How I Sleep

I have rules for sleep.  Rule #1 is I don't want to hear any breathing.  I don't want anyone to be dead, but I don't want to hear anything from heavy, wall-shaking snoring to deep exhales or  any sort of a whistle nose noise.  However, I don't want the room to be quiet.  I like a box fan on high.  Yeah, and I will take my box fan with me wherever I travel.  If I have to take a plane, then I pack my white noise machine.  Not as affective as a box fan, but it works. I can't handle bass or birds chirping or doors slamming elsewhere in the house.  Also, the house can't be hot.  Sure, my extremities are often freezing cold in the winter, leaving my legs to wander over to Joe's side so I can stick my feet on his furnace body.  After all, I warm up once I'm under the covers for a while.  And covers are key.  I gotta have good blankets so I can keep the room air temp cool.  I don't go crazy.  Right now the thermostat dips to 67 at night, and often we'll crack a window.  I remember sleeping with the window cracked even in Missouri with snow on the ground.  Warm body, cold face, white noise (and only white noise) and last, darkness.  Our room here in GA stays dark.  It's on the north side of the house, and in addition to it's location, we also have both blinds and drapes.  It's wonderful.  If it wasn't for the dogs, I might never get up  

Zeus

Joe took this picture with our awesome new camera.  It pains me to say that I do not know how to take pictures this awesome and will have to be shown how.  But look how cute Zeus, the mali-shep is.  We found out that he is going home on Friday, and dude, I'm kind of bummed.  Granted, I hate him in the mornings for waking me up with crying and wailing, but by night time when he's less crazy and a lot of cute, I find him very enjoyable.

 
Of course, not everyone else has found him as enjoyable as I have.  He's a tough ass, though, and doesn't scare away easily (at least not permanently).  In fact, in his time here, he's become more well-rounded in my opinion.  He's now mostly potty trained and has learned how to roll with the bigger dogs (read: play well with others) - the process of which is shown in the two above pics.

Dang it, I love the damn dog, and I just hope I don't weenie out and cry when we give him back.  Um, I may go shop for going away presents tomorrow.  He's welcome here anytime (though preferably after he starts sleeping through the night consistently).  Yeah.

The Day After Yesterday

Ever have someone come out of no where and rattle you with a comment?  Just totally catches you off guard to where your reaction makes you look like the asshole?  Yeah, that just happened.  Ugh.  Oh well. 

So Christmas is over, and I'm kind of relieved.  It seems like it's just been a mad dash and hard to really appreciate the true meaning of the season. In the end, though, we spent Christmas day here with one of Joe's friends and one of my friends, and it was really nice.  They hung out most of the day - like 7 hours or so.  I made the seafood gumbo, but started drinking before I got to the homemade biscuits, so I said the hell with it.  I did not burn the roux, and the gumbo was tasty in all other ways as well.  I also had a variety of baked goods - pumpkin bread, snickerdoodles, and pecan crescent cookies.  Woohoo.  More than all that, it was just nice to have good people over who seemed to enjoy being here.  That was probably the best part about Christmas - sharing the day (corny, but true). 

It's been cold all day today with a few snow flurries.  We got a light dusting last night, which was fun - white Christmas in Georgia.  Nothing worthwhile today, though.  Just cold and windy.  We rested mostly and have been watching the NCIS marathon.  Woohoo.  Somehow we still managed to make it to the gym - probably guilt from yesterday - and had a healthy dinner: a stir fry of spaghetti squash, roasted red pepper, cabbage, and pork.  Yum.  Now Joe's cleaning up the chicken I bought at the commissary the other day while I lounge.  $.99 per lb holiday special for boneless/skinless chicken breasts.  Amazing.

Addicted?

Joe's been asleep for about an hour now.  I could see it coming a mile away.  He event tried to read, though of course his book ended up on his face, and I had to tell him to go to bed.  So here I am on this dang thing.  I used to read at night, but now I seem to just web-surf instead.  I still end up starting books...I have about four started...and then I just kind of lose interest.  Or maybe I'm depressed and need something more distracting like the internet, especially almighty Facebook.  Or maybe I'm just addicted like everyone else.  (But doesn't addiction stem from something deeper?)  Whoa.   

So tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and Joe's first of four days off.  Halleluja.  We're gonna try to relax some, though I'm sure he'll be studying for the boards.  Think I'll bake and try to clean the house a little more.  Tomorrow night we're going to the Infantry Chapel with a fellow Army wife for the Christmas Eve service.  Can you believe her husband is on rotation to miss the holidays two years in a row??  Bah.  I hate it for her, and I know that I'm lucky to have Joe home.  She went to church with us last year, and then afterward we hit up a Chinese buffet.  It was fun, and I hope it's just as much again this year.  She's going to come over on Christmas, along with one of Joe's coworkers for some Mulia Christmas fun and seafood gumbo.  I bought the shrimp and crab meat today, along with all the other fixin's.  I'm even going to attempt homemade biscuits.  Oh please don't let me catch the house on fire.

Since I clearly don't have a lot to say, let me brag that today between the Commissary and Pet Smart, I used $27 worth of coupons.  YEAH.  I'm no coupon mom.  Can't get a week's worth of groceries on $.58, but I can get a little off.  Felt so good that I finally took Joey Walnuts to the Fresh Market (gourmet grocery store) for his beloved Medoc (style of wine, not the company).  He apparently had it in France and loved it.  I'm still not sure what it is (haven't opened it yet), but every time we've been to the Fresh Market, he's wandered over to the booze and just stared at it.  Now it is his.  We also looked at cheeses, and I decided to play a fun game.  Since Joe was dressed like a complete redneck, I told him to start speaking French to me and that I'd pretend to understand just to throw everyone off.  I don't know if anyone noticed, but the bearded burly man dressed in Carhartt work pants, Merrills, hoodie, and hat examining the fine cheeses with his big, beat up hands was speakin' some dang fine fluent French.  Best part of my day. 

Cleanse

Well, if anyone has made it over here, you know I changed my blog address.  I did this immediately following round one of Facebook deletions.  It feels good.  Eventually I may delete Facebook altogether and push this blog into being totally private...but not yet. 

Today was whack.  I was just super emotional and stressed out about Joe's work.  Of course, I've always been emotional.  A high school boyfriend - Dave - once told me that I needed a switch to turn off my emotions.  I don't think about him much, but I always think about those words.  He's damn right - I do need something to switch me off sometimes. 

Yesterday I went to Wal-Mart a little keyed up - again due to Joe's job.  I was cool when I got in the store and found there were no baskets - just carts, which I didn't need.  And I managed to keep it together when the line I was waiting in at the outdoor area got closed due to a register problem, and I had to wheel my cart across the store to the regular register area.  And I was fine pushing my empty cart back over to the entrance, as my reusable bag was over my shoulder.  But when I got to the foyer area between the two sets of doors and wheeled my cart around so it was facing the inside of the store, ready for the next customer who entered, it apparently didn't set well with the entrance/exit attendee.  The lady, donning a santa hat, said to me in that joking but not really way "I'm gonna get you."  I asked why, and she informed that carts didn't go there.  I told her it'd be nice if they did, as every Wal-Mart in Missouri has a cart ready for you as you walk in.  It ended with a quick back and forth at each other until a customer came in and said they'd take the cart before the attendee bitch could put it back outside.  YES, THAT IS WHY I PUT IT THERE - not to be a bitch, not to piss someone off, but to be helpful.  I actually went home and cried afterward.  Just seems like you try to do good and someone is there to tear it down.  I tried to consider maybe the lady had a bad day, but good gracious.     


With all that I tried not to leave the house today, save a couple errands.  Probably a bad idea since the dogs were nuts today, and the puppy was especially a lunatic.  I should have left all damn day or at least gone on a walk.  Finally, in the evening things calmed down.  I decided to make snickerdoodles, and the puppy came and laid calmly at my feet.  TOO CUTE.  Dex laid in the kitchen doorway, and Lu was in and out, occasionally making sweeps for any dropped food.  Everyone was calm.  It was nice, relaxing even, and a good way to end a hectic day.

HJ?

But not like that.  One of the best things about laying in bed with Joe is that I can throw my arm over onto his side, and he will rub my hand and as much of my arm as he can reach.  It is one of my favorite things in the world.  He'll do it while he reads and continue until he falls asleep.  Ahhhh.  I told him it should be part of my birth plan for when I'm prego (willing I can get pregnant and willing I actually want to be touched while in labor). 

Anyway.  With three dogs in the house, I still got shit done today.  Laundry, vacuuming, dusting, BAM.  Actually, I kicked them all outside.  God bless our fenced in yard.  Did I mention we're dog sitting?  I think I did write that in the last post.  Yeah.  He's cool, but he's still under 3 mos.  Lu and Dex are slowly rising to the occasion of being his nannies. 

We did get a nice new camera yesterday, which I don't know how to use that well except for pointing and clicking.  It does far more than that, though, but Joe knows how to do all that.  Guess I better glam up because I'm fixin' to start being in the pics again.  The Joe show is moving behind the camera.  More than that, though, Joe takes good pics, and I'll have great stuff for framing.  As I've said before, I'd rather fill my house with the art of people and/or a story behind it that I know.  There's not really anything hanging in the house that isn't one of those two.  More of an identity that way.  It's good.

Finally, I have started running again after my three week interim.  Damn it.  I'm slow as hell, though Joe says "you'll always run your slowest on a treadmill."  I hope he's right.  I'm also starting to incorporate weights back into my life.  Makes me feel powerful.  Like I could beat someone.  Why shoot someone when you could pistol whip them, right?  Right.  So anyway.  I've even got Joe workin' on a workout plan for me.  He assessed my abilities tonight while we were at the gym, which was pretty cool.  Until we came to sit ups.  I'm awful and apparently have a core made of marshmallow.  Some years ago in undergrad at Truman where they required all students to take a fitness course, my class was given a PT test of sorts.  After the sit-ups portion, when we were all giving our numbers (how many completed in a minute) to the teacher, he just looked at me incredulously when I gave the lowest number in the class.  And now what I wouldn't give to have those abs....  

I Want To Go Home

So does Joe.  For the past two years, we've been content with spending Christmas alone instead of with other family.  This time of year is chaotic enough, and sometimes travel and family on top of that is just too much.  But I know that this year we both wish we were going home.  Unfortunately, Joe had to submit his leave before Thanksgiving, which sort of messed us up, as we did not have time to make plans.  Then, as we were trying to get leave changed, he was tasked with a project (on top of studying for the boards), so that pretty much sealed our stay in GA.  He's fairly stressed, and the whole thing just pisses me off.  I hope we can just get through the next 21 months or so.  Of course the fact that he most likely isn't re-enlisting has its own repercussions.  Everyday he comes home, and there is new bullshit.  I almost want him to be deployed just so he gets a break from it.  Isn't that fucked up?  Sure, I maybe bias, but if my husband was a chump bastard, I'd be the first person to call him out on it.  I'm pretty sure, though, that it isn't the case, as does most anyone who has ever come in contact with him.  So wouldn't they want a guy who is smart, educated, worldly/cultured (hell, he lived in France in college, and then went back for his thesis project to study Franco-Muslim relations), good at his job (so I've heard from coworkers outside of his team), and is a fair, empathetic, yet mentally tough human being to stay with them?  Wouldn't they consider him an asset?  The short answer is 'no, not so much.' 

But alas, I could go on forever, and it still wouldn't make a difference.  It is what it is, so we will (try to) make the best of it.  Anyone ever seen Full Metal Jacket?  Joking, totally joking.

Well, it's a damn rainy day here in the Southland.  I need to go grocery shopping, but it's just gross.  I need to clean up the house as well, but with it being wet, the dogs just keep tracking stuff back in.  Also, we're puppy-sitting for some friends this weekend, so Zeus the half german shepherd, half belgian malinois is adding to the chaos.  I like him, though.  :-)  He's so little but unafraid.  Lu loves him, and Dex is pretty indifferent.  One thing for sure is that they both love to double team him on the barking front.  Corner him and get right in his face.  That's as much as Dex does, though - no real effort to play - just tolerates him.  Fine by me.  I just want to give Zeus back to his owners intact, free of Dexter attacks. 

Other than that, I think we're gonna drop some cash on a nice camera tomorrow - our gift to each other, which was almost scrapped (by me).  Seems we spent so much (combined) on everyone else - almost 30 people - WTF, that I was ready to just can our own gifts.  Joe says we should get the camera, though, and I do occasionally listen to him.  Next year for Christmas, everyone is getting a portrait of Dexter.  Get excited.   

Things Lu Ate Today

Well, I'm down another pair of underwear, as well as most of an 18 stamp book.  I want to KEEL her.  The underwear aside, I'd FINALLY bought a book of stamps.  Been out forever.  I used one stamp before she chowed down, and then of what Joe pulled out of her mouth, two were salvageable, as Arielle will note on her birthday card.  By then, though, 2/3 or more were already digesting.  Thankfully, the dogs/us got a Petsmart gift card for Christmas, and I intend to buy a ton of things for Lu to chew on, give lots of praise for using her own toys, and beat the living hell out of her if she chews any more of my things.  

Moving on, I think I am done Christmas shopping.  Except for Joe.  But I really don't think we have any money left to spend on each other.  Plus, our anniversary is the 28th, and I keep forgetting.  He was the one that finally mentioned it.  Whoops.  I say we celebrate "us" in January.  Too damn expensive this month.  For the record, I did not want to get married in December, but everything got expedited because of the Army.  Back to Christmas, I mailed out 8 boxes today and used Fedex for all of them.  I don't know why anyone mailing a package would use the USPS at Christmas.  I went by there, and the line was 20 deep.  Hell!  I bought my stamps from the machine and took my last four smaller boxes (of the 8 - shipped 4 big ones at Fedex earlier in the day) and went back to Fedex - no line!  God, I hope the 'liquid' I sent doesn't break.  I spent several hours packing those boxes. 

Now that all the big stuff is mailed out and all ('cept Joe's) gifts are purchased, I just have a few cards to write and send out tomorrow.  After that, I aim to relax with the man when he's around and get back on the exercise wagon.  This is my third week of not running.  It has been super cold for Georgia, and of course I'm somehow still snot-filled.  TMI, but there is so.much.mucus.  Despite that, I'm going to get back to it.  Joe and I joined a new gym off post - All Fitness.  Based on my Gold's experience, I knew what to look for and ask, and best I could tell, it's legit.  It's more of a Mom and Pop's gym, if you will, but with ridiculously nice, clean equipment. 

I'm excited to get back into things, though I hate to backslide once I start something.  Before I got sick, I felt I was on the verge of just going for it and getting ripped.  Maybe I'll still do that.  It'll be nice to lift some weights again.  Also, that commercial about "one healthy choice leads to another" is right on.  When I was running, I had to eat well to survive the run, and it just went on from there.  So yeah, here I go, back to a gym and back to running.  And here we all are, right in the middle of the holiday season.  All I wanna do is bake cookies, drink coffee, and feast on my bounty by the fire.  Getting ripped won't be hard at all...   

'Goofy Bitch'

Alright, a quick post before bed.  This is more or less for my mother who called me today while she was at work to get my blog address so she could read it (for the first time at work).  Makes me want to write something a little less bitchy than the last post. 

Today was me running in 800 directions trying to finish up Christmas shopping (along with researching gifts), wrapping, and packing for shipment.  Everyone is almost taken care of, and for those who aren't, there is a plan.  I'm pretty sure whatever budget I had is out the window.  Oh well.  It's Christmas.  I'm kinda Scrooge-ish, but I had a good time wrapping things tonight.  I just get too irritated at the thought of people not liking their stuff.  And I'm not insane: I get gift cards and things they've actually alluded to liking.  God bless my dad.  Straight up - he wants ammo and socks.  Well, done and done. 

Joe is back home now.  He got back Friday, and my week-long bad mood melted away.  Of course, I had to first be pissed off that he had a later flight on Friday and did not get into Atlanta until about 9pm.  It took a little while, since it's so against my nature, but I did decide to make the best of it and surprised him in Atlanta.  He usually takes the shuttle, but I thought what the hell.  However, to pull it off, I had to be very careful as to keep him checking in with me (so he wouldn't get on the shuttle before I could find him) but not suspect anything.  Well, I rocked it.  Being small helps.  I stood behind everyone at the airport mass meet up where folks waits for their loved ones to come in from the terminals.  When Joe finally made his way there, I slinked through the crowd, approached him from his left side blind spot, and grabbed his hand.  He immediately snatched his hand back and looked at me like I was crazy.  And then it hit him.  Surprise!  Haha.  It was great, even if I looked like a creepy stalker. 

Since he's been home, we've put more lights on the house, went to dinner with our BFF couple, enjoyed multiple fireplace fires amidst decently cold GA weather and have tried like hell to get organized for Christmas.  We're staying home again this year, as Joe had to put in his leave before Thanksgiving.  Now, we kind of want to go back to MO, but it's too late.  Ah well.  It'll be nice here.  I'm trying to figure out what our Christmas dinner will be.  Currently, I'm stuck on seafood gumbo and homemade cathead biscuits.  I've never made gumbo, as I've always been afraid I'll burn the rue, but hell, it turns out I can actually cook, so why not give it a try?!  Watchoo think, Mama??

Where is It?

I'm in one of those moods where you say/think things like "What's the point?  Who cares?" etc.  I think I'm just tired of this stupid TDY that Joe is on (he's run ragged all day every day, and we hardly get a chance to talk), which means the next deployment is going to rock my world.  Yeah, cuz I'm ridiculous and have gotten too used to him being home.  Still, it's depressing that even though he's been home on his longest stretch ever (4.5 months), we never go anywhere and we never do anything.  It makes all this work waiting and keeping the house and thus our lives together seem like it's not worth anything.  One of us needs to get the ball rolling.  Well, my friends, I am ready for us to take a trip.  Finally got my money, but of course, the Army has other plans for my dear husband.  Gah!   

This mood is bleeding into my 5k plans also, or at least I think it is, though maybe I'm just actually being rational.  The 5k that I was initially very excited about is this Saturday.  That said, I haven't run in a week due to being sick, which I'm still on the tail end of.  Trying to get back into it has been made difficult with a cold front that has our highs in the 40's plus a wind factor.  Last in the trifecta of reasons why I shouldn't pay to run in a race I'm ill prepared for is that Joe gets home the night before.  Are we really going to want to get up early (he's only been sleeping 4-5 hours a night during the last two weeks of training) on one of Joe's few days off to sleep in?  Eh.  I was really excited to do this, but now it just seems like a hassle, which is probably why I have not registered.  (Hey, maybe this is why we never do anything.)

Also, there's Christmas.  It stresses me out every year:  Are we going anywhere?  What do we get everyone?  Do we have the money to buy gifts for twenty something family members?  Bah.  I actually have some gifts but haven't taken the time to wrap and send them.  I keep waiting for more input from Joe, as he'd previously had some opinions regarding the gift content and process, but of course he ain't home.  And now I'm second-guessing what I have bought. 

I hear when you're in your thirties, you're more comfortable in your own skin and don't ask such pathetic questions as "Why am I here?" and "What is the point?"  I'm ready for that.  I need a plan.  

Lu, You Bitch!

 

Well, Lu just chewed my umpteenth pair of underwear.  There, I said it; the cat is out of the bag.  The bitch chews my underwear.  And this time she crawled up on my bed to do it in the two minutes I was washing my face in the bathroom.  BIIIITCH.  She got on my bed which is against the rules, and then chewed my underwear, which is really, really against the rules.  AND, I considered this particular pair to be my lucky running pair.  The final insult is that this is following a day at the dog park in which Dexter went super rapist on the other dogs.  Dex humped a bloodhound to such an extent that his (Dex's) equipment had trouble "retracting."  I was horrified, but luckily my friends didn't abandon me and even helped to identify "improvement" with the "retraction."  I so did not want to go to the emergency vet because of my dog's wiener.  Geez.  So yeah, my dogs are perverted assholes.  

Other than that, I hung with my neighbor tonight sans dogs and watched the second half of Auburn giving South Carolina a massive beating.  I also talked to Joe who is now telling me that he'll be back the night before my 5k.  This isn't because the dates changed; it's apparently because Joe never knew what the hell they were in the first place.  I swear I'll punch him in the junk for his ineptitude and causing me to get upset over nothing.  At least we're making money off the TDY.  Camera fund! 

As of Late

Joe shaking the pecan tree at Thanksgiving.  You have to.  State law.

Us in front of (sort of) our Christmas tree.  We try to do this every year.  You never see a whole lot of the tree.

I baked cookies the other day. 

LULU!!

 So I'm sick now.  Every six months I get a sinus infection.  I rarely get the flu (knock on wood), just have allergies that get aggravated and turn into a sinus attack.  It really only hit yesterday, and I'm already feeling better.  Already to the coughing stage.  You know it goes sore throat -> complete nasal blockage -> cough.  Of course the cough and crap in the chest can live forever, so we'll see if I run the 5k in a week.  After tomorrow, I'll have missed 2/3 of my runs this week.  Crap.

Haven't really done a lot except baked cookies just before I got sick.  I did manage to go to the dentist where the hygienist slipped  for a sec and polished well below my gum line instead of my teeth.  I don't know if she just doesn't notice the pain that she inflicts or doesn't care, but she never says sorry or anything.  Gah.  Definitely have a sore on the floor of my mouth.  

Today I had an impromptu lunch with a couple wives in the unit with whom I'm closest, along with one of their friends.  Gosh, there's only a few people I can really trust and talk to about the unit shenanigans, and it's those girls.  Unfortunately for me, though fortunately for them, their husbands' contracts are up in 2011.  As Joe said, "2012 may be a lonely year."

Tomorrow's plan is to hit the dog park in the afternoon and then maybe swing by my neighbor's gathering for the Auburn vs. South Carolina game.  Being over-this-uh-way, my neighbor is an Auburn fan.  However, I think I have an old Gamecock jersey in the back of my closet that I may have to wear over there for shits and giggles.  Yeah, yeah, War Eagle.