I am so proud of myself for keeping myself busy this week.
This morning Sarah picked me up at 0715 and we went running on base. We decided to run somewhere different, so we parked in the same area but started running the other direction. I think that the Marines standing in orange vests and the "PFT IN PROGRESS" sign should have warned us that maybe we should have picked a different area. But we are oblivious new military wives, so instead we started toward a sidewalk. We had barely taken a stride when we saw a bunch of Marines running toward us in PT gear. We pulled up short and changed direction quickly.
Once all the Marines were out of our sight, we started on another sidewalk. When we got to the end of the sidewalk, we realized the Marines were running in a circle and now they were approaching us once again. We awkwardly turned back the direction we came from. Then we decided we would just go out on the road like normal, but then we realized we would have to run next to the other runners in order to get there. Sarah picked out a slow one and we ran on the road while he ran on the sidewalk. We were careful not to pass him because we don't want to cause a scene.
We felt like such dorks. Like lost little rodents running around trying to avoid being stepped on.
We ended up running 4.12 miles at a great pace so it was worth it. :)
When I got back to the house, I knew I really needed to get my new plants in the ground before they all died. My cucumber and lettuce seeds decided that they did not want to be fruitful and never popped up, so I replaced them with strawberries, zucchini, and more corn. It was so hot that sweat was dripping off of my nose. It was disgusting.
I watered the bed SO well, and just a few hours later it was completely dried out. It is unbelievable!
In the front of the house, I dug up the yucky tulips (with my landlord's permission of course). They are actually my landlord's son's tulips, so they are going to plant them at their new home. I desperately needed to weed, so that took me almost an hour to clean out. I planted some spikes, Gerbera daisies, snapdragons, and some other tall, red-blooming flower. These flowers don't get as much TLC because they aren't going to give me anything back. I just don't want to be that person on the block with the ugly yard!
After all of this I did some things around the house. Laundry, dishes, and put together the last of the IKEA purchases. I think I am IKEA'd out for a while. :) It was a lot of work putting all of that stuff together! I am just proud of myself because Chris didn't have to help AND he won't have to come home and fix anything for me! I did it all by myself and now I have a bookcase, sewing desk, chair, nightstand, and a 3-drawer roller.
IKEA is the most amazing place I have ever been. My friend Amber took me and she was SUCH a good tour guide. She helped me find everything I bought and offered great opinions. She had things she wanted as well, so we helped each other out! It is just so amazing how high the quality is and how much things cost. They have giant sections of small things you want to buy to fill your home and make it beautiful. Chris was okay with me spending what I did, but he wanted to see everything I got when he came home and surprised me Wednesday night. :)
He called me and said, "I have some bad news." I thought that meant he wasn't going to come home, so I was sad but started to say it was okay. He interjected with, "We have to get up at 0430. The bad news is that you have to make sure I get up in the morning."
I could not contain my excitement. I love that man. I love every second I get to spend with him. Even though he was so incredibly tired, he tried to talk to me a little while but he fell asleep with the light on. That's alright. I was happy just to be near him, smell him, and feel him next to me. He promised to leave the shirt he slept in for me when he left, and he did. It was just so I would have something to smell when he was gone again.
BACK to today. I finally got around to showering and getting ready for the evening. I was headed over to my friend Amber's to watch the Bachelorette. We had appetizers and wine and made fun of a bunch of people on the show. It was fabulous. The birth of "young eye" was tonight...coined by one of us girls. It's definitely one of those things I need to explain to my mom, and soon.
Chris just called to say he was showered up and waiting to be released. He has plans to go out to eat with the boys. I think it's crazy that these boys can be stuck together all week and still want to be together when it's all over. I think they have become really close and that is awesome.
I can't wait for him to come home! I need to make just a little more time pass in order to see him. :)
Friday, May 31, 2013
Thursday, May 30, 2013
This Can't Last Long
I've lived long enough to know that when everything in your life is going just the way you want it to, some day soon that will all change. Knowing this, I was revelling in my life yesterday. Although I am missing my dear hubby who is in the field all week, I am enjoying everything that seems to be going right in our world.
That was, until this morning. I slept through my alarm so I ended up waking up when my friend Amber came to pick me up. I don't know if it was her or TAYLOR SWIFT on my radio that woke me up for sure, but waking up to Taylor Swift can ruin everything REAL fast. I mean, really iHeart radio? I say I want a "Like Jesus Does" (by Eric Church) radio station and I wake up hearing Taylor Swift? Not cool, man. Not cool.
Let's start with Tuesday. I went running at about 0715 with my friend Sarah. It was the first time we went for almost three weeks, so we were feeling pretty lackadaisical. We decided to start at the golf course and run to the gate and back. It turned out to be a 3.5 mile run and we kept a good pace. It's funny how you can run along Route 1 and almost be hit by everyone who passes by, but on base everyone moves over and gives you extra room even though there is a running lane. All of the bikers greet you with a good morning. People wave. It's really pleasant, not to mention that base is gorgeous and green and it smells clean.
That's one thing I absolutely don't miss about Omaha. The majority of the city smelled.
Sarah and I are great running partners because we make each other laugh and manage to talk through the majority of the run. We had to discuss the "meeting of the husbands" from the weekend because we had essentially shoved our husbands together, told them they would be together in Florida, and stood back and watched as they talked. We totally put the guys on the spot when we do this. We spent a lot of our run discussing an insanely large rodent we had seen when we parked. Turns out the prairie dogs in Quantico could be mistaken for something much larger. We thought it was a beaver! My friend Amber would confirm later that it was actually a prairie dog.
Apparently Tuesday morning, like every other morning, is a great time to go golfing when you are retired from the military. The course was busy, and the way the old men stared at us when we got back to the car...
I guess women don't golf much here.
After our run, Sarah dropped me off at my place. She works with a child in my neighborhood who has autism. The fact that she volunteers her time to work with someone with autism makes her A-OK in my book. I went to the nursery down the street. It's called Sunnyside Nursery and I have no idea if they have a website, but the owner is this absurd old man from Georgia. I can't understand a damn word he says but he always laughs at whatever I say so I always return the favor.
Chris went with me the first time I visited to start my garden. We laughed because the guy seemed to like having someone to talk to so much that he kind of just discounted everything we bought. It's kind of a neat set up, because it's two old houses attached to each other. One house is antiques on the top floor and gardening supplies on the bottom. The other has more stuff in it, I assume, and he lives there. So you never know where he is, or if he is watching, or if he is just taking a nap. When Chris and I went, we stopped upstairs to check out the antiques. When we came back down, he had fallen asleep in his chair at the cash register, and I had to drop something to wake him up. It is ALWAYS an experience when we go there, and I think that's half the reason I go.
Some of my seedlings didn't pop up-cucumbers and lettuce don't seem to like my garden so I bought strawberries and zucchinis to replace them. I also bought some plants for the front yard. The marigolds look like crap and my landlord gave me permission to dig up the tulips.
I hate tulips. I think I have accidentally, purposely, neglected them so they would die quicker. It worked. And they have been overridden with weeds.
So now I have spikes and some other tall things to plant instead. I also just figured out that there is a hose hookup in the backyard, so now I don't have to take trips up and down the deck stairs to fill up my watering can. I bought a hose and hose attachment at Sunnyside Nursery from my favorite old crazy Georgian, but LEFT the attachment there on accident. I am pretty sure that at any other place I might have trouble getting it without the receipt, but here he was just like, "People leave those things here all the time!" And then he smiled at me like he let it happen on purpose.
I think he is a lot smarter/sneakier than he lets on, but the old man is so sweet. He has pet chickens that he will call to and they come running, and he told me the other day that if I wanted to go get cash and come back later to pay that I could take my plants now. He wanted me to do that because he charges less when you pay in cash, and he wanted to do that for me. He had honestly already discounted my stuff like 50% so I told him no big deal. He's great. I wish all nurseries were that way.
I wish I had a picture of him to show you, but he wears old man pants, a plaid shirt, a cap, sunglasses, and a white mustache. He is kind of hunched over and has a thick Southern accent. He walks around all of his plants and if he sees something that is ready to be eaten, i.e. a strawberry or something, he just eats it right off the plant.
He makes me laugh. He tried to sing me a song today about a girl in blue jeans, and when I asked if he remembered me he said, "How could I forget?" I think he was just showing off for the other old guys that work there. (Most of them speak with a heavy Russian accent.)
It has been SO hot here lately. I brought my plants home yesterday and within mere hours in this ridiculous Virginia heat they were dried out and looking dead. Thank goodness with some water and TLC they came back, but I need to get in the ground now. I am planting them tomorrow morning after I go for a run with Sarah.
I want to write more but I am exhausted.
Tomorrow will be a fabulous writing day I think.
That was, until this morning. I slept through my alarm so I ended up waking up when my friend Amber came to pick me up. I don't know if it was her or TAYLOR SWIFT on my radio that woke me up for sure, but waking up to Taylor Swift can ruin everything REAL fast. I mean, really iHeart radio? I say I want a "Like Jesus Does" (by Eric Church) radio station and I wake up hearing Taylor Swift? Not cool, man. Not cool.
Let's start with Tuesday. I went running at about 0715 with my friend Sarah. It was the first time we went for almost three weeks, so we were feeling pretty lackadaisical. We decided to start at the golf course and run to the gate and back. It turned out to be a 3.5 mile run and we kept a good pace. It's funny how you can run along Route 1 and almost be hit by everyone who passes by, but on base everyone moves over and gives you extra room even though there is a running lane. All of the bikers greet you with a good morning. People wave. It's really pleasant, not to mention that base is gorgeous and green and it smells clean.
That's one thing I absolutely don't miss about Omaha. The majority of the city smelled.
Sarah and I are great running partners because we make each other laugh and manage to talk through the majority of the run. We had to discuss the "meeting of the husbands" from the weekend because we had essentially shoved our husbands together, told them they would be together in Florida, and stood back and watched as they talked. We totally put the guys on the spot when we do this. We spent a lot of our run discussing an insanely large rodent we had seen when we parked. Turns out the prairie dogs in Quantico could be mistaken for something much larger. We thought it was a beaver! My friend Amber would confirm later that it was actually a prairie dog.
Apparently Tuesday morning, like every other morning, is a great time to go golfing when you are retired from the military. The course was busy, and the way the old men stared at us when we got back to the car...
I guess women don't golf much here.
After our run, Sarah dropped me off at my place. She works with a child in my neighborhood who has autism. The fact that she volunteers her time to work with someone with autism makes her A-OK in my book. I went to the nursery down the street. It's called Sunnyside Nursery and I have no idea if they have a website, but the owner is this absurd old man from Georgia. I can't understand a damn word he says but he always laughs at whatever I say so I always return the favor.
Chris went with me the first time I visited to start my garden. We laughed because the guy seemed to like having someone to talk to so much that he kind of just discounted everything we bought. It's kind of a neat set up, because it's two old houses attached to each other. One house is antiques on the top floor and gardening supplies on the bottom. The other has more stuff in it, I assume, and he lives there. So you never know where he is, or if he is watching, or if he is just taking a nap. When Chris and I went, we stopped upstairs to check out the antiques. When we came back down, he had fallen asleep in his chair at the cash register, and I had to drop something to wake him up. It is ALWAYS an experience when we go there, and I think that's half the reason I go.
Some of my seedlings didn't pop up-cucumbers and lettuce don't seem to like my garden so I bought strawberries and zucchinis to replace them. I also bought some plants for the front yard. The marigolds look like crap and my landlord gave me permission to dig up the tulips.
I hate tulips. I think I have accidentally, purposely, neglected them so they would die quicker. It worked. And they have been overridden with weeds.
So now I have spikes and some other tall things to plant instead. I also just figured out that there is a hose hookup in the backyard, so now I don't have to take trips up and down the deck stairs to fill up my watering can. I bought a hose and hose attachment at Sunnyside Nursery from my favorite old crazy Georgian, but LEFT the attachment there on accident. I am pretty sure that at any other place I might have trouble getting it without the receipt, but here he was just like, "People leave those things here all the time!" And then he smiled at me like he let it happen on purpose.
I think he is a lot smarter/sneakier than he lets on, but the old man is so sweet. He has pet chickens that he will call to and they come running, and he told me the other day that if I wanted to go get cash and come back later to pay that I could take my plants now. He wanted me to do that because he charges less when you pay in cash, and he wanted to do that for me. He had honestly already discounted my stuff like 50% so I told him no big deal. He's great. I wish all nurseries were that way.
I wish I had a picture of him to show you, but he wears old man pants, a plaid shirt, a cap, sunglasses, and a white mustache. He is kind of hunched over and has a thick Southern accent. He walks around all of his plants and if he sees something that is ready to be eaten, i.e. a strawberry or something, he just eats it right off the plant.
He makes me laugh. He tried to sing me a song today about a girl in blue jeans, and when I asked if he remembered me he said, "How could I forget?" I think he was just showing off for the other old guys that work there. (Most of them speak with a heavy Russian accent.)
It has been SO hot here lately. I brought my plants home yesterday and within mere hours in this ridiculous Virginia heat they were dried out and looking dead. Thank goodness with some water and TLC they came back, but I need to get in the ground now. I am planting them tomorrow morning after I go for a run with Sarah.
I want to write more but I am exhausted.
Tomorrow will be a fabulous writing day I think.
Monday, May 27, 2013
Duty on Memorial Day
Our first married Memorial Day weekend wasn't ideal, but it was nice.
Chris called me on Friday night to tell me they should be released around 2000 or 2100, and wanted to know if I wanted to go have dinner with the gang at Pancho Villa. Pancho Villa's food isn't great, but it does the job, and the margaritas make up for it. So we went for the second Friday in a row. You can get a "Mexican Bulldog" there, which is a giant margarita with two Coronas upside-down in it. Delicious! Chris called me at the time he said he would be coming home to tell me that someone lost their gear so he would be there for a couple more hours. I was irritated...I had just drank a coffee in order to stay awake.
Chris was kidding. I believed him, though, because I thought a husband who had been away for an entire week couldn't lie to his wife like that! But mostly I believed him because someone left their pistol on their bed one day, and caused the entire company to be a couple of hours off schedule. I realize crap happens, but how do you lose a gun? I mean, I lose my keys and phone about five times a day, but I feel like a gun is an entirely different thing to lose.
I love going out to dinner with the other couples at the end of the week, because the guys laugh at us wives who have just sat around drinking all week, and we laugh at them because they have a bunch of stories about training and other Marines; we just end up laughing the entire time. It's so funny what you appreciate when you haven't seen your man all week: the way he smells, how big his muscles look, how soft his arms feel.
Swoon.
Saturday we got up at a decent time and went to Government Island with the doggies. It is a very pretty area with lots of trees, surrounded by marshy waters, with a 1.5-mile trail. We were having a really good time and enjoying some alone time when all of a sudden Chris got an e-mail explaining they were going to have two people on duty at all times over the weekend, so he was now going to have to be on duty on Memorial Day from 1200 to 1600. That kind of put a damper on our day that day, so we decided to just go have a quiet day at home instead of going to look at some historic things nearby.
We did just that until that evening. There was a free concert in Quantico and we decided to go with our friends, the Hawleys, and give it a shot. It wasn't too bad! It was band of four old guys playing old songs and crackin' jokes. When we were able to sit on the dock and listen it was really enjoyable. We actually decided to move down to the dock because we thought the guy fishing on it had caught a snake, but turns out he caught an EEL! I am just dumbfounded by all of the weird animals here!
Nalli ate another lizard today, well, half. She left me the head and two front legs to show me just how much she loves me. Thanks, Nalli. Love you, too.
We left halfway through the concert to try a restaurant between Stafford and Fredericksburg called "Grog and Tankard". The waitress tried to impress me with their beer selection, and offered me Angry Orchard, Blue Moon, and some other girly beer. I had to laugh-no thanks bub. It was an awfully awkward experience; we like country, they had a heavy metal band. They are a new bar with no specials (food or drink). It just wasn't our scene, and we won't be going back.
Sunday was great. Our friends the Masses had us over to their apartment complex for a cookout. It was nice because not only were our regular couples there, single Marines came, too. It was nice to meet the people that the boys talk about. We all brought our own stuff to grill, drinks, and sides to share. I made kabobs for the first time! Shrimp in baja citrus marinade with grapes, pineapple, green and red pepper, onions, and mushrooms. Those were brushed with garlic and lemon olive oil. They took forever on a charcoal grill but they were fabulous and SUCH a nice change from the regular old thing.
Unfortunately, a couple of our good friends had to leave early because the husband had duty that night from 2000 to 0000. Rachele and I had to send a snapchat to his wife because we missed her within minutes. And then we laughed because she missed Rachele wiping out on the cement. It might have been karma's fault, because she was trying to make fun of her husband, who was the only guy who ran over with us girls to look at fireworks. She was paying attention to her phone and not her path, and she wiped out. I didn't even know until she burst out laughing behind us. I love Rachele. She always makes me laugh.
We hung out for almost 6 hours. Chris drank a big bottle of Jack Daniels and then some, so I was able to babysit last night. The food, drinks, and company were great. The Masses actually own their own USMC Cornhole game, so in turn we all kind of teamed up and played each other. I learned the rules after the first game, which might have helped a little the first time! But it was a lot of fun and helps you get to know people. As wives, we tend to grab our husbands and push them together and tell them to be friends. Then we stand watch making sure they do well, like moms dropping their kids off at preschool.
Chris left a couple of hours ago to go back to the barracks for the week. I will see him again on Friday. I've done it once so it should be easy this time, but it feels like the weekend just began and now he's gone again. I think it would be really, really hard to be a newlywed here at TBS. Chris and I at least got to spend the majority of seven months in each other's company before coming here.
Chris is as giddy as a schoolgirl tonight because we are going to see Hank Williams, Jr. in concert in a couple of months.
I'm giddy because Arrested Development, season 4 is on Netflix.
I have lots of plans for the week! Pedicures tomorrow, LINKS class on Wednesday and Thursday, and IKEA on Friday. The boss gave me permission to get a desk and a bedside table.
Thanks boss.
Come home, soon.
Chris called me on Friday night to tell me they should be released around 2000 or 2100, and wanted to know if I wanted to go have dinner with the gang at Pancho Villa. Pancho Villa's food isn't great, but it does the job, and the margaritas make up for it. So we went for the second Friday in a row. You can get a "Mexican Bulldog" there, which is a giant margarita with two Coronas upside-down in it. Delicious! Chris called me at the time he said he would be coming home to tell me that someone lost their gear so he would be there for a couple more hours. I was irritated...I had just drank a coffee in order to stay awake.
Chris was kidding. I believed him, though, because I thought a husband who had been away for an entire week couldn't lie to his wife like that! But mostly I believed him because someone left their pistol on their bed one day, and caused the entire company to be a couple of hours off schedule. I realize crap happens, but how do you lose a gun? I mean, I lose my keys and phone about five times a day, but I feel like a gun is an entirely different thing to lose.
I love going out to dinner with the other couples at the end of the week, because the guys laugh at us wives who have just sat around drinking all week, and we laugh at them because they have a bunch of stories about training and other Marines; we just end up laughing the entire time. It's so funny what you appreciate when you haven't seen your man all week: the way he smells, how big his muscles look, how soft his arms feel.
Swoon.
Saturday we got up at a decent time and went to Government Island with the doggies. It is a very pretty area with lots of trees, surrounded by marshy waters, with a 1.5-mile trail. We were having a really good time and enjoying some alone time when all of a sudden Chris got an e-mail explaining they were going to have two people on duty at all times over the weekend, so he was now going to have to be on duty on Memorial Day from 1200 to 1600. That kind of put a damper on our day that day, so we decided to just go have a quiet day at home instead of going to look at some historic things nearby.
We did just that until that evening. There was a free concert in Quantico and we decided to go with our friends, the Hawleys, and give it a shot. It wasn't too bad! It was band of four old guys playing old songs and crackin' jokes. When we were able to sit on the dock and listen it was really enjoyable. We actually decided to move down to the dock because we thought the guy fishing on it had caught a snake, but turns out he caught an EEL! I am just dumbfounded by all of the weird animals here!
Nalli ate another lizard today, well, half. She left me the head and two front legs to show me just how much she loves me. Thanks, Nalli. Love you, too.
We left halfway through the concert to try a restaurant between Stafford and Fredericksburg called "Grog and Tankard". The waitress tried to impress me with their beer selection, and offered me Angry Orchard, Blue Moon, and some other girly beer. I had to laugh-no thanks bub. It was an awfully awkward experience; we like country, they had a heavy metal band. They are a new bar with no specials (food or drink). It just wasn't our scene, and we won't be going back.
Sunday was great. Our friends the Masses had us over to their apartment complex for a cookout. It was nice because not only were our regular couples there, single Marines came, too. It was nice to meet the people that the boys talk about. We all brought our own stuff to grill, drinks, and sides to share. I made kabobs for the first time! Shrimp in baja citrus marinade with grapes, pineapple, green and red pepper, onions, and mushrooms. Those were brushed with garlic and lemon olive oil. They took forever on a charcoal grill but they were fabulous and SUCH a nice change from the regular old thing.
Unfortunately, a couple of our good friends had to leave early because the husband had duty that night from 2000 to 0000. Rachele and I had to send a snapchat to his wife because we missed her within minutes. And then we laughed because she missed Rachele wiping out on the cement. It might have been karma's fault, because she was trying to make fun of her husband, who was the only guy who ran over with us girls to look at fireworks. She was paying attention to her phone and not her path, and she wiped out. I didn't even know until she burst out laughing behind us. I love Rachele. She always makes me laugh.
We hung out for almost 6 hours. Chris drank a big bottle of Jack Daniels and then some, so I was able to babysit last night. The food, drinks, and company were great. The Masses actually own their own USMC Cornhole game, so in turn we all kind of teamed up and played each other. I learned the rules after the first game, which might have helped a little the first time! But it was a lot of fun and helps you get to know people. As wives, we tend to grab our husbands and push them together and tell them to be friends. Then we stand watch making sure they do well, like moms dropping their kids off at preschool.
Chris left a couple of hours ago to go back to the barracks for the week. I will see him again on Friday. I've done it once so it should be easy this time, but it feels like the weekend just began and now he's gone again. I think it would be really, really hard to be a newlywed here at TBS. Chris and I at least got to spend the majority of seven months in each other's company before coming here.
Chris is as giddy as a schoolgirl tonight because we are going to see Hank Williams, Jr. in concert in a couple of months.
I'm giddy because Arrested Development, season 4 is on Netflix.
I have lots of plans for the week! Pedicures tomorrow, LINKS class on Wednesday and Thursday, and IKEA on Friday. The boss gave me permission to get a desk and a bedside table.
Thanks boss.
Come home, soon.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
The Mush
My husband will tell you that I go through spurts of the type of person that I am, especially when he is gone. I can be mean. I can be overly sweet. I can be indifferent. Regardless, I always somehow manage to end back up at mushy.
I think a lot of factors play into the mush right now. Mostly it is that I miss Chris a lot; he has been gone for four days and our house is ridiculously quiet without him. Even if his breaking the silence includes belching and farting, at least it isn't so quiet. My 5-year-old nephew Eli had a little graduation ceremony today and we saw pictures, and so once again I am reminded of how much we are missing out on and it makes me very sad. I also had a nice long chat with my father-in-law and he had me cracking up. He told me earlier this week that it was really bothering him that he had no one at home to tease anymore. I guess he ended up taking that out on the poor nurses during his procedure last week.
I am drowning my lonely sorrows in a key lime soda and some chinese delivery.
Tomorrow is only a day away. My Christopher will be home, oh so soon, and I will annoy him with my clinginess and smotherings. And then he will look forward to another range week.
Our deck was "finished" today. It was nice to see the deck guy pack up his things and go, knowing he wouldn't be back. I was a bit sick of the mess and the drilling, and taking the dogs out to potty through the basement. It is much harder to corral them from down there. Unfortunately, when my landlord came over to look over the deck, he wasn't pleased. I hadn't noticed the shoddy handiwork until he pointed it out, but the guy just made some poor building decisions. Like, a piece of wood, holding up another piece of wood, holding up stairs. That's not okay. Or a railing that's not quite long enough. Or weirdly shaped railing pieces with sawdust in the cracks so it didn't look so bad.
Regardless, my landlord took pictures and cc'd me on a nice e-mail. My landlords are nice but they don't take any crap, and it sucks that they are our first landlords because now I have insanely high standards for future landlords. We SO lucked out in Virginia.
Speaking of Virginia-I love it here. For more reasons than I can count, but mostly the friends I've made here and how happy Chris and I are here.
I had Chinese food delivered in and it was enough for like an entire week. If only my human garbage disposal/husband were home to clean up.
Regardless, I think I am going to slip into a food coma now. I hope I can coax the dogs to come inside. It is actually really nice outside so they are enjoying the weather!
A dreaded cicada is trying to smash through our deck doors. I am terrified.
I promise to write about our incredibly fun adventures at the on-base vet clinic tomorrow.
Oh, and I wrote a column and it is getting published. That's all.
I think a lot of factors play into the mush right now. Mostly it is that I miss Chris a lot; he has been gone for four days and our house is ridiculously quiet without him. Even if his breaking the silence includes belching and farting, at least it isn't so quiet. My 5-year-old nephew Eli had a little graduation ceremony today and we saw pictures, and so once again I am reminded of how much we are missing out on and it makes me very sad. I also had a nice long chat with my father-in-law and he had me cracking up. He told me earlier this week that it was really bothering him that he had no one at home to tease anymore. I guess he ended up taking that out on the poor nurses during his procedure last week.
I am drowning my lonely sorrows in a key lime soda and some chinese delivery.
Tomorrow is only a day away. My Christopher will be home, oh so soon, and I will annoy him with my clinginess and smotherings. And then he will look forward to another range week.
Our deck was "finished" today. It was nice to see the deck guy pack up his things and go, knowing he wouldn't be back. I was a bit sick of the mess and the drilling, and taking the dogs out to potty through the basement. It is much harder to corral them from down there. Unfortunately, when my landlord came over to look over the deck, he wasn't pleased. I hadn't noticed the shoddy handiwork until he pointed it out, but the guy just made some poor building decisions. Like, a piece of wood, holding up another piece of wood, holding up stairs. That's not okay. Or a railing that's not quite long enough. Or weirdly shaped railing pieces with sawdust in the cracks so it didn't look so bad.
Regardless, my landlord took pictures and cc'd me on a nice e-mail. My landlords are nice but they don't take any crap, and it sucks that they are our first landlords because now I have insanely high standards for future landlords. We SO lucked out in Virginia.
Speaking of Virginia-I love it here. For more reasons than I can count, but mostly the friends I've made here and how happy Chris and I are here.
I had Chinese food delivered in and it was enough for like an entire week. If only my human garbage disposal/husband were home to clean up.
Regardless, I think I am going to slip into a food coma now. I hope I can coax the dogs to come inside. It is actually really nice outside so they are enjoying the weather!
A dreaded cicada is trying to smash through our deck doors. I am terrified.
I promise to write about our incredibly fun adventures at the on-base vet clinic tomorrow.
Oh, and I wrote a column and it is getting published. That's all.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Independent Lady
This is the first week that Chris is gone ALL week. I get to talk to him at night and sometimes he sends a text in the morning. It reminds me of OCS where you hang on to every word and can't wait for the next. I made him a care package on Sunday night and sent it with him. It had a bunch of stuff in it: seven kinds of cookies, a box of granola bars, K-Cups for the Keurig, banana bread, and leftovers. He laughed when he saw it, wondering when he would even need it all, but I reminded him that if he wasn't eating my food he would be eating the chow hall food.
I have kept myself busy so far. It's not hard to do when you have been sick for a week, because your house gets TRASHED in a matter of hours when you aren't feeling up to cleaning it, especially with a Marine for a husband. They start undressing right when they walk in the door, leave a trail of dirty cammis, they have dirty tupperware, PT clothes, you name it. It manages to get everywhere. And then the dogs get hyper because he is home and then fur is flying. It's a process to get it back to standards. I have things to do every day this week, which really helps the time go quickly. Especially if you plan it for the afternoon, because then you spend the majority of the day getting ready for it, you go to it, and before you know it you're home and it's almost time for bed.
Monday, the wives got together at one of our houses for a Scentsy party and potluck. Another one of the wives sells Thirty-One so she was there, too. They gave away a Marine Scentsy warmer which was super cute, so I ended up getting one, too. :/ I need it for Chris' basement because it smells. The hostess was super cool about my allergies. She said she wouldn't have any of them on just in case it bothered my allergies. I dosed up on loratidine anyway just in case. The swelling that my faces exerts when exposed to allergens is worth very little in the world. NOT fun. But luckily I had no reaction with the medication at my side. There were some really great new ones, and I was sad to see that only one of the six I have now are still being made. It just made me feel old. A lot of things have been making me feel old lately. It's probably in anticipation of my 23rd birthday coming up in like a month.
The party was also great because some of the moms have kids, so there were five little tykes running around while we were there. The hostess' son reminds me of my nephew, Benny, whom I miss dearly. So it made me kind of sad to think about the kiddos and what I'm missing out on right now, but it did help me make friends with the hostess' son. I got a high-five at the end of the night. Score!
Yesterday Rachele invited us over to the pool at her complex so we could sit out and tan. I didn't go until later because Ruby had a vet appointment, just a follow-up after I dropped off her urine sample. I really, really liked the vet at this clinic. I was very happy because she was very honest with me about everything. I had been a bit worried Ruby might have diabetes because of her symptoms, but the vet confirmed no glucose had spilled in her urine but she had a really, really bad infection. She gave two options, to start with abdominal x-rays and all that fun stuff, or to just try the antibiotics and see if they worked. There is a chance her infection could have reached her kidneys. If it did, we are going to have major vet bills on our hands. So I hope that our prayers are enough and that it is just her bladder being affected.
Ruby and I go in spurts. I tell anyone who will listen that she lives to tick me off and that I ruined her life when I came into Chris'. She thinks of me as her evil stepmom. I think of her as my evil stepdaughter. She only likes me when she needs me for protection or when I have food. Or beer. This is why I was telling everyone that she wiped back-to-front to give herself a UTI on purpose. No one believes me. Yesterday at the vet though, I felt serious compassion when the vet pushed on her bladder and she yelped. It must hurt. They gave me the option to come back for pain medication if she looks like she is having pain while relieving herself.
I did, however, mention to the vet that Ruby is a drama queen. She actually confirmed that almost all huskies are a little bit of drama queens and that they will ALWAYS let you know where it hurts, whereas a German Shepherd will come in with a broken leg dangling below them and act like nothing is wrong. I can affirm that, as I have seen Nalli slip on ice and become a three-legged racer in a matter of minutes. Nalli definitely has the mentality of a German Shepherd.
After the vet, I headed over to the pool. We sat out for about an hour and drank pina coladas. I think that I might be off rum for a while, because it made me a little sick last night. This morning when I cut into my over easy egg, that was a little too much for my stomach. Darn you rum. After the pool, we walked over to Buffalo Mo's for dinner. It was not bad for bar food and we had great conversations. We all make each other laugh and the more we get to know each other the more we are willing to share, which makes our conversations more and more funny.
Chris called around 1900 to say they had been released and he just wanted to talk, but I asked if he wanted me to bring him some stuff he had forgotten at home. He said I could if I wanted to, so of course I jumped all over that. I had been planning on not seeing him until Friday, but I really didn't want to pass up a chance to see him. I packed up some leftovers, an extra set of cammis, and his civilian shoes. If I didn't take him the leftovers, they were just going to go to waste or to the dogs, so I was happy I could take them to him.
Even though he had dirt rings around his ears and he could have smelled better, it was great to see him. He still looked pretty sexy. When he is in uniform, you really aren't supposed to show affection, so he gave me a one-armed half hug and snuck a teeny, tiny kiss when no one was looking. TBS is funny, because one minute there can be a mile stretch with no one on it, and then suddenly you can find yourself swarmed with a bunch of lieutenants coming out of the woodwork like zombies. We were able to talk about our days a little bit so it was really nice.
The spouses love to get together. I think we all generally like being together because it takes our minds off of everything else. And nobody understands like another military spouse. Regardless of how much we enjoy each other's company, we will run out and to our spouse if given the chance to see them. I apologized to the girls of course, but they all understand. And they would do the same thing if given the chance.
Today I plan on going to get frozen yogurt with the desperate housewives and husband of Quantico. Mine will actually be free because I am going to attempt to give the desperate husband of Quantico a haircut. He might be crazy, but he trusts me. I don't know how much haircut luck I have, but we will see. I may have used it all up this week because I gave Chris a PHENOMENAL haircut on Sunday. Which makes sense since the are outside all week which means he will hardly ever take his cover off for anyone to see it. We also didn't argue ONCE during this haircut, which I thought was a great step for us. It is very rare for me to give him a haircut without a few snide comments sliding back and forth. Hopefully I don't get in that mindset with poor Ben today!
Last night, seeing Chris, helped a lot. I always miss him, even when he's gone for just a few hours. Even when he is driving me absolutely insane and I can't stand to be around him, the feeling goes away within minutes of him being away. I always manage to fill my time with things that remind me of him without actually knowing that I do it. This week I've almost memorized all of Stairway to Heaven on the piano, I put 90s Alternative or Led Zeppelin radio stations on, I sleep on his side of the bed, you name it.
I wonder what I will be like during a deployment.
This past Saturday, we went and picked up our good friend Krueger from TBS. He is going to be graduating in just a couple of weeks so it was one of the last times we would be able to see him! He had the idea to go out to Paddy's Pub so we did and had our friends meet us up there, who invited their friends out there, so we managed to get quite a large table going. It was a lot of fun to be around everyone and it was karaoke night, so some interesting locals came out to show us how it's done. Dinner was great and Chris had a great time. He drank a lot with Mike, so they racked up a nice bill I believe. At the end of the night when we went to pay, the lady at the bar just gave Chris a note that said, "Have a great night. -Mike". That STINKER paid our bill and snuck out with another friend. We were only able to have him over for dinner once since we have been here and then he went and did that. He is such a sweetheart, and I hope we end up at the same duty station as him someday. He and Chris have been friends since they were rackmates at the first summer of TBS I believe.
Our house has been a mess this week partially due to the fact that our grill and other things from our deck have been in our kitchen since they started re-doing our deck. The boards have been torn up since Thursday, but not much got done since then because of all the rain we have been getting. The guy who is working on the deck is an interesting guy. I've seen him hit himself in the head with boards more than once. He swears a lot and then apologizes if he knows I might be within distance of hearing him. Sometimes I hear him singing and most of the time he is talking to himself. He is SO nice though, and I think he does great work when he gets going, so who am I to judge? The deck looks great with brand new boards, so I think once it is all stained and everything it will be beautiful! We are hoping it will for sure be done by Memorial Day. That's all Chris cared about, was being able to grill out on Memorial Day. I should really go get some T-Bones to enjoy that day.
Well, I suppose I should go do Insanity so I can shower and get ready for FroYo.
Hope you enjoyed the long post!
I have kept myself busy so far. It's not hard to do when you have been sick for a week, because your house gets TRASHED in a matter of hours when you aren't feeling up to cleaning it, especially with a Marine for a husband. They start undressing right when they walk in the door, leave a trail of dirty cammis, they have dirty tupperware, PT clothes, you name it. It manages to get everywhere. And then the dogs get hyper because he is home and then fur is flying. It's a process to get it back to standards. I have things to do every day this week, which really helps the time go quickly. Especially if you plan it for the afternoon, because then you spend the majority of the day getting ready for it, you go to it, and before you know it you're home and it's almost time for bed.
Monday, the wives got together at one of our houses for a Scentsy party and potluck. Another one of the wives sells Thirty-One so she was there, too. They gave away a Marine Scentsy warmer which was super cute, so I ended up getting one, too. :/ I need it for Chris' basement because it smells. The hostess was super cool about my allergies. She said she wouldn't have any of them on just in case it bothered my allergies. I dosed up on loratidine anyway just in case. The swelling that my faces exerts when exposed to allergens is worth very little in the world. NOT fun. But luckily I had no reaction with the medication at my side. There were some really great new ones, and I was sad to see that only one of the six I have now are still being made. It just made me feel old. A lot of things have been making me feel old lately. It's probably in anticipation of my 23rd birthday coming up in like a month.
The party was also great because some of the moms have kids, so there were five little tykes running around while we were there. The hostess' son reminds me of my nephew, Benny, whom I miss dearly. So it made me kind of sad to think about the kiddos and what I'm missing out on right now, but it did help me make friends with the hostess' son. I got a high-five at the end of the night. Score!
Yesterday Rachele invited us over to the pool at her complex so we could sit out and tan. I didn't go until later because Ruby had a vet appointment, just a follow-up after I dropped off her urine sample. I really, really liked the vet at this clinic. I was very happy because she was very honest with me about everything. I had been a bit worried Ruby might have diabetes because of her symptoms, but the vet confirmed no glucose had spilled in her urine but she had a really, really bad infection. She gave two options, to start with abdominal x-rays and all that fun stuff, or to just try the antibiotics and see if they worked. There is a chance her infection could have reached her kidneys. If it did, we are going to have major vet bills on our hands. So I hope that our prayers are enough and that it is just her bladder being affected.
Ruby and I go in spurts. I tell anyone who will listen that she lives to tick me off and that I ruined her life when I came into Chris'. She thinks of me as her evil stepmom. I think of her as my evil stepdaughter. She only likes me when she needs me for protection or when I have food. Or beer. This is why I was telling everyone that she wiped back-to-front to give herself a UTI on purpose. No one believes me. Yesterday at the vet though, I felt serious compassion when the vet pushed on her bladder and she yelped. It must hurt. They gave me the option to come back for pain medication if she looks like she is having pain while relieving herself.
I did, however, mention to the vet that Ruby is a drama queen. She actually confirmed that almost all huskies are a little bit of drama queens and that they will ALWAYS let you know where it hurts, whereas a German Shepherd will come in with a broken leg dangling below them and act like nothing is wrong. I can affirm that, as I have seen Nalli slip on ice and become a three-legged racer in a matter of minutes. Nalli definitely has the mentality of a German Shepherd.
After the vet, I headed over to the pool. We sat out for about an hour and drank pina coladas. I think that I might be off rum for a while, because it made me a little sick last night. This morning when I cut into my over easy egg, that was a little too much for my stomach. Darn you rum. After the pool, we walked over to Buffalo Mo's for dinner. It was not bad for bar food and we had great conversations. We all make each other laugh and the more we get to know each other the more we are willing to share, which makes our conversations more and more funny.
Chris called around 1900 to say they had been released and he just wanted to talk, but I asked if he wanted me to bring him some stuff he had forgotten at home. He said I could if I wanted to, so of course I jumped all over that. I had been planning on not seeing him until Friday, but I really didn't want to pass up a chance to see him. I packed up some leftovers, an extra set of cammis, and his civilian shoes. If I didn't take him the leftovers, they were just going to go to waste or to the dogs, so I was happy I could take them to him.
Even though he had dirt rings around his ears and he could have smelled better, it was great to see him. He still looked pretty sexy. When he is in uniform, you really aren't supposed to show affection, so he gave me a one-armed half hug and snuck a teeny, tiny kiss when no one was looking. TBS is funny, because one minute there can be a mile stretch with no one on it, and then suddenly you can find yourself swarmed with a bunch of lieutenants coming out of the woodwork like zombies. We were able to talk about our days a little bit so it was really nice.
The spouses love to get together. I think we all generally like being together because it takes our minds off of everything else. And nobody understands like another military spouse. Regardless of how much we enjoy each other's company, we will run out and to our spouse if given the chance to see them. I apologized to the girls of course, but they all understand. And they would do the same thing if given the chance.
Today I plan on going to get frozen yogurt with the desperate housewives and husband of Quantico. Mine will actually be free because I am going to attempt to give the desperate husband of Quantico a haircut. He might be crazy, but he trusts me. I don't know how much haircut luck I have, but we will see. I may have used it all up this week because I gave Chris a PHENOMENAL haircut on Sunday. Which makes sense since the are outside all week which means he will hardly ever take his cover off for anyone to see it. We also didn't argue ONCE during this haircut, which I thought was a great step for us. It is very rare for me to give him a haircut without a few snide comments sliding back and forth. Hopefully I don't get in that mindset with poor Ben today!
Last night, seeing Chris, helped a lot. I always miss him, even when he's gone for just a few hours. Even when he is driving me absolutely insane and I can't stand to be around him, the feeling goes away within minutes of him being away. I always manage to fill my time with things that remind me of him without actually knowing that I do it. This week I've almost memorized all of Stairway to Heaven on the piano, I put 90s Alternative or Led Zeppelin radio stations on, I sleep on his side of the bed, you name it.
I wonder what I will be like during a deployment.
This past Saturday, we went and picked up our good friend Krueger from TBS. He is going to be graduating in just a couple of weeks so it was one of the last times we would be able to see him! He had the idea to go out to Paddy's Pub so we did and had our friends meet us up there, who invited their friends out there, so we managed to get quite a large table going. It was a lot of fun to be around everyone and it was karaoke night, so some interesting locals came out to show us how it's done. Dinner was great and Chris had a great time. He drank a lot with Mike, so they racked up a nice bill I believe. At the end of the night when we went to pay, the lady at the bar just gave Chris a note that said, "Have a great night. -Mike". That STINKER paid our bill and snuck out with another friend. We were only able to have him over for dinner once since we have been here and then he went and did that. He is such a sweetheart, and I hope we end up at the same duty station as him someday. He and Chris have been friends since they were rackmates at the first summer of TBS I believe.
Our house has been a mess this week partially due to the fact that our grill and other things from our deck have been in our kitchen since they started re-doing our deck. The boards have been torn up since Thursday, but not much got done since then because of all the rain we have been getting. The guy who is working on the deck is an interesting guy. I've seen him hit himself in the head with boards more than once. He swears a lot and then apologizes if he knows I might be within distance of hearing him. Sometimes I hear him singing and most of the time he is talking to himself. He is SO nice though, and I think he does great work when he gets going, so who am I to judge? The deck looks great with brand new boards, so I think once it is all stained and everything it will be beautiful! We are hoping it will for sure be done by Memorial Day. That's all Chris cared about, was being able to grill out on Memorial Day. I should really go get some T-Bones to enjoy that day.
Well, I suppose I should go do Insanity so I can shower and get ready for FroYo.
Hope you enjoyed the long post!
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Bodily Fluids
It has been a quite a week. I have been sick almost the
entire week, with each day bringing new and exciting symptoms. The other
morning I had a horrible dry cough, the day after I couldn’t get enough junk
coughed up, the day before that I was stuffy, and the majority of the nights I
haven’t been sleeping. My nose is absolutely raw from blowing it constantly. So
the other day I find myself wide awake at 0230 and still up two hours later.
There are some fabulous, educational shows on at 0230, let me tell you. (1,000
Ways to Die) Not to mention all of the motivating commercials. Also, I was
REALLY hoping I would escape Cox Communications and Education Connection
commercials when we moved to Virginia. That is, unfortunately, not the case.
The highlights of being sick have occurred at fabulous times. For instance, my fever broke the other day while I was on base doing important things. It started at DEERS, when the guy at the check-in said something really sarcastic under his breath when I walked away. It was something along the lines of “don’t be too specific or anything” and crossed out something I had written down. I have found in my experience on base to ALWAYS bring pretty much every document pertaining to your life and always write extra and be overly detailed, because if you are missing even one tiny thing, you aren’t going to get a damn thing done. So I brushed off his comment and sat down, but I started to get nervous and sweaty. I think it was a combination of nerves and a fever that did it, because I was feeling awful by the time I actually got back to get my ID. Therefore, I look like a murderer on my ID. I just don’t feel that it feels right to smile on my military dependant ID, so I end up overdoing it and looking like an assassin.
After that I tried to find a soda to cool down with. I’ve been drinking Sprite all week because it is one of the few things that actually has tasted good. I found myself realizing that I was in the same building as the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, which I have been wanting to begin volunteering for. I spoke with a lady in the office who explained to me what the nurses do. It actually gives me the same kind of feeling that hospice does. I have a really good feeling about them. I will probably end up starting out as just a volunteer, but that is important, too.
My next step was to get myself on TriCare Prime and have some questioned answered. We had heard that you could not have a gynecologist if you were on TriCare Prime, and that your exam would just be done by a regular family doctor. I was not very excited about that, because that is a difficult enough appointment the way it is. Luckily, I was told that the truth is you can have a gynecologist, so I switched over to Prime. I hope I have a female doctor, no matter what happens. My fever/nerves got the best of me in this office. I didn’t have Chris’ social security number memorized, and I can’t get a thing done without that here, so I had to call my mother-in-law and wake her up at about 0700. She doesn’t usually get up until 1000 or later, so I am very thankful she even answered but sorry I had to wake her up! My father-in-law is actually the one who was able to answer the question for me. I used almost my entire voice in the Relief office and so I didn’t have much left for TriCare. That, combined with the fact that my fever chose to break then and there, I was drenched in sweat before it was over. It was disgusting. I actually think the TriCare lady sympathized with me so she had way more patience than she maybe normally would have. I must have looked terrible.
I was so proud of myself for getting so much done. I still had a few things to do but once I got home, I was completely wiped out. Even making a few phone calls seemed strenuous so I just kind of put them off until the next day.
Yesterday was an odd day for me. I suspect that Ruby has a UTI and I feel bad because I know that can’t be comfortable, and it also means that she has to pee very often, and it smells HORRIBLE. So I never let her out of my sight because I can’t trust her to be alone in another room (she already peed on our rugs more than a couple of times). Sometimes I think she does things just to piss me off, but this time it was out of her control. SO now I have a baby on my hands, because I get up a couple of times during the night to take her out just in case. Dogs really do prepare you for kids. Luckily, ours aren’t too much work most of the time.
Since I suspected Ruby had a UTI, I had to get an appointment. I got one for Tuesday, because the vet gives out military discounts on Tuesday. (Thanks, but seriously?) So I have an appointment for Tuesday but I had to get a urine sample to them first. So imagine this: Moriah goes outside wearing hot pink and zebra gloves up to her elbows with a Styrofoam cup in hand and a dog on a leash. I look around to make sure no neighbors were watching. (One was, but his name is Ash and he is a cat. He WAS giving me quite the look from the window next door.) The first time I stuck the cup under her, I was not mentally prepared so I only got a tiny sample.
Crap.
That means I had to do it again. So the next time we go out, same outfit, same cup. Ruby is suspicious because she knows for some reason I am saving HER urine. So this time, not only to I have to stick the cup under her, I also have to try to keep her from getting away from me.
SO awkward. Not to mention the entire time she is looking at me like, “What the hell?!”
Regardless, second try was a charm and I got enough to take into the vet. I truly, truly hope it is a UTI so we can put this mess behind us. She’s old; this type of thing is going to happen.
After I dropped off the urine sample, I had to mail a letter. I-95 was backed up, nut-to-butt traffic all day long, so Jefferson Davis Highway was just as terrible. Rather than sit in traffic to drive two miles, I decided to go to the Quantico USPS and drop off my letters. I then drove across base to come out on the other side by TBS. It was definitely smarter to drive all the way across than to sit in the traffic when it is 90 out. Don’t get me wrong, my air conditioner works great, but I get SO frustrated sitting in traffic.
Rachele called me when I was just about to her apartment complex because I was an hour and fifteen minutes late (thank errands and traffic). The girls had been outside tanning since about 1300 and wanted to make sure I was okay. It was so much fun to sit outside with the girls. There were about ten of us in the beginning, and a few dropped off one by one. We joked about how we all just live like we are on vacation; we sit around and drink in the afternoon and tan. This is the third or fourth time I have been outside trying to get some color, and every time I forgot to roll over on my back. So the back half of my body is starting to become a normal skin color, while the front of my body is still a translucent white color. I look like a deep sea creature.
We hung out for a few hours. It was a lot of fun. Time with the girls always goes SO quickly because we all get to laughing and before you know it, two hours have gone by. It’s really nice to go to Rachele’s because there are five other girls who live right there in that complex.
After we all decided we had had enough sun for the today, Rachele and I decided to go to Target and look at swimsuits. That girl is an enabler. She didn’t talk me out of buying two swimsuits, and she did the same thing. I didn’t have any strapless suits, so if I didn’t get one I was going to get some gnarly tan lines. Luckily Target swimsuits aren’t too spendy and are super cute. Rachele was cracking me up because she had had enough hard ciders to speak her mind. A girl walked out of the dressing room in something striped and she goes, “Are you going to wear a belt with that?” I don’t even know what she was thinking about the outfit but once we got away from the girl she says, “I saw a fashion disaster coming, and I couldn’t let it happen.” This girl cracks me up. I love being around her.
It’s funny because we have really kind of developed a clique already now that we are here. There are four boys, and their four wives, and we always seem to meet up. If we aren’t hanging out already during the week, we find each other on the weekends. It seems like as soon as we are away from each other, we are already texting each other and giggling like little school girls (the boys do this, too). Chris says when the four of them are leaving, they end up waiting around for each other, so sometimes he will wait half an hour or so just to walk out with the other guys. Aren’t they adorable?
What I hate about meeting these people is knowing that in six months, we might all be away from each other. I’m not saying that we can’t visit each other, but it is hard knowing that we are going to be almost inseparable for the next few months, and then have to move on and make new friends! It’s a very odd thing to think about, I guess.
But you know we will each other again someday. In the military, you always see each other again. Like, how is this for crazy? Yesterday I drove on base and the sentry at the gate looks at my license plate and says, “13-county? What is that, Norfolk?” And of course, I am like, “OH MY GOD, ARE YOU FROM NEBRASKA?” And he says, yes! I tell him I am from Randolph and he replies, “No way. I grew up in Wayne.” I told him I hadn’t met anyone from Nebraska here yet and he told me that there are PLENTY of people here from Nebraska. That made me happy. It’s not like I need to have Nebraska friends, it’s just nice to see people who probably miss Nebraska in the sense that I do. I don’t even know how to explain it, I just miss the random, weird things about it.
My friends Megan and Sean are getting married next weekend, and it’s really sad to think about missing out on that. She was my ROCK during nursing school, and I would LOVE to be there for her. Not to mention I know it would be a great time.
The other thing I am missing out on is my five-year high school reunion. I can’t say that I am too sad about this, because the only thing I’ve really changed about my life since then is graduated college and got married. And I saw a lot of the people I am still close to before I left. Most of them have drill that weekend, so there won’t be a lot of us there anyway. It is so hard to get everybody together.
Chris and I are at the end of our illnesses today. He and I cough up junk about every five minutes. If it’s a really good one, one of yells, “GET SOME!” to the other. We are kind of gross people. When I hardly see Chris all week, I kind of forget how gross he can be. But he’s so cute I don’t even care. Sigh. This is definitely still the honeymoon stage of our marriage. For instance, I was trying to take a video of his face while he was playing Battlefield. He makes this weird, lip-curling face while he is shooting on the game, (can someone tell me if he does this in real life?) and it makes me laugh so hard. So, I have been trying to get a video of him doing this all week. He didn’t know I was taping him today and I didn’t get a video of his face, but I did get a video of him PICKING HIS NOSE. It wasn’t like a hardcore crater dig or anything like that, but it was enough to make me laugh and run away with my phone. He chased me and wrestled me down to steal the phone back. He knew he had been caught.
I never knew that someone could be so disgusting and sexy at the same time.
Sorry for the mush. End rant.
The highlights of being sick have occurred at fabulous times. For instance, my fever broke the other day while I was on base doing important things. It started at DEERS, when the guy at the check-in said something really sarcastic under his breath when I walked away. It was something along the lines of “don’t be too specific or anything” and crossed out something I had written down. I have found in my experience on base to ALWAYS bring pretty much every document pertaining to your life and always write extra and be overly detailed, because if you are missing even one tiny thing, you aren’t going to get a damn thing done. So I brushed off his comment and sat down, but I started to get nervous and sweaty. I think it was a combination of nerves and a fever that did it, because I was feeling awful by the time I actually got back to get my ID. Therefore, I look like a murderer on my ID. I just don’t feel that it feels right to smile on my military dependant ID, so I end up overdoing it and looking like an assassin.
After that I tried to find a soda to cool down with. I’ve been drinking Sprite all week because it is one of the few things that actually has tasted good. I found myself realizing that I was in the same building as the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, which I have been wanting to begin volunteering for. I spoke with a lady in the office who explained to me what the nurses do. It actually gives me the same kind of feeling that hospice does. I have a really good feeling about them. I will probably end up starting out as just a volunteer, but that is important, too.
My next step was to get myself on TriCare Prime and have some questioned answered. We had heard that you could not have a gynecologist if you were on TriCare Prime, and that your exam would just be done by a regular family doctor. I was not very excited about that, because that is a difficult enough appointment the way it is. Luckily, I was told that the truth is you can have a gynecologist, so I switched over to Prime. I hope I have a female doctor, no matter what happens. My fever/nerves got the best of me in this office. I didn’t have Chris’ social security number memorized, and I can’t get a thing done without that here, so I had to call my mother-in-law and wake her up at about 0700. She doesn’t usually get up until 1000 or later, so I am very thankful she even answered but sorry I had to wake her up! My father-in-law is actually the one who was able to answer the question for me. I used almost my entire voice in the Relief office and so I didn’t have much left for TriCare. That, combined with the fact that my fever chose to break then and there, I was drenched in sweat before it was over. It was disgusting. I actually think the TriCare lady sympathized with me so she had way more patience than she maybe normally would have. I must have looked terrible.
I was so proud of myself for getting so much done. I still had a few things to do but once I got home, I was completely wiped out. Even making a few phone calls seemed strenuous so I just kind of put them off until the next day.
Yesterday was an odd day for me. I suspect that Ruby has a UTI and I feel bad because I know that can’t be comfortable, and it also means that she has to pee very often, and it smells HORRIBLE. So I never let her out of my sight because I can’t trust her to be alone in another room (she already peed on our rugs more than a couple of times). Sometimes I think she does things just to piss me off, but this time it was out of her control. SO now I have a baby on my hands, because I get up a couple of times during the night to take her out just in case. Dogs really do prepare you for kids. Luckily, ours aren’t too much work most of the time.
Since I suspected Ruby had a UTI, I had to get an appointment. I got one for Tuesday, because the vet gives out military discounts on Tuesday. (Thanks, but seriously?) So I have an appointment for Tuesday but I had to get a urine sample to them first. So imagine this: Moriah goes outside wearing hot pink and zebra gloves up to her elbows with a Styrofoam cup in hand and a dog on a leash. I look around to make sure no neighbors were watching. (One was, but his name is Ash and he is a cat. He WAS giving me quite the look from the window next door.) The first time I stuck the cup under her, I was not mentally prepared so I only got a tiny sample.
Crap.
That means I had to do it again. So the next time we go out, same outfit, same cup. Ruby is suspicious because she knows for some reason I am saving HER urine. So this time, not only to I have to stick the cup under her, I also have to try to keep her from getting away from me.
SO awkward. Not to mention the entire time she is looking at me like, “What the hell?!”
Regardless, second try was a charm and I got enough to take into the vet. I truly, truly hope it is a UTI so we can put this mess behind us. She’s old; this type of thing is going to happen.
After I dropped off the urine sample, I had to mail a letter. I-95 was backed up, nut-to-butt traffic all day long, so Jefferson Davis Highway was just as terrible. Rather than sit in traffic to drive two miles, I decided to go to the Quantico USPS and drop off my letters. I then drove across base to come out on the other side by TBS. It was definitely smarter to drive all the way across than to sit in the traffic when it is 90 out. Don’t get me wrong, my air conditioner works great, but I get SO frustrated sitting in traffic.
Rachele called me when I was just about to her apartment complex because I was an hour and fifteen minutes late (thank errands and traffic). The girls had been outside tanning since about 1300 and wanted to make sure I was okay. It was so much fun to sit outside with the girls. There were about ten of us in the beginning, and a few dropped off one by one. We joked about how we all just live like we are on vacation; we sit around and drink in the afternoon and tan. This is the third or fourth time I have been outside trying to get some color, and every time I forgot to roll over on my back. So the back half of my body is starting to become a normal skin color, while the front of my body is still a translucent white color. I look like a deep sea creature.
We hung out for a few hours. It was a lot of fun. Time with the girls always goes SO quickly because we all get to laughing and before you know it, two hours have gone by. It’s really nice to go to Rachele’s because there are five other girls who live right there in that complex.
After we all decided we had had enough sun for the today, Rachele and I decided to go to Target and look at swimsuits. That girl is an enabler. She didn’t talk me out of buying two swimsuits, and she did the same thing. I didn’t have any strapless suits, so if I didn’t get one I was going to get some gnarly tan lines. Luckily Target swimsuits aren’t too spendy and are super cute. Rachele was cracking me up because she had had enough hard ciders to speak her mind. A girl walked out of the dressing room in something striped and she goes, “Are you going to wear a belt with that?” I don’t even know what she was thinking about the outfit but once we got away from the girl she says, “I saw a fashion disaster coming, and I couldn’t let it happen.” This girl cracks me up. I love being around her.
It’s funny because we have really kind of developed a clique already now that we are here. There are four boys, and their four wives, and we always seem to meet up. If we aren’t hanging out already during the week, we find each other on the weekends. It seems like as soon as we are away from each other, we are already texting each other and giggling like little school girls (the boys do this, too). Chris says when the four of them are leaving, they end up waiting around for each other, so sometimes he will wait half an hour or so just to walk out with the other guys. Aren’t they adorable?
What I hate about meeting these people is knowing that in six months, we might all be away from each other. I’m not saying that we can’t visit each other, but it is hard knowing that we are going to be almost inseparable for the next few months, and then have to move on and make new friends! It’s a very odd thing to think about, I guess.
But you know we will each other again someday. In the military, you always see each other again. Like, how is this for crazy? Yesterday I drove on base and the sentry at the gate looks at my license plate and says, “13-county? What is that, Norfolk?” And of course, I am like, “OH MY GOD, ARE YOU FROM NEBRASKA?” And he says, yes! I tell him I am from Randolph and he replies, “No way. I grew up in Wayne.” I told him I hadn’t met anyone from Nebraska here yet and he told me that there are PLENTY of people here from Nebraska. That made me happy. It’s not like I need to have Nebraska friends, it’s just nice to see people who probably miss Nebraska in the sense that I do. I don’t even know how to explain it, I just miss the random, weird things about it.
My friends Megan and Sean are getting married next weekend, and it’s really sad to think about missing out on that. She was my ROCK during nursing school, and I would LOVE to be there for her. Not to mention I know it would be a great time.
The other thing I am missing out on is my five-year high school reunion. I can’t say that I am too sad about this, because the only thing I’ve really changed about my life since then is graduated college and got married. And I saw a lot of the people I am still close to before I left. Most of them have drill that weekend, so there won’t be a lot of us there anyway. It is so hard to get everybody together.
Chris and I are at the end of our illnesses today. He and I cough up junk about every five minutes. If it’s a really good one, one of yells, “GET SOME!” to the other. We are kind of gross people. When I hardly see Chris all week, I kind of forget how gross he can be. But he’s so cute I don’t even care. Sigh. This is definitely still the honeymoon stage of our marriage. For instance, I was trying to take a video of his face while he was playing Battlefield. He makes this weird, lip-curling face while he is shooting on the game, (can someone tell me if he does this in real life?) and it makes me laugh so hard. So, I have been trying to get a video of him doing this all week. He didn’t know I was taping him today and I didn’t get a video of his face, but I did get a video of him PICKING HIS NOSE. It wasn’t like a hardcore crater dig or anything like that, but it was enough to make me laugh and run away with my phone. He chased me and wrestled me down to steal the phone back. He knew he had been caught.
I never knew that someone could be so disgusting and sexy at the same time.
Sorry for the mush. End rant.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Sickly
My husband is a Russian spy that wants me kidnapped.
Is that true? Maybe. He left the front door unlocked and unarmed this morning when he left. It’s hard to blame someone who was sweet enough to bring home Sprite, NyQuil, and chicken soup. (It is kind of fair since he brought home the sickness.) He brought it home to me, and his friend took it home to his wife. We went shopping yesterday, and she and I did okay until we were about half an hour from home. Then it really hit both of us. Her nose hurts from sneezing. My throat feels like it is on fire and my nose is sore from blowing it.
I really have to make a trip to the commissary. Oofda. Not looking forward to that. The commissary is going to be blessed with yoga pants and a t-shirt from this girl. At least I put in my contacts. That was the really tough thing to get done this morning. I slept 10 hours thanks to NyQuil, and I plan on sleeping again later after I get some stuff done around the house. It’s amazing how quickly your house falls apart when you’re not feeling well. My house looks like a tornado went through it. And splattered Kleenexes and food all over.
It’s probably a good thing that I’m not feeling well, otherwise I would be posting my favorite moments from The Office all over Facebook every five minutes. I don’t know if the Facebook world can handle my grief. I just watched the Farewells by the Office and it really just summed it all up. The Office fans are some of the most dedicated there are.
I did not get much done today, other than mail off some paperwork and get groceries for the next week. I helped two elderly people get things from the top shelf (I do this almost every time I go to the commissary) and an old man saw my Nebraska sweatshirt and said, "WHOA! Watch out for the Cornhusker! They'll run you right over!" He then proceeded to ask me about football where I gave the standard, "We'll see this year!" because I honestly couldn't give a flying flip about football (sorry y'all). I also got some necessities for day 3 of the deathly cold (cough drops, Puffs plus Lotion for my raw nose, and Oreos). I still feel terrible. Chris doesn’t feel any better. He called this afternoon and I had to chuckle a little because we both sound like death. I powered through the day with the help of some food from McDonald’s. I always crave junk like that when I’m sick like this. I caved.
Oops.
Is that true? Maybe. He left the front door unlocked and unarmed this morning when he left. It’s hard to blame someone who was sweet enough to bring home Sprite, NyQuil, and chicken soup. (It is kind of fair since he brought home the sickness.) He brought it home to me, and his friend took it home to his wife. We went shopping yesterday, and she and I did okay until we were about half an hour from home. Then it really hit both of us. Her nose hurts from sneezing. My throat feels like it is on fire and my nose is sore from blowing it.
I really have to make a trip to the commissary. Oofda. Not looking forward to that. The commissary is going to be blessed with yoga pants and a t-shirt from this girl. At least I put in my contacts. That was the really tough thing to get done this morning. I slept 10 hours thanks to NyQuil, and I plan on sleeping again later after I get some stuff done around the house. It’s amazing how quickly your house falls apart when you’re not feeling well. My house looks like a tornado went through it. And splattered Kleenexes and food all over.
It’s probably a good thing that I’m not feeling well, otherwise I would be posting my favorite moments from The Office all over Facebook every five minutes. I don’t know if the Facebook world can handle my grief. I just watched the Farewells by the Office and it really just summed it all up. The Office fans are some of the most dedicated there are.
I did not get much done today, other than mail off some paperwork and get groceries for the next week. I helped two elderly people get things from the top shelf (I do this almost every time I go to the commissary) and an old man saw my Nebraska sweatshirt and said, "WHOA! Watch out for the Cornhusker! They'll run you right over!" He then proceeded to ask me about football where I gave the standard, "We'll see this year!" because I honestly couldn't give a flying flip about football (sorry y'all). I also got some necessities for day 3 of the deathly cold (cough drops, Puffs plus Lotion for my raw nose, and Oreos). I still feel terrible. Chris doesn’t feel any better. He called this afternoon and I had to chuckle a little because we both sound like death. I powered through the day with the help of some food from McDonald’s. I always crave junk like that when I’m sick like this. I caved.
Oops.
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Sundays Aren't For Blogging
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| Izzy-2013 Dance Recital-Age 5 |
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| Madeline-2013 Dance Recital-Age 8 |
I normally don't post on the weekend. Weekend is Christopher time but tonight I just can't fall asleep. Virginia is kind of weird. It's weird that it's only 2130 at home and here I am doggone tired. We went out with some of our friends last night to eat and have some drinks. We met up at Amber's because the boys had to study (boo!) while the girls hung out and drank (yay!). They got about an hour and a half in before it was time to EAT. I am pretty sure we all got a giant greasy burger. It was just one of those nights. I was excited to introduce my friends to MIDORI, the most amazing liquer ever invented. We also drank some delicious local beers. We controlled the jukebox for a little while, Austin got to play some Steel Panther; it was a good night. Chris and I won two games of pool by default (thank goodness, because this girl SUCKS at pool). After we were done at the bar, someone mentioned froyo. We were on it like stink on garbage. Cotton candy froyo is (one of) my (many) weakness(es). I thought Christopher might have a tantrum when he figured out there were no peanut butter flavors, but he survived.
We partied all night and got home at an ungodly hour. Man 2200 comes way too fast when you're having fun! Seriously, on the way home Chris and I looked at each other and said, "Oh my goodness. I am so tired." And then we laughed because it was 10. When did we get so OLD?!
Christopher brought home some cold bug on Friday and I babied him aaaaaaaaaaaaall weekend, but go figure, now I have it, too. I love my husband very much, and I think that boy is so tough, but not when it comes to being sick. I feel like I only let being sick interfere with my day when I am on my deathbed. I'm not saying Christopher didn't feel like crap all weekend, but I am saying that at one point in time he did shoot me a look and start pouting because the tea I made was "too hot". I think the nurse in me just thinks, "I've seen worse", so I can only feel so much empathy for him. Love you boo!
I cut his hair this morning. He thinks it's such a good idea for me to cut it because he doesn't have to go anywhere, or wait in line, or spend the $10 on the haircut itself. He was so excited when he realized we could save 520 dollars a YEAR but having me do his haircuts! Considering the fact that we argue EVERY SINGLE TIME I cut his hair, we might end up spending it on couples counseling.
I'm kidding, of course, because as soon as we get through the haircut and stop and look at each other, we usually kiss and start laughing at each other for arguing. It just doesn't help because every time Chris says, "I don't want a high and tight", he usually ends up with a high and tight. Not on purpose, but it's like we need to knock on wood whenever he says that.
I'm awake now because I was sitting upstairs dreaming about McDonald's. So I came downstairs to eat some leftovers and get over that. I think it's my body's way of saying, "You're sick. You need more calories."
We knew that moving out here meant we would miss out on a lot. It's not like something you can avoid, but I did get some photos of my gorgeous nieces today at their dance recital I had to share! I am very sad we missed out on that, but my sister-in-law got the video, so we will be able to watch it.
Truthfully, I wanted to go on and on about how much I love my mom for Mother's Day, but I think I'm going to save that until tomorrow.
Friday, May 10, 2013
Military Spouse Appreciation Day
It’s Friday, which means two things.
It’s garbage day, and I will perpetually have Rebecca Black’s song “It’s Friday” in my head. I pointed the fact to Chris out this morning that it was Friday and asked if he knew what that meant. He looked at me with question in his eyes. I smiled and sang, “Garbage day!” And he pouted. Even though he looked adorable, I stood my ground. So my husband took the garbage out in his skivvies and his short-shorts. Lucky neighbors might have had a peek.
I think it’s fair that Chris has a couple of jobs he has to do every once in a while. Garbage is his… actually, that might be his only job now that I think about it. Oh, and rinsing off his dishes. The other day I slacked; I told him he could leave it in the sink and I would take care of it. He was okay with that. One day passes, he has breakfast, and he tries to do it again. I marched up to him, turned him back around toward the sink, and pushed him toward it. No slack here mister, because he will take it and run.
So I’ve been singing “It’s Friday” all morning but changing up the words in my head.
It’s Friday, Friday, Chris comes home on Friday
And I get him for the whole weekend, weekend
Friday, Friday, coming home on Friday
We’re gonna hang out a-all wee-eekend
You can see that I occupy my time with very important things here in Virginia.
I’ll be spending my week feeling sorry for myself because my favorite show of all time is ending in a week. I started watching it when I was in high school because my friend Lucas told me I needed to. He was right; I loved it. I own almost all of the seasons and I would watch a whole season on my bad days. When I moved to Omaha and my on-again, off-again was off for the billionth time, I watched it. And I felt better. I didn't have any friends in Omaha yet and I didn't know who to turn to. I missed my best friend I left in South Dakota. It seems sad that a show can really pick you up and make you feel better, but it did. I owe the Office for getting me through some of the hardest days I have had.
It’s Military Spouse Appreciation Day. My first and I've had two people wish me that already this morning. How sweet is it that? I don’t even know that I knew this day existed before we came here. It’s kind of odd because I've technically been a military spouse for less than a month. (Chris began active duty toward the end of April.) So far, though, I already adore my fellow military spouses. We are all so different but yet have so much in common. We bring such great things to the table and we always have a blast together. And we get together almost every other day. Why not? Not a lot of other things going on so we might as well spend time with the people we enjoy. Not to mention six months will go fast and we are going to have to leave each other. I know about three of the girls who will be going to Pensacola as well as us after this.
I decided to sit out and try to get a little tan today. I sent a quick text and Rachele and Amber came over with dedication for some color. We sat out on the deck for at least a couple of hours. I served them some of my leftover Swiss mushroom chicken. They loved it as much as Chris and I did! Rachele turned a little red. I have a weird tan line on my back that looks like Gumby drowning. (No idea how that happened.) And Amber turned out okay but we will definitely have to make that a regular thing because we really enjoyed it. I feel like I’ve known these girls forever! It’s so easy to talk to them.
Chris is going to get home in a couple of hours. I hate that he will be home late on a Friday like this but I have managed to keep myself busy. I was going to make Coconut Shrimp but I’m not feeling it now, so I have decided to change it up and make some tacos! I froze avocados for the first time ever, and so far so good, they look okay! I wasn't in the kitchen much today except to clean up. Nalli and Ruby spent most of their time outside today. It was super hot, and it’s weird that it’s hard to get Nalli to want to come inside when it’s like that! Our basement stays pretty cool throughout the day, but I can’t trust Ruby to be down here by herself.
Tomorrow we are going to try out Capitol Ale House. I got a Living Social deal so that will help on cost. I have a feeling we might love it there. There are ONLY 250 beers to pick from, so it shouldn't be too hard to choose. I am SO excited to try Virginia beers. I hope they will let me collect the bottle caps from the Virginia beers. I want to make a shadow box with bottle caps from Virginia. I already have the supplies to do it for Nebraska!
http://www.capitalalehouse.com/
There are lots of other things to write about, and I could continue to watch Storage Wars for hours, but I need to shower after a round of Insanity and start working on tacos!
It’s garbage day, and I will perpetually have Rebecca Black’s song “It’s Friday” in my head. I pointed the fact to Chris out this morning that it was Friday and asked if he knew what that meant. He looked at me with question in his eyes. I smiled and sang, “Garbage day!” And he pouted. Even though he looked adorable, I stood my ground. So my husband took the garbage out in his skivvies and his short-shorts. Lucky neighbors might have had a peek.
I think it’s fair that Chris has a couple of jobs he has to do every once in a while. Garbage is his… actually, that might be his only job now that I think about it. Oh, and rinsing off his dishes. The other day I slacked; I told him he could leave it in the sink and I would take care of it. He was okay with that. One day passes, he has breakfast, and he tries to do it again. I marched up to him, turned him back around toward the sink, and pushed him toward it. No slack here mister, because he will take it and run.
So I’ve been singing “It’s Friday” all morning but changing up the words in my head.
It’s Friday, Friday, Chris comes home on Friday
And I get him for the whole weekend, weekend
Friday, Friday, coming home on Friday
We’re gonna hang out a-all wee-eekend
You can see that I occupy my time with very important things here in Virginia.
I’ll be spending my week feeling sorry for myself because my favorite show of all time is ending in a week. I started watching it when I was in high school because my friend Lucas told me I needed to. He was right; I loved it. I own almost all of the seasons and I would watch a whole season on my bad days. When I moved to Omaha and my on-again, off-again was off for the billionth time, I watched it. And I felt better. I didn't have any friends in Omaha yet and I didn't know who to turn to. I missed my best friend I left in South Dakota. It seems sad that a show can really pick you up and make you feel better, but it did. I owe the Office for getting me through some of the hardest days I have had.
It’s Military Spouse Appreciation Day. My first and I've had two people wish me that already this morning. How sweet is it that? I don’t even know that I knew this day existed before we came here. It’s kind of odd because I've technically been a military spouse for less than a month. (Chris began active duty toward the end of April.) So far, though, I already adore my fellow military spouses. We are all so different but yet have so much in common. We bring such great things to the table and we always have a blast together. And we get together almost every other day. Why not? Not a lot of other things going on so we might as well spend time with the people we enjoy. Not to mention six months will go fast and we are going to have to leave each other. I know about three of the girls who will be going to Pensacola as well as us after this.
I decided to sit out and try to get a little tan today. I sent a quick text and Rachele and Amber came over with dedication for some color. We sat out on the deck for at least a couple of hours. I served them some of my leftover Swiss mushroom chicken. They loved it as much as Chris and I did! Rachele turned a little red. I have a weird tan line on my back that looks like Gumby drowning. (No idea how that happened.) And Amber turned out okay but we will definitely have to make that a regular thing because we really enjoyed it. I feel like I’ve known these girls forever! It’s so easy to talk to them.
Chris is going to get home in a couple of hours. I hate that he will be home late on a Friday like this but I have managed to keep myself busy. I was going to make Coconut Shrimp but I’m not feeling it now, so I have decided to change it up and make some tacos! I froze avocados for the first time ever, and so far so good, they look okay! I wasn't in the kitchen much today except to clean up. Nalli and Ruby spent most of their time outside today. It was super hot, and it’s weird that it’s hard to get Nalli to want to come inside when it’s like that! Our basement stays pretty cool throughout the day, but I can’t trust Ruby to be down here by herself.
Tomorrow we are going to try out Capitol Ale House. I got a Living Social deal so that will help on cost. I have a feeling we might love it there. There are ONLY 250 beers to pick from, so it shouldn't be too hard to choose. I am SO excited to try Virginia beers. I hope they will let me collect the bottle caps from the Virginia beers. I want to make a shadow box with bottle caps from Virginia. I already have the supplies to do it for Nebraska!
http://www.capitalalehouse.com/
There are lots of other things to write about, and I could continue to watch Storage Wars for hours, but I need to shower after a round of Insanity and start working on tacos!
Thursday, May 9, 2013
His Personal 4-Star Chef
Christopher is a lucky, lucky man, because this girl knows how to cook. I have been a busy girl in the kitchen lately. Last night, I made some swiss mushroom chicken that just about put us in a food coma. Chris raved about it all night as well as this afternoon. He's lucky, he gets leftovers, and then he typically gets the leftovers I set aside for myself as well. This chicken was breaded with butter crackers and topped with a layer of ham, sauteed baby bella mushrooms, and big slice of swiss cheese. I made homemade bread and broiled it with olive oil, cheese, and garlic.
Today I made four loaves of my sour cream banana bread, which is wonderfully sweet and gooey in the center. For dinner, I made chicken salad croissants. Golden raisins, cranberries, toasted coconut almonds, celery, and chicken make a colorful and delicious salad. I was very hungry tonight, and Chris called to tell me he wouldn't come home until well after 2000. Well, it's almost 2130 and he's still not home, so I only feel a little guilty for eating early. Paired with a Hawaiian Golden Ale, it made for a delectable dinner.
When I found out he wouldn't be home until later, I thought, "Great! Now I can work out!"
I didn't. I'm going to start Insanity soon because for some odd reason, swimsuit season comes a lot earlier here! The pools open up on Memorial Day, and I'm about as white and fattened up as a polar bear. There is no need for winter weight here because it is darn hot here. It is also super humid. I just generally need to feel good about myself. :)
My birthday presents from my parents came today! Since it's been raining off and on all week, and the sky looked like it was going to rain, my neighbors were sweet enough to bring the packages inside. I stopped to get them when I got home and I got to meet their kitties! It's weird that I haven't seen a cat in almost a month! Courtney, our neighbor, is the sweetest. She took one of my gifts and wrapped it up in cupcake paper. Can you believe that? (The best I could do to repay them was hand them a loaf of banana bread.)
Turns out Sheila Marie got me a sewing machine for my birthday. (Almost a month early.) I am so antsy to get that sucker out. I think I will wait until after Chris' next payday, just because our account hath dwindled. Trying to pay off the move and our rent and we have to start paying back my school loans next month. Lots of money going out the door is not fun, but it is life.
I love my friend Rachele. She cracks me up. She calls me and says, "Hey, wanna come over for happy hour?"
Hell yes I do, Rachele.
I sent her a text half an hour before I was supposed to meet her to tell her I had already mixed my drink. She told me she was ready to drink and to come on over. That's how it feels to be a housewife! She was stressing because they want to attend her husband's wedding, and with TBS, it's not always easy to take off and go. If the boys are in the field, it doesn't matter if you have a wedding, or if your wife is in labor, they aren't always allowed to go. We have a lot of people hoping for the best over here.
Chris' hours have been much better lately. (Excluding tonight.) This week he came home most nights around 1800 or 1900. I can handle that. That leaves a few hours for cuddling.
Yesterday Amber picked me up and we went to the DEERS office with the boys in hopes of getting our new IDs, but we got the excuse I have heard too many times already..."I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do for you now." Okay, that's great, don't go out of your way to help us out or anything. Amber and I got there before our husbands, and it was a bit terrifying to walk in the side door and find 50 2nd Lieutenants looking up at us wondering if we were lost. We probably looked like squirrels with a bus bearing down on us, but we didn't make eye contact with anyone as we looked around the room for the boys. When we didn't see them, we slowly turned around and walked back out.
It was nice to see the boys, even if it meant we had to wait in a hot room with a bunch of them. I am always happy to see Christopher, no matter the situation or when or where. After about an hour of waiting and finding out we would not be able to get our IDs anyway, Amber and I decided it wasn't worth it and took off. Chris ended up staying for two and a half hours only to find out he is still in the system as a reservist and could not get his ID anyway.
It is really frustrating to do all this in-processing stuff. It seems like all of these things should be figured out and set up so that when you get there you can just get it done and not have to keep coming back. I know that nobody wants to see me over and over again for the same old crap. They know we are all going to be coming in for the same reasons with the same "qualifications" so why is it so hard to get anything done? It happens in nearly all of the offices all of the time. Nobody really goes out of their way to help you or even guide you in the right direction. It's like a round-a-bout you can't get out of.
When Amber took me home, we were sitting outside of my house in her vehicle. I had to step out of the vehicle because one of the neighbor kids, who is three, tripped on the curb. I stopped to make sure he was okay. He was fine. He LOVED the attention. He was throwing around a bright green rubber ball and making sure we were watching. He was being pretty good just kind of minding his own, until all of a sudden he throws a crazy pitch at Amber's windshield. I leaned out and asked him, "Do you have insurance?" He looked incredibly confused, then looked down, then said no. I said, "Probably shouldn't do that then, huh?" And he stopped. I wonder if he asked his mom what insurance is.
Chris finally got came home and put his dinner in the microwave before I could get downstairs to stop him. His dinner...the chicken salad. With mayo. In the microwave.
Would Chris die if I weren't around?
Today I made four loaves of my sour cream banana bread, which is wonderfully sweet and gooey in the center. For dinner, I made chicken salad croissants. Golden raisins, cranberries, toasted coconut almonds, celery, and chicken make a colorful and delicious salad. I was very hungry tonight, and Chris called to tell me he wouldn't come home until well after 2000. Well, it's almost 2130 and he's still not home, so I only feel a little guilty for eating early. Paired with a Hawaiian Golden Ale, it made for a delectable dinner.
When I found out he wouldn't be home until later, I thought, "Great! Now I can work out!"
I didn't. I'm going to start Insanity soon because for some odd reason, swimsuit season comes a lot earlier here! The pools open up on Memorial Day, and I'm about as white and fattened up as a polar bear. There is no need for winter weight here because it is darn hot here. It is also super humid. I just generally need to feel good about myself. :)
My birthday presents from my parents came today! Since it's been raining off and on all week, and the sky looked like it was going to rain, my neighbors were sweet enough to bring the packages inside. I stopped to get them when I got home and I got to meet their kitties! It's weird that I haven't seen a cat in almost a month! Courtney, our neighbor, is the sweetest. She took one of my gifts and wrapped it up in cupcake paper. Can you believe that? (The best I could do to repay them was hand them a loaf of banana bread.)
Turns out Sheila Marie got me a sewing machine for my birthday. (Almost a month early.) I am so antsy to get that sucker out. I think I will wait until after Chris' next payday, just because our account hath dwindled. Trying to pay off the move and our rent and we have to start paying back my school loans next month. Lots of money going out the door is not fun, but it is life.
I love my friend Rachele. She cracks me up. She calls me and says, "Hey, wanna come over for happy hour?"
Hell yes I do, Rachele.
I sent her a text half an hour before I was supposed to meet her to tell her I had already mixed my drink. She told me she was ready to drink and to come on over. That's how it feels to be a housewife! She was stressing because they want to attend her husband's wedding, and with TBS, it's not always easy to take off and go. If the boys are in the field, it doesn't matter if you have a wedding, or if your wife is in labor, they aren't always allowed to go. We have a lot of people hoping for the best over here.
Chris' hours have been much better lately. (Excluding tonight.) This week he came home most nights around 1800 or 1900. I can handle that. That leaves a few hours for cuddling.
Yesterday Amber picked me up and we went to the DEERS office with the boys in hopes of getting our new IDs, but we got the excuse I have heard too many times already..."I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do for you now." Okay, that's great, don't go out of your way to help us out or anything. Amber and I got there before our husbands, and it was a bit terrifying to walk in the side door and find 50 2nd Lieutenants looking up at us wondering if we were lost. We probably looked like squirrels with a bus bearing down on us, but we didn't make eye contact with anyone as we looked around the room for the boys. When we didn't see them, we slowly turned around and walked back out.
It was nice to see the boys, even if it meant we had to wait in a hot room with a bunch of them. I am always happy to see Christopher, no matter the situation or when or where. After about an hour of waiting and finding out we would not be able to get our IDs anyway, Amber and I decided it wasn't worth it and took off. Chris ended up staying for two and a half hours only to find out he is still in the system as a reservist and could not get his ID anyway.
It is really frustrating to do all this in-processing stuff. It seems like all of these things should be figured out and set up so that when you get there you can just get it done and not have to keep coming back. I know that nobody wants to see me over and over again for the same old crap. They know we are all going to be coming in for the same reasons with the same "qualifications" so why is it so hard to get anything done? It happens in nearly all of the offices all of the time. Nobody really goes out of their way to help you or even guide you in the right direction. It's like a round-a-bout you can't get out of.
When Amber took me home, we were sitting outside of my house in her vehicle. I had to step out of the vehicle because one of the neighbor kids, who is three, tripped on the curb. I stopped to make sure he was okay. He was fine. He LOVED the attention. He was throwing around a bright green rubber ball and making sure we were watching. He was being pretty good just kind of minding his own, until all of a sudden he throws a crazy pitch at Amber's windshield. I leaned out and asked him, "Do you have insurance?" He looked incredibly confused, then looked down, then said no. I said, "Probably shouldn't do that then, huh?" And he stopped. I wonder if he asked his mom what insurance is.
Chris finally got came home and put his dinner in the microwave before I could get downstairs to stop him. His dinner...the chicken salad. With mayo. In the microwave.
Would Chris die if I weren't around?
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Spouse Experience
Following the norm for PT days, Chris woke up this morning
and it was pouring. I was, of course, up making breakfast and getting his lunch
together. He came down the stairs with his woodlands on and I asked why he was
wearing them. He muttered, “PT”, and walked down the stairs. After he was done
getting ready I asked if he wanted me to take his “butter bars” off of his
deserts and he said, “No, I’m wearing those today.” At this point I am utterly
confused…so, naturally, I acted like I understood and walked back upstairs. He
would actually later look outside at the rain, mutter some not-so-nice words,
and then mimic someone who had said, “You can’t wear sweaters in May. It’s not
cold out.” Of course, this person is in charge right now so you have to abide
by the rules, but, like Chris said, it IS part of the uniform.
My question is, how will everyone see your sexy reflective belt under your sweater?
Oh, the love/hate relationship of the reflective belt. This is a mandatory thing when you run on base. Day/night, summer/winter, whatever. Get that darn thing on. Thankfully, they now offer FOUR different colors you may choose to style yourself with: neon green, construction zone orange, Marine Corps gold and scarlet, or PINK. I thought pink suited me just fine so now when I run, I wear a pink, reflective belt. It would not be such a pain except the darn things ride up and down your back and pull your shirt up and pull your pants down and I can’t stand the feeling of something flopping around while I’m running. (I could never be a boy. I’d go nuts, if you catch my drift.) BUT, it’s worth it because the trails on base WILL kick your butt, you feel safer running there and not on Jefferson Davis Highway, and because it’s GORGEOUS. There are tons of squirrels running around and I saw a few deer the other day—definitely worth it. Plus, getting acclimated to base and where everything is on it is priceless. I would advise any new wife to take the time to just drive all over base and get a feel for where everything is. One of our first few days here, I drove from one end to the other and made myself drive through all of the gates just so I knew where I was going. We are really lucky; our house is relatively close to all three gates. The longest drive is the one to TBS, which is about 10-15 minutes depending on traffic.
Chris is such a stinker. He gave me a goodbye kiss this morning, got a couple of steps out of the house, turned around to smile and yelled, “I forgot the garbage again!”
Rotten…
He forgot last week, too. I yelled back, “I’m going to make you do something else that sucks!” Not sure what that is yet. I have to try to remember what he hates doing but also won’t ruin. I would pick laundry but he hasn't quite picked up the difference between regular clothes and delicates…we’re working on it.
I have to laugh because every week I plan out a menu and fully plan on sticking to it, but then I don’t bring my grocery list to the store and so I end up missing a key ingredient for dinner. Last night I was supposed to make Pasta and Veggies in Garlic Sauce. When I started to get out my ingredients I realized I didn’t have any garbanzo beans; naturally I started banging my forehead on the wall (not literally ;)). I ended up throwing open another cookbook and made Spinach Parmesan Linguine because I actually had the ingredients. IT WAS DELICIOUS. Chris and I were raving about it. It absolutely hit the spot. So, sometimes you forget garbanzo beans for a reason, I guess!
I got a part, part-time job yesterday, if you will. Essentially what I do is measure height/weight, waist circumferences, cholesterol and glucose checks, and blood pressure screenings at health-fair type things whenever they are in the area and I am able to attend them. It’s cool because you only have to take the jobs you feel comfortable doing and that are within reasonable distance. They pay mileage, some meals, and a decent amount per hour. It’s something, and I will take it. No complaints here. So that’s fabulous news and I am thankful because I feel like the power of prayer was definitely working behind the scenes there.
Yesterday the most miraculous of miracles occurred--WE GOT PAID. Chris sent a text at 0530 to let me know that we had been paid. This was fabulous news meaning that I would indeed be able to fulfill my wish list at the commissary. (Yes, I have a wishlist. Don't judge.) I was even in such a good mood that I decided I would SKIP the self check-out and utilize and tip a bagger. It is absolutely absurd how much you can get at the commissary for $150. ($152, with bagger tip.)
This morning we had the opportunity to attend Military.com's Spouse Experience from the spouses at SpouseBuzz. I was SO glad that my landlord sent me the information and told me to go. Ten of us TBS spouses were there. It was nice to sit with familiar faces. I didn't realize that wives from other branches would be there, but it was really cool to hear their different perspectives.
Jacey Eckhart started it off. She was hilarious and really loosened us up as an audience. She has a fabulous perspective. When she speaks she seems so young and vibrant and vivacious and I love to listen to her. She's captivating. If I decide after 20 years that I want to speak at things like this, I hope I'm as inspiring as she was. She is the type of spouse who makes me think, "I want to be in her shoes. I want to be that amazing wife who feels like a teenager in love but is smart enough to know why it's different."
After that, we did an exercise called "The Honey Badger of Love". It was hilarious. I was practically rolling on the ground. We started off with the voice-over Honey Badger video from YouTube. I was surprised that there were some people that hadn't seen it. I also realize that I have spent a lot of time on YouTube. The exercise matched us up with partners. We handed our honey badgers back and forth as we yelled things at each other like, "YOU LEFT YOUR DIRTY BOOT SOCKS INSIDE OF OTHER DIRTY BOOT SOCKS FOR DAYS!!" (The argument had to be about laundry.) My friend Amber was my partner, and she had some great shots. "YOU LEFT YOUR CAMIS FROM THE POOL IN YOUR BAG FOR A WEEK!!" (If only the boys could have heard us. They'd be experts by now.) The reasoning for the exercise was to realize how the honey badger needs to be a sign of forgiveness, not a wedge that you drive between you and your spouse. No blame games in the Lazoritz household.
We also did somewhat of a speed-dating thing but with some MORBID questions. For example, how do you think you will die? Another example, if at 90 you could have the mind or body of a 30-year-old, what would you choose? I will admit that it definitely made it easier to talk and it was funny to see the other spouses' reactions!
For the final exercise of the day, we broke off into groups based on how long we had been married. Then we were given topics and then told to write our top ten. This was really, really fun for us. Our group's topic was "Things We Wish We Were Told Before About the Military", which we actually grouped with "Things We Were Told But Didn't Take Seriously". It was an incredibly sarcastic list, talking about how fun it is to PCS, and incredibly nice TMO is all of the time, and how you will always have a job, and my personal favorite, "Even though your husband went to boot camp, he still won't be good at taking orders." We were cracking ourselves up writing the list. I must admit, I was a little butthurt by the group before us. They were married 2-6 years or something like that, and they had to list how you knew someone was a new military spouse. Their list seemed to ridicule us and our stupidity about being a military spouse.
Obviously we don't know much when it comes to being a military spouse because we have never been one before. (I would hope. Marriage is supposed to be forever, ladies and gents.) Being on base is like being on another planet and everyone in uniform is like an alien. We uprooted from Nebraska and came to Virginia. Nothing about this move is easy until you're able to make sense of it all, and trying to guide the military system doesn't really come with a step-by-step manual, with pictures. Which, now that I think about it, would be super helpful.
Our group went after this group, and I was nervous enough. Speaking in public is not my favorite thing to do and I had too much coffee prior. I was trying to tell a story to lighten the mood and some cow (nice lady) piped up and said, "Thirty seconds" in a really b*tchy (sassy) voice. I blew it off with a nervous puff but later thought to myself a number of things. The nasty side of me said, "At least I remember how to do a sit-up", and the side of me that's trying to be a nice person said, "Maybe she just gets sarcastic when she is nervous, like me, except she is sarcastic toward people and not in the way she says things." Regardless, I don't think I'll be running into her again soon. (And even if I do, it won't be hard to run away.)
There was a group of spouses who had been married for 15+ years. They had the list of how you know you are a seasoned military spouse. One of their items was "You look forward to deployments". The TBS girls and I looked at each other in horror like, "Those MONSTERS?!? WHY would they ever say that?!" I'm sure they had their reasons but I hate to see my husband leave for even a few hours. Maybe that's a newlywed thing?
Garlic Lime Shrimp on the menu tonight! I'm 1.25 beers in and hubby sent a text saying he was "enroute". I look forward to some serious cuddling time. I hope he likes the "Kiss Like You Deploy Tomorrow" t-shirt they gave us today. :)
My question is, how will everyone see your sexy reflective belt under your sweater?
Oh, the love/hate relationship of the reflective belt. This is a mandatory thing when you run on base. Day/night, summer/winter, whatever. Get that darn thing on. Thankfully, they now offer FOUR different colors you may choose to style yourself with: neon green, construction zone orange, Marine Corps gold and scarlet, or PINK. I thought pink suited me just fine so now when I run, I wear a pink, reflective belt. It would not be such a pain except the darn things ride up and down your back and pull your shirt up and pull your pants down and I can’t stand the feeling of something flopping around while I’m running. (I could never be a boy. I’d go nuts, if you catch my drift.) BUT, it’s worth it because the trails on base WILL kick your butt, you feel safer running there and not on Jefferson Davis Highway, and because it’s GORGEOUS. There are tons of squirrels running around and I saw a few deer the other day—definitely worth it. Plus, getting acclimated to base and where everything is on it is priceless. I would advise any new wife to take the time to just drive all over base and get a feel for where everything is. One of our first few days here, I drove from one end to the other and made myself drive through all of the gates just so I knew where I was going. We are really lucky; our house is relatively close to all three gates. The longest drive is the one to TBS, which is about 10-15 minutes depending on traffic.
Chris is such a stinker. He gave me a goodbye kiss this morning, got a couple of steps out of the house, turned around to smile and yelled, “I forgot the garbage again!”
Rotten…
He forgot last week, too. I yelled back, “I’m going to make you do something else that sucks!” Not sure what that is yet. I have to try to remember what he hates doing but also won’t ruin. I would pick laundry but he hasn't quite picked up the difference between regular clothes and delicates…we’re working on it.
I have to laugh because every week I plan out a menu and fully plan on sticking to it, but then I don’t bring my grocery list to the store and so I end up missing a key ingredient for dinner. Last night I was supposed to make Pasta and Veggies in Garlic Sauce. When I started to get out my ingredients I realized I didn’t have any garbanzo beans; naturally I started banging my forehead on the wall (not literally ;)). I ended up throwing open another cookbook and made Spinach Parmesan Linguine because I actually had the ingredients. IT WAS DELICIOUS. Chris and I were raving about it. It absolutely hit the spot. So, sometimes you forget garbanzo beans for a reason, I guess!
I got a part, part-time job yesterday, if you will. Essentially what I do is measure height/weight, waist circumferences, cholesterol and glucose checks, and blood pressure screenings at health-fair type things whenever they are in the area and I am able to attend them. It’s cool because you only have to take the jobs you feel comfortable doing and that are within reasonable distance. They pay mileage, some meals, and a decent amount per hour. It’s something, and I will take it. No complaints here. So that’s fabulous news and I am thankful because I feel like the power of prayer was definitely working behind the scenes there.
Yesterday the most miraculous of miracles occurred--WE GOT PAID. Chris sent a text at 0530 to let me know that we had been paid. This was fabulous news meaning that I would indeed be able to fulfill my wish list at the commissary. (Yes, I have a wishlist. Don't judge.) I was even in such a good mood that I decided I would SKIP the self check-out and utilize and tip a bagger. It is absolutely absurd how much you can get at the commissary for $150. ($152, with bagger tip.)
This morning we had the opportunity to attend Military.com's Spouse Experience from the spouses at SpouseBuzz. I was SO glad that my landlord sent me the information and told me to go. Ten of us TBS spouses were there. It was nice to sit with familiar faces. I didn't realize that wives from other branches would be there, but it was really cool to hear their different perspectives.
Jacey Eckhart started it off. She was hilarious and really loosened us up as an audience. She has a fabulous perspective. When she speaks she seems so young and vibrant and vivacious and I love to listen to her. She's captivating. If I decide after 20 years that I want to speak at things like this, I hope I'm as inspiring as she was. She is the type of spouse who makes me think, "I want to be in her shoes. I want to be that amazing wife who feels like a teenager in love but is smart enough to know why it's different."
After that, we did an exercise called "The Honey Badger of Love". It was hilarious. I was practically rolling on the ground. We started off with the voice-over Honey Badger video from YouTube. I was surprised that there were some people that hadn't seen it. I also realize that I have spent a lot of time on YouTube. The exercise matched us up with partners. We handed our honey badgers back and forth as we yelled things at each other like, "YOU LEFT YOUR DIRTY BOOT SOCKS INSIDE OF OTHER DIRTY BOOT SOCKS FOR DAYS!!" (The argument had to be about laundry.) My friend Amber was my partner, and she had some great shots. "YOU LEFT YOUR CAMIS FROM THE POOL IN YOUR BAG FOR A WEEK!!" (If only the boys could have heard us. They'd be experts by now.) The reasoning for the exercise was to realize how the honey badger needs to be a sign of forgiveness, not a wedge that you drive between you and your spouse. No blame games in the Lazoritz household.
We also did somewhat of a speed-dating thing but with some MORBID questions. For example, how do you think you will die? Another example, if at 90 you could have the mind or body of a 30-year-old, what would you choose? I will admit that it definitely made it easier to talk and it was funny to see the other spouses' reactions!
For the final exercise of the day, we broke off into groups based on how long we had been married. Then we were given topics and then told to write our top ten. This was really, really fun for us. Our group's topic was "Things We Wish We Were Told Before About the Military", which we actually grouped with "Things We Were Told But Didn't Take Seriously". It was an incredibly sarcastic list, talking about how fun it is to PCS, and incredibly nice TMO is all of the time, and how you will always have a job, and my personal favorite, "Even though your husband went to boot camp, he still won't be good at taking orders." We were cracking ourselves up writing the list. I must admit, I was a little butthurt by the group before us. They were married 2-6 years or something like that, and they had to list how you knew someone was a new military spouse. Their list seemed to ridicule us and our stupidity about being a military spouse.
Obviously we don't know much when it comes to being a military spouse because we have never been one before. (I would hope. Marriage is supposed to be forever, ladies and gents.) Being on base is like being on another planet and everyone in uniform is like an alien. We uprooted from Nebraska and came to Virginia. Nothing about this move is easy until you're able to make sense of it all, and trying to guide the military system doesn't really come with a step-by-step manual, with pictures. Which, now that I think about it, would be super helpful.
Our group went after this group, and I was nervous enough. Speaking in public is not my favorite thing to do and I had too much coffee prior. I was trying to tell a story to lighten the mood and some cow (nice lady) piped up and said, "Thirty seconds" in a really b*tchy (sassy) voice. I blew it off with a nervous puff but later thought to myself a number of things. The nasty side of me said, "At least I remember how to do a sit-up", and the side of me that's trying to be a nice person said, "Maybe she just gets sarcastic when she is nervous, like me, except she is sarcastic toward people and not in the way she says things." Regardless, I don't think I'll be running into her again soon. (And even if I do, it won't be hard to run away.)
There was a group of spouses who had been married for 15+ years. They had the list of how you know you are a seasoned military spouse. One of their items was "You look forward to deployments". The TBS girls and I looked at each other in horror like, "Those MONSTERS?!? WHY would they ever say that?!" I'm sure they had their reasons but I hate to see my husband leave for even a few hours. Maybe that's a newlywed thing?
Garlic Lime Shrimp on the menu tonight! I'm 1.25 beers in and hubby sent a text saying he was "enroute". I look forward to some serious cuddling time. I hope he likes the "Kiss Like You Deploy Tomorrow" t-shirt they gave us today. :)
Monday, May 6, 2013
Time Flies When Your Husband is Home
The weekends are great. Friday evening through Sunday evening have definitely become my favorite times here. Chris gets off a little bit early and walks through the door wearing his uniform and a big smile. I admit I always drop whatever I'm doing and go straight to him, not that this isn't a daily occurrence. I have noticed that I always position myself so I can look out a window. God forbid I'd miss his Jeep pull into the neighborhood or into a parking spot out front. I catch myself looking out the window at all times of the day, no matter how random or hopeful it may be.
That's why when Friday rolls around, I relax a bit. I know that he is going to be somewhat busy on the weekend, but he will spend most of it reading, napping, or studying. This means that I can follow him around like a puppy dog and ask him things like, "Where are you going?" and "What are you doing?" and it's not weird--it's just my way of setting up my day so that I can be in the same room as he is. This was a bit unfortunate for him this weekend because my friend Amber let me borrow "Confessions of a Military Wife" by Mollie Gross. This woman is seriously hilarious. She says all of the things that I think but could never say, and then some. Poor Chris was stuck in an oversized chair with me most of Sunday trying to read "Colder Than Hell" while I sat next to him and giggled every five seconds about something in my book. It just doesn't seem fair.
Friday night I didn't want to spend a second cooking. My last check came from my old job and I asked him if it would be okay to order pizza. You can tell we haven't been eating out much because we had all of the pizza gone by breakfast the next morning.
Saturday we spent most of the day getting the house ready because we were having four couples over that night for a backyard BBQ. It was BYOB/BYOM (meat) because since the majority of us haven't been paid yet, it's not really within the budget to go all out and feed everyone. I ended up making Tequila Lime Chicken for Chris and I, but made potato salad, pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting, and pineapple cookies for everyone else. The pineapple cookies were about to be the end of me earlier in the day; the directions were written horrendously and made no sense. They were supposed to end up in somewhat of a "star" shape and I just ended up making pockets and filling them with the pineapple filling. I was beyond irritated with them. They actually turned out to be quite delicious! I am glad we were able to provide things like hamburger buns, plates, napkins, silverware, ketchup, mustard, etc. to everyone so we could enjoy dinner without much effort. I was very proud of Chris; he doesn't have a lot of experience grilling but he did grill hamburgers, chicken breasts, chicken drumsticks, and steaks with ease. We laughed later though because he plowed through a few beers and reminded himself of a scene from Seinfeld.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rU5mpwJ6GU
I really have to delve into couponing soon because it seems like every trip I take to the grocery store is at least fifty dollars. Luckily the commissary is cheap, but the produce isn't great. That's why you head out to Shopper's which is a great store with great produce. The prices are reasonable as well, and they have a tiny selection of craft beers. I had much more fun at Wegman's. :) I did find "fish sauce" in Shopper's...something I was worried I would never find because I have never used it before! I did stumble upon it though, so we're set! Also, it's taken me almost a month to find Dill Pickle chips. I've been craving them and was lucky enough to find them today!
We are supposed to get rain all week. I hope not because I am trying to run a little more and a little further, but I did run with Sarah this morning. We ran about three miles with some serious hills on the trails. The names of the trails crack me up. You can tell that they were probably named by Marines. For example. "Old Butts" trail leads to "Woodpecker" trail. That's where we ran today. I led my poor running partner through the brambles at one point because I took a wrong turn, but she's a great sport.
It's nurses' week! Looking at all the funny Facebook posts makes me realize more and more how I wish I could find a good nursing job within reasonable distance. I will say that there are "leads", but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. I am trying so hard not to get disappointed about the job hunt, but it's hard when you have this amazing degree that lets you do amazing things and you aren't using it...it's frustrating.
BUT, here are some memes to keep my spirit up. The second one is how I feel when I look for jobs and the first is how I felt in school. (Plus Ryan Gosling is a babe.) The third is actually why you completely avoid the commissary on the 1st and the 15th; payday is when someone takes 2-3 carts, completely fills them, and drags them around the commissary while you are just looking for bacon.
Here is a meme I made specifically for today. http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/3u9tm4/
I have to mention this because it caught me completely off guard...the other day I was in Fredericksburg and an old lady came up to me, grabbed a little of my red hair, and said to me, "Irish eyes" and kept walking. I took it as a compliment, but it took me a second to take that in! Our adorable neighbor brought us "muddy buddies" last night, which is apparently what "puppy chow" is called around here. I notice tiny differences every day that always make me chuckle.
I learned at the grocery store today that Vibrams FiveFingers are quite an oddity in Virginia, as numerous people look at them and ask me why I have "glove shoes". I simply explain it's like wearing slippers all of the time and they laugh and walk away. I also realized that yoga pants must be made of magic fairy dust because when I wear them guys in grocery stores go out of their way to let me pass them or help me find something. I will just say that it is helpful and leave it at that.
Alright, now I am off to work on banana bread. I might have to plug in my freezer downstairs because I feel like the six or so loaves I am about to make probably will not fit in the freezer upstairs!
On the menu this week:
Pasta and Veggies in Garlic Sauce (Busy Family Cookbook page 168)
Garlic Lime Shrimp (Busy Family Cookbook page 146)
Swiss Mushroom Chicken (Busy Family Cookbook page 105)
Chicken Croissants (Busy Family Cookbook page 88)
Coconut Shrimp (Hooters Cookbook page 93)
and finally
Grilled Chicken Satay (Hooters Cookbook page 65)
That's why when Friday rolls around, I relax a bit. I know that he is going to be somewhat busy on the weekend, but he will spend most of it reading, napping, or studying. This means that I can follow him around like a puppy dog and ask him things like, "Where are you going?" and "What are you doing?" and it's not weird--it's just my way of setting up my day so that I can be in the same room as he is. This was a bit unfortunate for him this weekend because my friend Amber let me borrow "Confessions of a Military Wife" by Mollie Gross. This woman is seriously hilarious. She says all of the things that I think but could never say, and then some. Poor Chris was stuck in an oversized chair with me most of Sunday trying to read "Colder Than Hell" while I sat next to him and giggled every five seconds about something in my book. It just doesn't seem fair.
Friday night I didn't want to spend a second cooking. My last check came from my old job and I asked him if it would be okay to order pizza. You can tell we haven't been eating out much because we had all of the pizza gone by breakfast the next morning.
Saturday we spent most of the day getting the house ready because we were having four couples over that night for a backyard BBQ. It was BYOB/BYOM (meat) because since the majority of us haven't been paid yet, it's not really within the budget to go all out and feed everyone. I ended up making Tequila Lime Chicken for Chris and I, but made potato salad, pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting, and pineapple cookies for everyone else. The pineapple cookies were about to be the end of me earlier in the day; the directions were written horrendously and made no sense. They were supposed to end up in somewhat of a "star" shape and I just ended up making pockets and filling them with the pineapple filling. I was beyond irritated with them. They actually turned out to be quite delicious! I am glad we were able to provide things like hamburger buns, plates, napkins, silverware, ketchup, mustard, etc. to everyone so we could enjoy dinner without much effort. I was very proud of Chris; he doesn't have a lot of experience grilling but he did grill hamburgers, chicken breasts, chicken drumsticks, and steaks with ease. We laughed later though because he plowed through a few beers and reminded himself of a scene from Seinfeld.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rU5mpwJ6GU
I really have to delve into couponing soon because it seems like every trip I take to the grocery store is at least fifty dollars. Luckily the commissary is cheap, but the produce isn't great. That's why you head out to Shopper's which is a great store with great produce. The prices are reasonable as well, and they have a tiny selection of craft beers. I had much more fun at Wegman's. :) I did find "fish sauce" in Shopper's...something I was worried I would never find because I have never used it before! I did stumble upon it though, so we're set! Also, it's taken me almost a month to find Dill Pickle chips. I've been craving them and was lucky enough to find them today!
We are supposed to get rain all week. I hope not because I am trying to run a little more and a little further, but I did run with Sarah this morning. We ran about three miles with some serious hills on the trails. The names of the trails crack me up. You can tell that they were probably named by Marines. For example. "Old Butts" trail leads to "Woodpecker" trail. That's where we ran today. I led my poor running partner through the brambles at one point because I took a wrong turn, but she's a great sport.
It's nurses' week! Looking at all the funny Facebook posts makes me realize more and more how I wish I could find a good nursing job within reasonable distance. I will say that there are "leads", but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. I am trying so hard not to get disappointed about the job hunt, but it's hard when you have this amazing degree that lets you do amazing things and you aren't using it...it's frustrating.
BUT, here are some memes to keep my spirit up. The second one is how I feel when I look for jobs and the first is how I felt in school. (Plus Ryan Gosling is a babe.) The third is actually why you completely avoid the commissary on the 1st and the 15th; payday is when someone takes 2-3 carts, completely fills them, and drags them around the commissary while you are just looking for bacon.
I have to mention this because it caught me completely off guard...the other day I was in Fredericksburg and an old lady came up to me, grabbed a little of my red hair, and said to me, "Irish eyes" and kept walking. I took it as a compliment, but it took me a second to take that in! Our adorable neighbor brought us "muddy buddies" last night, which is apparently what "puppy chow" is called around here. I notice tiny differences every day that always make me chuckle.
I learned at the grocery store today that Vibrams FiveFingers are quite an oddity in Virginia, as numerous people look at them and ask me why I have "glove shoes". I simply explain it's like wearing slippers all of the time and they laugh and walk away. I also realized that yoga pants must be made of magic fairy dust because when I wear them guys in grocery stores go out of their way to let me pass them or help me find something. I will just say that it is helpful and leave it at that.
Alright, now I am off to work on banana bread. I might have to plug in my freezer downstairs because I feel like the six or so loaves I am about to make probably will not fit in the freezer upstairs!
On the menu this week:
Pasta and Veggies in Garlic Sauce (Busy Family Cookbook page 168)
Garlic Lime Shrimp (Busy Family Cookbook page 146)
Swiss Mushroom Chicken (Busy Family Cookbook page 105)
Chicken Croissants (Busy Family Cookbook page 88)
Coconut Shrimp (Hooters Cookbook page 93)
and finally
Grilled Chicken Satay (Hooters Cookbook page 65)
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Thursday
This one might be short because I have a headache and a lot to do but here goes! This morning was actually on the chilly side. Chris mentioned, "Why is it always cold when we have to PT?" He's right; it's been chilly every morning he's had to. I went running with Sarah on base around 0900. We had to buy some sexy reflector belts to wear around our waist while we do so. We splurged for the pink ones. :) We ended up running over five miles, which is crazy considering I've hardly run lately. We ran at about a 10:00 minute pace and talked so much it didn't feel like we went all that far! We have a lot in common and she will be in Pensacola for Flight School as well, so it's nice to get to know her now because I am sure we will know each other for a very long time!
After that I went home to shower and get ready for lunch at noon with a lot of the spouses at El Gran Charro. The food was pretty good; I'd eat there again. What's really nice is the company. We swapped stories and laughed and had a great time. The majority of us stayed for three hours. It's funny how much I feel like we are all old friends already.
After that I had to run to Wal-Mart (oh, joy) for some things. My kitchen chairs make my butt hurt and since I spend a large chunk of my time sitting in them, I decided to get some chair cushions. I also bought some ingredients for cookies I plan on making tomorrow.
After two days of rain and one day of sun, I just looked out at my garden and realized the size of all of the plants has almost doubled. It is absolutely unbelievable how quickly things grow. I can't wait to see if I end up with a large crop at the end of the year.
I'm going running again tomorrow, and then the spouses are meeting up for FroYo in the afternoon. I'm excited to spend quality time with everyone again! I can't believe it is already Thursday. It's crazy how quickly the time goes when you're out having fun and making a home.
I can't wait to have Chris home all weekend. :)
After that I went home to shower and get ready for lunch at noon with a lot of the spouses at El Gran Charro. The food was pretty good; I'd eat there again. What's really nice is the company. We swapped stories and laughed and had a great time. The majority of us stayed for three hours. It's funny how much I feel like we are all old friends already.
After that I had to run to Wal-Mart (oh, joy) for some things. My kitchen chairs make my butt hurt and since I spend a large chunk of my time sitting in them, I decided to get some chair cushions. I also bought some ingredients for cookies I plan on making tomorrow.
After two days of rain and one day of sun, I just looked out at my garden and realized the size of all of the plants has almost doubled. It is absolutely unbelievable how quickly things grow. I can't wait to see if I end up with a large crop at the end of the year.
I'm going running again tomorrow, and then the spouses are meeting up for FroYo in the afternoon. I'm excited to spend quality time with everyone again! I can't believe it is already Thursday. It's crazy how quickly the time goes when you're out having fun and making a home.
I can't wait to have Chris home all weekend. :)
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
The Boxes Are Gone!!
It has been a great morning so far! Chris had to do some paperwork so he got to come home for about half an hour. I don't know that I would call that "quality time" since we were fixing one of his papers but I will take it! Chris forgot to mention last night that he needed to fast because they were doing medical this morning and blood work, so the french toast I made at 0400 was no good. It was no good when he came home at 0800 either because he still hadn't had his blood drawn. I suppose that is alright, though, because now he can have it tomorrow!
The movers came this morning to get boxes. It was glorious. I was so excited that I made about 30 trips up and down the stairs to bring all the boxes right next to the front door for them. Unfortunately--they went through all of the boxes and I had forgotten about some broken glass in one of them. Whoops, I got the stink eye. Oh well, the boxes are gone and I am a happy camper! I had been putting off scouring the house because what was the sense of that knowing full well that all of it would probably be brought back in when they came anyway. I think Chris will be very happy to come home to the cookies and bars I plan to make today, as well as a house the cleanest it's been since we got here!
Chris made me a POA this week, so I can go to DEERS myself if need be as well as work with TMO (which of course I can't wait to do because TMO is usually full of smiling angels). The part of our piano that holds up the music so you can read it snapped on the way here from Nebraska, so we are hoping to get that fully covered. I can't wait until twenty years down the road when I am an insane Marine wife pro so I can see girls like me who look hopeless and lost and take them under my wing and show them how to make TMO eat cookies out of my hand. Okay, truthfully, I haven't worked with TMO here at Quantico yet, I just know that the TMO at Offutt was NOT a happy place until we had EXACTLY what they wanted. We printed Chris' orders off about five times before they were "not smudged" and "dark enough to read". Faxes and scans are great until they are your orders and they are "too faint to read". REGARDLESS, we made it here and that was a majority of the battle.
The spouses are getting together on Thursday for Mexican food and I look forward to that as I haven't been out much. My new friend Sarah will be running with me that morning, meaning we can eat whatever we want later with less feelings of guilt! It is so nice to get out of the house and hang out with people. I, unfortunately, have a huge problem with the fact that Chris is the only one working for money while I feel like I sit on my butt at home eating bon bons. (Truthfully I don't eat bon bons but I do spend a lot of my time baking sweets. And of course, taste-testing.)
My new friend Nancy from across the street came over last night. I didn't think Chris would be home until 2100 and her husband wouldn't either, so she came over and we had a couple of drinks. She is from Panama so she brought me a bottle of Seco Herrerano, which you treat like vodka (a 100-proof vodka). I'm excited to try it but will also make sure there is nothing important going on the next day for Chris or I, because she did mention it can steal your memory as well. SO, me, not being a heavy drinker, should probably take it easy with that one.
http://www.varelahermanos.com/en/productos/seco_herrerano.html
The dogs are outside today. I forced them to stay out there because they have been inside with me straight for the past two days. I think they can handle a little outside time. I think I might head out there for a while, too. Maybe work on my pastey-whiteness and flip through some cookbooks for ideas for the next few weeks! I should be a 4-star chef in no time!
Also, you know you're a Marine wife when your iPhone autocorrects "OCD" to "OCS".
The movers came this morning to get boxes. It was glorious. I was so excited that I made about 30 trips up and down the stairs to bring all the boxes right next to the front door for them. Unfortunately--they went through all of the boxes and I had forgotten about some broken glass in one of them. Whoops, I got the stink eye. Oh well, the boxes are gone and I am a happy camper! I had been putting off scouring the house because what was the sense of that knowing full well that all of it would probably be brought back in when they came anyway. I think Chris will be very happy to come home to the cookies and bars I plan to make today, as well as a house the cleanest it's been since we got here!
Chris made me a POA this week, so I can go to DEERS myself if need be as well as work with TMO (which of course I can't wait to do because TMO is usually full of smiling angels). The part of our piano that holds up the music so you can read it snapped on the way here from Nebraska, so we are hoping to get that fully covered. I can't wait until twenty years down the road when I am an insane Marine wife pro so I can see girls like me who look hopeless and lost and take them under my wing and show them how to make TMO eat cookies out of my hand. Okay, truthfully, I haven't worked with TMO here at Quantico yet, I just know that the TMO at Offutt was NOT a happy place until we had EXACTLY what they wanted. We printed Chris' orders off about five times before they were "not smudged" and "dark enough to read". Faxes and scans are great until they are your orders and they are "too faint to read". REGARDLESS, we made it here and that was a majority of the battle.
The spouses are getting together on Thursday for Mexican food and I look forward to that as I haven't been out much. My new friend Sarah will be running with me that morning, meaning we can eat whatever we want later with less feelings of guilt! It is so nice to get out of the house and hang out with people. I, unfortunately, have a huge problem with the fact that Chris is the only one working for money while I feel like I sit on my butt at home eating bon bons. (Truthfully I don't eat bon bons but I do spend a lot of my time baking sweets. And of course, taste-testing.)
My new friend Nancy from across the street came over last night. I didn't think Chris would be home until 2100 and her husband wouldn't either, so she came over and we had a couple of drinks. She is from Panama so she brought me a bottle of Seco Herrerano, which you treat like vodka (a 100-proof vodka). I'm excited to try it but will also make sure there is nothing important going on the next day for Chris or I, because she did mention it can steal your memory as well. SO, me, not being a heavy drinker, should probably take it easy with that one.
http://www.varelahermanos.com/en/productos/seco_herrerano.html
The dogs are outside today. I forced them to stay out there because they have been inside with me straight for the past two days. I think they can handle a little outside time. I think I might head out there for a while, too. Maybe work on my pastey-whiteness and flip through some cookbooks for ideas for the next few weeks! I should be a 4-star chef in no time!
Also, you know you're a Marine wife when your iPhone autocorrects "OCD" to "OCS".
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