New Job and Other Exciting News

I have wonderful news to begin this post. I have been hired as an admissions registered nurse for a local hospice. For those of you that somewhat know me, you know that working with a hospice has always been a dream of mine. I took an original interest back in college when I decided to get a minor in gerontology, which eventually spun off to me taking multiple classes about hospice. I think that everyone has a subject that they are profoundly interested in; they just can't learn enough about it to be satisfied. Hospice is my subject. I love to learn about it, to be part of it, to be an advocate for it.
I was surprised to find that I was to be interviewed by four people rather than one as I had been in my last job. Once I overcame the original shock, it was actually kind of enjoyable. My first question was, "Tell us about yourself". I studied and practiced so much for this interview-more than I ever had before. It was obvious that I truly wanted this job like no other, and I was not about to let a poor interview ruin my chances. In my studying, I knew that this question was actually asking, "Tell us about yourself professionally, and why hospice is important to you." It was never hard for me to talk about hospice, but it can be truly emotional.

My initial experience with hospice was incredibly intimidating. As part of my studies, I was to complete volunteer hours with a local agency, and I was lucky enough to meet a volunteer coordinator that was willing to get to know me and my schedule, and pile on as many patients as she could. It wasn't too long before I was seeing upwards of eight patients a week, in between full-time classes and school. My first two patients were not too interested in visiting with me; the first was a veteran who had that glazed-over, lonely look about him that made me feel like everyone he needed in his life had already passed on, and he was just waiting to do so.

I was right about him; just a few days after meeting him, I went to visit again. He was in the active phase of dying. I think he was trying to talk to me, but he kept singing, "Tomatoooooooooes, tomatoes" in an opera-style voice, reaching and looking up to the ceiling. I admit I did not handle this well. I was really uncomfortable with how he was acting and I did not know anything about him. I didn't know if it was normal or if he was just losing it-looking back now I realize that I reacted very poorly and should have stayed longer with him. Even if I had just sat quietly I think it would have been better to have someone on this side supporting him. When I heard that he had passed that evening, I was very disappointed in myself, and promised I would never fail another patient again.

The other patient I met that first day wanted absolutely nothing to do with us. He was convinced the staff was stealing from him, he had had a stroke and it was incredibly hard to understand him, and the chart they had given him with letters, numbers, and common words only helped so much because it took a long time for him to spell out what he wanted to stay. I remembered being particularly afraid of him because he was throwing things just before we entered the room. He didn't want the volunteer coordinator and I to sit with him; we had nothing to offer him.

I told the volunteer coordinator aloud, "He just wants us to leave him the hell alone." And he started laughing. It was like his entire demeanor changed in just a moment; my volunteer coordinator asked if it would be alright if I came back to visit him, and he pondered for a second before nodding, "yes". So I continued to visit this patient each week, 1-2 times per week for ten months before I began nursing school. He would often times meet me down in the lobby when he knew I was coming to visit. He would pull up a chair for me in his room. My visits made a huge difference, because the man who would throw things at a nurse who attempted to visit him, suddenly lit up when the nurse would walk in the room and ask about me. I loved to visit him; he had so many stories to share with me and we would get to laughing about the woman across the hall that drove him absolutely mad.

It was easy to tell the ladies interviewing me about him. I got emotional when I told them how he left the world; how I went home for Christmas and received a call from the volunteer coordinator stating that he had been actively dying for two days, and the staff was convinced that he was "holding on" for me. I got off the phone and told my mom what I was told, and she said, "Alright, honey. I'll see you later." She knew I had to drive back to be with him.

When I got to his room, there was another volunteer in his room playing guitar. I knew this patient well enough to know that the guitar was probably driving him crazy, so I told the volunteer I could take things from there. He said, "Oh, I will just stay and play for a while."

Inside my head, I was irritated, but I knew this volunteer didn't know my relationship with the patient, so I waited another half an hour before telling him again, "You can go." He packed up his guitar and left. I finally had time to tell my patient everything I wanted him to hear. I put one hand on his shoulder and the other on his hand and I told him, "I will never forget you. We love you here. We won't forget you. Everything is going to be okay."

As I told the interviewers how he passed almost immediately after I uttered those words, it was impossible not to tear up. I don't think that many people cry in their interview and still get hired, but I did. One of the ladies told me that the compassion someone feels for hospice isn't something that can be taught. Most of it has to come from inside, and she is right. I went into nursing because I wanted a job that I would be happy to be paid to do, but I never thought I would love something as much as I love hospice. People always tell me, "I can't believe you want to do that. I would never work with dead/dying people. I have heard that job sucks. That job is really hard." And while for most it might be so, it's not that way for me. I think that I live so that I can improve the death of others.

I know that sounds morbid, but it's really not. We are all going to die anyway, so why not have a good death? Hospice gives you the chance to reconcile your differences, ask for forgiveness, define yourself, have dignity, make the most of your remaining time with family and friends, and settle your affairs. Hospice is a wonderful blessing. I had to laugh when one of Chris' friends told me, "Congrats on your death house job." There are so many terrible stigmas about hospice, like this one-where hospice is a place you go to die. That hospice speeds up death. That hospice means giving up.

It's sad because so many people miss out on hospice care, which is offered to everyone and cannot be denied to someone just because they can't pay for it.

Hospice can be offered anywhere-your home, nursing home, etc. Hospice never speeds up death, you just move to non-curative medicines and focus on pain and symptom control. Hospice doesn't mean you give up; at any time if a patient decides to utilize curative medicine they can be returned to those treatments and removed from hospice.

I thought I would be terrified to be around a dead body, especially by myself. It isn't like that. I didn't feel my patient die, but I was certain he was gone. One of the most surreal experiences of my life was the time I did feel another patient die. A little old lady in her bed, the death rattle escaped her. I watched her pulse die in her frail little arm. I was sitting in a chair at the foot of her bed, and I knew she was gone. How? Because someone reached down and gently picked up my soul, cradled it, and put it back in my body. It's impossible to really describe it better than that until you have felt it yourself. I wouldn't trade the way that felt for anything in the world. I imagine that is how a baby's soul comes into the world, or leaves it.

The chaplain was in the room with me, too. I was afraid to ask her about this unbelievable moment of my life, but I do remember asking her, "Do you cry every time?" And she said, "I still do." I asked her this when we were sitting in the hallway, giving a private moment to the lady's husband and her body. They both had severe dementia, and on any other given day, he had no idea who she was. But that day he held and kissed her hand and cried, his face told us everything we needed to know. Years of marriage, children, tons of love, before dementia stripped that away came rushing back. I hope that in some way he felt her soul as it slipped away, the way it touched me.

Chris and I have discussed recently how well our lives are going. With this job comes new responsibility, but a huge part of me will be fulfilled. Chris is doing well in his training, and soon he will be paid to fly planes. The dream that little kid had after seeing "Independence Day" is finally being fulfilled. We have made some really good friends here already and one of  my best ones lives right across the street. We have two decent vehicles that run pretty well, a warm home, a stocked fridge and pantry, and two dogs we love with all of our hearts, no matter how much they bark or smell. And we have each other, which is the greatest blessing of all.

Since our lives have been going so well, I have felt compelled to go back to church. I think I read somewhere that it takes 200 times to make something a habit, and so if I go back to church for 198 weeks I will have made a habit. I never really got much from church. I prefer a quieter setting or more one-on-one time, but I think that if I can pull even one thing from the gospel it made the trip worth it. This week I was reminded to be a light in the world. I take this to mean be a positive person, be uplifting, be optimistic, be caring, be passionate. It's a really good lesson to learn a week before I begin my new job that delves so deeply into people's lives. What spurred me most to go back to church was an overwhelming response to my plea from friends and family to pray for me to get the job. I know a lot of people must have prayed to help me get that job; it worked.

In the meantime, I have done a lot around the house to get ready for the big day. I have scoured a major portion of the house, made excel spreadsheets in order to get a good idea of what we have in the pantry, fridge and freezer, and will now be doing a grocery list on an excel spreadsheet. I clipped coupons from last week's paper, and finally, made freezer meals for Christopher.

Freezer meals are actually a ton of fun to make. Typically when I make dinner, I thoroughly destroy the kitchen. Looking at the counters now, they are covered in flour and crumbs and bits of quinoa from the last couple of meals I have made. I think people are often deterred from cooking at home because it makes such a mess of your countertops, floors, and to top it off there are dishes to do. It is rather annoying. This is what makes freezer meals so fabulous. Most of them go in the crockpot. If you use a crockpot liner, there is essentially no mess. Even if you don't, you're just cleaning up the crockpot and maybe rinsing out the gallon freezer bag to throw in the recycling. (Go environment!) You may completely destroy your kitchen, but for multiple meals you barely have anything to clean up. It's magical.

I think the hardest part of all of it is trying to figure out how to write the instructions on the bag in a way that a kindergartener/husband can understand. I actually made Chris practice the other night because I did not feel like making dinner and he wanted Runzas, so we made a Runza casserole. I observed as he took dumped the hamburger, cabbage, and onion, from the freezer bag into the pan, spread crescent rolls over it, and then put them in the oven. He pouted the entire time, but he will just have to get used to it.

I'll be working forty hours a week at this job, salary, and it sounds like there will be nights that I can just go work from home on my computer, which is lovely. In the interview "couch" and "jammies" were discussed. Like most people, I love those things.

So I would like to share a couple of the freezer meal recipes just because they were so ridiculously easy.

Crockpot BBQ Cranberry Chicken
2 lb. chicken breast
1/4 cup dry minced onion
1 (16 oz.) can whole cranberry sauce
1 cup BBQ sauce (Baby Ray's was suggested; I used Kraft Spicy Honey.)

Combine all ingredients in a gallon-sized freezer bag. Zip closed and place in freezer. When ready to use, thaw in fridge overnight. Empty contents into crockpot and cook on high 3-4 hours, or low 6-7 hours.

Apple BBQ Pork Tenderloin 
1-2 lb. pork tenderloin
1 cup chunky applesauce
1 cup BBQ sauce (again, Kraft Spicy Honey)
2 tbsp. minced dried onion

Place pork tenderloin in a gallon-sized freezer bag. In a medium bowl, mix together applesauce, BBQ, and onion, and add to bag. Zip closed and freeze. When ready to use, thaw in fridge overnight. Empty contents into crockpot and cook on low 6-8 hours or 3-4 hours high. Serve over rice or pasta.

Crockpot Honey Garlic Chicken 2-4 chicken breasts
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp. dried basil
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
1/3 cup honey
2 cups chopped carrots

Place all ingredients in a gallon-sized ziploc bag. Seal bag and place in freezer.
Thaw overnight in fridge and cook on high 3-4 hours, low 6-7.

See how easy? It works out really well if you make a day out of it. So I did this on a Friday; I went to the grocery store in the morning, and that way the meat is not frozen and it easy to work with. Again, you mess up your kitchen in one giant way. I cranked out 14 freezer meals in five hours, which I thought was absolutely fabulous. Chris was pretty impressed, too, when he opened the freezer to see what was inside.

14 Freezer Meals. And ice cream. 

He is also impressed by my coupon holder, too. Let's just see if I can use all of them the next time I go shopping.

My parents plan to visit us in the end of March. They are bringing both of my brothers which makes me so incredibly happy. I can't wait to see Blaise's face when he meets Sarah's daughter.

I made mom promise to bring my Mancala game when she comes so that I can have a game I will always beat Chris at. Last night we were playing Scrabble and he dug through the last few tiles and left me the "Q". He is a cheater. He cheated last time we played as well. This time, I won. Even with him cheating. :) That was our Sunday night. We played Scrabble after we cleaned toilet paper out of the tree in our front yard. Yes, we were TP'd by a bunch of hoodlums in a neighborhood where we don't know anyone. Little stinkers. All I had to say about that was, "Don't they know how expensive toilet paper is?!" Chris laughed and shook a stick in their general direction. Someone was nice enough to knock on our door and tell us about it.


Random Tidbits: 

Anyway, life is going pretty well down here in Florida, aside from the freak snowstorm we got last week that shut down the entire area. If you want to drive anywhere, you almost always have a bridge to cross, and they were all shut down. Chris got to spend a couple of days home with me, though, which was nice.

Winter Storm Leon in Florida 

Ruby's new favorite thing to do is go outside after it rains and sleep in puddles, so she will probably smell really terrible for the rest of her life. I honestly thought something had died in the laundry room until I finally realized it was just her harness hanging up on a rack. Every time I walked by I got a whiff of something incredibly terrible and she smelled about the same. She also decided to stop eating unless we soak her food in some kind of broth, or hide lunch meat under the kibble.

This means that Nalli's new favorite thing to do is wait until Ruby is done eating and then lick every single square inch of her bowl in case she missed a drop. (Nalli gets snacks throughout the day because she is constantly beside me, so don't worry, she gets enough.)

Nalli was not sure what to think of the snow and ice.

I hurt my knee a few weeks back running 11 miles, so it has been a slow go since then. My longest run was six miles and it didn't feel great, so I'm trying to do more indoor cardio while it heals. My Vibrams have seen better days so it is probably time to invest in a new pair; it might help me run better.

Chris' "Flight School Friday" was a few weeks ago. It meant that he had graduated API and was moving on to Primary. He was able to wear his flight suit to the Officer's Club on base and we went to hang out and play drinking games with his fellow classmates.

Chris and I on Flight Suit Friday

I had the pleasure of hanging out with a few girls the other night with great personalities and senses of humor. It can be hard because they went through their husbands' time at TBS together, so they are already really close. I have to find a niche where I fit in but they made me feel accepted and we had a really great time together. I look forward to spending more time with them.

I am also looking forward to the coming week as my friend Sarah who lives across the street is due on SATURDAY. Little Baby Barnacle (as she has referred to her since introducing her belly to us) is scheduled to vastly excite our lives in less than a week. I couldn't be more excited to meet her.

We will see if Baby Barnacle lessens or improves our baby fever that we tend to get sometimes.

Chris has big plans for our tax return this year. He wants to pay off the credit card and then invest in an XBOX ONE. He has been wanting one since the day they came out and while I am much less excited about it, he hardly ever spends money on himself and it is well-deserved. My salary will largely in part be paying off our tremendous school loans. You've just got to love spending money to go into debt to make money to pay off debt.

I am very happy to say that my cousin, Todd, decided to join the National Guard. He is considering switching over to the Army when he turns 18, but we will see if he changes his mind before then. He has been working really hard in order to do better on his physical fitness tests, and there has already been a lot of improvement. I keep telling him to switch over to the Marines, but you know, I'm biased. :)

I was very fortunate a few weeks ago to stumble across this website: http://noodlesandcompanyathome.blogspot.com/ I just thought I would share. I made the Penne Rosa and it was fabulous.

I finally began using Instagram and it is too much fun. Most of the photos I upload are of the dogs, but I like to share my outfits when I am proud of them. I have worked out nearly every day since before Thanksgiving and it is really starting to show. I have been eating a bit better, too. I will never be the type to eat Paleo or gluten-free but moderation and fresh ingredients worked for Julia Child and I know it will work for me.

Now if only I could kick the Mountain Dew addiction...

Excuses, excuses.

Listen, I know it's been months since I blogged. I am obviously not as dedicated as I once was, OR, I have a really good excuse. We moved for the second time in seven months. Since Chris was still in The Basic School, he wasn't around as much as I would have liked to help out. With a few choice hissy fits, Chris did help me scrub above the cupboards in the kitchen, vacuum, and dust the fans-pretty much all the areas I couldn't quite reach myself. He only grumbled a little. I had to treat him like my own mother used to treat me; I told him that if he could work hard for an hour, cleaning, he would be free to do whatever he wanted. Only once did I catch him downstairs sitting down on the recliner. It was fairly obvious because recliners tend to move when you get up from them. I really couldn't be mad, because he was doing some of the gritty work.

I am a firm believer in getting back your security deposit. Aside from my room at my parent's, which I may or may not have neglected to clean, I have scoured each place I have lived since then. Chris, however, is not used to scouring a place as he moves out, so he didn't understand most of my cleaning practices. He did not understand why he had to dust the fans, or above the kitchen cupboards...sigh. Someday he will learn. Hopefully soon because we are just going to keep moving!

It was very emotional leaving Quantico. As most of you have heard us say, we adored our landlords and our neighbors, and we made some of the BEST friends while in Quantico. Chris really connected with his fire team, I really connected with their wives, and many other wives of Charlie Company. It is both exciting and sad that we moved away from one another. It means that no matter where we go, we will probably have a place to stay or someone to visit, but it means we can't get together all the time like we did then. I spent every other day with the girls at the height of summer. Graduation had many mixed emotions, as we were very proud of the boys and excited for the next step of our Marine Corps journey, but saddened by the thought of leaving one another. Chris, I think, hid his emotions very well. He was quiet all week and directly following graduation, he just went home. We were actually leaving Quantico the next morning on our move to Florida, so I took my sweet time. I met most of the girls out front to say goodbye. We hung around, trying not to be the first one to actually say "goodbye". But eventually the others had to tend to their families; I got in an empty car, headed to an empty house aside from my husband, dogs, and necessities. I couldn't help but drive even slower than needed on base, looking around at all the places I'd been, ran, and stopped. I grabbed us some Subway sandwiches and realized that would be my last interaction with anyone on base for a long time.

The morning came all too soon. I had said my goodbyes. My sweet neighbor girl had come over the night before and we cried a little. It was just so odd leaving the house. It was still dark. I couldn't sleep, so I just got up at 3:30 and we were out the door by 4:30. The dogs were pretty nervous but settled once we got into the car with them. We had very little wiggle room for the ride but we had food, clothes, cleaning supplies, our safe. The typical baggage for a move. Since it was still so dark, Nalli took advantage and slept for the first few hours of the drive.

We had talked about the move many times and knew most of our friends were driving down through Atlanta, Georgia. Some were planning on doing the drive in one day, some two. We decided to avoid Atlanta, because we were hoping to avoid any traffic, and decided to stay in Savannah, Georgia for one night. We broke up the drive into two tolerable days, and tried fried gator tail for the first time. It was absolutely delicious, and since it was Halloween, our waitresses were dressed up as green army men. They looked hilarious. We tried some local beers, and then Chris' dad sent us a photo of Chris' mom in the 70s, with their dogs, sitting near an anchor statue. Since we didn't have the dogs with us, we weren't able to replicate it exactly, but we did have a random foreigner take our photo next to it.

I think our first shell shock was when we stopped for lunch in North Carolina. First of all, we kept forgetting that is was Halloween. We thought that North Carolina was full of goths, but it turns out they were just dressed up. Our costumes, for this Halloween, were snowbirds. Our waitress approached us in NC and was dressed as a vampire, complete with makeup and teeth. It was probably hard to hide our shock. Her accent was as ridiculously Southern as you can imagine, and I bet Chris and I stuck out like sore thumbs.

The second day of driving took a while, but we had to laugh because the roadside of Florida reminded us of Jurassic Park.

Probably all the alligators. Fences to keep out those damn alligators.

Chris has teased me multiple times about alligators because he knows I am afraid of them. He tried to tell me that they hide in sewers and come up through your toilet hole, so you always have to look before you sit down.

Locals disproved his lies and made me feel like a fool, but I will get him back.

Nalli got pretty nervous a few hours in. I'm not sure what her issue was, but I had to give her a Benadryl. I felt very guilty for doing so, because after that she slept like a rock, only waking up when we let her out to potty. I definitely took the easy way out, but it was much safer than trying to calm her down while driving.

When we move, Chris usually drives ahead of me. I let him drive ahead of me until we got within a few blocks of our new home. He was taking too long for my taste, and then he took a wrong turn. That was the last straw. I flew around him in my car and ran to the mailbox to grab the keys. We opened the door, let the dogs loose, and ran around the house, screaming as we realized that our house was huge. And beautiful. And Florida-y (which is definitely an adjective).

The ceilings are very high, we have lots of big windows, and lots of rooms. Our master bedroom has a bathroom with separate walk-in closets, a giant tub, and a shower. The kitchen is really fancy, with the oven and microwave stacked, the stovetop is on the counter, and there is tons of counterspace as well as a pantry. The laundry room is separate and had enough room for our small deep freeze. There is a formal dining room as well as an informal dining area, a study, a second bathroom, and three bedrooms we chose to turn into a second bedroom, music room, and man cave. Everyone gets their own special area, and we didn't seem to have enough furniture to fill this big place!

We had hoped that our Christmas present to each other would be a TV. We had discussed it earlier but then realized we wouldn't have a TV to watch The Walking Dead on. So, I guess we realized it was necessary to go buy a TV. And Christopher would not settle for just ANY TV, so we ended up buying a 50" Smart TV.

I admit, I do have the TV on a lot, so it was a good purchase.

Somehow we have already lived here for over a month. We haven't met our neighbors. Okay, I have met one neighbor, but it was really awkward because I just wanted to get the mail, so I had neglected to wear a bra. Oops. Our other neighbors we know are our friends from Quantico, Sarah and James Sebesta. It is pretty amazing that they live caddy-corner from us. Sarah and I always carpool and are partners in crime when it comes to spending too much money at say...Hobby Lobby. There is another spouse I just met who lives on our block as well, and she has dogs. I assume we will be fast friends.

We weren't thrown together as spouses here like we were in Quantico. There was a practically mandatory meeting for spouses in Quantico where most of us met our initial friends. We continued to hang out as a group until we sort of figured out who it was that we really connected with and spent more and more time with.

It wasn't quite like that here in Pensacola. Although I adore our Family Readiness Officer, she had some difficulty reaching out to us. Only four of us attended her meeting. It was unfortunate that she was unable to reach out to the rest of the significant others from Charlie Company, because FROs can be incredibly helpful. Our second meeting with anyone from the area was a meet and greet coffee with the hospitality chairs of the spouses of student aviators group. I really enjoyed the meet and greet-it gave me a taste of what our time here would be like. I thoroughly enjoyed the other girls' company and was pleasantly surprised to find out that the following week we were having a Christmas party.

The Christmas party was just last night. I ate too many sweets and drank enough Sangria to put me in a sugar coma but it was worth it. There were quite a few girls here, and I realized that it may be more difficult to make friends here because the groups are already slightly established, but I have talked to a few girls that I feel I could be great friends with! It's not always going to be easy to make friends no matter where we go; that is something I am just going to have to get past. Last night was a cookie exchange, which made me laugh because the majority of the girls brought no-bake something or others, but I did make Butterfinger Cookies and tried some really yummy stuff. We were able to take home copies of the recipes if we chose.

Five favorite things is a really great Christmas gift exchange idea-you bring five of your favorite things under $5, and pulled names out of a bag to hand them to. I decided to bring my homemade cowboy candy, because I love it and love to put it on cornbread, steaks, and over cream cheese at Christmas time. In return, I received gift cards, homemade marshmallows, sweet treats and hot chocolate additives, and lip gloss. All things that made me very happy! I also chose to embarrass myself by asking why all the girls from New York and Texas didn't have accents, which sparked the debate about my "accent", or lack thereof, in my opinion, and kind of loosened up the room. There are girls from New York, Texas, Wisconsin, Rhode Island, and Missouri. I was very, very happy to hear a Wisconsin accent as it reminds me greatly of my family. Time flies when you are having fun, and soon Sarah and I decided to head home because our husbands were there.

Poor Chris was already asleep. His schedule has been pretty hectic, as he has a test nearly every three to four days and the Marines are only allowed to fail two tests before they are dropped from the pilot program. Chris passed his first test with flying colors, which I thought was well-deserved because I saw how much he studied. He has another test today and another on Monday. The one on Monday is supposed to be fairly hard, and so I assume we will do what we did for his first test-I black out the answers on the practice test, make him take it, grade it, and review with flash cards. He has studied some really difficult material-physics is something I haven't touched since high school. I am not sure how he did on his test yet today, but he sure seemed to know the  material when we were studying last night.

I am going to have a very lazy day today. I will most likely doing the stretching episode of Insanity. I ran eleven miles yesterday so I am probably going to take it easy. I made my own body glide (which if you don't know what that is, don't ask), and it worked out really well. It even helped prevent the blisters I have been getting on the bottom of my feet. Unfortunately, I forgot to put it on the top of my feet so I have some gnarly blisters there. I love my Vibrams but they have more miles in them than they probably should. My newer Vibrams are just a tad large so when I wear them for running they tend to make me hurt more than they should. I am hoping to go to the library today to get a library card. We are driving home for Christmas, which is about an eighteen hour drive, so I need to get some good books to read on the way there. I have been re-reading Harry Potter but I can't convince Chris to read it to me while we are driving, so maybe if I find something else he will.

We took the opportunity to visit Chris' brother in Tampa, Florida, as it was the last weekend he would be there. He is studying to be a podiatrist and he was doing a rotation in Florida, so he stayed with Chris' aunt and uncle for about three months. It was actually the last full weekend he would be there; he headed toward home on Thanksgiving. His next step is in St. Louis so he will be living with Chris' brother-in-law and sister. It has worked out really well for him so far to live with family! We got to spend some time with Chris' Aunt Diane and Uncle Peter. They are really great people-his Aunt Diane is SO much like Chris' mom; her voice is the same and so is her laugh, the only difference is that she swears. Chris and I couldn't help but cringe when she swore because she sounds so much like Chris' mom (who never, ever, ever swears). She had us laughing pretty hard.

Even better, Chris' cousins were able to come down from New York for Thanksgiving, early, so we could meet. I have never met Casey or Ryan but have heard a lot about them. They are awesome. We had such a great time with them and Ryan's girlfriend, Jess. Ryan and Jess are beer snobs like me so naturally, we became fast friends. I hope to see them again, soon, because I really enjoyed their company.

The weekend flew by and soon we were headed home. It was good timing, though, because I feel that John was very excited to go home. He and Melissa have been married for a year and some odd months and they hardly ever get to be together. I was very happy that he could go home for Thanksgiving and now Christmas!

Speaking of Thanksgiving, this was the first Chris and I spent alone. We went the night before to our favorite pizza spot to order our pizza for the next day. We drank a couple of pints while we waited for them to make our "pig-out" pizza-a pizza with 13-toppings. We also had pumpkin pie that I made from scratch. I was very proud of myself as I haven't really made pie before! Our little dinner was delicious, cute, and perfect for just the two of us. I have been trying to practice better portion control, and it was a lot easier when there was no smorgasbord of food in front of me.

This morning my friend Sarah and I went to the local library to get library cards and check out some books for holiday traveling. It is not a huge library by far, and I am slightly picky on what I will read. I found a few, though, and am most excited to read a book about Julia and Paul Child. Since I feel as though I am just sitting around waiting to hear about my nursing license, I might as well be reading and exercising my brain a little.

I would like to get our house very clean before we leave for the holidays so we don't come back to a mess. I also need to figure out what to pack, because I have yet to worry about a coat this year. Luckily, my mother parted with a very warm peacoat for me prior to moving away from Nebraska. We have quite a lot of things to fit in the car, between weeks' worth of clothes, dogs, and gifts. Chris also wants to bring his guitar, which I sure hope he can because he gets bored so quickly.

After the library we killed some time at our most favorite store-Alyssa's Antique Depot, and then moved on to go see our friend Desiree and her one-month-old son, RJ. He is so adorable. Today was the first time I had heard him coo and he just sounds so adorable. We could have sat there for hours just watching him.

Chris is home now. We are snuggled on the couch with blankets and snuggies. He is studying and I am reading one of Betty White's books. Ruby is begging to be pet and Nalli is sulking behind the couch. Life is good.

New Life

What a crazy week it's been!

Chris came home from another weeklong FEX early Saturday morning. Unfortunately I missed his call and had to wait until I awoke at about 0500 to call him back and tell him I was coming to rescue him. The poor guy was very sick, so I made him promise to stay up so I could make him a hot toddy, and then he was welcome to go back to sleep.

I think he had a good week for the most part, aside from being sick. The spirits have been high since the boys found out what MOS they received. Chris has a copy of "web orders" that tell us we need to report in Florida by November 22nd and he actually starts class on January 22nd.

This means I have made serious plans. Scuba diving lessons, dance lessons, etc. We need to get these things in while we still have time!

I surprised myself when I chose to wait up and watch C-SPAN as the government shut down on October 1st. It was an annoying blame game that disrupts way too many plans for us military folk and dependants. Since many parts of government are shut down, many parts of the military are, too. We are supposed to move in 30 days. We may not be able to set up our move or get going because the government shutdown also shut down the Traffic Management Office. When they start back up, it could take two weeks to make appointments. We try so hard to plan out our lives, but it never goes like we think it will.

It isn't worth dwelling on it now, because we can't change things.

My night last night was amazing. I could have just sat there in bed, eating french fries, but instead my husband called me frantically, "YOU NEED TO GO GET KAT!!!" The spouses were out of town, so I am one of the closest neighbors to my very pregnant friend, Kat. And baby girl had decided it was time.

Kat was already having contractions two minutes apart when I got her in the car. Luckily, Janice was able to stay with her two-year-old. I tried hard not to speed too much on the way to the hospital. Once we got to the Emergency Department though, I walked through the door and threw up my hands, in a very cliche way yelled, "We're having a baby!"

The staff didn't seem as excited as I was, but they got her in a wheelchair and upstairs.

Kat is a serious trooper. She was having contractions about two minutes apart and exam revealed she was already at 6cm. They didn't think she would be able to get an epidural, and her husband was hours away.

With her previous child, she had gone through 29 hours of labor. It was rightfully so that she was very scared and in a lot of pain, but when the time came to push, she was ready. Soon she was dilated to 8cm and her husband said he was still two and a half hours away. I asked him if he wanted me to tell her and he said, “No. Tell her that I’m on my way and I’ll be there as soon as I can.” He did not make it for the birth of his first baby girl, but like anything in the military, you improvise. I put him on speakerphone and set the phone right next to her head, and he talked her through it, along with lots of cheering from the staff and I.

It was such a special time I will never forget. I couldn't help but tear up when on speakerphone, Tim said to Kat, "I'm right there with you, baby." I almost lost it, and then realized I don't get to do that because Kat is the one having the hard time at this moment. I tried to lighten the situation by telling Tim, "Kat shaved her legs for me!" Which he replied to with, "She never does that for me!" Kat was really a trooper, pushing very hard for about an hour before Natalie came into our lives! She was perfect and had lots of hair and big dark eyes. Weighing in at 7 pounds, 11 ounces, just 1/2 ounce less than I weighed when I was born. She was born at about 0010 and let out a big cry with some stimulation.

Kat is such a good mom. Took Natalie right away and snuggled her right up. Her first words to Natalie were, "There's my baby girl!" She looks just like her mom, which is only fair because Jake looks like Tim.

I hung out for a while but knew she probably wanted some alone time with Natalie, so I held Natalie for a minute and took a couple of photos with her. She weighs next to nothing. She snuggles so well already. She didn't even cry when I held her.

Needless to say, I love her already.

I had to tease Kat, telling her I would quote her later when the excitement was over. During contractions she muttered a few words I shouldn't type here. Once again, I will say that she is my hero. Two natural childbirths in this day and age is pretty rare, even if this one was not by choice.

Well, I think I have used up my energy for the day, so it's back to nappy-time for me. Still not feeling great and definitely didn't get enough sleep last night!

Halfway

Halfway through my parents' and Nick's visit already, I can't believe how the time has flown.

They flew in on Thursday night and it has been pretty much non-stop ever since. We have been able to show them around Stafford, Fredericksburg, base, and some of the places we frequent on the weekends.

Thursday night we just kind of relaxed. They didn't arrive until about 9:00pm so we just had tacos for dinner. They must have been starving because my boring old tacos were delicious. I had to send Chris on a last-minute beer run because we were all out of Budweiser, and we all know that dearest Dad cannot go without his Budweiser.

Friday, Christopher still had to go to work, so Nick, Mom, Dad, and I went and looked at Government Island and then we tried to go to Aquia Church. Unfortunately, I was stung by killer ground-dwelling bees twice, so we had to head home. After I took some Benadryl, we went on base so I could show the family around. We avoided the commissary because it was payday, but dad did get a 36 pack of Budweiser.

When Christopher was released (fortunately pretty early), we went to the Marine Corps Barracks at 8th and I for the Marine Corps Silent Drill. It was the last one of the year, and we were so lucky that it worked out that we could go. We sat near the middle, close to the Commandant's house as well as close to the middle of the entire seating, second row; it couldn't have been much better.

The two highlights of the night would have to be when the GUEST OF HONOR and newly appointed Honorary Marine was Gary Sinise-an actor on CSI for some of you, but for others, LIEUTENANT DAN. Chris and I were incredibly, incredibly excited.

The second highlight was when this young Lance Corporal of the Silent Drill accidentally knocked off his own cover. The Commandant himself walked up to the Lance Corporal, bent down, picked up his cover, and ever so gently brushed it off. He then put the Lance Corporal's cover back on his head, straightened it a bit, and then kind of touched his shoulders in a, "You've got this, kid!" kind of way. It was a really, really good time.

Chris, unfortunately, has a billet for this field experience so he had to work on an order for a lot of the weekend. We did end up doing some grilling, going around looking at some things in Fredericksburg, like the Hugh Mercer Apothecary Shop, Rising Sun Tavern, and Mary Washington House. We learned a whole bunch of things like, where the phrase, "Bottoms up!" comes from, and what a necessary chair is. We had a lot of fun learning about the terrible medical care available back then. They even keep live leeches at the apothecary shop. Gross!

I want to get more into everything we did, but tomorrow we are getting up early to head to D.C. We are planning on seeing the National Mall, the Holocaust Museum, and Arlington. I believe we are doing the Smithsonians on Thursday! It should be fairly busy, and we are all definitely getting our exercise in this week!

Also, I did get back to the oral surgeon today, and was told I wouldn't have to come back for a follow-up visit and that everything looked great! I did have a little pain on my bottom right wisdom tooth extraction site, and low and behold I had a little piece of chicken stuck in it.

GROSS.

Farewell to Wisdom

On this past Friday, I said goodbye to my wisdom teeth.

Although Chris was not able to leave TBS for the day, or early, I am lucky enough that I have really good friends who were willing to take me to the oral surgeon, wait while I had it done, buy me a smoothie, get my meds, and put me to bed when we got home.It was actually pretty fun because the girls sat in my bed with me and watched Say Yes to the Dress with me. I kind of wish we could do that more often, because it was really fun!

I have never been under anesthesia. I felt totally loopy. I just could not believe how quickly I fell asleep. I didn't feel a thing. And then all of a sudden I was awake, and the ladies in the room were talking to me, and the first words out of my mouth were "Was I nice?!" I am not sure why I was so concerned about that, I guess I must have thought I was going to be a jerk. They assured me that I was very nice and then I wanted to see my teeth, but they were already gone somewhere.

They brought the girls back in the room to talk about what to do for the rest of the day and the week and go over my medications. My medication regimen wasn't too hard to handle but it was my first time ever having to take Percocet, so I wasn't sure how that would go. In the car on the way home, I was very moody. I started crying because the girls couldn't understand what I was saying (with giant pieces of gauze occluding the majority of my mouth). And then I tried to tell them that I looked and sounded like Jay Leno. (I assume this is because my jaw was numb, so it felt like it was huge and jutted out.) We went into McDonald's to get smoothies and I about started to cry because I thought kids were looking at me funny. Then we went through the drive-through of CVS to get medications and I almost started crying because I thought the pharmacist was laughing at the way I talked. It was time to get me into the safety of my own home where I could be as moody as I wanted to be.

Percocet is hilarious. Not only does it make me sleep for about 12 hours, it also makes me narcoleptic. I can't even tell you how many times I would be sitting up, Facebooking, talking to Chris, watching a movie, sending a text, whatever, and I would suddenly wake up and realize my fingers were still typing nonsense, or Chris was waiting for me to respond or finish my sentence. He finds it quite entertaining.

Eating hasn't been fun. It's incredibly tiring because you can't really open your mouth very wide or use the back half of your mouth. A lot of things don't taste good and mostly I just eat because I have to with my medications. If I don't eat with them I get sick. Proof of that was this morning-you would think that on the sixth day I wouldn't have to worry about throwing up but that's just what I did today. Then I fell back to sleep for a really long time. I haven't really done much yet today, which isn't the best idea since my parents will be here tomorrow night sometime. Their flight comes in at around 7:00pm so I would think they should be here by nine. Chris is so excited. Last night he was running around the house, giggling and quoting my parents and practicing his Minnesota accent.

The first few days were pretty brutal; a steady stream of Percocet going into my body and lots of sleeping. Chris wasn't too grossed out by my bloody gauze in my mouth. He spent most of Friday and Saturday just lying next to me in case I needed anything. I felt bad because I had to wake him up at 0400 because I needed something for nausea, and it was so bad that I knew if I even moved an inch I would throw up. Luckily the Phenergan worked and I didn't throw up. I mostly just bugged Chris to go get me ice for my face. You know the frozen Arbor Mist, Daily's, and Mike's Hard Lemonade adult juice packs? Well they make amazing ice packs for after wisdom tooth extraction!

Nalli didn't leave my side these past six days. She was especially attached the first three days when I wasn't moving around much. She would watch me move around the room, as if she was worried I was going to fall or something. It was pretty cute.

She may have also just wanted snacks.

I followed the rules post-op fairly well, except the other night Chris and I took the dogs on a walk and I decided it would be a good idea to try to run a little, just to see if I could. I could tell that I was running funny; at least it felt funny to me, but I did it. And then I needed two Percocets when we got back. Lesson one. The second rule I didn't actually break, but I was about five seconds away from imminent disaster. I had gone to get a lemonade and had the straw unwrapped and in my mouth, about to put it in my lemonade and use it when I got this feeling of absolute "OH CRAP, I AM NOT SUPPOSED TO USE THIS", and I'm sure my face went totally white if anyone was looking at me. That was too close for comfort. I do not have time for dry sockets!!

Chris helped me clean up the basement the other night. He is a great help when he wants to be, but I did have to go around behind him like my mom did to me. I remember when she would ask, "Did you vacuum here?", knowing full well that I hadn't, but if I looked at the spot she was looking at and it didn't look too bad, I would tell her that I did. Well, my husband pulled just that move on me, when I asked if he vacuumed behind the hamper (after moving it and seeing all of the little hairs from his last haircut back there), he put his head down and said, "no".

My husband has  made me into a mother.

Yesterday one of the wives came over to hang out with me while I made some food for the next few days with my family. She needed some new recipes and since I own about fifty cookbooks, it was worth a shot for her to try to look through them. She found a few recipes while we tried some other ones. I need to do some cleaning today and tomorrow but I do feel like I am ready to have my family over!

Dinner was amazing last night. I stuffed cornish game hens with pineapple stuffing, made BBQ potato wedges, and a saute of squash, mushrooms, and tomatoes. We didn't get to eat until late because Chris had a combat engineer field experience. And when he did finally get home we had three guests. Our landlord had to come over because at about six, I went downstairs to find water leaking from under our water heater and air conditioner. We thought it might be a quick fix, but it turns out they had to replace our water heater last night. Our landlord knew a really good plumber who was able to come over and take care of it right away, and so he did.

I had to stay up a little while after they left because they tracked a bunch of mud in bringing in the new water heater, so I wanted to clean that up before it stained anything. And then I had to wait up for my dear husband's laundry, because he likes that way THAT pair of cammies fits (the other four pairs aren't good enough, I guess). Oh well, it meant I didn't have to feel guilty about sleeping in this morning. I still got up to make Chris breakfast, but then told him I was going back to bed because I felt ill, and sure enough I threw up half an hour later. You know we've been married less than a year because I managed to keep it down until I knew he was out of the house.

There is artillery going off on base again today. Honestly I don't think I will ever get used to that noise. Every time I'm still like, "WHOA! What was that?" I think it's so weird that we are miles from base and can still hear and feel it. I have been very jumpy, though. The other day Amber was sweet enough to take me to the commissary and wait around while I tackled my huge shopping list. She would finish her list and then come to find me, and I would look up and she would be standing at the end of my cart, and I would jump two feet in the air. It was terrifying! Last night when our water came back on, all of the pressures had to re-stabilize, so the toilets, showers, and sinks would all make this awful, loud shooting noise every time you used one. My poor little heart couldn't take it no more.

Knowing my parents are coming tomorrow, I looked around and realized there were just a few finishing touches the house needed. I want to get some throws for the couches, and found some that were very cute and matched well. I was at TJ Maxx, so I also found a clearance rack that I can never seem to walk away from.

Oops. Especially considering we have a shipment of clothes coming from Kohl's today as well.

That is all I can write about today! I really need to get my butt up and at 'em, get something cleaned or work on dinner. I have no idea when Christopher will be home. I need to make sure we make the most of our time together this week and weekend because he will be gone all next week again. Oh field experience, how I loathe you. At least my parents and brother Nick will be here to distract me. Knowing how quickly the four months has gone since I left Nebraska, I know the ten days they are here will fly by as well. That makes me sad because there's no way we can fit in all the stuff we want to do in ten days! And not long after, we will move to Florida and then they will just have to come visit again.

Ups and Downs

I have had to keep thinking happy thoughts all day because work was not fabulous by any means. Being PRN is great, but sometimes it sucks because you come in and you have to sweep up what someone else left behind. And sometimes the people before you don't do everything they were supposed to so you have to try and figure it out. Sometimes being a nurse is like being MacGyver...but usually it shouldn't be. It seems that everything hits the fan when nobody is around to help, so of course when I realized I needed a whole bunch of things I didn't have, nobody was around to help me find it or explain how to use it.

Being  a new nurse is super fun sometimes.

Luckily it all worked out and at the end of the day I was calm, collected, and caught up. I got home, cleaned up, and then headed over to my friend's for wine and a movie. We had about 9 bottles and cracked open a few of them. We watched Steel Magnolias because the girl from Missouri and the girl from Georgia hadn't seen it. C'mon now! I think everybody loved it.

Or maybe it was the wine.

Regardless, it made me miss my mom.

Ruby is standing at the end of my bed staring at me like she has been possessed by the devil.

I can't stand that dog.

Noise Advisory

I woke up this morning to an oddly sunny morning with the rumble of thunder in the distance. It wasn't actually a long rumble like normal, though, just little short bursts of rumbling. How odd, I thought?

From what I understand, it's supposed to rain today, so then it made more sense. And then I read that there is a noise advisory on base from 0600-1700. So that noise is actually artillery. I'm praying that it doesn't rain on my husband this week. I know exactly how many pairs of cammies, underwear, and socks he took with him. And I really hope it doesn't rain.

I'm watching "Orange is the New Black" on Netflix-totally addicted. It is a VERY clever show.

I need to get up in a little while. Mostly because I'm hungry, but also because I need to clean the house before everybody comes over tonight! Rachele is working the pool so I might head on over there while I can. Work hasn't called this week yet (I'm PRN for those of you who don't know) to ask me to come in. I'm hoping to get a bunch of work in before my parents come to town. I want a big paycheck before they get here!

Katie flies in on Thursday and stays with me until Saturday. Brandt and Lukow graduate on Saturday, so she finally gets to see her man after six weeks of OCS! I remember those days. They were awful! But they don't really end! Because once again Chris is gone, without his phone. I can't wait for him to come home, as always.

Lucky for me, we made steaks on Sunday night, pasta on Sunday afternoon for his friends, and I had made some apple dumplings earlier in the week You know what that means?

I haven't cooked yet since Chris left. And it has been wonderful. All I have to do tonight for the party is make a little guacamole. I am glad for that, because I've been so lazy. I did, however, get some lunches together on Sunday to take with me for some of Chris' friends in the barracks. They have been ragging on me because I sent a lunch for one of the other single Marines.

Poor Chris-I was feeling very emotional and lonely long before he left this time. First it makes very snooty toward him, and then it makes me all needy and on the verge of tears. So he spends the first half of the day trying not to tick me off and the second half giving me hugs every five minutes so I don't cry. It's not fun to say goodbye.

I love the ways I try to spend my time, though. I went to IKEA yesterday and got a little four-box shelf for all of my cookbooks. They barely fit. I can probably buy about two more cookbooks before I run out of room.

Oops. If I hoard anything, it might be cookbooks.

Ruby has been driving me crazy. She doesn't like noise when the Princess is trying to rest. So the artillery on base and the vacuum and "Orange is the New Black" on my laptop is severely irritating her. I put her outside. She can stay out there until she can calm down. I am SO excited to have everybody over tonight! I'm making margaritas!

We got our company cookbook put together, and I am considering getting a couple of extra as gifts because I am so proud of us for getting it put together. HUGE shout-out to Tara for coming up with the idea AND putting it together. It's going to be fabulous-we have some really great cooks amongst us.

Okay. Time to clean. Time to get ready. Party in 8 hours!