I'm Back

Okay finally we have email access again! There has been so much going on the last week it is pure crazyness! Will update more later just wanted to let everyone know we were alive and kickin it...right now we are in Missouri picking up our brandnew truck. It's dark grey very nice and fancy.

Too Little Sleep Too Many Thoughts

I can't sleep lately...NO that is not a new thing. I spent 14 months living on coffee, cigarettes and saw every infomercial they have made (I seriously needed cable!) but even now I am having issues sleeping. I toss and turn and keep waking up thinking I need to go back to sleep till it as least light outside! When hubby first came home he was the one that was sitting in bed waiting for me to wake up because it was 430 in the morning. Now i'm the one getting up trying not to wake him up.

You know, sliding down the bed so my head is halfway down and my legs are sticking out the covers, trying to turn and slide off the bed so it doesn't move now that I have finally gotten out from underneath his arm. So each morning it's this prized move where you almost want to do a big cheer because you have now contorted your body and used every muscle to steady yourself as you perform some 13 year old's gymnastic move! And you turn around and see them laying there...still asleep and try to sneak out of the room.

Too much to do and not enough time I suppose! I have to do emails this morning. I have to come up with an agenda for a conference call next Saturday. I struggle with this because each time I try to talk about certain things SOMEONE (i'm not going to name names here!) thinks that we should take it slowly and concentrate on doing nothing and "figuring out the future of the ombudsman program" and not move forward in it. I have great ideas and such about presentations to give every other month to the detachments, newsletter, email lists etc. But no i'm met with someone's idea of "military planning" and instead we spend our time trying to figure out how we are going to figure out what we are going to do....seems like a waste of time for me! And he interrupts me as well! Like i'm giving people too much to think about! I don't need 8 planning meetings to get this program rolling, that's why they put me in the position that they did!

Oh well i'm complaining! Hubby is up...appears he knew I was gone because my shadow (my little min pin) got out of bed and she's not as sneaky as I am trying to get out from underneath the covers! It's off to emailing!

On the Road Again

It's official...I'm once again a long haul truck driver...Scarey huh? Not that scarey, no sweat pants and flip flops for me though. Okay maybe the flip flops but I'm a girl and I can wear flip flops. Besides how else to show off my pedicure right? Monday we start orientation and by this time next week we will have our new truck. It took some footwork since the company didn't want to give my hubby any credit for the driving he did in Iraq/Kuwait but we got that all taken care of (Thank you MasterChief!! )They wanted to put us in seperate trucks for 20,000 miles (which correlates to about 4 weeks or 5) and I was like...Yeah F#&%ing right! So after convincing them I was right and they were wrong (It's a gift!) We are going to be leasing our own truck.

I'm ready...I guess...sound confident don't I? I'm a little scared because I have gotten so used to my "life" here and now it's being turned upside down...I had a schedule, routines (no matter how boring) and a simple go to the grocery store kind of life....now it's going to be different. Can't wait though I like to think of it as an adventure. Will be posting from the road and you can read all about my "adventures".

Going on the SouthBeach diet too so hopefully that goes well. I got hubby to keep me motivated now...and to get lots of "exercise...or did I say sexercise" in LOL

Marsha Marsha Marsha!

My hubby and I were having a funny conversation with our friends Saturday night about the Brady Bunch episode where Marsha gets hit in the face with the football as she gets ready for the big school dance....we laughed and laughed! Gotta love old TV reruns!

So life has a funny way of turning the tables on you...about a month ago or less I bought a new dress for The Navy Ball which is a formal event held every year. It's a great time...dinner, dancing, drinking with a bunch of sailors! But I get a new dress each year...So $150 for the dress, $85 for some fancy jewelry to go with it, $70 for hair touch up and an up do, $40 for a manicure/pedicure, $80 for a hotel room, $20 for dry cleaning a uniform, $50 to get the ribbons and such for hubby's uniform that he got since he wore it last, $40 for the tickets (thankfully I have shoes allready...many pairs to chose from actually LOL) I'm ready to go the ball and be as beautiful as ever....WOW when you spell it out like that it seems like a lot of money for a dry beef dinner and some cake and a DJ that always plays the "chicken dance"!

Well the drama begins....Monday we were helping my mom renovate the new barn/corral she bought at the city corrals in Wyoming....when I went to get some screws for my hubby who was hanging boards on the inside of the stall...I was walking towards him and I have NO idea what happened but next thing I know i'm a deer in headlights with a 2x4 headed towards my face!! BAM!! Quicker than you would believe the thing was timed perfectly because it did not hit me on my head or miss me by an inch...The end of it scraped down my forehead and hit me on my nose!! Well I covered my face as tears sprang to my eyes and I kept saying I'm okay I'm okay! Hubby was crowding all around me because he was scared he would pull my hands back and see a bloody eye area because he thought it hit me in my eye...I was crying (it hurt like hell!) and saying I'm okay but is it bad?!? Because we have the Ball!! Mom felt bad, hubby felt bad, Pip's felt bad and I had a bitch of a headache!

Thankfully not much swelling on my nose, no black and blue marks just some big scabs on my forehead and nose. It hurts pretty bad still like there is a bruise there but no visible signs of any. After i recovered and could laugh about it hubby and we had a good laugh when we said "Marsha Marsha Marsha!"

We've had a good time thinking of funny one liners to tell people when they ask what happened to my face....But actually people have been pretty funny...they see it, but don't ask about it rather pretend it's not there like when you have something sticking out of your nose and nobody wants to be the one to point it out...But then when I say something about it they are always "OOOHHHH that is what happened! I was wondering!" Hubby thought we wouldn't get pictures this year since I have "scaby face" as i call it...I am thinking how else will I be able to hold it over his head in 20 years that 4 after getting back from Iraq/Kuwait he hit me in the face with a 2x4!! I want proof!!!

Living Alone

Over the past 14 months I have adjusted to living alone...I have lived alone before so it wasn't so hard. Except this house is big! My bed is big! My couch is big! I began to think about the things I have done to make it seem less big. The downstairs has been turned into storage, a huge family room, bedroom and full bath resigned to holding old toys, clothes, paperwork and boxes of things that I refuse to throw out but still don't want cluttering up my life! My daughter moved up to my mother's back in February/March so since then it has just been me and the dog and cat. The dog has her cushion on the couch, the cat had hers and I had mine. It's a huge wrap around couch so there was a lot of couch that the cushions still look new! I guess about April or so I began to sleep on the couch rather than my bed, it was smaller and actually more comfortable than the awful old mattress we have on our bed!

When I get my dinner now and go to the living room to eat i'm a little surprised when there is someone else sitting there! My dearest hubby has chosen that cushion to sit on....it's a little odd and now I am trying to adjust sitting somewhere else but old habits are hard to break (If they weren't I wouldn't be smoking now would I?) When I take my shower it's never been a big deal if I used all the hot water...now it is cause I feel bad as I see him getting into a shower with cold water! I like to make Cinnamon Bun coffee..he likes Folgers so I made two pots.

I think it really hit me that someone was living with me again on his first full day here when I fell asleep and when I woke up I thought I would go grab some of the wonderful cheeseball that was in the fridge and some triscuit's and have me a snack...after all I left it some of it the night before. SURPRISE! While I was asleep someone had eaten my cheeseball! I feel kinda like Goldilocks and the three little bears "Someone has been eating my porridge"! But I guess if coffee and cheeseball is the only real things I have to get over I would gladly do that and so much more to have him home!

My Seabee Is Home

I'm leaving for the airport in 30 minutes to go pick up my honey who is coming home tonight! WOOHOO! I wanted to buy him something like a cake or something...but of course he doesn't like cake. So I bought a peach pie (his favorite) and the lady at the Bakery decorated it with "Welcome Home" ! He's going to look at me and say "You are silly lady!" Might have noticed that I have changed the title of the blog. I figured it was more fitting since a lot of what is going to be written about will be not just about me and my life but our life again together. He thought it sounded good because "I'm a Seabee and you're my angel" Well yeah! Might be a little scarce for the next few days but will write again soon!

Making Changes

For those that know me well, you know I get bored easily. So I was bored with the template so I am currently in the process of self teaching myself to make it better. I will be updating the page to better suit my own wants and it will be ever changing from now on!

Viet Nam War Memorial

~~~~His body is Weak~~~~

By An Angel

His body is weak, his hair is now thin,

He once did a job all the crowds called a sin.

Volunteering he stood filled with pride and with honor,

We sent him to war, not once did he falter.

Courage and heartache earned him the medal they pinned to his chest,

As this brave young warrior was put to the test.

I ordered men to be killed as my own soldiers died,

A mission accomplished, he said with a sigh.

A welcome home not once would he ever receive,

His future we held in our hands you and me.

How could we hate this man for what he had done,

We told him to do it, we gave him the gun.

His face has been weathered by years of regret,

His eyes filled with images he'd rather forget.

With thoughts in his heart for those that gave all,

He took a long trip to a place called The Wall.

With bowed head and heavy heart he stood and he cried,

His sorrow and pain I saw, my heart hypnotized.

He weeps for the names of the men he once knew,

And the part of his life that is lost for him too.

For once this fine man should not cry alone,

I reach out my hand and I welcome him home.

I've come here today to show my respect,

To the brave men and women, our Viet Nam War Vets.

To the ones that are lonely, homeless or hungry,

It's you that we honor you fought for your country.

You came back to a world that was changing so fast,

Struggling to move on and forgetting the past.

Your sacrifice will not be lost to us once again,

We know what you did and it wasn't was sin.

It was us that were wrong and showed you dishonor,

You were once our young brothers, our husbands and fathers.

Those medals you earned fighting far from your home,

Was our way of thanks for the bravery you'd shown.

Wear them with pride like your heart on your chest,

To let us all know so we'll never forget

I wrote this poem for all the veterans although some of the thoughts are from friends that I have that served during that time. I have always had a special place in my heart for these vets. So going to the Viet Nam Memorial was very poignant moment for me. I told a friend of mine about the experience and I will relay some of it here as well. As you walk past the vendor's selling patches and pins you come onto the book with all the names and locations in it that you can look in. It's a massive book....then you look down the expanse of the sleek black granite and you see the names begin in chronological order.You see people walking around you but nobody is really talking...there are some parents explaining to their young children why it is important that they be here....You see the Veterans with wives and some visiting alone....I don't have family that is listed here so the names aren't a part of my past in that sense but they are my history as they are all of our history. I slowly walk along the pathway pausing to look at the items that have been left. Small flags, flower petals are visible in some areas, poems, hats & pins and everything else. I pause and look at the names...seeing them and imagining their faces.

Random names pop out in my mind and soon I begin to realize that I am not just walking alongside the wall but i've reached out my hand and as I move it runs along the names...feeling the outlines of them as I walk slowly and each time my fingertip dips into a groove I know that it's a personal sacrifice that someone made, that a family made and that our country made. I look around and notice i'm not the only one. Without thought people reach out, touching and gathering the emotions from their hands. I'm not sure if they have realized they are doing it as I had not at the beginning. Their fingers slide along the granite as they walk. I stand in front of the last name...they are in order of death and think to myself if it had ended an hour sooner, a day sooner or even 5 minutes sooner what names wouldn't be here?

For the ones that made it back who I know and have spent time with I am honored to know them rather than just know them as a name etched in stone.

Pictures

Okay the pictures are on the other blog... Flat Angel you can see them there...I have tons more but will post them as they strike me if I like them.....Hope you all enjoy the pictures!

History I Miss Out On

Well I figured I would post some of my thoughts on Washington DC as I have a bit of time at the moment...Of course I should be doing something about my messy house but no let's sit at the computer some more! LOL

I think one of the most interesting things about being there for me being from the West was the fact that there is so much history there. I get this feeling whenever I go to the east and I drive by some of the towns and buildings because out west if it's been around since the mid 1800's it's history for us. I went to the Smithsonian Museum of American History and they have an exhibit there about ONE house and the all the different families that have lived there for the past 250 years. It was amazing...there were revoluntinists, slaves, abolitionists, WWII wife and the list goes on and on...And I was reading the information on how to research your OWN house's history and find out who lived there before you and how look around my own house and think... well my mother and father in law built it so there's not much research I need to do except call them up on my cell phone! So you don't get the rich history of the lives that came before you here.

To look at a house and imagine past presidents, congressman and influential people that have really molded our past sitting on the porches smoking, drinking tea or an after dinner drink discussing politics and shaping our great nation. It's just amazing....

Here I look at saloons where a bandit had a last shot of whisky before robbing the stage coach! Go figure...welcome to the Wild Wild West!

A New Reader

Okay forgot to tell you all that while I was gone my hubby got back to the USA and is now currently at the Seabee Base in California awaiting completion of his Demob stuff. Hope to have him back here Thursday or Friday at the latest. WOOHOOO!!!!! But since I've been telling him that I have been writing things here but he was unable to read it before due to security on his computer there but since he is now in Cali and can access it he is now a new reader! He asked me last night to send him the address so he could read it...hmmm hope I only said good things about him before *wink*.

Honey I'm home!

Okay I am officially back from my vacation that I went on last Wednesday to Washington DC. Was suppose to be back on Sunday night but it was raining in Chicago and so our plane was grounded in Baltimore for 2 hours waiting for the O'Hare to give the "wheels up okay". And of course when we got there at 9:30 pm we had missed our connecting flight which left as soon as they lifted the traffic ban for planes near their scheduled time of 8:05 pm. So we had no clothes and had to stay in a hotel because the first flight out they could get us on was at 3:15 the following day! So I made it home in one piece last night...still have to go pick up the dog at the kennel and unpack at this point.

I'm headed to pick up the dog, develope some pics for my daughter to take to school and have to drop by the reserve center...apparently they owe ME money from my trip to San Diego and need my checking account information. Now if only they would pay the $1800 or so that they owe my hubby we will be set! Mine is only maybe $50! Dinner and a movie LOL

Check back tommarrow most likely for stuff on my trip that I'll post....Going to write something tonight.