Big Announcement!!

Friends and family, please take the time to read.

This is quite possibly the biggest news I have ever put on my blog. ::Deep breath::

The Mister is taking the early retirement option and will be retiring from the Marine Corps this year. The paperwork was officially approved today and this a "no going back" decision. He will go on terminal leave towards the end of July. Terminal leave is when you take the leave you have on the books added with travel and job hunting leave. He'll still be active duty until September, but won't be actively working for the Marine Corps starting in July.

A lot of factors went into making this decision. A lot of soul searching. A lot of discussion. A lot of time. Hindsight is, as they say, 20/20 and if the Mister and I are completely honest, he should not have opted to reenlist clear back in 2006. We have been dissatisfied with the military life for quite some time. Did you know...The Mister is 36 years old (he'll be 37 this year.) He's been married for 18 years this May and will have a daughter old enough to enlist in the military herself this July. AND, he has to ask permission to buy a motorcycle. Or to travel to New Orleans over a weekend. We are simply, too old for this anymore. When you add in the current political climate here in the U.S., early retirement is, by far, the best decision that we could make. He will have his Master's degree before he officially retires and he has tons of experience behind him for job hunting. Basically, he's taking retirement while there's still any retirement from the military to be had. With our government downsizing the military, the Marine Corps will be significantly decreased over the next couple of years, there's a good chance he would have been forced to leave the military anyway. A better than good chance. Frankly, we don't like what we're seeing on the horizon and we certainly don't like the changes that have been made to the military overall that we have seen over the past almost 17 years. I'm trying not to get too political here, but it's really hard, lol.

I'll end this by saying that I hope the people that we care about most will support us in this decision and if you cannot, we didn't like you all that much anyway. ;) (I wink, but I'm not really joking.)

A Romantic Recharge

On Friday, Jan 17, the Mister surprised me with an overnight trip away from the kids, the pets, and the house. Do you ever have those times when you just need a break. A break from homework, cleaning the house, cooking dinner, feeding the pets, just EVERYTHING. I was having one of those times. It wasn't any one thing. The kids have been doing relatively okay and the pets are fine as is the house. But it was just the everyday minutia of the cats running around the house like monkeys and having to nag the kids to do their homework and having to figure out dinner every single day that was wearing me down. Because I have a wonderful husband, he listened to me bitch about it and planned an overnight trip just for the two of us.

Sandestin Village of Baytowne Wharf

He booked a terrific hotel at Miramar Beach, FL. He made dinner reservations at this fancy French restaurant. He planned it so that we could go out afterward for drinks and not have to worry about getting back to our hotel room.

The hotel was located in this village-type resort area that had several properties with accomodations and even streets with regular houses and town houses. It's hard to describe because I've never seen anything like it before. Our room was HUGE! with gigantic windows overlooking the courtyard/pool area (not that we could take advantage of the pool in winter). You walk out the lobby of the hotel and the restaurant was just around the corner.

We ate at the Bistro Bijous. I had the filet mignon which was so perfect that it was fork tender and melted in my mouth. Then I had the bread pudding with goat cheese ice cream for dessert. Goat cheese ice cream was pretty exotic for me but it was yummy. The presentation was so pretty it was almost a shame to eat it. The Mister had duck. Neither one of us had ever had duck before and it wasn't that bad. He also had a Russian coffee for dessert that was 99% Russian and 1% coffee.

After dinner, we walked across the way to Rum Runners which is a dueling piano bar. I had never been to such a thing but it was a lot of fun. The pianist was hilarious. Coincidentally, he told his audience that he attended the University of Michigan and it was on after that with the Mister. He heckled the piano player and requested he play "Hang on Sloopy", which is an Ohio song and he refused to do it replying by playing a few bars of Michigan's fight song. It was so funny.

Saturday, we spent the day recuperating from a night of overindulgence. Kinda made me feel old, lol, but it was so totally worth it.

I can't believe that the Mister managed to plan everything, tell the girls about it since they would be spending their first night alone, and keep it all a secret. It was the best surprise and I truly have the best husband and the best friend ever.

Still Get the Tingles (and other stuff)

Maybe it's because he had 24 hour duty and had to work the next day, but I've been especially loving my husband the last couple days. He called me this morning. He was just driving from point A to B on base and had a couple minutes to talk. That he called me "just because" made me all melty. I love that man.

Just so you know:  Duty and the next day of work equated to him being at work from 6:30 am Tuesday until leaving work at 3:30'ish Wednesday. Including drive time, he worked a straight 35 hours and was awake for 40 hours straight. I don't know how he did it. Also, just so you know, his car has the built in hands free deal for his cell phone.

Enough sappy stuff...

I've recently become a Breaking Bad fan. This came about because of Michael Symon's Facebook feed, lol. He can't say enough good things about this show and all his effusive gushing made me curious. I started watching it on Netflix and was immediately hooked. It is such a compelling drama with Dexter-like characters where you really like them but know you shouldn't because they do pretty horrible things. I went on a Breaking Bad binge and finished watching the first four seasons plus the first eight of season five on Netflix. Then I hit the rest with OnDemand and I'm all caught up now. I get to finish out the series by watching them on Sunday's with all the rest of you schmucks. Ugh!!!

I would say that this show is in the top five favorite dramas of all time for me. I told the Mister that last night and he said, "Even more than Dexter?" I had to say yes because Dexter, while one of my favorite shows, probably in the top ten, has had its bumps in the road. It's like Chris Hardwick said on one of the Talking Bad sessions (sorry, don't remember which one), Breaking Bad has never had a bad episode. Most shows always have one or two episodes that make you feel like they were written simply to get you from the episode previous to the one following but every episode of Breaking Bad has been a nail biter and has had an, "Oh shit! Did that really happen??" moment. In my opinion, this final season of Breaking Bad is just as good as the first or any, really, of the previous four. How many shows can you say that about?

On the one hand, I'm sad that I came into this series in its last season. On the other, it was a great ride to be able to watch the first four seasons successively and at an obsessive pace, lol. Especially considering that this series has mid-season hiatuses. Yuck.

Next up, Sons of Anarchy. I have to be honest and tell you that I have my doubts about this show despite the hype. So far, I've only watched the pilot, but it didn't hold my attention all that well. I also have an extremely hard time believing Katy Sagal in this role. I can't get past seeing her as Peg Bundy despite the fact that I hated Married with Children and didn't watch that show. Still, I'm going to give this show a fair shake because the Mister said I would like it and I keep seeing people rave about it on Facebook.

August Challenge, Day 7: Five Songs That Bring Back Memories

OMG!! This is a hard one, picking just five. I love music and always associate many memories with different songs and artists.

Wowsa. He's kinda good looking, right?

Almost anything in the country genre will always remind me of my husband because I didn't listen to country music before we met. Specifically though, Dierks Bentley for reasons I'd rather not go into. But Dierks' music brings back memories of when the Mister was deployed to Afghanistan. You might think that it would make me sad or depressed to hear his music and think of that time, but it was actually comforting.









They Say Vision by Res will always remind me of the time we lived in San Diego the first go around. I used to blast that song on my car radio with the windows down and the AC on full while cruising Lakeside. I love the upbeat rhythms. This song always puts me in a good mood.

I love this album cover.

 Don't Fear the Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult reminds me of Ohio. When the Mister was in boot camp, I used to make the hour and a half drive between my dad's house and my mom's house quite a bit. Or maybe this was while he was in MOS school. Anyway, that song seemed to always get played on the classic rock stations during the drive and any time that I hear it, that's what I think about.

Aberdeen is off of Cage's sophomore album.

Aberdeen by Cage the Elephant. This song will always bring back memories of driving my kids to school the last time we lived in San Diego. Alphabetically, it's the first song on my iPod. When I plug it in and play it through my stereo, it's always the song that comes up until I hit "random" and "next". I got really sick to death of the opening notes of that song, lol.








Anything Imagine Dragons, Muse, Of Monsters and Men, The Lumineers, M83, Atlas Genius, and lots of other alternative played on XM's Alt Nation channel the past couple months will always remind me of this last time in San Diego. We hardly ever listen to anything else when we're in the Mister's car. Mine doesn't have XM, lol. But he doesn't have a harness for his iPod like I do in mine so it all works out, heheheh.

If you'd like to participate in this blogging challenge, please visit Natalie Grueninger's blog for prompts.  

The Perfect Husband

This week, my husband has been on the ball. Earlier this week, I tell him that I treated myself to Starbucks on the way to pick the youngest up from school. He looks at me and says, "Please tell me you didn't go out in public dressed like that." Yeah. Open mouth, insert foot. For the record, I was wearing Marine Corps track pants, a matching t-shirt, flip flops, and I had my hair and makeup done. I'm not saying that I was dressed for the runway, but it's not like I was wearing a house robe and slippers.

Another day this week, we meet up for an appointment. Again, he looks at me and says, "What's up with your hair?" It's been rainy and drizzly all week!! I've been having a bad hair week!! Geez! In my defense, I was going to try and do something with my hair but the Oldest child swiped my hair dryer and in the natural disaster that is her room, I couldn't find it. I left my hair to dry au natural and it didn't dry in time to take a straightener to it. Sue me.

He did redeem himself yesterday though. The highlight of my day yesterday was to violate Bailey's privacy so that I could collect a poo sample to take to the vet. So yeah. I got to dig in poo, put it in a baggie, and troop it to the vet's office. One of three visits this week...JUSTSOYAKNOW! My day and then my night went down hill from there. The Mister surprised me with a bunch of tulips, my favorite flower, and a big box of Godiva truffles, my favorite chocolate. He can be a real sweetheart when he's not walking around, chewing on his enormous feet.

Going for Normal Today

The Escape Artist

Because yesterday was just weird. 

Last weekend, we swapped the Youngest child's room with the office. The original office was bigger and had a bigger closet. Now that I'm not working from home, it barely gets used. It only seemed right and fair that the Youngest get a bigger room because, frankly, this room, the new office, is a glorified closet. 

Yesterday,  I was in the new office gaming it up (Yep. This is how I'm spending my time until my semester starts next month. Go ahead and judge, fat head.). I hear this crash behind me and look over only to see the cat on the freaking roof (I had the window open because our heating/AC is stupid. My bedroom is a stifling furnace every night while the new office and downstairs bathroom feel like a walk in freezer. So I opened the window to let some heat in because I was freezing my butt off.). I panic and try coaxing him back in the window but he was having none of it and disappeared over the top and onto the neighbor's half. I run downstairs, out the door, and over to the neighbor's, and he's up on their roof meowing his head off. He was scared and trying to figure out how to get down. If I was just a few inches taller, I could've grabbed him, but alas, I'm short. I finally remember that we have a ladder in the garage and run in the house to open the garage door. By this time, Kit-ten had wandered back to our half of the roof and was still meowing very loudly. I set up the ladder and kick off my shoes (I was wearing wedge sandals. Not the shoes for climbing ladders) and climbed up. At this point, he was beginning to enjoy the view and was chasing birds and flies up on the roof, completely ignoring me. I was edging away from panic and towards angry. I went back in the house and grabbed his cat treats and a can of food and a pair of flip flops because the treads on the ladder hurt my bare feet. Back on the roof, the cat had disappeared over the top again. I rattled his cat treat bag to get his attention and he came back to see if I was faking. I threw a treat at him and he chased it across the roof but still wouldn't come near enough to me to reach. I cracked open his can of food and he ran right over and started sniffing the can. I grabbed him and descended the ladder, food and treats left on the roof, lol. I tossed the escape artist into the laundry room, ran upstairs to finish ripping out the screen and shut the window, and then I had to clean up my rescue tools outside. Grrr! He so did not get the can of food. He had dry food instead. He and I were not friends yesterday but we made up last night. 

Also yesterday, I had to take the Oldest for an interview after she got a message on a Facebook page that I made up more or less as an example ages ago. I made a dog walking and grooming page for her as a way of showing her how easy it would be to start making her own money. We never really did anything with it and it sat stagnant for about a year. Then on Monday, a woman sent her a message asking if she was available to walk her dogs four times a week. So, we met up with her at the local dog park (I had no idea that park even existed. It's about a ten minute walk from our house), met her dogs, went over the details, and now her dog walking business is a real thing. The Oldest is very excited and is probably already mentally spending her money, lol. The lady told us that the Oldest's page is the only FB page in our immediate area offering dog walking services. She could really clean up if she actually started looking for more customers. 

THEN, the Mister came home from work yesterday saying that his right eye felt like someone had punched him. It didn't look like anything but he said it was very sore to the touch. By the time we went to bed last night, it was noticeably swollen. This morning when he got up for work, it was almost swollen shut. He insisted he was alright to drive to work (men!!) and he has an appointment in about five minutes at the clinic on base. We'll see how that goes. 

And all day yesterday, I felt like it was a Friday. Sincerely disappointing to realize I was getting up to Wednesday this morning, lol. Aside from the Mister's eye, I'm hoping nothing else out of the ordinary happens today. 

Looking Through the Window

The Children's Pool at La Jolla, CA

What have I been up to lately? I don't call anyone, I don't blog regularly, and I only post generalized snippets of my life via Twitter and/or Facebook. I feel very out of touch.

So, the Mister and I went to see the Foo Fighters at Viejas Arena last week. Cage the Elephant opened for them. It was the best concert I've ever been to. Granted, I haven't been to a lot of concerts, but the Foo definitely comes out on top and I can't imagine a better show. The concert was on a Monday and we didn't get home until after midnight. Getting up at 6:20 the next morning with the kids was rough, lol. Worth it though. I was tired, had an ear ache and a sore throat on Tuesday, but it was all worth it to see Uncle Dave and the boys.

The oldest child is currently enjoying the longest and most severe grounding of her life. I won't go into the details except to say that if she ever deserved to be whipped, this would have been the time. Other than that, she is finishing up the football season with the band on Friday. She has her first competition on Saturday. Despite her complaints, she has had fun being in the marching band this year. It still remains to be seen whether or not she'll stick with it next year.

The youngest is still the same. She gets her homework done as fast as possible and goes outside until it's dark enough to come in. On the weekends, she's out the door as fast as she can to come in at dark. She's so tanned and her hair is so sun bleached that she doesn't even look related to the rest of us. Saturday, she's going to her first party as a middle school kid. It's Halloween themed so I'm sure it'll be a good time.

The Mister got his associates degree certificate in the mail the other day. He actually could have gotten it a long time ago but kept putting off taking biology, his last requirement for the degree. Very soon he'll have his bachelor's in hand. Other than school and work and going to concerts with me ;), that's about all he's up to. No deployments on the horizon as of this writing. Things like this can change in an instant though.

As for me, I'm in transition. I feel like I've either hit the "finding myself phase" of early adulthood very late or I'm having a midlife crisis very early, lmao. My clients were regularly pissing me off (sorry to any of them reading this) so I started siphoning them off until I was down to zero. I was planning on getting a job outside of the house not realizing what life would be like once the kids were in high school and junior high respectively. Unless I want to work from 5 pm to 6 am, and I don't, finding a job outside the house will be really tough for me. Likewise, school has been put on hold indefinitely. I have run out of financial aid so until I figure out a way to pay for it out of pocket, school isn't likely right now. I have to say, I'm not that sorry about it. I was only going through the motions and doing the minimal amount of work necessary to maintain my GPA. I wasn't enjoying any of my classes or actually learning anything. My only regret is all the time and money I wasted going to school when I wasn't getting anything from the experience.

In the interim, I have started a historical research project that I find fascinating, engaging, and fulfilling. It's still in the early stages so I don't have anything to say about it yet.

I'm also loving living life in California. In the less than two years we've lived here, the Mister and I have been to two concerts, one symphony and our anniversary vacation to Paso Robles. As a family, we've been to Sea World twice, Seaport Village, Julian, Balboa Park, numerous baseball games, the book fair at UCLA, to the desert to visit Jennifer, and other outings around the San Diego area. The kids have been to the zoo, the wild animal park, Old Town as well as many others. Not to mention all the fabulous shopping we've done. That's more than we did the entire six years we lived away from San Diego. California suits us.

First Week of School

This school year has been the biggest adjustment. Both kids are at new schools...again, this year with one starting junior high and the other high school. I'm so tired that I don't know if I'm coming or going. This is what our day looked like yesterday:

6:20am - The Mister, the oldest child, and I get up.

6:20 - 6:45 - Getting ready for school, filling out paperwork for the oldest child, The Mister leaves for work.

7:15 - I leave to drive the oldest to school. Traffic is backed up 2 blocks because some genius city planner thought it'd be a good idea to build a high school on the corner of 2 of the 3 busiest streets in town and right on the way of morning commuters on the way to 2 different freeways.

7:30 - I get home and put my phone in the youngest child's room so that the alarm I have set will wake her up while I hit the shower.

7:30 - 8:30 - The youngest child and I are getting ready for the day.

8:30 - I head out to drive the youngest to school. That's right. I get the privilege of driving both kids to and from school this year.

8:45 - We get to the middle school and I have to park to go into the office to pay for the youngest's PE clothes. I pay, say goodbye, and drive home.

9:00 - about noonish - I go on a cleaning spree cuz I'm back to wearing the hat of SAHM (and that's all I have to say about that at this point in time) so I figure I should clean. Plus, I have maintenance coming at some point in the day to fix the 1/2 bath toilet that's been broken for about a month.
Some point during the morning, the Mister comes home from work to work out in the garage. This is what he does all day yesterday.

1:00 pm - I go a round with the oldest child on the phone (Going a round with her at least once a day is par for the course. No biggie.) as she calls me from school (Wednesday is early release day for her) to tell me she's walking to her old junior high to "see people". I tell her that's fine but that she needs to be home before 5 to eat, hydrate, and rest before band practice later on that night.

1 pm- I'm mopping the kitchen. Maintenance guy has come and gone and fixed the toilet half way telling me that it will hold "for a while". The Mister is still in the garage working out.

2'ish - I finally sit down for a minute.

3:10 pm -  The oldest calls and asks me to pick up her and her friend at Jack in the Box. I tell her to be ready to go cuz I have to leave soon to pick up her sister.

3:20 - On the way home from Jack in the Box, my reminder alarm goes off telling me it's time to leave to pick up the youngest. At this point, I'm speeding to get home so that I can drop off my cargo and get to the middle school on time.

3:25 - 4:05 - Picking up the youngest child. Which, btw, traffic is only backed up about half a block at her school. The parking lot, however, is a nightmare. I have to fight cars coming from three different directions and kids crossing two different ways in the parking lot just to get back to the street. It sucks and I hate it.

4:10 - 5pm. - The Mister is done working out and is now hiding out upstairs to get away from the VERY loud teenager and her friend and I join him when the youngest starts adding her voice to the fray.

5 pm - All 5 of us load up in the car to drop the oldest and her friend off at the high school for band practice. Then the three of us go to Target to get the youngest a lock for her locker and juice boxes for her lunch. She has decided she doesn't want to buy lunch this year. We'll see how long that lasts.

6'ish pm - We get home and I put a pork tenderloin in the over for dinner.

6:22 pm - The power goes off. Lucky for us, at this point in the day, it's only about 90 degrees outside and not the 100 it was earlier that day. Ha ha. My tenderloin still has about 10 more minutes to cook, at least, and none of the sides have been cooked yet. So, dinner is a bust and we hit the Arby's.

7:25 - We're home and I get a text from the oldest asking me to bring her a folder she forgot.

7:30 - 8:15 pm - I sit in the car wondering where in the heck the oldest is, playing solitaire on my phone, and listening to music. Loudly. In our texting, she didn't bother to mention that I could bring the folder when I came to pick her up from practice. I thought she needed it immediately. So I sat in my car for 45 minutes for no good reason. We go another round on the way home.

The rest of the night until 9:30, we complain about how hot it is in the house and that it's still too hot outside to open the windows. I'm thankful that we bought our emergency lantern in NC for our hurricane supplies even though it was never used for that purpose. No power on a hot night is no fun. We decide to go to bed cuz what the heck else are ya gonna do??

11 pm - I have finally just dozed off when I hear knocking at the door. It's the maintenance guys. They need us to move our car that's parked at the curb because the cause of the power outage is in our front yard. The electrical box thingy blew. Oil was all over the place. It has to be replaced. Blah blah. So the Mister moves the car, we go back to bed, and power comes back on about 1 am. The AC has never been more appreciated than in that moment.

Every day from now on will be a variation of this with the exception of losing our power for 7 hours...hopefully. I don't know how long I'm going to last having to drive both kids to and from school every day. In theory, the oldest can walk. The high school isn't so far but when it's 100 degrees outside, I don't like her having to walk. And she's just plain bitchy when I make her walk to school and I don't know if it's easier just to drive her so I don't have to listen to it or if I should make her walk. The youngest, however, her school is way too far away for walking to be an option. I hate traffic. It stresses me in a non-normal way. I need pills. I swear. How many days left in the school year???

Smokin'

Random picture of Bailey because you're insane if you think I had the presence of mind to take a picture of the flaming smoker.

We're very low-key when it comes to celebrating holidays. We do up Thanksgiving and Christmas but all the others, I really could do without. Seriously, if I didn't have kids I think holidays would be just like any other day. The Mister agrees with me on this.

Still, we did up the 4th of July this year pretty good. We had plans to grill out and then hit the fireworks show in Santee like we do every year. Well, every year that we're in California.

The morning of, the Mister and I needed to run a few errands. We needed some melon, an extension cord, mosquito repellent, and other stuff that I can't remember now. We went to Home Depot first because it's easiest to get to from our house without a lot of traffic. We're going through the store and picking up what we needed and walked down the aisle with the grills. We have a fairly new gas grill but we had been wanting to get a smoker for some time now and what better occasion than the 4th of July? Sadly, the only smokers Home Depot had were in open and damaged boxes. Seriously. How do they expect to sell crap like that? We put down all of the things we picked up and went to Lowes.

Our nearest Lowes is located in a highly populated shopping area. It's in the same strip as the Ikea and we were really trying to avoid going there on a holiday because, as we expected, traffic was maddening. After parking ten years away from the store, we go in and find the extension cord, a few varieties of wood chips to go in the smoker, Off Clip-On fans (which I recommend), and the smoker. We get everything into the car (because we were dumb and didn't bring the SUV to the hardware store) and head home (forgetting the melon).

The Mister, being a man, is totally excited to get the smoker put together and try it out. This is what he's doing while I head to the grocery store for the forgotten melon. I get home and he's all ready to put the meat in the smoker. Living next to an open canyon in Tinderbox Socal makes me leery of having open fires so I ask him if he read the directions and knows what he's doing. Of course he has!! Um yeah. I'm looking at the rather large flamage going on in the smoker out of the corner of my eye while the Mister, the oldest child, and I play some Monopoly Deal on the patio. (No way in hell was I going inside while we had a potential raging inferno on the patio.)

We're playing, flames are growing, smoke is getting thicker, and I'm getting more nervous by the second. I ask the Mister again, at the risk of sounding all naggy, if he's sure that he has everything under control. Of course he does!! But, all three of us are watching the smoker while our cards are forgotten in our hands waiting for the inevitable. Then the Mister points out how the paint on the side of the smoker is bubbling and melting off the side. Huh. Is that normal? Next thing you know, flames are shooting out the door of the smoker and the freaking PAINT (or what's left of it) on the side of the ding dong thing is on fire. This is when I jump up, freaking out, run into the house to get my phone in case I need to call 911 (in my frenzy, I've forgotten that my phone was sitting next to me on the patio table) and the Mister is shouting, "Get the hose! Get the hose!" Nuh uh. I'm not coming back outside. He's on his own to get the garden hose and put the smoker out. Ok. So I'm not so good when it comes to fires. The oldest and I watch from the door while the Mister is soaking the smoker and putting the flames out and we both breathe a sigh of relief. I'm thinking that the smoker is going in the trash on Tuesday but no. The Mister, being a man, is eyeing the smoker with the same look that I'm sure prehistoric man had when he was trying to figure out how to cook his mammoth for the first time. The smoker is now a thing to be conquered.

He drags the thing out into the yard so that the sun can dry it out a bit saying how he's glad we bought so much wood chips so that he can try again. And lo and behold!! He reads the directions (the same ones he claims to have read already) and sees that the thing has a fill line for the heat source. He had WAAAY overfilled it, obviously. The second attempt goes much more smoothly considering that the flamage was much more under control and we were able to actually put the meat on the thing this time. So we're smokin' and playing our game waiting for dinner to be done. By this time, we had been at it for HOURS trying to cook some chicken. The youngest rolls home (she had been out playing with her friends up to this point) asking when dinner was going to be ready. She was STARVED. We tell her that it won't be much longer (really having no idea if we were right or wrong).

It's starting to get late. We need to eat, get ready to go, and drive to Santee early enough to get parking before they close the streets down. The girls and I get the side dishes ready while the Mister checks the chicken which is nowhere near done so he gives up on the smoker and tosses the bird parts on the gas grill, lmao. Still, having had the benefit of being on the smoker for as long as it was, the chicken tasted fantastic.

The Mister has since attempted to smoke meat once more with much better results (he had done some research on the web). We had a beef roast that tasted amazing but it took all freaking day to cook because he couldn't keep the temperature high enough on the smoker. The smoker is still a thing to be conquered.

Welcome Back! We're Staying Put

This is a long overdue post. The Mister arrived home from Afghanistan safe and sound February 27th. If we are Facebook friends, friends IRL, or family, you already know. But for those of you that don't want to be friends with me on Facebook :( this is news to you. The homecoming was pretty neat. Their flight didn't get back until about 9:30 at night so I wasn't expecting anything special at the base but there ended up being a band and lots of people and fanfare so it was nifty.

As for our contest, the Mister won by less than 1/2 a percent. He opted to get a new set of golf clubs as his prize. I have to wait until at least May 27th before I can buy a new purse, lol. I made up for it by buying some new sunglasses though. ;) Honestly, I was disappointed and surprised that I lost. He ate ice cream every day for dessert and had steak every Sunday and barely worked out. I, on the other hand, dieted and ran at least 12 miles a week on my elliptical machine and I also did aerobics at least once a week. I really expected to win. AND!!!!! Since he's been home, I've gained freaking four pounds back. Sheesh, gosh, and holy freaking moly! I am so not happy about that. He's such a bad influence, lol.

Also, we had decided that we were moving out of base housing while he was deployed. Our property was vandalized twice in three months. Not to mention that base housing just sucks in general. So, one day after the Mister touched down on home soil, we started looking for a new house. We didn't really tell too many people about this because I didn't want to get a certain somebody's hopes up. Now I'm glad that I didn't because finding a rental that would accept our two Boxers was harder than I thought it would be. So, we gave up and decided to stick it out in base housing for a while. I finally unpacked the rest of our boxes this past week. An entire year here and we still hadn't finished unpacking. I think this contributed to our overall feeling of dissatisfaction with our living situation. All of the things that makes a home a home, knickknacks, whatnots, photographs, etc., we had left packed up in boxes. Living like that gives you (at least it does me) a feeling of instability and being temporary. I missed my things and I'm glad they're out and about now.

Anyway, that about brings everyone up to speed. The youngest is doing well. The oldest is taking her 8th grade trip to Washington D.C. and NYC next week. The Mister is back to work. And I'm up to my same old shenanigans.

7 Things I Did to Take Back Sunday

Having the Mister gone this past week has been an adjustment. I find myself getting sentimental over the dumbest things. For instance, I can't make myself erase our last Blackberry Messenger conversation off of my phone even though it makes me sad to see the little red "x" next to his name that means "Contact is Unreachable". It's pathetic, I know.

The girls have been really good all week. I don't think anyone believes me when I tell them that all three of us are doing okay, but we are. Every once in a while, I catch the oldest being too quiet or staring off into space and I know she's thinking about her dad and today, the youngest told me she was missing her dad. Still, over all, we're getting in lots of girl time, just the three of us.

Today, Sunday, I decided that I was going to take Sundays just for me. All week long, I work and take care of the house, kids, dogs, and whatnot. I've decided that Saturdays are going to be my commissary days and little shopping excursions for the girls. That's what we did this past Saturday. But Sundays, I've decided that they're going to be days that I get to do whatever it is that I want to do. I think I need a bit of time to ease into this new idea because this is what I did on my first "Me Sunday".

1. I did my laundry. Again, I got all sentimental because some of the Mister's clothes were still in the hamper.
2. I changed the sheets on my bed.
3. I helped the girls with their chores.
4. I vacuumed the downstairs, the upstairs hallway, and my bedroom.
5. I cleaned the downstairs half bath.
6. I hung wall decorations (it only took me 6 months) in the living room, entry way, and downstairs half bath.
7. I cooked dinner.

Maybe by next Sunday I'll have figured out how to relax. ;)

The Great Sandbox Challenge

The Mister left on his deployment yesterday. When I got home from dropping him off on base, (which, btw, I was up at 1:30 AM!!! because of it.) the first thing I did was go to our room. When I hit the switch to turn on the overhead light, the bulb blew. I really hope that’s not indicative of what this deployment is going to be like for me, lol. I think deployments are what made Murphy’s Law a thing.

Anyway, I was able to talk to him last night from the airport in Bangor, Maine. He was leaving the country from there. :( I’m not sure when I’ll hear from him next. Today is his birthday. I’m sure, while it’s not an ideal situation, it’s one he’ll never forget. ;)

So, what does my post title have to do with anything? Well, the Mister and I have a bet going on while he’s deployed…The person who loses the most body weight percentage wins a prize. The prize that I have picked out is a new purse and the prize the Mister has picked out is a bicycle. The rules are that I cannot buy a new purse while he’s deployed which really SUCKS! but he won’t have an opportunity to buy a new bicycle so it’s fair. Also, the loser has to wait a minimum of three months to buy the prize that they lost because let’s face it, I will buy a new purse eventually, lmao. Now, he has somewhat of an unfair advantage. While in The Sandbox, he has to wear a bullet proof vest which weighs 35 pounds. Add 100 degree heat to that, and he’ll lose weight just walking around. However, we both want to lose approximately the same amount of weight which means that if we both reach our goal, I will lose the greater body weight percentage because I weigh less than him.

I really want to win!! Buying a purse, guilt free, would be a nice change of pace, heheh. I need motivation! Nag/ask me about it. Nag me here, on Facebook, Twitter, on the phone, nag me in the snail mail. I’m really good at getting started with exercise and eating right, but I lose motivation and fall off the wagon after about 3 months. With the holidays coming up, this is going to be a real challenge for me. I want to wiiiiinnnnnn!!!! Can you imagine the trash talk I will get from the Mister if I lose? Plus, that would be 9+ months without a new purse. Ouch!

Wish me luck on both fronts. ;)

Another Random Thought Kinda Day

The Mister goes on leave tomorrow at noon. I’m really looking forward to having him home. Monday, he has an early morning thing so he’s getting up with the kids and getting them off to school. Yay!! I get to sleep in on a Monday. Woot!

Speaking of getting the kids to school…I think I need anger management therapy or I need to learn how to meditate or I just need a vacation. The carpool lane at the oldest’s school is really getting the better of me. Maybe I’ll take a video of it so you all can better understand why one of these days, I’m going to take my car and ram a bunch of other cars with it. I need a bigger car for that though. The Scion wouldn’t stand up to ramming too many cars, heheh. On a totally serious note, I need to figure out someway to keep my cool because I let perfect strangers (yes, they’re idiots, but strangers all the same) get to me way too much. But at least I’m not the only one. I had a lady get out of her car last week and come up to me to ask why people are so rude in the carpool lane. I didn’t have a good answer for her other than that they are assholes (sorry). I didn’t say that, but I was thinking it.

Also speaking of the kids…The oldest had a project she had to do for math class. She had to go on a “scavenger hunt” to find different geometric lines and shapes to see how they’re used and can be found in real life. She also had to document where she found all the different items. She chose to make a book with illustrations, clippings, and pictures of her loot. She did a decent job of it. I asked her what the other kids did and she said most of them used Power Point and turned in CD’s of their projects, lmao. Geez. She also said some of them made websites of their hunt. I guess I’m a bit stuck in the past because it never occurred to me that a digital project would be acceptable. When she told me that, I said she should have made a blog diary of her hunt. She responded by saying that blogging is my thing, not hers!! I had to laugh. She’s pretty, popular, and other than games, not interested in computers. Sometimes I really wonder if she’s my kid at all.

I received 13 work related e-mails this morning all before 8 am!! Talk about the early bird getting the worm. Who goes to work that early in the morning? Well, besides the Mister, heheh. Don’t regular, civilian-type people work 9-5? Or is that just a rumor?

The more I work, the more I love it. I have no regrets about being a stay at home  mom for 12 years. I raised my kids myself and I’m working at something that I actually like. I’m also working because I want to and not because I have to. Not many people can say any of that. I’m also meeting awesome people, most of whom are other work at home moms, Most importantly, I’m appreciated. Some days, work is the only thing that keeps me sane. It’s something positive to focus my energy on.

Oh! And I downloaded Pocket Tanks on my iPod yesterday!! I was pretty excited about finding it, lol. The Mister and I used to play it on our computers back in California but I had forgotten about it. It’s way fun even on the free version that I downloaded and a great time waster. If you want to check it out for yourself, here’s the link to their website:  http://www.blitwise.com/ptanks.html . Super DX Ball is fun too and another shareware game you can download at their website. I’ve also been playing the heck out of Kingdoms and iMobsters on my iPod too. It’s silly, I know.

I think that’s about it. I have to go and attend to those 13 e-mails. No rest for the wicked.

 

On Being Me

I’ve been in a mood lately. Or to be more accurate, I’ve been moody. What?!?! ME!! Moody?!?! Never! I know. It’s a shocker. I need therapy or something, I’m sure. Anyway, today I am focusing on the positive. Barring any unforeseen punishments, we are taking the kids to a Kinston Indians game tonight. We’re having some spectacular weather and it will be a perfect evening for a game. I’m really looking forward to going as a family this time, lol. For your reading pleasure, I’m going to list some other things that I enjoy. I’ve done something like this before, I know, but my tagging system is, well, not a system and I can’t find my other post, lol. So, if there are any repeats, you can rest assured that it’s something that I really  like.

1. I really love getting into a freshly made bed at night. Crisp, clean, lovely smelling sheets are a perfect prelude to a good night’s sleep.
2. Coming home to a clean house after being away for a few days.
3. Hannah when she sleeps in my lap. Or as much in my lap as a 60 pound dog can be. She’s such a cuddler that I think she’s a lap dog trapped in a larger dog’s body.
4. Bailey when she smiles. She’s four years old and it still makes me giggle every time she does it.
5. A hug from my youngest daughter. She gives the best hugs out of anybody I’ve ever known my entire life. You can tell she means to give love and comfort with her tiny arms.
6. When I look at my oldest daughter and I’m suddenly struck with how beautiful she is and getting a glimpse of the young woman she’s becoming. Every once in a while, I’ll glance at her and see that woman on her face. It’s amazing.
7. Watching my husband watch TV or read. I don’t know what it is about it, but I just like watching him concentrate on something, lol.
8. In the early, humid, morning, right after the sun has risen, I love the scent in the air. That smell that is fresh and a bit crisp because the day is still chilly but you can tell it’s going to be a scorcher. I love that. It reminds me of my dad.
9. My desk after it’s been clean and organized.
10. The Ellen DeGeneres Show. She is so funny. I laugh throughout the entire show and it just makes me feel good. Her Move It, Move It game makes me laugh until I’m crying. It’s a must DVR show.
11. This one is shallow, but having money in the bank. When we’re broke and I’m worrying about finances, I have migraines and insomnia. Sleeping at night and getting through the week without emptying a bottle of Excedrin is a good thing.
12. Relaxing with a glass of my favorite wine and an episode of a favorite show. I actually have “Wine” shows, lol. Weeds, Californication, Dexter, The Secret Diary of a Call Girl, are a few of the shows that a glass of wine is the perfect accompaniment.
13. Listening to the rain at night. I like to leave the windows open, turn off the lights, and light candles while it’s raining at night.
14. Playing the radio LOUD in my car. We have a rockin’ stereo in the Scion and it' is so much fun cruising around with it bumpin’. No. I’m not 17 years old, heheh.

That’s it for now. I have laundry waiting for me. Not a favorite thing of mine, heheh. But I’m wearing my last clean pair of underwear so it’s a must do.

Have a great and awesome weekend.

What I’ve Been Up To

I haven’t been the most consistent of bloggers lately. Having the kids home for the entire week last week really threw my routine for a loop. Actually, it stomped on it and then flushed it down the toilet. This week, I have the Mister home with me because he took some leave. Maybe my life will get back to “normal” next week.

Anyway, I took the time to catch up on some TV shows that I had DVR’d last night. I watched Private Practice which is still keeping me highly entertained this season. The agoraphobic in the closet cracked me up.I also watched ER and the ending which I won’t give away in case someone else hasn’t watched it yet, made me want to cry. I’ve also started watching the United States of Tara on Showtime. I already love that show. I’ve been a fan of Toni Collette’s since I saw her in the movie About  a Boy. She plays crazy amazingly well. Showtime is also finishing up The Secret Diary of a Call Girl. I don’t know what it says about me, but I really love that show too. Despite it’s title, it’s really not all  about being an escort. I enjoyed a nice glass of wine with both of these shows. They just seem to require wine. I don’t know why. ;)

Let’s see…

The Mister and I packaged up our first set of soap samples that we mailed to a select few for what I am hoping will be honest opinions. We’re definitely going to push back our official grand opening to mid-February, beginning of March. I still don’t have the website going yet and we don’t have labels printed up yet either. We ordered some software for the website and accidentally got the wrong program. So, it has to be exchanged for the correct one which won’t give me enough time to launch the website by Feb 1st as we had originally planned. Since  this is the biggest potential failure we’ve ever attempted, I can’t say that I’m sorry, lol. I’m really nervous about getting going and this setback takes a little of the pressure off for at least a week or two.

I’ve also been really into my new iPod and it goes everywhere with me these days. The Mister was jealous of mine so he bought himself one too over the weekend. I think I created a monster though because he Twitters more than I do nowadays, heheh. I tried calling him from the car today and he didn’t answer his phone so I tweeted to him to call me. That’s how addicted we both are. Kinda scary. We both download new apps like someone is chasing us with a hot poker. It’s really sorta insane. Oh well.

Trying to think…

I have the weirdest ear pain in the world. It’s not in my inner ear like an ear infection pain but it’s on the outside. It hurts bad enough that it wakes me up if I lay on it and it hurts to turn my head. How crazy is that? I’m going to give it a few days to see if it gets any better before making a doctor’s appointment. I feel sorta silly going to the doctor for outer ear pain, lol. I cannot for the life of me figure out what’s causing it though. Like I said, it’s strange.

I know there’s other stuff to blog about becasue it’s been so long since I’ve updated but I can’t think of anything else at the moment. I’m pretty tired and I”m going to hit the couch and see what’s on TV tonight.

Laters.

Laying Low

I’ve been keeping a low profile the past few days. The Mister had yesterday and today off of work as did the kids. I haven’t checked my e-mail or answered the phone since Friday, lol. Do you know how wonderful that is? My mini-break is over today since I have to get some work in which means I have to open Outlook but it was nice while it lasted.

The girls were supposed to go back to school today but they cancelled school on account of all the snow we got:

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Scary, huh? The entire eastern part of North Carolina is closed today. It’s probably for the best since snow in these parts tends to panic people. I remember a time in Vermont when we already had about four inches of snow on the ground and it was still snowing so hard you could barely see and they still didn’t cancel school for my kids, lol. At the time, I thought it was a bit ridiculous but there had to be snowfall of an epic proportion before they cancelled school up there. As much as I hate the snow and cold I was still hoping just a little bit that we would get the 3-5 inches that was forecasted. Hannah has never seen the snow and I think she’d be really funny playing in it. Bailey always was. She liked to snuffle her muzzle in it then come back up with a snow beard. It always made us laugh.

Well, since I have done nothing, I have nothing else to blog about. Our plans for today include staying inside because of the snow and it’s quite blustery outside with the wind chills. I made a nice pot of chili for dinner last night which we’re going to have for lunch today and then I’m making homemade chicken and noodles for dinner tonight in honor of the “snow”, heheh. Fun times.

Another Day of Ups and Downs

We’ve been having weird weeks lately. Maybe it’s just that time of year.

The Mister got some bad news concerning his work and the infamous reenlistment bonus which has the possibility to change all of the plans we had in place. Again, it’s this back and forth nonsense and the lack of control that makes me dislike (what a nice, benign word) military life and which would make it very easy to walk away from despite all we’ve put into it. Also, he has to work this weekend, the entire thing. He hasn’t had to work an entire weekend since Vermont and I don’t like it. Bah.

On a positive note, good things are happening for me with my work. My current client, the Edge Foundation, has been giving me extra projects which is awesome. Not only does it mean some extra cash (which we could totally use right now) but it also tells me that I’ve been doing a good job. After not working for 12 years, it’s encouragement that I needed. Additionally, I could be taking on a second client which I am so very excited about. This is still in the works and not a sure thing, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed. I wouldn’t even be in the running for this second client if not for the work I’ve been doing for Edge.

And lastly, the youngest child didn’t go to school today because of her foot. She still had significant swelling this morning and couldn’t fit her foot in her shoe. She’s been keeping it iced and elevated today and it’s looking better. Still some redness and swelling but it doesn’t look as nasty. I tried to get her to let me take a picture of her foot for my blog but she refused, lol. The oldest child told me to wait until she was passed out from the Benadryl and take a picture while she was asleep but I figured that would be wrong. Sorry. ;)

Have I been mommy blogging too much lately? Oh well.

Us

I found this meme while I was surfing blogs yesterday. Since my anniversary is coming up, I thought I’d fill it out.

1. How long have you been together?

We started dating in April of 1995 and got married in May of 1996. So, we’ve been together for 13 years and married for almost 12.

2. Who pursued whom?

We were set up so I really don’t think either of us did any pursuing. However, he knew about me before I knew about him and I found out years later that he cruised the mall where I was working to see what I looked like before we met, lol.

3. Do you wear any type of wedding/commitment ring?

I have a wedding ring and engagement ring that I wore prior to moving to N.C. but with the heat and humidity down here, my hands swell and then my rings don’t fit. I haven’t decided if I want to size them or not yet. The Mister doesn’t wear his ring because 1.)He’s not allowed to at work and 2.)Because he wore it to work, got his hand caught in a tow bar, nearly lost his finger, and smashed his ring. We took it to a jeweler to be reshaped, but it was never the same. They had to pry the ring off his finger with pliers.

4. What was the hardest thing about learning to live together?

We sort of fell into living together and I don’t remember much of an adjustment period. We were practically inseparable before we moved in together anyway.

5. Who takes longer to get ready in the morning?

It’s usually a tossup. Being a Marine, you would think he would take fast showers, but he doesn’t. I can do my hair, makeup, get dressed, and be out the door in 20 minutes. Sometimes, he takes a 20 minute shower, lol.

6. Do you usually eat breakfast together?

Nope. He gets up for work at 5:15 am and is out the door by 6. I get up at 6:40 with the kids. Also, both of us usually skip breakfast anyway.

7. Do you ever share clothes?

Yeah, t-shirts. We used to fight over my LL Bean t-shirt, heheh.

8. Who does most of the cooking?

Me. He pitches in sometimes, but I do majority of the cooking. He grills because I refuse to though.

9. Who usually takes out the trash?

The oldest child. It’s one of her weekly chores.

10. If you have pets who usually does litter box or poop patrol?

The lawnmower usually does the yard poop patrol. The oldest child cleans out the guinea pig cage because he’s her pet. I will clean out the rat cage when the time comes because it’s my pet.

11. Which one of you is more likely to answer the phone when it rings?

We only have cell phones. He answers his phone and I answer my phone. However, he sometimes gets calls on my phone from his Marines because my number is listed at work but I usually just pass along messages.

12. Who's in charge of the remote if you're watching TV together?

He denies this, but he is. Usually if I’m watching something he doesn’t like, he’ll go watch TV in our bedroom or go on his computer. I, on the other hand, will suffer through the non-stop sports that he watches so that we can have some couch time together.

13. Who usually drives when you go out together?

He does because he constantly criticizes my driving and that drives me nuts. I have never had a speeding ticket or caused a car accident whereas he’s had about 5 speeding tickets (that’s not even counting the countless warnings he got while we lived in VT) and caused three car accidents that I can think of. Who do you think is the worse driver? Honestly though, I think it's a control thing. Even when we take long car trips like from N.C. to Ohio or VT to Ohio I drive the first leg and when we stop for gas, he drives the entire rest of the way. Then, when we get where we're going, he tells everyone I made him drive the whole way, lol.

14. Which one of you takes care of spiders and bugs that get into the house?

Whoever is there at the time.

15. Facing the bed, who sleeps on which side?

I sleep on the right side. We switch occasionally though. When we moved into this house, I started out on the left side.

16. Who usually checks the (postal) mailbox?

Usually me because I’m home but he’ll check occasionally.

17. If something breaks or goes wrong in the house, which one of you is more likely to either fix it or call someone to fix it?

Me. I call the repair guy. The Mister probably has no idea who our repair dude even is.

18. Who is generally the neater of you?

We could both use more practice at the housekeeping thing, but I’m neater than he is. You’re unlikely to find my dirty clothes in the living room but him….

19. Who handles the checkbook/pays the bills?

That would definitely be me. The week I spent in California was a nightmare bill-wise. Jennifer will attest to that. And, one of my credit cards didn’t get paid at all because I thought he had paid it but he didn’t. If I ever take a trip by myself again, I’m going to have to figure out how to get the bills paid long distance. If I ever die, he’s going to be in a world of hurt.

20. What was your last fight/disagreement about?

Who should have bought the milk, lmao. Wednesday, I went to the base to meet the Mister for lunch. While I was there, he mentioned that we needed milk. I was like, “Can’t you just pick it up at the commissary on your way home from work?” He was like, “Or you can pick it up while you’re here.” I laughed and said nah and thought that he would get it. He gets home, asks me if I bought milk, I say no, and he had a hissy. I honestly thought that he was going to pick it up and he thought that I was. So, I grabbed the Scion keys, my iPod, jacked up the stereo, and went to the store my damn self and paid more for milk out in town when it would have been cheaper at the commissary. But, oh well. We rarely fight about anything that’s actually important.

21. When you slow dance together, who leads?

Ha! We don’t dance let alone slow dance.

22. What do you love the most about your other half?

He may annoy me at times, but he’s the most decent person that I know. He does favors for people who don’t deserve it. He also supports me being a sahm and going to school to get my degree. Actually, if he hadn’t filled out my application without telling me he was doing it, I probably wouldn’t even be going right now because I was too afraid to start.