So Maybe I'm Insane

I saw my neighbor with his cooler tonight and it reminded me of this story I concocted in my head about him last summer.

Every night I'd take Baxter on a walk and we'd see my across the street neighbor coming home, getting a cooler out of the back end of the truck and wheeling it around to the back yard of his house. At first I thought, "Oh, he must have been to Costco and wanted to keep his goods cold", then I started to think "No one goes to Costco EVERY.SINGLE.DAY" . Then I decided "Clearly he's killed someone and is bringing them home bit by bit in his cooler and buring them in his backyard". This went on for several days, one day I'd see him and think "probably an arm", the next I'd see him, and think "A leg. No, wait a leg is too big for that cooler, it's probably just a foot or two" (you see where your mind can wander too without enough human interraction). So one day my landlord came over and we saw him outside and she said "Hey Jim!" and I said "You know him? Whats up with the cooler? Sometimes I wonder if he's got body parts in here" and laughed at me and said "He's a sushi maker/deliverman". THEN she went on to tell me that Schofield Commissary is one of his stops. All this damn time I've been going out there for sushi when I could just walk across the street!

Anyway, I saw him unloading his cooler today and got a chuckle. But you probably had to be there.

Stolen

Sam's Blogspot Debut

I'm sure you've heard that we got another pup a few months ago. Though he and I definitely still adjusting to one another, I thought it was time to give him some love on the blog...





:)
And of course, you already know Baxter.



Happy mom? ;)

I Love a Good Hello

There is the feeling that I can't begin to put into words. A feeling that overcomes you when you know that your significant other is coming home to you after months and months and months away. And it's funny that I wrote it as them "coming home to you" because if I had to put the feeling into words, I would say that to me it feels like I myself am coming home.

Admittedly, I think I felt that feeling alot more strongly when Erik was coming home from Afghanistan versus when he came home from Iraq. They were two wholly different experiences, for both of us. And the end of his OEF deployment was the beginning of our life together, so it seems to be a huge turning point in my life though at the time I don't think I really recognized it. Isn't that always the way though?

I think I spent a lot of time thinking about Erik's first deployment in preparation for the last one, because it was all I knew. Eventually, I happily found out that there was no need to prepare myself in such a way. However, now that Afghanistan is in our future once again and people around me have begun asking questions about his experiences and in turn mine, I find myself thinking about it more and more. I came across the blog I kept when Erik and I first started dating, up until the time we got married and then my life got crazy with moving (and I forgot the password) and I just stopped writing. Aside from being a little embarrassed at how whiny I seemed to be at points (and I don't remember being that way outwardly, but...), it really transported me back nearly five years to a life that is so different from the one I'm leading now, it was like reading about someone else.

Anyway, I told you all that to tell you this: I've done some reasearch and found that one of the great things about deployments (and yes, I believe there are at least a few amazing things) is that if you really work at it, it can make you closer to your partner than you ever were when they're home. Another positive is that sometimes, when you are married, you aren't as kind/considerate/understanding/you-name-it as you could be. It's not purposeful, but it is what it is. When you are left alone for a few months, you really start to reexamine how you could do things differently, how you wasted time being snippy or being pissed about someone not taking out the trash (Who? Me?!). Who else can say that they get to push the reset button this way? Of course, the trade off for having this time of personal introspection is to be apart for a year at a time, but we'll just put that little factoid to the side...

And the very best thing about having to say goodbye, is getting to say hello again.

Hello - 2007


Hello - 2009

"What I can't see is how I'm ever gonna love you more, but I've said that before..."

Musings From a Mom-to-Be

I think mothers dupe non-mothers into pregnancy by not telling them all the crazy ass side effects of pregnancy. Maybe it’s not a vast conspiracy, but I feel a little uninformed. I knew pregnant ladies had to pee a lot, but I assumed it was because the baby was sitting on their bladder. I didn’t know that it was because EVERY.SINGLE.TIME you take a sip of water you have to pee. Last month we went on vacation and I told my mother-in-law it was a tour of the northeast via bathroom.

Other things I didn’t know:Crazy back pain
Sensitive skin
Absolute exhaustion
Being super picky about food/grossed out by things you once loved
Pregnant women really do get a little stupider. I have been late for appointments, left home without my shoes and worn shirts inside out.

One crazy side effect from own experience that I’ll share: my own personal case: Gagging. I don’t usually get sick, but I gag. I gag after I eat, I gag when I laugh. I gag when I talk, I gag when I think about gagging. It doesn’t hurt or anything so it’s not a big deal but OH is it awkward. The first few times it happened I got up and ran to the bathroom thinking I was going to be sick but I never was. Erik would follow me in there to make sure I’m okay, but now I just stay where I am and try to cover my mouth (like that makes the loud noise of gagging a little less obnoxious…) and Erik just laughs and laughs. My friend Carmen laughs so hard about it she cries. Thanks guys… It is getting better though. The other day I was able to brush my teeth like a regular person! But then this morning I was back to choking on the toothbrush.

All that insanity aside, it’s pretty intense to know that it’s all happening because you are growing a little person inside of you. Never mind that it’s sucking the life (and intelligence) out of you at the same time…

Evil Vortex

I firmly believe that there is some kind of vortex at the entry way to every commissary on this Earth that turns even the best, most well behaved children into not so well-behaved children. This theory has been tested in several states and though I have found that the kids are often worse on or around pay day, they are affected by said vortex at any time, on any date, in any state.

This vortex is probably also the same one that makes otherwise normal parents buy their kids those freakin' heelie shoes so they can scoot around uncontrollably. Because that, like driving on the ice, is always a great idea.

Other vortexes I believe in:

*One at the entry to my backyard that sucks the life out of plants.
*One at the city limits of Washington DC that makes people forget things they once held important
*The one at my kitchen that the dogs seem to see and recognize as the Do Not Cross line
*The one that overtakes me when I log on to facebook and keeps me from logging off until I have successfully pissed away 3 hours.