Hurry Up and Wait

Funniest. Thing. Ever

2009-07-11T21:52:00.002-04:00

My brother showed this to me and I almost peed myself from laughing so hard! Brilliant and funny!!!

Busy, busy, busy

2009-07-08T15:08:00.004-04:00

I had previously written that summer was a time for slacking.

I am now eating my words. I have been super busy and have zero time for the slacking that I love so much.

I just returned from a week-long trip to Fort Campbell / Hopkinsville, KY. Long story short, my sister and her husband are getting a divorce and my brother, the kids and I went to help her move into her new house down there. She has a great job and lots of friends so she decided to stay rather than come home.

I also had to pick up some Army stuff for Stuart but apparently everyone and their brother is out of large PT everything so boo to them. Guess Stuart will just have to swim in his XL stuff.

I am in the midst of final exam time and I am trying to take last minute tests and finish papers before my exams finally roll around next week. Who knew that setting up proctoring for a test could be such a pain in the ass.

So so minor updating:

The wedding went okay. I didn't get all of the shots I wanted because everyone was EXTREMELY uncooperative. I was getting so angry but there isn't much that can be done about it at this point. I managed to get some good shots in and my uncle seemed happy, but I am not happy with the job I did. But you know, you can't MAKE the bride and groom stand still for pictures if they are just not going to do it.

And I think that is pretty much it. I will write more if I think it is important, lol.

It's a nice day for a white wedding...

2009-06-27T10:15:00.000-04:00

So, I am taking pictures for a wedding today. For the first time. Ever.

I am incredibly nervous right now.

My uncle is the one getting married and the wedding will be very informal and more like a party, but still. I am SO nervous.

I don't know that this is something I would want to do all the time. I like taking pictures and all, but it is a fun thing for me. I am afraid that if I tried to turn it into something more I wouldn't enjoy it much anymore.

I have two cameras to work with. Mine and my Uncle's (his is an XTi). So my approach to this is to look for quality shots but at the same go for quantity since I will have two cameras.

Why o' why did I offer to do this? I am in way over my head.

Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens

2009-06-27T10:00:00.000-04:00

We visited the Cincinnati Zoo, where we are members, almost two weeks ago. But I thought I would share some pictures anyway, even if they are late getting posted.

Charlie and Abby looking at snakes:

Charlie in the Manatee exhibit:

Charlie, Aunt Kelly (my sister), and the Rhino:

The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardensreally is awesome. There is so much to do and is one of the few zoos outside of Florida that has a manatee exhibit. Charlie loved, of all things, the snakes. I did not see that one coming. Abby was more into the monkeys, which was no surprise, as she probably wanted to go be with her people, lol.

And the train. Oh, the train. Charlie was in little kid heaven when we rode that thing. We didn't ride it until right before we left so I think next time we will have to ride more than once.

We didn't manage to see everything because the kids (coughAbbycough) got tired, but that is okay. With the membership we can go back as much as we want for the next year.

6 More Years

2009-06-26T18:01:00.002-04:00

Today, my husband signed his papers for 6 more years.

6 YEARS!!!

It makes sense. I mean, this is our lifestyle now, but still, that is a big commitment. But Stuart is happy and that is what matters.

I am very happy, too, don't get me wrong. It is just very overwhelming.

6 years
Stabilization at Bragg
Small (very very small) bonus
6 month school option

So there you go. We are still figuring out the school option thing though. I mean, it is only 6 months at a state school. That is barely more than a semester. What is he supposed to do with that?

I'm a slacker.

2009-06-21T18:56:00.003-04:00

I feel like I start every blog post with "I am sorry I have been slacking lately..." but seriously, I have been slacking lately.

A lot of personal stuff has gone on that I am just going to have to deal with without the help of the blogosphere.

Plus, it is summer. We are allowed to slack in the summer, right?

More posts to follow this one... ones with pictures, even. I promise.

Proud

2009-06-09T09:40:00.002-04:00

My darling husband had his ceremony to receive his combat patch this weekend. It has been all he has talked about for a long time- the day when his right arm was no longer naked, lol.

I am very proud of him and what he is doing. He is happy as well so that is very important too.

I miss him, but I am glad that he has found a job that he finally loves.

I waste his time... literally

2009-06-01T09:01:00.003-04:00

Communicating during a deployment is hard. It can also be expensive.

Right now, my husband is still living in a tent so he can go use the MWR internet for free but it is incredibly slow and he gets kicked off the wifi more often than we actually get to talk.

And we are actually very blessed because he had the opportunity to buy a cell phone that he can use to make calls because the lines are very long. The only problem though is that it is pretty close to $0.49 a minute for him to call me. I can call him using Skype for $0.29 to $0.34 a minute, but it varies so much, just from minute to minute.

We take turns with the way we communicate. Some days he calls me, some days I call him and most days we just talk using Yahoo. Yesterday was his day to call me.

I talked his ear off about nothing. And I didn't realize it until he was like "uh, yeah, so I had better go because you talked away all my minutes." What did I talk about? Good question. The kids probably. The tornadic clouds from the night before. My school work. Stupid stuff when you think about it. I spent an almost $50 phone card talking about nothing.

It is hard. The cell phone is really supposed to be a special treat and in case of emergencies only. But the hardest thing for me is that I can't just call him up whenever I want to say "hey, I am out of milk, pick some up" or "Abby just tried to swallow a battery. She is going to make me go to the insane asylum someday." So what do I do instead, I spend $50 talking about the stupidest crap on the planet.

And when I apologized at the end I could almost hear him shrug as he said "Eh, I'm used to it by now."

Book Review: My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

2009-05-31T10:57:00.003-04:00

*Spoilers Ahead: Continue at your own risk*

My Sister's Keeper, by Jodi Picoult, is a book that was recommended to me by just about every single person that I know. I was eager to read it to see if it was actually as good as everyone said it was.

It wasn't.

Okay, so that really isn't fair for me to say. I will admit that I loved the book up until the end. The book was actually quite the page turner. It was well written and I enjoyed the story from the different perspectives. It was very interesting to see the situation in different minds. It let us know why Sara was the way she was. I can't say that I wouldn't have done exactly what she did if I was in her situation. When it is your child you are talking about, you will do anything to save them.

This book though... it ended up just being a 500 page slap in the face. I was reading right through it thinking, well, maybe it will all work out.

And then Anna died! She just frigging DIED on page 490 of a 500 page book!

I can understand that such is life and people die all the time. But what makes me the most angry about this whole thing is that it just reiterated the fact that the only thing Anna was good for in her life was to save Kate. She was a geneticly engineered match, she donated to her sister her entire 13 years and then her kidney went to her after she went brain-dead in the accident. Anna's whole life in this book was designed around Kate and that isn't fair to any single human on this earth.

I am very glad that the book ended with Kate remembering Anna. It was very touching that Anna could save her sister one last time. But I just don't like what the book said about Anna. Because when I turned the last page, the only thing in my mind was that Anna was created to save Kate and that is all she accomplished in her short 13 years.

I didn't hate this book. I was just so incredibly angered by it. Would I recommend it to anyone? No, I wouldn't. Read it if you want to be sad and angry, but don't say I didn't warn you.

Happy Memorial Day... two days late.

2009-05-27T11:26:00.005-04:00

So, Happy Memorial Day... two days late. It really is a special day and we should all take the time to remember those who have lost their lives in a war and those who are currently fighting.

I really should have posted something two days ago but I don't know, I am just not feeling so articulate lately and there were many other blogs who said it much better than I would have.

I had a terrible weekend (NOT deployment related) and I didn't want to project my feeling on to you all through my blog. So there you go.

I would blog about it, but I don't know who reads my blog. Which sucks because I would really like to write about it. *sighs* I should have made this anonymous because then I could talk about people all I wanted without worrying about them knowing it was me. Oh, well.

Product Review: Amazon Kindle 2

2009-05-22T07:45:00.005-04:00

Okay, so really the name of this blog should just be Kindle Love. Because that is what it is. Shameless Kindle 2 Love.

My husband bought me the Kindle 2 in March after months and months of me telling him on almost a daily basis that I wanted a Kindle. He wouldn't buy me one because the original Kindle was U-G-L-Y you ain't got no alibi UGLY. Plus, the reviews weren't that great. So I stalked Amazon and various blogs for months awaiting Kindle 2.0.

After they announced the release, Stuart and I sat down to weigh the pros and cons of buying one for me. After much deliberation, we decided to wait until after he deployed because it was just so much money. And what did he do a few weeks later? He totally bought me one, lol.

As far as the actual device itself goes, it is awesome. I am an avid reader so the Kindle 2 is pretty much attached to my hand at all times, especially with Stuart gone. There were many complaints about the 5 way toggle, but I find it easy to use, even with my man hands. There were also complaints about a glare on the screen but I haven't really noticed it. If I get a small glare, I usually just readjust the way I am holding it. I have read in all kinds of lighting, even outside, and it reads great.

One of my favorite things, that I didn't actually think I would use, is the dictionary function. You just scroll up to the word and it will tell you the definition. I also love the free wireless access, and it was great when I was at Bragg. In the boonies of Southern Ohio though, not so much. But it is okay because I just keep it turned off unless I want to get a book or look up something on Wikipedia.

As far as book go, it really can get rather expensive if you buy them off of Amazon. I have bought several off of there, but most of mine come from other sources. With a simple conversion program (I use Calibri) you can get ebooks from all kinds of sources. I have downloaded PDFs off of the internet and even bough bulk lots for dirt cheap off of online sellers. I know people that even use their library ebook lender program to read on their electronic reading devices. So yeah, the books can be expensive if you let them be (and if you are opposed to acquiring them through sometimes less-than-savory sources).

And in my opinion, one of the very best things about the Kindle 2 is how compact it is. I can store up to 1500 books on this bad boy. And I already have over 250 on there right now. I can't even imagine where I would keep 250 books! I surely couldn't lug them all around with me and switch between them with a few clicks of a button like I can now. If my husband had to move 1500 (or even 250 really) books in boxes, I think he might divorce me, lol. So as an Army family, the Kindle 2 was a good investment as well.

So now I know you are thinking "the book is dying! It is being replaced by the digital age!" Well, no, it isn't. I have still bought a few books in the past month. And I still borrow from the library frequently. It isn't like I need to own every book I read. I only buy books by my favorite authors. I borrow books from the library that I don't know I will like or sometimes I just go over there to peruse the shelves to see if anything strikes my fancy. So don't worry, the book isn't dead. It is just in a different format. Because really, how are ebooks any different from audio books? They are just books in a different format.

I will say though that when I was reading my first real book after reading on the Kindle, it was hard! I kept hitting the edge of the book to turn the page. Or the best thing was when I reached for the toggle to use the dictionary function! LOL, it took some getting used to in order to hold a real book in my hands again!

Now, I don't want you to think that there is nothing wrong with the Kindle 2 at all. It is perfect in my eyes, but even I will admit flaws. First and foremost, I am sad that I have lost my ability to lend out my books. If the book is on the Kindle, I can't just say "Oh, you can read this and just bring it back when you are done." Because NO WAY am I lending out my Kindle. I do have many of my ebooks saved on a disk, so I guess I can lend them out that way, but it takes all kinds of conversions and stuff. So, not quite as easy in the past. My other chief complaint is the battery life when the wireless is on. If it is off I can maintain a charge on that things for several weeks. But turn it on, even for a few minutes, and it will drain my battery fast. I know it is mostly because the signal is so sketchy here, but still. It is annoying.

I am really not doing the Kindle 2 justice with this review. It is wonderful and is one of my most prized (material) possessions. I am not going to tell you just to run out a buy one because with the $359 price tag, it is really something that needs careful consideration. Do you read a lot? Do you read enough to justify the cost of the device and the books? Because in my opinion you would have to read A LOT to justify the price of the Kindle 2 or the new Kindle DX.

Yes, I read that much, lol. Just ask anyone who knows me.

I shouldn't even have tortured myself...

2009-05-20T22:56:00.001-04:00

Okay, so I started using Google Analytics on my blog.

Big mistake. Huge, ginormous mistake.

All it does is make me feel bad about myself. I have low blog self-esteem.

For example, 83% of my visitors spend less than 10 seconds on my blog. Go me.

Owl Wall Hanging

2009-05-18T08:54:00.006-04:00

I don't know if you remember my post about all the stuff I was doing to my room? Well, among the various craft projects was an owl wall hanging using a quilting hoop and different buttons and fabric.

I finished it a few days ago and thought I would post a picture of it.

I used three different fabrics: a flowery white for the eyes, a hounds tooth pattern for the body, and a crazy brown and blue for the belly area. I also used a few buttons from two different bags of mixed buttons and bought the eye buttons in two packs.

I ended up using very thin yarn to sew around the body and belly because I didn't get the right cross stitch thread. Big mistake and if I ever make another, I will be sure to never do that again. It was hard and was almost ripping the fabric when I pushed it through.

Next time I will also probably used brighter fabric in more contrasting colors, but besides the orange, the colors in my room are quite muted. It also didn't take very long, even considering that I made it so big.

I am very pleased with how it turned out. :)

Post Secret: May 17th, 2009

2009-05-17T08:57:00.004-04:00

First off, there were two post secrets that stuck out to me this morning.

#1 - My sentiments EXACTLY!:

#2 - Okay, so this one kind of made me mad. Not because of what it says, because hello, her secret not mine. I am mad because this is a MAJOR OPSEC violation!:

Big Step

2009-05-17T08:44:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, I took a huge step...

I switched to diet pop.

*GASP* Diet pop you say?! LOL, but seriously, that is a big step for me.

I am an avid Coke drinker. I need my caffeine and Coke got it done for me. And I would drink coffee but I am not a fan of hot drinks in the morning.

So I switched to Diet Pepsi Max and I gotta say, it isn't that bad. I still want a Coke, but it gives me my energy that I get from pop with 0 calories, sugars, and carbs. Even the sodium isn't that bad compared to normal pop.

I can't say I will notice any difference with the switch. My dad lost 30 pounds in about 4 months when he switched to diet pop. Do I wish that will happen for me? Hell yes! Do I think it will? Probably not.

I do not do change well so hopefully I can get this to stick before I fall back on old habits.

500th Blog Post

2009-05-16T14:19:00.003-04:00

This is my 500th blog entry since I started way back in 2006. I have switched blog hosts three times and am sure I have wrote and delete blogs several times, but as of right now, this post is number 500.

To celebrate, I am going to do a silly little about me survey thingy. I am also going to give you all an opportunity to ask any burning questions you may have for me. Leave me a comment and I will blog the answers at a later date, lol.

Anyway, here we go...

001. What is Your Name?: Kasey
002. Age?: 24
003. Nickname?: Kas, Dimples
004. Height?: Short
005. Siblings?: Two
006. Eye color?: Blue
007. Hair Color?: Normally or currently? Normally blonde, currently brown
008. Do you wear glasses or contacts? Both
009. Are you right handed or left handed? I write with my right. Do pretty much everything else with my left
010. Do you have any piercings? Basic ear and left cartilige
011. Do you smoke? Cigars on the rare occasion
012. Do you swear? Hell no, I don't
013. Do you get along with your parents? Usually
014. Your heritage? Irish/English/Cherokee
015. Your fears? Worms, water, clowns
016. Goal you would like to achieve this year? Not have a mental breakdown
017. Most overused phrase on an instant messenger? LOL
018. Best Physical Feature? Dimples- I get A LOT of comments on them
019. Your bedtime? Whenever... it depends on what is on TV
020. What time do you arise in the morning? Arise? Seriously? When Abby wakes me up, usually 6-7
021. First thoughts waking up? "I don't want to get up!"
022. Do you shower daily? Yes

This Or That?
023. Bright or dark room? Bright if it is natural light
024. Chocolate or vanilla? Chocolate
025. Dogs or cats? Dogs
026. Pepsi or Coke? Coke
027. McDonalds or Burger King? Neither
028. Ant or Dec? What?
029. Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea? Lipton Raspberry
030. Cappuccino or Coffee? Cappuccino

In the last month have you...
031. Drank alcohol? Yes
032. Gone to a mall? No
033. Eaten a box of Oreos? No
034. Eaten sushi? Yuck, no
035. Been on stage? Nope
036. Been dumped? No
037. Gone skinny dipping? Um, no
038. Stolen Anything? Not that I am aware of

Have you ever...
039. Laughed for no reason? Probably
040. Been caught doing something you weren't supposed to do? Yes, who hasn't?
041. Been in love? Am currently in love
042. Fired a gun? Yes, often
043. Been drunk? A few times
044. Been called a Tease? not really
045. Been beaten up? No
046. Shoplifted? I accidentally stole a box of animal crackers once. I was 5.

What was the last....
047. Furry thing you touched? Zoe
048. Thing you've said? "Charlie, get back in the house and put some pants on"
049. Song you've listened to? "Bruised" by Jack's Mannequin
050. (Who was the last) person you've spoken to on the phone? Kelly, last night
051. Movie you watched? Forgetting Sarah Marshall
052. Thing you were doing before this? Reading Sex with Kings
053. Time you cried? Yesterday while watching Grey's Anatomy on DVR
054. Song you've sang? "Bruised" by Jack's Mannequin (singing along in the shower)
055. Time you looked at the clock? About 2 seconds ago on the computer
056. Food and drink you've had? Jalepeno poppers and Diet Pepsi Max
057. Flavour of gum you've chewed? Stride in the green box... wintergreen maybe?
058. Shoes you've worn? Purple Old Navy flops
059. Store you've been in? Best Buy two days ago

Favourite...
060. Planet? Earth because it supports life
061. Age you've been so far? Right now is fine, I was really immature when I was younger
062. Season? Fall, sweaters and jeans are the best
063. Number? 5
064. TV show? How I Met Your Mother
065. Flower? Sunflower

Random...
066. How much cash do you have on you? 5 ones
067. What's a word that rhymes with 'door'? floor
068. What T-Shirt are you wearing? Pink Fort Bragg Army Wife shirt
069. What brand of shoes are you wearing? none currently because I am bare foot
070. What did your last text message say? It was my code for Myspace mobile
071. What were you doing at midnight last night? sleeping
072. What's your current desktop picture? A dandelion picture I took
073. What's a word that you say a lot? Seriously. No, seriously that is it
074. If you were a crayon, what colour would you be? Blue
075. How is the weather right now? Rainy
076. What is the first thing you notice about the opposite sex? Not much, because I have already claimed my very own
077. Are you too shy to ask someone out? No, I am too smart- Married, you know
078. Can you do a headstand (not using a wall)? Why would I want to?
079. Who would you like to see right now? My husband but I would just settle for a phone call at this point
080. How many pillows do you sleep with? 6
081. Would you go on a date with someone on MySpace? Again, married so NO
082. How do you want to die? In my sleep when I am very old
083. What do you want to be when you grow up? Librarian with concentration in Young Adult Literature
084. What country would you most like to visit? Ireland
085. How many CDs do you own? Not many. I've gone digital
086. How many things, in your past, do you regret? I am pretty content with everything
087. Do you think you are attractive? Not in the least
088. Do you believe in yourself? *shrug*
089. Do you want to get married? ALREADY DID!! Geesh, survey, not getting it are you? lol

In a boy/girl...
090. Favourite eye colour? Brown
091. Favourite hair colour? Auburn
092. Short or long hair? So short it is shaved off
093. Height? 6' 1"
094. Weight? 220

Random Facts...
095. I am deaf in my right ear.
096. I am a proud nerd.
097. I have my library card number memorized.
098. I hate buying stamps to the point it makes me angry.
099. I used to want to be a podiatrist (foot doctor) when I was younger.
100. I showed beef cattle for 10 years at the county fair.

A conundrum

2009-05-16T10:22:00.002-04:00

We are having reenlistment issues.

My husband is reenlisting, but it is turning into a huge mess and I am getting very annoyed. Whoever said that it was an easy process *coughBILcough* was seriously mistaken.

First off, my husband was told that he has to reenlist 90 days before his CONTRACTUAL ETS date. Or else. Because apparently they don't have to let him because the numbers are up so much this year. (Thank you shiteous economy)

Secondly, our plans for getting a duty station are dashed because due to the stop loss, he has more than a year left with the 82nd. Therefore, they are telling him that he can't get a duty station because of having more than a year left on his stop loss contract.

Okay, so is anyone else seeing what I am seeing? Seeing the fact that we are getting screwed over by this stop loss? I wasn't angry about the stop loss because we had plans on reenlisting anyway but now I am.

And I call bullshit on this whole thing because his friend (who reenlisted to get out of deployment BTW) reenlisted the day after his window opened and still got a duty station. With two years left on his original contract.

So guess what they told him? To reenlist for two years and then reenlist again after 6 months to a year for a duty station. Well, he is afraid to do that because then he will enter back into the life cycle of his unit.

So we might be staying a Bragg just to avoid complication. Which I am pretty sure is what they wanted in the first place.

The Vegetable Garden

2009-05-14T20:28:00.006-04:00

We planted the garden yesterday. In the pouring down rain. Fortunately, we got it in the ground before the lightning started, lol.

We will have green peppers, jalapenos, cucumbers, cabbage, and lots and lots of tomatoes. Mom cans all sorts of things, even before the economy was bad, and it will be no different this year, especially with me and the kids her to help her can even more than usual, lol. I am looking forward to the salsa!!

I even got a pumpkin and some gourds so maybe Charlie and Abby will have something to take to the fair this fall. :) I always took pears off of the ancient pear tree in the side yard, and Keith did gourds and sometimes pumpkins. Being too little to show animals, I thought that this might be a great way for them to be involved in the fair, especially since we will be having a special visitor around that time. *wink wink*

Fail: Best Buy customer service

2009-05-14T09:42:00.002-04:00

I went to Joann's and Best Buy yesterday with the kids. I gotta tell you, not so smart on my part considering they never leave the house and I leave the house maybe once a week. Abby got called a "pistol" and a "firecracker" all in one day, if that gives you any indication of of how my day went, lol.

Anyway, like usual, as soon as I get into Best Buy I am accosted my sales people tripping over themselves trying to help me. "No, thank you. I'm just looking for now" is my standard response. After about the fifth person asking me if I needed help (more like "please make it look like I am doing something"), I decided to let the next person to come over help me pick out a camera tripod.

Okay, so I really didn't need help picking out a tripod. Like everything else I buy, I researched it exhaustively on the internet and knew exactly what features I wanted and how much I want to pay. But when that guy walked over and asked if I needed help, my curiosity about customer service got the best of me and I told him I wanted to know about the tripods and their differences.

I could see the panic in his eye. I knew that this was just an obligatory "Do you need help" as soon as I saw him. But I am mean, and insisted that I did.

Him: Can I help you with anything?
Me: Actually, yeah, you can. I need a tripod for some wedding photography and I am not sure which one to buy. (lie)
Him: Oh, so like people lined up and junk. (yes, those were his exact words)
Me: Mostly, yes.
Him: Well definitely the tripod then.
Me: Well, yeah, I got that. But any specific one?
Him: Nope. Just however much you want to spend. They are all pretty much the same. Just go with the cheaper one.
Me: Ooooo-Kay
Him: Need anything else? (no pause) Okay then, have a nice day.

So yeah. I shouldn't have even wasted my time. I am sincerely glad I wasn't an idiot shopping for a tripod.

And I do know that it isn't like that every time I go because I have had some very helpful people there. Just not yesterday.

I'm just not angry

2009-05-13T11:02:00.003-04:00

I like that I moved home for this deployment. My kids can play outside without getting eaten by fire ants and I have someone to watch them when I want to take a shower or go to a movie. I don't feel so alone like I am sure I might if I had stayed at Bragg. I didn't have an enormous amount of friends there.

The one thing about living here though- this is not a military town so people just don't get it. I have known most of these people my whole life and when they ask where Stuart is, I still can't get used to their reaction.

Them: Oh, Kasey! What's Stuart up to? Are you guys visiting?
Me: No, he is deployed.
Them: OMG, that is so terrible. How unfair! I would be so upset and angry if my husband was deployed!

Let me just say this- I AM NOT ANGRY. I'm not angry. It isn't "the Army's fault that my husband is gone." It isn't "so unfair that he left me behind for a year."

I'm not going to lie to you. This does suck. Deployments suck. Being away from your husband for a year sucks. But I am just not angry about him being deployed. It was our turn this time. Stuart has been in for over 3 years now and has not been deployed. While many see it as "not fair" that he had to go this time, I actually see it as "lucky." We were incredibly lucky that we got to spend such a long stretch of time together and I feel very lucky for that.

So there you go. I am not angry that my husband is deployed. But you should hear what people say when I tell them he is stop lossed...

Happy Birthday to me!

2009-05-05T22:12:00.001-04:00

I turned 24 years old today. (That's right- my birthday is 5/5/1985. Very easy to remember)

Even though Stuart was gone, this was one of the best birthdays that I have had in years. Maybe everyone tried so hard because of the deployment? Whatever it was, I can't thank everyone enough because I had a GREAT day.

First, the phone rang off the hook today! Family, friends, even my Aunt Susan who never calls me for anything, called to give me birthday wishes.

Plus, presents (which are completely unesseccary, but appreicated none-the-less) were abundant this year. Stuart let me buy an iPhone... can you say best husband ever?! That thing is awesome. Then, Mom let me go to Fashion Bug on her credit card and buy two outfits. Then she bought me some new PJ pants. The kids *coughgrandmacough* bought me a new Vera Bradley wallet in Pinwheel Pink! Hell, even my brother got me Repo! The Genetic Opera on DVD. This is all so much more than I expected. ♥

But the very best part of my day- I got to talk to Stuart on the phone for 30 mintues and on Yahoo for almost an hour!!

I still feel like I am glowing from my birthday day! I can't tell you how long it has been since I felt like this!

Living with the parents

2009-05-03T10:46:00.003-04:00

When I moved out of the house at 18 to live with Stuart (*gasp* before we got married even), I swore that I would never live with my parents again. My mother and I didn't get along at all and it was best for everyone that I didn't live with her anymore. I love my mom, but living with her was not easy as I am sure that living with me was not easy either.

Stuart and I lived together for over a year before we got married, but most of that year was spent with me living at college too. Being more than 50 miles from home, I wasn't allowed to commute and had to live on campus. I did commute my second year though, after we got married.

Then we had Charlie and it was like whatever tension was there between Mom and me was magically fixed. I don't know if it was because my mother saw me as a grown-up after I had him, or it was "first grandbaby syndrome" but we started to get along much better after he was born. And we have continued to get along.

Again, I swore I would not be one of those women that went moved in with my parents (running home to mommy and daddy is what several people called it when I told them what I was doing. Grrr...) when Stuart deployed, because let's face it, I have had my own house away from them for over 5 years now. I like my space. But when faced with actually spending a year alone with my children 8 hours away, I panicked and now I am here in Ohio.

I am not complaining about living here. I am very grateful that they even let me move in. And it is a farm, so we spend most of our time outside anyway, so space isn't too much of an issue. And I can't say that I really miss Fort Bragg, especially because Stuart isn't there to light it up for me, lol.

It is just hard. Sometimes I want to just go in my room and shut the door for two seconds but I can't do that. I feel guilty asking Mom to watch the kids because I don't want her to feel like I think of her like a built-in babysitter or something. But still, I need alone time and I feel like I get even less of it here than I did at Bragg with Stuart there.

Maybe I just still feel like a visitor? This is my home for a year, but it is weird to think of it that way. I mean, this will always be my home, but this is the longest I have ever stayed here since I moved out. I was hoping the adjustment wouldn't take this long but I guess I just need more time.

Canon Rebel XS

2009-05-01T17:10:00.003-04:00

I bought a new camera shortly after Stuart left. A little retail therapy that did me a lot of good because I am in LOVE with this thing!

I ended up with a Canon Rebel XS. I really wanted the XSi but it didn't seem worth the extra $200 to me as I am only an amature. Maybe an upgrade will be in order in a few years, but the XS already does way more than I will ever actually use it for.

At 10.1 megapixels, this thing takes crystal clear photos. I don't think I have yet to take a blurry one either. Close up or far away, this camera does a phenomenal job. Portrait shots are great as well.

I especially love 3 frames a minute that the camera will do. It makes it really fun to do pictures of the kids running around like crazy people, lol.

I am by no means a professional of any kind. I just enjoy taking pictures of the kids and random stuff. I would like to call it "Art" but that would be streaching the truth quite a bit. And I will try my hand at wedding photography this summer at my uncle David's wedding.

So enjoy this nice picture of a flower and the sorta crazy picture of Abby going down the slide backwards. Charlie caught her, so don't worry... no cracked skulls. Can you believe she does that all the time? Even when no one is there to catch her?

Meet Bob, the Army turtle

2009-04-30T16:59:00.001-04:00

My husband was really sweet right before he left and went to Build-a-Bear to make ME a bear since he had so much fun doing them for the kids. When we went the first time, there was a turtle and Stuart would just not let up trying to get Charlie to pick that one. He liked it so much, in fact, that that is what he stuffed for me. People keep asking "why a turtle" but I guess it is just a little inside joke. So meet Bob, the Army turtle:

Stuart told me how disappointed he was that he had to dress him in an Army Officer's uniform as he is not an officer. But that he felt it was appropriate since he does call me Household 6 and Company Commander of the family, haha. (He says he is the 1st SGT, Charlie is the SPC, and poor little Abby is low man on the totem pole at PV2)

I love this dang turtle and sleep with it every night. He even recorded a message for me on it. ♥ Just another little thing that helps me cope with him being gone, even if it is something as silly as a stuffed turtle, lol.

And once again, we have yet to actually build a bear at Build-a-Bear, haha!

Deployment Day

2009-04-24T17:21:00.000-04:00

I think this picture speaks for itself.