left, I sure dealt with a lot of his reintegration when he got back home.  I knew what he did over there the first time, how limited contact would be.  I think that helps some, even though I will admit I currently do talk to him more often than most other wives from our unit.  One thing that surprises me though is that I'm not crying every day or sitting around acting helpless.  I totally thought I was going to be that person.

On a lighter note, I am thinking about doing the Couch to 5K "program" to try and get my butt in gear.  Some girls from the FRG want to be involved in a 5K come June, and I would love to participate if possible.  I want to start my "training" this week, then when Jesse is home on leave we're going to *attempt* attending some spin classes, and hopefully getting in that swing will make life better for me.

I also want to go to Crystal Mountain for Easter, I think it would be amazing to do.  Watching the sun rise over the snow capped Cascades, what would be better than that?  I also wanted to go to an Easter service, and had no clue where.  So, weather permitting, I think I'm going to do it (I think I can rope at least my father in to go with me).  Besides, no snowboarding required.  I would likely fall on my face many times before I got to the bottom of the mountain...And that's just not pretty!

When Jesse's home on leave I also want to attend the tulip festival in Mount Vernon.  That would be awesome.

Right now I'm thinking....You only live once.  So I'm going to get out there and make that one time count.

Have a great week, I am off to get my house in gear for my houseguest (Taylor) who is going to be residing at my house for a couple of nights!  Wish me luck that he doesn't eat me out of house and home ;)

A Little Bit of Sunshine

We've had a streak of beautiful weather up here (I believe tomorrow will end that streak) and yesterday my dog was spending some time in the sunshine.  I managed to grab my picture and snap a photo of him next to the gate.  Notice how he's sitting in the only spot of sunshine in our entire fenced in yard.  I found it hilarious!

I hope everyone had a good weekend, and I'm looking forward to the week ahead.  March isn't flying by, but I can't say that I can complain.  I had quite a few days off last week, and got to spend much of it cleaning, organizing, and putting away.  Not to mention spend lots of time with the cat and the dog, which I absolutely love to do.

Tomorrow I will send out my last care package before Jesse comes home on leave.  If you are planning on sending him items in the near future, you may want to do so soon.  There is a little talking about pushing his leave date back a few days up to a week, but as is the Army we'll know when we get there.

I'm getting googly eyes from my doggie, so it is time for me to say goodnight.  Have a great week!

ACU Purses

I found out today one of the ladies in my FRG makes ACU purses.  I'm going to get one once I get all the supplies I need.  How exciting.  If you're interested in an ACU purse, I googled it...There are a LOT of women who make these purses, some in some very creative designs.  So, if you don't like the full on Army ACU look, you can mix it up with flowers and patterns and all kinds of stuff.  The one I'm going to get is going to have the ACU's and the velcro for the patches.  Still, super psyched.

In other news, there really isn't any news.  I got my fence installed today!  I'm happy now that he has his own yard :)

Have a great weekend!

Yay for Family Briefings!

Jesse got a mention...Well not really a mention, but a picture!

This isn't it, but while I'm at it I might as well share something!

For OPSEC (Opercational Security) reasons, I am not going to put these photos online anymore through the blog.

Please check out my Facebook page for more!

Winter Strikes in March

So if you are local, I am not telling you anything you don't already know.

Yesterday came the threat of snow.  Yes, snow.  Keep in mind it was sixty degrees here on sunday!

It snowed in Tacoma (where I work), even as far west as Port Orchard.   All yesterday.  The weather definitely cooled off and made it very brisk outside.

Tonight they're talking about the Olympia area (about forty-five minutes south of Lewis depending on what time of day you drive), the coast (two hours west), further north, and closer to the mountains.  Only just traces and slush, thank goodness!  I would not like to see any snow this year.

Basically I don't know about this groundhog giving us more weeks of winter.  I think this is much more amusing.  And hey, while you're watching that, watch this.  Some good YouTube vids from Superbowl time which I think are hilarious.

Stay warm out there!

Lacking

Again I sit here lacking any motivation to do anything.

My last day off was thursday, and my next day off is thursday.  This morning I woke up tired.  More tired than I would have liked.  I got ready for work, raced over to housing to get my fence approved, dropped Mr. Stryker at daycare, and headed to work.  Jesse called me and I got to chat with him a little bit.  He hasn't been real talkative on things that he's been doing lately, but I fill him in on the mundane things I go through in a day.  I think he likes to hear the normalcy of it all.

Work started out slow, but got progressively busier.  I think it was busier than yesterday even.  I ended up working a little over, only to jump in my car and hit a wall of traffic on the freeway.  There was this horrible wreak on the freeway, apparently on the news they were saying that a box truck "lost it's load" when really it looked like the truck had been decapitated.  I seriously have no clue how a person would have survived that.  The entire box portion was torn apart, by the time I got there they had two FedEx trucks backed up and loading up boxes.  Crazy!

When I picked Stryker up I learned that he had met a friend named Rex.  I was pretty happy to know he found a buddy that was more his size and played with him lots.  He needs that the most.

So that brings me to here, sitting at the computer.  I did eat some dinner, but how come after work it's always so easy to just sit around?

Sigh.....

Roller Coaster

Today basically fit into two words:  roller coaster.

The day started just fine, our manager is a bit stressed about sales.  We were decently busy all morning, I took my lunch, walked down to Starbucks (dropping my cell phone in the middle of the mall), ate, went back to work.  Our second shift came in, I started working on some repair jobs that had come in.

Then I got nicely yelled at on the phone by a jerk.  You know, I don't think that sums it up well enough.  I'll sensor myself though....but you get the picture!

I had to step in the back to compose myself...Feeling like I was going to cry.  I always tell myself, demand myself not to cry in situations like this.  I surprisingly overcame it.  But when things like this happen I often think to myself how much I want my husband.  I just think:  my husbands deployed!  Not that I expect or think that I deserve special treatment, I just believe that you never ever know what's going on in someone else's life as you are treating them like absolute crap.

Then after all was said and done, my nerves were calmed, I jumped back in the swing of things.  I didn't help many people, but the first person I helped hit on me.  Asking me if I was married, for how long, etc.  They told me that things were still good since we're still in the infancy of our marriage (for me coming up on four years doesn't seem that young).  I told them that it stays pretty fresh since my husband is in the Army and that you don't really see your husband ALL of the time (side note, like they said on the Nightly News last night: "if the Army would've wanted you to have a wife they would've issued you one"...that's a pretty good quote even though I prefer: my husband's mistress is the Army, and sometimes that bitch gets all the attention).

But anyway, that was #1.  Number 2 didn't fully divulge was he was thinking, just commenting that I was probably married with kids, and it wasn't appropriate for him to say.  Good plan.

Number 3 I guess wasn't technically "hitting on" me, but when I walked over (he was my manager's customer) he felt like he wanted to tell me everything about the pendant he just bought, the chain he was wearing, why, etc.  Totally military I might add.  He barely took his eyes off of me.

By the end of the day (I got let out early) I felt okay.  The traffic sucked. One rule about this state is the "looky-loos."  BOTH sides of 1-5 (the interstate that runs from Canada all the way to California) often has looky-loos.  So, if both sides of the freeway is stopped chances are they're gawking at someone on the side of the road with their emergency blinkers on.  One negative thing about living here is definitely the traffic.  One plus:  I actually turned on my A/C in the car.  It was that warm.  When my A/C wasn't on I enjoyed having my windows down and my sunroof open.  That is the life!

I picked up my puppy from daycare, he was so ridiculously hyped up that he was trying to play with Spuz by basically jumping on him.  90 pound jumping dog + cat = no go.  Haha.  That and Stryker wouldn't settle down and was running from room to room whining with a giant overstuffed toy in his mouth.  WoW.  He finally decided to give it a rest and pass out in our room.  Seriously, doggie daycare is awesome.  And the people at The Pet Brigade are awesome.

So right now I am fine, I think I'm going to finish my day off with some TV and a glass of wine. I'm going to try and keep motivation to get some more stuff put away around here so that when my husband gets home one leave (I'm going to start a mental countdown very soon) that I won't have anything out of place.  Haha!  Right.

Happy Friday all, and enjoy your weekend!





PS - SpouseBuzz had this great link and music video which I encourage you to watch!!! 

Thursday Update & My "Big" Announcement

Since I haven't updated since Tuesday, I will give ya'll a low down on what's been going on in our neck of the woods.

Cars.  Oh, how we love cars.  I took my car in on Tuesday to get the headlights changed.  While the car was there, they said they noticed a leak of some sort (from a gasket they said) and recommended me to head into Honda to have them work on the vehicle since it was probably covered under warranty.  I scheduled the appointment.

Yesterday, I bring the car in.  My dad (who was in the area because he went to the hall) met me out these since the dealership would be dealing with my car.  They said everything should be done by mid-afternoon.  But, is anything that easy??  Dad dropped our other car off at his mechanic to get looked at earlier that day.  He and I spent the rest of the day taking the dogs for a walk (separately, that's a long story).  I also made a trip out to my FRG leader's house in there too.  I get a phone call mid-afternoon (I was starting to get anxious) telling me that they changed my oil and did something with the AWD fluid by my tires (I didn't realize there was such a thing), and that they had noticed it wasn't a gasket that was causing us the leakage, it was something else that they had to reseal and let sit overnight.  Is that okay? they ask me.  DAMN.  I stuttered, then said yes.  What else was I supposed to do, and better yet, what was I supposed to do about not having a car?? Son of a...

So dad calls his mechanic to get the low-down on the Civ.  They need to replace a $300 piece (insert expletive here) but he'd try something and if that worked we'd be good to go.  So we waited for a while, I called the dealer back and made sure they proceeded with the work.  How the heck is it that both cars have issues at the same time, and both cars have to be in the shop at the same time?  I am just curious to know how this happens.  Isn't the point of having two cars (other that having each spouse have one) to be able to have a back up??  Seriously.

Thank GOODNESS we get a call back from the mechanic telling us they fixed it without needing a new part (without the $300 dent in our pocket), and we could come and get it!  I got to drive my car home, but come this morning I had to have a ride to the dealer to get my other car anyway.  I have to say this situation was a blessing in the fact that: 1. Both the cars are fixed.  2. We got both of them sitting my driveway.  I didn't know how I was going to get them on post otherwise (and my dad hates going through security on post).  This will make it much easier when Jesse comes home on leave.  *Phew.*

So today I got my car, took Stryker out, prepared dinner in the crock pot (corned beef mind you...YUM!), found my vacuum sealer, packed and sealed Jesse's St. Patrick's Day package, and loaded my recycling bin with more paper (I wish they picked up once a week!).  I gave myself a break and decided to write an update.

On to my "big" announcement...haha.  I seriously haven't been meaning to hype this, but I had to wait for the right moment for reasons you could probably understand.  But:

I am now an FRG co-leader of Jesse's company.

I'm really excited to help and to be more involved with the FRG in the ways that I can.  Besides, I know that I will have to lead a company eventually after Jesse gets promoted.  It's only a matter of time and I might as well learn now.

I don't know how often I'll be updating come next week, my schedule is a bit busier than normal with work.  I will as much as I can, and it might be more that I'm thinking now.  But, if you don't hear from me you know why!

Happy Thursday!

Tuesday Update

So today I decided that I was going to get my headlights fixed.  After a few phone calls, I did just that, only to find my car has a few more issues.  Hopefully that will be all finished tomorrow morning.

The rest of the day today was basically running around.  There are a lot of things I need caught up on, and a few of those things I have done today.  Hopefully I make a big dent in my list this week, so I can move on to some other things.

I rounded up my day by taking Stryker out to the park.  It was raining pretty good but I put on my BDU gortex and rain boots and was good to go.  He seems somewhat pooped after all of that.  Only time will tell if playing ball with him wore him out for the evening.

I have a question for you mil-spouses.  I know my FRG is in need of some good fundraising ideas.  What are some good ideas that have worked for you?

A++

Stryker's first day at the doggie daycare on post went very well, as expected.  They give them a "report card" at the end of the day so you know the good and bad things your dog did when you come to pick them up.  They didn't give him a letter grade so I decided to grade him myself: A++.

I'm really glad that worked out, even though he was very wired when he came home.  I got him inside and he played for a little bit, then laid down.  I'm not quite sure where he is at this moment.

Other than that, the day went on without a hitch.  Yes, things are getting better.  I'm happy for that.  I have the next three days off so I'm out to do some things I have needing to do.  They're doing some schedule adjustments at work, so we'll see where that takes me.

I have a list of goals to accomplish this week, one of which is the St. Pat's care package I'm sending Jesse.  I hope to mail that out in the next few days.  I hear there are going to be some girl scouts at the PX late afternoon on thursday....So I'm going to make sure to get over there and buy me some cookies (and some for the hubster of course)!

Hope everyone has a great week.  Happy Monday!

MRAPs & Blackhawks

So I stared my day today by talking to my husband.  He is back at his FOB tonight, hopefully he will be able to sleep in a bit because he had a late night last night.  I got up, ate, showered, and took Stryker to the dog park.


On my way to the park, I saw an MRAP.  What is an MRAP you ask?  This:

Today was my first time ever seeing one in person, and not in the Army Times or in photos.  Let me tell you, those things look like monsters seeing them on the road.  They are an armored vehicle that the Army (and probably other branches) use.  They are pretty good on doing what they're made to do.

When I got to the park, let Stryker out of the car, and was playing ball with him when five blackhawk helicopters flew over.  I have to say that living on post never gets old.  Seeing something like blackhawks or jets in formation flying overhead, or Strykers and MRAPs driving down the road.  It's amazing.  You don't experience that every day as a civilian.

I have to say, I love our armed forces!  They're amazing :)

On another note, when I was out doing some shopping I drove back to my parents house, passing this park.  I saw this little white thing some girl was walking on a leash.  I thought, wow, isn't that a small dog?  I don't know if I'd walk that dog on a leash, I'd be afraid something would swoop out of the sky and try and pick it up.  What breed is that?  And then I saw it:  it was a ferret.  A FERRET!  What?!?  Pretty funny.  I won't be forgetting that one.

Also I want to add that I'm going to have a small announcement coming soon.  No, I'm not pregnant.  I need to do a couple more things before I make this announcement, so give me a couple of days and I will tell you!

It was a GOOD day today.  That feels good to say!

GOODBYE February, and BRING IT ON March!

Take a Deep Breath

This is something I found myself doing often today.  The morning went fine, I got an actual phone call from my husband.  He's going to be in a different area for a while, but not too long.  I was glad to hear his voice over the phone.  I guess it seems a lot more real than a fuzzy in-and-out internet connection.

I took Stryker to the dog park.  I got ready for work.  I ate lunch.  I made good time.  Everything was fine.

As I'm just starting to leave post for work, my check engine light comes on.  Keep in mind, I am driving the Civ because the CRV has no headlights.  The CRV is parked in front of my parent's house.  I am thirty minutes away from them.

So I think, ok.  On a scale of 1-10, I wasn't concerned about the Civ having problems.  I knew it needed to be looked at but nothing to be scared about.  On the scale I was about a 2 of panicking.  I kept driving.  Automatically, I knew something was wrong.  The car was having a hard time accelerating, jerking (not violently, but it wasn't something you could ignore) when I lifted my foot off the gas petal.  Oh sh*t.

Now, for those who don't know much about Lewis, you can't really get to the surrounding downs without taking the freeway.  Especially from North Fort.  You can go through main post, but there's a lot of lights.

I'm almost panicking.  Yeah, I sort of went from a 2 to a 10 real fast.  I was afraid I wasn't going to make it anywhere fast...If at all.  I call my dad.  Tell him what's happening.  He instructs me to come home (I think I needed someone to tell me what to do) and change out the cars again.  Call work and let them know that I'm going to be late.  Thank goodness my assistant manager is level headed because I was still about a 9 when I talked to him.  He was fine with me being late, just as long as I got there safely.

Long story short....Well, I know it's not that short...The Civ is out of commission for the time being.  Even as the CRV sat in my parents driveway for two days and my dad kept saying he'd change my headlights, he never did.  Thank goodness I don't work late the next couple of days because I'd be driving in almost complete darkness.

Have I mentioned how awesome it is right now that my husband is gone?

On another note, when I was at my parents house this guy driving a SUV with a trailer pulled off the side of the road right down from my parent's house and was unloading wood into the ditch.  He stuck a "free" sign on it.  My dad was not happy about this, and instead of doing something that was...Well, logical to me... He goes inside, grabs a camera and starts hiking his happy butt down the street.  I am sitting there just saying "dad don't.  dad please don't.  dad no.  dad..."  to no avail.  This normally works on my husband.

It does not work on my father.

So he goes down to talk to the guy, asking him why he's doing this.  Apparently the guy has an ad on Craig's List telling people he had free wood and decided to basically dump it on the side of this busy two late road (the guy lived close by) for people to stop by and pick up.  He told my father that if no one picked it up, he would come by and get the rest of it.  Dad basically told him that that was okay (hello, I see this as illegal dumping), just that he was going to take pictures (which he did...even of the license plate) and if it wasn't gone by whenever time he would call whoever you call to report that kind of stuff. I made sure I kept an eye on dad this whole time -- I mean, the guy had a couple people with him.  I know I couldn't have done much if anything happened -- besides calling 911 -- so I waited to leave until that was over.  Ugh.

All the wood was gone within about 30 minutes.  The guy packed it all back up.

Ah, good times.

Other than that my day was OK.  Stryker didn't manage to chew anything up that he shouldn't have while I was working my long evening shift.  Work was busy.  I often found myself taking deep breaths to keep myself from going crazy.

For everyone that I promised to stop complaining....  That didn't last long, did it?  Haha.  Go figure.

Tomorrow is a new day....