Happy Birthday SgtDub!

Just a short blog to tell everyone that today (Jan. 31) is SgtDub's birthday!!!!! During our 15 years of marriage, SgtDub has managed to miss several of his birthdays due to military adventures. I don't know if he is doing this on purpose or what, but I'm starting to see a trend. He has managed (for the most part) to be around for my birthdays -- or at least make arrangements to torture me. He once took a real-estate sign, spray painted it and wrote Happy Birthday in giant reflective letters and stuck it in our front yard. He used this technique for several years until one day the sign disappeared. Whatever happened to that sign? As much as I hated turning another year older, I always laughed when I rounded the corner for home and saw that goofy sign. Last year, with the help of family, friends and co-workers, we managed to have the ultimate "surprise" party for SgtDub. SgtDub's little brother was in town visiting and we pretended that we were going to meet some other family members for dinner. I had one of my friends call me on my cell phone and say that something had come up at work, and I needed to run by and pick something up. The plan was that I would jump out and run inside to give everyone a head's up, while MissDub, Uncle Joey and SgtDub stayed in the car. Uncle Joey was supposed to then say he wanted to come inside to look around and then bring SgtDub to the conference room where everyone was hiding. It didn't happen this way, and they all piled out behind me, so I took off running and they were all saying "wait up". Goobers! Long story, short, MissDub, Uncle Joey and SgtDub wandered around for a few minutes before they came to the conference room door (all the lights were off). Uncle Joey opened the door and SgtDub saw just enough of shadows to know that he was about to walk into something he wasn't sure about. The lights came on and everyone yelled "surprise!" The look on SgtDub's face was priceless. He was so surprised that he had to be pushed inside the door. He soon realized what was going on and we had an awesome party. Papa Phil was the MC for the evening. We went around the room and everyone told stories about SgtDub adventures. His police buddies relayed the story of the time SgtDub almost got his head cut off by a clothes line while on bike patrol (I can talk more about that in another blog). Several people shared the story of the flooded truck (see previous blog), and I had the opportunity to talk about our life together. It was a wonderful evening and I know SgtDub was so happy. Anyway, SgtDub, I hope you know how much we love you and we miss you, and even though you can't be home on your birthday, we are there in your heart!

Friday Night in the Big Town

WooHoo . . . it's Friday night and I'm home alone! I'm wondering how my life would be different if SgtDub was home right now. Would we be going out to eat dinner, seeing a movie, going to the mall, or just laying around? How wonderful it would be to have my family together! I never imagined I could miss him so much and long to touch his skin and smell his stinky feet. MissDub is having a sleep over with her best buddy, so here I sit feeling sorry for myself. I have friends who think I'm so lucky to have my "alone time". They live such busy lives and would give anything to have a night to themselves. Here I sit wishing I could walk around the corner and find SgtDub and MissDub sitting there watching TV. When we first married, we lived in a 900 square foot home. We could see each other from every room in the house. It was so small that you could watch TV and go to the bathroom at the same time. We moved up from there to a 1200 square foot home and thought we'd moved into a castle. We could still hear each other from one end to the other, but we had 2 bathrooms. We now live in a 2200 square foot home and although it's bigger than anything we've ever had, it's really small right now. I think back to how our life was before SgtDub was deployed and how we went about our day-to-day routines. We each spent time in our "own" rooms, and passed in the hallway. I took my family for granted. I assumed we would always be together under one roof. If I had known what was to come, I would have held them closer, said I love you more and spent more time together. I would have stopped long enough to sit and listen to what they had to say, instead of worrying about the dirt on the floor. Everything in life happens for a reason, and I've had the opportunity (twice) to realize just how very important my family is to me. After SgtDub returned from his last deployment, I swore things would be different, and they were -- for a while anyway. Time slips through your fingers like sand, and it's impossible to recapture what you've lost. I'm learning to enjoy the small things in life and not sweating the big stuff. It all works out, and even if it doesn't, as long as I've got my family, I have everything I ever need. With love, MrsDub

Thanks for tagging me ... here you go
1. If you could build a house anywhere, where would it be? On a mountain top overlooking a valley with a river running through it
2. What’s your favorite article of clothing? comfy pjs
3. Favorite physical feature of the opposite sex? his smile
4. What’s the last CD that you bought? Rascal Flats
5. Where’s your favorite place to be? at home with my family
6. Where is your least favorite place to be? stuck in traffic
7. What’s your favorite place to be massaged? back and feet
8. Strong in mind or strong in body? mind
9. What time do you wake up in the morning? 6:30 am
10. What is your favorite kitchen appliance? dish scrubber that holds liquid soap
11. What makes you really angry? bad drivers
12. If you could play any instrument, what would it be? piano
13. Favorite colour? purple
14. Which do you prefer…sports car or SUV? SUV
15. Do you believe in an afterlife? Only in Heaven (not reincarnated as a cat)
16. Favorite children’s book? Charlotte's Web
17. What is your favorite season? Fall
18. Your least favorite household chore? mopping
19. If you could have one super power, what would it be? strength
20. If you have a tattoo, what is it? none
21. Can you juggle? no
22. The one person from your past that you wish you could go back and talk to? Mother-in-Law
23. What’s your favorite day? Friday
24. What’s in the trunk of your car? blanket, boots, toolkit, flashlight, ice scraper
25. Which do you prefer, sushi or hamburger? hamburger

I tag SGT Dub, if I had to do this, so does he.

"Do Nothing Day"

It's Saturday morning, and I've decided to have a "Do Nothing Day". What is a "Do Nothing Day" you ask? Well, my definition of a "Do Nothing Day", is when you stay in your pjs, watch TV, veg and just enjoy the day. Not that this is different than any other weekend for me, I've decided that today I'm not going to drive myself nuts trying to get things done. I feel like I can do this today because I busted my hump last weekend with house cleaning and eliminating junk. My "Do Nothing Day" started at 7:30 a.m. when I was awakened to the whimpers of our dogs begging to go potty. Apparently the dogs don't respect me, or else they would have held it until I was ready to get up. Don't they know it's Saturday? This was my first set back. I sometimes fall back into bed and wait until our dog (Sunshine) starts scratching on the door to come back inside, which usually takes less than 1 minute. By this time, the horses are pacing the fence and begging to be fed. Again, no respect. MissDub and I have an arrangement that I feed the horses in the morning, and she feeds in the evening. It used to be that she would feed during the week, and I would feed on the weekends. Regardless, I think I got the short end of the stick (no respect). Whose idea was it to get horses? Oh right, SgtDub . . . and where is he? So I slid into my insulated jumpsuit, snow boots, hat, scarf and gloves and headed out to the barn. Determined to stick to my plan, I jumped back in bed and slept until 9:30 a.m. when the phone rang. It was SgtDub, so I decided it was time to get up. Following our call, I had my morning cup of coffee, wrote in my journal, read my daily devotional, ate breakfast and watched Rachel Ray (my favorite). I managed to last about an hour before I broke down and put on my sweats. The guilt was killing me and I felt like I had to be doing something. I then proceeded to make the bed, start the laundry and wander from room-to-room picking stuff up. Even though I'm no longer lounging in my pjs, I am going to try to do nothing for the rest of the day. I have to go now, the dryer just stopped and I feel the need to walk on my treadmill. I hope you have better luck at your "Do Nothing Day".

Things that go Boom!

A term I don't wish to hear again . . . SgtDub started my day with a phone call to let me know about a car bombing that happened outside the gate at the camp where he is stationed. Definitely not the way to start the day (or end it). SgtDub and all the soldiers are safe and no one was injured (Thank Goodness!) I'll leave it up to SgtDub to give a description (if possible) of what actually occurred. He's learned from past experience that I do NOT wish to get my news from the television. We've had issues in the past with the police department when I would see breaking news of a shooting or police chase or something big and I would start trying to call him, and get no answer. The problem being he's on the scene and unable to call. I've now got him trained at the first sight of a news team to pick up the phone and call to say it's not him. That's all I need to know. So, on to lesser news . . . Day 5 of the winter blast and we're still here. School was cancelled today and is already cancelled for tomorrow. The highways are clear, but the problem comes in getting there. I stayed home from work again today - I never thought I would miss work, but I do. Why don't we get "heat days" in the summer, say when the temp reaches 90 degrees, we all stay home -- at least we could go outside and have some fun. I'm happy to report that MissDub has finally finished cleaning her room and it looks and smells so much better! We'll see how long it takes her to trash it again. She wants to re-do her bedroom when Daddy gets home, so I've told her that if she keeps it clean, we will proceed with the room make-over. My alternative is to let her grab one change of clothes and her toothbrush and then I'm putting a pad lock on the door. She can just wash her clothes every night and wear the same thing over and over. I think she finally realized that I was serious and not going to back down. Although I did end up helping her last night. I told her that she could just pay me $10 an hour to do it. She jumped right on that (she's obviously getting too much allowance), but I told her to keep her money. So, at the current time, we all have clean and organized rooms - at least until June. I'm really trying to loosen up and not worry so much about what the house looks like. In my younger days, I would clean every Thursday night (whether it needed it or not), now I'm lucky if I clean every 3 months. Before long, I won't even care, but by then MissDub will be old enough that I can make her do it for me. Maybe tomorrow I will tell the "Cheesey Italian Turkey Hash" story. Til then, be safe and warm :)

"Oh What a Beautiful Morning!'

Although I don't think this is the kind of day they were referring to when they wrote the song, it's a beautiful morning to me! For the first time in 3 days, I woke up to see the sun shining in my window (yipee!) I've been keeping all of the blinds closed to keep the heat in, so today I got to run from room-to-room opening the blinds and letting the sunshine in. I don't know what it is about sunshine, but it makes me happy. Everything outside is covered in a thick white blanket. It's not ice, but it's not snow either. There are no footprints and it crunches when you walk on it. It's pretty to look at, but I'm ready to get out of the house. I thought I did okay on stocking up on groceries, but apparently not. Our meals quickly turned to as what MissDub once called "carbonated" foods (carbs). We've had packaged noodles, canned beans, potatoes, cornbread, garlic bread, cinnamon toast, crackers, cereal, cereal and more cereal. I did manage to buy some fruits and we've eaten that, but I didn't get any fresh vegetables, salad or even meat. MissDub is really picky about meat. She refuses to eat fish, chicken, pork and ground beef. However, she will eat Sonic burgers, chili and $20 filet mignon. She likes the way I make meatloaf, but won't eat Papa's. She did try sushi the other day (California Roll). I told her to just shove it in her mouth and not to try to chew it. She ate it and didn't spit it out. Not sure if she will ever want it again. SgtDub is weird about meat also. Hmmm, wonder where she got it from? SgtDub won't eat fatty meat, rare meat, shrimp or Cheesy Italian Turkey Hash (another story), but he will also eat a $20 filet mignon. He goes as far as to trim the fat off of bacon and ribs. It's quite comical when Papa and SgtDub are eating together. Papa makes a meal off what SgtDub cuts off. Now I know where bacon bits come from -- SgtDub sits there with his knife and cuts them up. If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm not much of a cook. I have all the tools and toys to cook, I just choose not to. When asked what I'm making for dinner, I say "reservations". I'm ready for the ice to melt, so I can get some "real food" -- RESTAURANT FOOD!!!

The "Big Chill", Day 3 . . .

I'm happy to report that MissDub and I are still doing fine. We still have lights, heat, running water and cable (whew!) I keep puttering around the house trying to do projects. I have a real problem just sitting down and doing nothing. Just ask Dub, I sit down to watch TV and I notice the curtain is crooked and I jump up to fix it and then get distracted and end up mowing the lawn or something like that. I like to think of myself as being fairly relaxed, but I guess those closest to me would disagree. This morning I decided to curl up on the couch and read a book. The book was a gift from my brother-in-law and sister-in-law entitled "E-Mail to the Front", One Wife's Correspondence with Her Husband Overseas. The book is written by Alesia Holliday and published by Andrews McMeel Publishing. My first thought was "why would I want to read someone else's emails", and then I thought "the same reason people are reading my blogs". Alesia is the mother of 2 small children, a dog named "PJ", and her husband "Judd" is in the Navy. Reading her emails made me laugh, cry and laugh some more. My heart goes out to the military spouses with young children. Deployments are hard on children (any age), but I think when they are older, they can at least understand the concept of time and what is going on. Regardless, they still miss mom or dad (or any relative). Our MissDub tries to be such a "tough girl". She doesn't let anyone see her cry. She cried when the dog had to be put down, but not when Dad left (at least not where anyone could see her). Why is that? It's okay to be sad, lonely, and mad while still being proud. As I sit here writing this blog, I am reminded of the toll this war is taking on my family. A poster hangs on the wall in SgtDub's office that is MissDub's winning Poster entitled "My Dad Police and Soilder" (actually spelled that way). The picture is a soldier standing in front of an American Flag, and I smile every time it catches my eye. Okay now, wiping tears -- Alesia's book is great and if you get time, check it out. I can relate to the lawnmower story, shopping at the Commissary on pay day, "Top Ten Things Not To Say To a Military Spouse", and last, but not least, "I never thought I'd appreciate the sound of your snoring". As I just said to SgtDub, if they ever published our correspondence, it would be a comic book. Hoorah!