Secure connection my FOOT!

My husband has been gone for like a week past FOREVER at this point, like 9 or 10 months.  Yes, I pretty much stopped counting because we are not to our (HOPEFULLY!) R&R month or homecoming so frankly I don’t care!  It’s just another day, in another month, in the YEAR he should be coming home.  My luck we will get to our R&R month, they will then cancel it, send him to a whole different country and extend his deployment 7 months.  OH CRAP!  I should not put that out there… sorry world.

We pay $80+ for internet, crappy…. Always cutting out, horrible connection with no stability internet.  For that amount of money I expect it to work, HAHA… FAT CHANCE.  Well, with this WONDERFUL internet we have had two major issues.  The first was a few weeks BEFORE Christmas BD’s credit card number got stolen and someone tried to charge almost $1000 on it.  Sadly, this happened to several guys in our unit, at different bases throughout the country.  HORRIBLE.  Then this morning I wake up to a nice email from USAA telling me that someone changed BD’s password on our checking account.  WONDERFUL!  I know it’s not him because, lets be honest he doesn’t even LOOK at the account.  He knows how much he can take a month and I do the rest.  So at 5:45 AM I was on the phone with USAA trying to obtain a temp password and lock on his account until I can figure this all out.  I am appreciative for technology but sometimes this is WAY more work than it needs to be!

AHHHH!

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In

It's Friday, so that means it's time for MilSpouse Friday Fill-In. Get the questions from the Wifey at Wife of a Sailor.
If you were a famous movie star, what types of movies would you star in?

Probably some Indy movie to build my street cred

What is a vacation you would like to take if money were no object?

I would want to take Diva and BD and visit all 7 wonders of the world PLUS one place we each wanted to go

Did you have pets growing up?

We had a farm with horses, dogs, cats, goats, chickens, ducks, and cows…

What do you do for exercise?

I am currently training for a pageant and the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer soo…. I do 3 days a week of cardio kickboxing, 2 days a week Muay Thai or Jiu Jitsu and walk the dogs for a miles or so 3 or 4 times a week. 

What is the best piece of advice you've ever received as a MilSpouse?

I got nothing… I can’t remember any advice that I ever got that was good.  I have received a TON of crappy advice though… best piece of crappy advice was to support my servicemember at all costs.  This was in my past life and that cost was almost my life.

Mandatory Cuddle Time

Army Wives, the show on Lifetime, has always been something BD and I have looked forward to.  Ok, honestly I almost demanded it the first few episodes then he gave in and realized that it was nice to have a mandatory hour together every Sunday night to cuddle.  So for the past 3 seasons we have made that our time.  If he is at training or work, I don’t watch it… thank you DVR, we watch it together on our first available night.  Last year he deployed in the middle of the season so I, begrudgingly, watched the rest without him.  I would tear up every week… then the guys deployed and I BAWLED.  It got to the point my friends would screen it for me... whether or not I should watch alone.  There was an episode about domestic violence, I invited someone over to watch with me after I was warned... that was part of my past life and still tough to handle.  

BUT happier news is that, while the season starts March 13, I will be able to DVR the first 3 or 4 episodes and then WE CAN WATCH THEM TOGETHER.  He may only be home for 2 episodes but at least I should get ½ the season with him… and since they are home not too long after he gets back from R&R I may just DVR the rest and wait for him.  

SIMPLE PLEASURES

Migraine!

I HATE migraines… I hate them so much!  ESPECIALLY when I have to work! Twice in the past 2 weeks I have woken up throwing up with a migraine.  The alarm goes off, I lay there and pray it’s just a bad dream but NOPE, it’s real.  I get up, shower in the dark, get Diva up and ask her nicely to keep the whining to a low whisper, get her to school… drive to work which is 6.9 miles directly into the sun!  MISERABLE!

It’s funny in a way because they always come the week before and the day I start my period… DAMN!  Here is the funny part:  When BD was home and we were trying to get pregnant my cycle was totally irregular, even with fertility specialist assistance I was a MESS.  We tried for 3 years… MESS.  He has been gone 9 months and my cycle has been perfectly normal for the past 5 months or so.  I find the comedy in this.  I can’t get pg now, lack of sperm and all, but I am probably super fertile… GOOD GRIEF!  Maybe this regularity will spill into R&R OR… my luck I will have my visitor all of the 15 days he is home. 

10 weeks baby!

Blisters, Bikes, Backs and Erasers!

What a weekend!  Diva sure had a rough one…. On Saturday while trying to get across the funky monkey bars she ended up with two HUGE blisters.  Going to make gymnastics fun this week.  And then the BIGGEST thing of all happened - Diva learning how to ride her bike with NO training wheels.  Yes, I cried and videotaped it.  Our little angel riding a bike without training wheels…. This is something Daddy was supposed to do but missed.  He has missed so many things that he is ‘supposed’ to do with her.  Father Daughter dances, Daddy Donut Days, lost teeth, 1^st Grade, talent shows…. And now this.  His civilian job has kept him away for most of it…. The Army for just bits and pieces.  He has promised when he gets home he will make US more of a priority.  I know work is important, I know that paying bills is imperative but if we are not a priority then what is it all worth?

Ok- enough on that rant.  Diva was a little scared so we loaded up her bike and headed to the park.  I brought a wrench (I think that’s what it’s called) to take the training wheels off… no such luck.  Headed back home for another tool… then back to the park  NOPE  they didn’t work because I am just not that strong.  I decided to take the bike and the cute excited Diva to Sports Authority to see if they would take the training wheels off.  THANK GOODNESS they were nice and took pity on my and my little angel.  They took the training wheels off and adjusted the seat.  Told me not to feel bad because it looked like they used an air gun to put them on… thanks!    On the way out the door, Diva tripped over her bike and went face first into the concrete.  WONDERFUL! 

We finally got to the park, got on the bike and started… she fell, then fell again… and again.  Finally she got over to the grass and just WENT.  She rode and rode… I told her to try to get on the sidewalk as that had to be MUCH easier than the grass.  Off she went toward the concrete and right into a bush with thorns… OFFICIALLY HAD BLOOD!  Well, there goes the sidewalk idea back to the grass.  After about an hour of falling and getting up she decided that she was done so home we headed.  I can’t begin to tell you how proud I am of our little girl.

2^nd…. Big Daddy hurt his back.  Well… not usually a big deal but when he had a rupture of 9.5 mm in 2004 and had surgery to fix it then deployed for 18+ months in 2005 and then re-ruptured it in 2008.  When he did his last MRI it was the same disc and its 8.5mm ruptured this time… and he deployed without surgery.  Needless to say any back twinge and I get panic-y.  I know that another surgery will happen at some point but preferably not when he is IN COUNTRY.  Yes, I know that they won’t do surgery there… they will send him home to be done here.  Sadly I don’t trust the VA with a surgery like this.  I am a firm believer that you get what you pay for and it’s FREE!  Sorry.  I am sure the VA is great for some things but not this… this is his back.  I want a husband that can run and dance…that can ride bikes with his daughter and future kids.  So all this gets to be too much.

AHHHH… oh and the best thing of all happened at lunch yesterday.  Diva and I had been tidying up the dining room and she left an eraser.  I picked it up and looked at it….

It says I don’t love my mommy.  I almost started to cry and asked her why she wrote this.  Her response was that I had been mean so she got mad.  Then we both cried and hugged each other knowing full well that she had hurt my feelings.  I know that she didn’t mean it but WOW… that hurt.

Glad it’s Monday!

Milspouse Friday Fill-In

Check out Wife of a Sailor's Mil Spouse Friday Fill-In #27! 

 Here are this week's questions...

1.  What do you usually want to know about someone when meeting them for the first time?

I want to know if they are a good person, one that I could see myself friends with.  This is determined without even opening their mouth.  I usually watch people’s eyes and mannerisms.  I don’t like shifty eyes or when someone asks me a question and then don’t have the common courtesy to look me in the eyes when I answer it. 

2.  Would you rather know everything about your spouse, or be regularly surprised?

It depends on what we are talking about.  His love of children or ideas on marriage I wanted to know upfront BUT everything else I enjoying learning about him.  If I knew it all our marriage would be BORING! 
 

3.  If you could live in one city for the rest of your life, where would you live?

Good grief I can’t even fathom that idea.  I moved a lot growing up and so far a lot as an adult… I got nothing on this one.  I do want a home and roots but as to where, I have no idea.
 

4.  When you go out of town, what one material thing do you ALWAYS take?

I always have my camera… I am ADDICTED to taking pictures of EVERYTHING.  BD just got me a new camera for Christmas and I LOVE taking pictures. 
 

5.  Using no more than 10 nouns, and ONLY nouns, describe yourself.

(This one is harder than it sounds!)

Mom

Wife

Blonde

Friend

Writer

Blogger

Beauty Queen

Thoughtful Thursday!

I have been trying to come up with a weekly post and have been troubled as I wanted it to be perfect... yes, I am a perfectionist!
This blog was created to deal with thoughts and issued throughout this deployment... So Thoughtful Thursday makes sense to me. 

Diva is the best thing that has ever happened to me and to us.  She is the reason I do so many things.  She is the reason that I eat turkey burgers and use rice or soy milk (i don't like the hormones in milk and how they affect childrens growth)... she is also the reason that I save every penny and think of free things to do.  I want her to have an amazing life, I want her to understand community service but also to have things that she needs and occasionally wants.  With daddy being gone I want her to not feel that she is losing out on too much.  We are looking forward to another weekend away somewhere... working on that now.

This is my diva doing what she loves best... drinking her Starbucks hot cocoa.

I love days like this day... we had gone ice skating with daddy and he promised her hot cocoa when we were done.  Said it was a requirement to ice skating.  She had so much fun, fell down but got back up a million times.  This little girl has so much determination its unbelievable.  This deployment has just increased that.  I am so proud of her and all that she has accomplished in her life.