Getting my craft on

On Sunday night Sgt D and I started to clear out the closet in the baby's room. After all, we need a spot for all of Baby D's future belongings...right? We decided to move all of my yarn and fabric bins (a total of 3 large tubs) into our office/guest room. While Sgt D was doing all the heavy lifting, (I have the world's greatest excuse for not helping) I decided to go through one of the yarn bins and I found some pretty surprising stuff in there. None of the yarn was mine! All of it belonged to my grandma, who sadly passed away from Breast Cancer when I was a senior in college.

I had forgotten that after she passed away my papa gave me all of her yarn and crocheting supplies because I was the only one in the family who did anything like that. My grandma taught me to crochet when I was probably about 10 years old. It never really took, and I've always been a better knitter. The box didn't just have yarn in it though, it also had two unfinished projects: a baby blanket and a granny square afghan.

Keeping in mind that I haven't picked up a crochet hook (for actual crocheting - they have their uses in knitting too) in about 18 years, I was able to figure out the pattern on the baby blanket and finish what my grandma started. It was such an amazing experience working on what was probably one of her last projects. The blanket is now in Baby D's bassinet and waiting patiently for Baby D's arrival. The other blanket is going to be more slow going. I have been able to locate two of the three colors used in it (luckily it is no dye lot yarn, so I don't have to worry about the age of the yarn), and I will hopefully finish it in the next couple of weeks.

Working on these afghans has given me lots of ideas for Christmas gifts, which has made me excited, especially with my school ending in 2.5 weeks and the fact that I will need something to occupy my time during my last trimester!

Sacrifice

When I became an army wife I knew that I was going to have to make multiple sacrifices. For instance: being able to choose where I want to live, potentially never being able to have a stable career, time with my husband when he is deployed or in the field. I knew all these things when I said "I do", heck, I knew them when I said yes to his proposal.

Some days are harder than others though. I consider myself a pretty strong minded independent person and I hate relinquishing control over any aspect of my life to anyone. It is hard to say, "Ok, tell me what to do next and I'll do anything you say." In fact, saying that is damn near impossible for me. I want to have a say, I want to have a vote, and more importantly I just want to be heard.

That is not a reality when you are married to someone in the military. You lose your vote on all the things you once held as sacred and all you are left with is how you will handle the situation. Will you handle it with grace and dignity? Will you become angry and bitter? Will you become the army wife that most civilians think of - the cheating rotten human being who does not care about the sacrifice their spouse is making for them and their country?

I want so bad to be able to handle all this with grace and dignity. I am beginning to realize that at times it is absolutely necessary to put it in the hands of God and trust that he will take care of me and my family. When you are somewhat of a control-freak...that can be a major challenge. Please be patient with me while I struggle to become worthy of the challenge.

Projects

With Sgt D away and the fact that I'm not working I have needed to find things to do to occupy my mind and my time. I am currently enrolled in three online courses, and after this experience I have no intention of ever taking another online course again. It is, however, a means to an end, and once I complete these three courses I will be one step closer to completing my Masters degree. I am also working on a knitted blanket for Baby D. It is super cute in blue and green stripes (no, the colors have nothing to do with whether Baby D is a boy or girl, I just happen to like them). Pictures to follow when I finish it.



While I've been home my mom helped me pick out fabric for a quilt I would like to make for Sgt D. Oddly enough it too is in blues and greens. I think he is really going to like it when he sees it. All my fabric is washed, starched, ironed and ready for cutting. Hopefully it will not take me forever to make. My mom and I have also been working on curtains for Baby D's new bedroom. My mom had this jungle print in her closet for who knows how many years and it is perfect because we decided to go with a jungle theme for the baby room.

Today though is going to be the best distraction of all, and while it does not fit into the category of projects I think it bears mentioning. I'm going to see Harry Potter! Can't wait :)

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

I just got back from a Giants game, even though I live in Washington I've still managed to attend two so far this season, and one was in Washington! The first game was the Giants against the Mariners, and while the Mariners won (every dog has their day) it was still an awesome game. My parents flew up for the weekend, and Sgt D, my parents and I all went together. It was the first time that my dad went to a ballgame at a "foreign stadium", so that was pretty cool.

Today I went to a game with a friend from elementary school. We had a good time even though the Giants got stomped. Oh well, they won 7 of their last 10, so they are still tops in my book. My friend was wonderful, the game was for my birthday and while we were there, she bought a tee for Baby D. It says "My first Giants Tee" on it and is super cute. Can't wait to try it on our little one...although i am going to have to wait another 4 months for that to happen.

The rest of my stay in California looks like it is going to be just as fun as the first week was. I am going to have dinner at my favorite restaurant tomorrow and spend Thursday and Friday with my mom. On Saturday I get to see my extended family including my niece and nephew, which I am really looking forward to. I brought down one of Sgt D's old BDU uniforms to give to my nephew. He is a cutie, whenever I talk to him he always asks me how Uncle GI Joe is doing. I'm not even sure if he knows Sgt D's name at this point, but Uncle GI Joe is so cute that I don't have the heart to correct him.

More later in the week....

Normal fears

Sgt D is deploying soon. In order to get ready for that deployment he is going to the field for a month. This is the longest we will be apart since we got married. To top it off, I'm also 20.5 weeks pregnant, which means our little bundle of joy has begun to turn my insides into a one-sided kicking contest, and Baby D is definitely winning. I decided that during the first part of his training I would come to California for a visit, which I'm glad I did because I am usually so busy here that I don't have much time to think about just how much I miss him until I go to bed and right when I wake up in the morning.

One thing that is really hard though is that Sgt D did not get to feel Baby D move before I left, he got to see it on my last night, but not feel it. This has just about broken my heart. It makes me think of all the other "firsts" that are going to be missed in the coming year. I know that it is important not to focus on this, but it is on my mind and I can't really help it. I am reminding myself that I need to be strong, which I am, but sometimes I wish that I didn't have to be. Oh well, this is the life of an army wife and a soon to be army brat. We will get through and we will support Sgt D 110% during this deployment and whatever else the army may have in store for us.

Footprints on my belly

As most of my readers know I have not been having the easiest of pregnancies, I'm 18 weeks and 2 days along and I've already been to the ER twice and I've had to have a consult with the Maternal Fetal Medicine group. I haven't been able to consistently take my prenatal vitamins because they either make me throw up or make me wish I had thrown up. I haven't been sleeping well because I cannot get comfortable (and this is causing me to be a cranky bugger, just ask Sgt D or my mom, who have more than once been on the receiving end of my crankiness).

Well...today made the past 4 months all worth it. I got to see Baby D on an amazing ultrasound and this is my favorite picture. Baby D was making footprints on my belly and on my heart. I fell absolutely head over heels in love today with Baby D, and I'm finally starting to see past my misery to what I have to look forward to in 22 weeks!

Dear Doctor

Dear Doctors everywhere,

I just thought I would point out a few things that you may have forgotten on the road to becoming the medical "genius" that you are today. Your patients are people, they have real emotions and real issues, they are not something to be studied in a vacuum. Your actions can impact not only your patient but all of that patients loved ones who are depending on your expertise to make the patient better.

Your patients deserve a good bedside manner and are looking to you to be their advocate, that is why they have entrusted you with their health care. You are not the only fish in the sea and believe it or not, for the most part, patients have a choice in whether or not they allow you to continue as their health care provider. Please remember this the next time you have over-booked yourself and can only allow five minutes for the exam and no time for questions. Also remember that, believe it or not, your patients have schedules and lives that are just as hectic as yours is, and when you keep them waiting you are potentially interfering with their entire day as well. Most people work for a living or have other commitments during the day and do not have time sit idly in a waiting room while you send emails and twitter on your blackberry.

I would also like to take this time to thank you. I realize that what you have done by becoming a health care professional is a great thing. You have chosen to help others and at times you sacrifice your personal life and time with your family to do so, please do not think this goes unnoticed or unappreciated. Sometimes it is easier to be angry with you personally rather than a health care system that does not work because we know you, and the health care system, while part of our lives, is a somewhat abstract entity.

Please take these suggestions and compliments to heart. Patients everywhere, this one included, would appreciate any positive changes that may result.

Sincerely,
A patient of 27 years, 11 months and 6 days

Advice

Sometimes when you tell a friend that you are having a bad day or that crappy things are going on you really do want their advice on how to handle the situation. Generally when you are looking for advice phrases such as: "what do you think?" "what are your thoughts?", are common.

Other times though, you are simply looking for someone to listen and be supportive. You don't want their advice, in fact you don't even want their thoughts on the situation. You just want to know that they care and understand what you are going through.

Today I am looking for someone to listen and be supportive. I'm not looking for advice or how someone else would have handled the situation because guess what, no one else is in the situation, I'm the person going through it and all I want right now is someone to empathize with me. I don't want to hear about a time you went through something similar or how you think I should handle the situation. I am handling it, I just wanted to share part of my day with you and know that you care.

Before giving advice or thoughts, make sure that the person you are giving a piece of your mind to actually wants it. If not, all you may be doing is upsetting them even more and that is probably the last thing in the world that they need right now!

(Sorry for the rant, but I needed to get it out of my system and off my chest!)

Food Glorious Food!

I'm back up to three meals a day and two snacks! I am so excited. So far the second trimester is infinitely better than the first one, which was just painful. My energy level is up and I know that eating regularly is so much better for Baby D.

Who knew how happy a simple sandwich and chips could make me. Amazing!

maternity clothes

I haven't wanted to go maternity clothes shopping, but this weekend my mom took me and after wasting our time at Target, we ended up at Kohl's and found some great stuff. I would just like to tell the people who run Target that in the Pacific Northwest our summer doesn't get too much hotter than 75 degrees and therefore carrying nothing but shorts for pregnant women is STUPID. It gets cold and wet here! We need pants too!!!

I digress... Kohl's had a great selection and an awesome sale going on. I was able to get two pairs of jeans and four tops, which I was so excited about! It is amazing how much more comfortable I am wearing my maternity pants compared to my jeans. I am so happy, and not only that...but my nausea is getting better. Two things to celebrate!

starting to feel better

This weekend was the first in my pregnancy that I didn't feel like absolute garbage every moment of every waking day. This was especially nice in light of the fact that my parents were here for a visit and that we moved and I couldn't really afford to be sick the whole time. I swear, any woman who says that pregnancy is great and wonderful and all that jazz is full of it (and I'm sure you can figure out what "it" is).

We had a lot of fun this weekend with my parents. We unpacked almost the whole house on Saturday and had a great dinner at our favorite Japanese restaurant, Two Koi in Tacoma, WA. We also went to an action packed Giants v. the Mariners game on Sunday, which was so close, but alas, we lost. My mom also took me shopping on Sunday for maternity clothes, which are way more comfortable than wearing jeans with the button undone.

Today we went for a nice walk around part of American Lake which is right beside our new house. It was a great walk and I can't wait to go fishing there. Now they are on the plane and leaving for home. I'm gonna miss them, but I'm really looking forward to going to California this summer for a few weeks. It will be a nice treat.

Hearing Things

For years now I have slept with earplugs in...nine years to be exact. When I was younger noises at night didn't seem to bother me too much, when I got to college though...everything changed. My sophomore year roommate snored, and I don't mean a dainty little snore, I mean a football linebacker snore. I had every intent after the school year was over to go home and stop using the earplugs, but then I found that the slightest noises at home were keeping me awake too. You know the noises I'm talking about, the wind, an annoying 18 lb cat that needs attention at 2 am, my mom opening the garage door at o'dark thirty, etc. So I kept using them.

Ever since I've been pregnant though, they have been really bothering me, but what is worse is that (according to my pregnancy books) my hearing seems to be getting better the more pregnant I get. So now I hear all the sounds in my apartment, AND in the apartment above me (and some of those sounds I really wish I could block out, like the sound of my neighbor going pee). I realize the neighbor problems will end on Friday when we move into our 3 bedroom house on post, but all the other noises will still be there.

Well last night was the first night in about three weeks that I was able to sleep with my earplugs in. I only woke up a couple of times (which is normal for me), and I was able to sleep from 11:15pm to 10:48am. I was so happy. I really hope this turns into a sleeping streak!

Facebook

Facebook is an interesting experience. I have a page, and ever since joining I began to get friend requests from people I went to high school with. This was no surprise from my good friends from high school, but some of the people who sent me friend requests was down right shocking. I mean, some of these girls barely knew my name in school, and now they want to be my friend. I generally accept the requests when I get them. I mean after all, I do know the person (six degrees of separation know them), and we do have something in common. I just get a little disappointed every time I accept one and come to figure out that the person is what I like to call a friend collector. They have 300+ or 400+ friends and can't possibly keep up with each and every one of them. It really does bring me back to high school and reminds me that life really is a popularity contest, and you know what, I didn't have time for that game in high school, and now...I don't have the energy for it!

I found out yesterday that my high school reunion is on September 10th of this year. It seems to be at some kinda bar in San Francisco. By the time it rolls around I will be at the end of my seventh month (or sixth) and I'm not really sure that going to a bar that far along could be viewed as anything but inappropriate! We shall see what happens. I didn't have any interest for the 5 year, and while I am mildly more interested now, I just don't know if I am interested enough.

13 Weeks

Today I am thirteen weeks along in my pregnancy, and so far...I'm not loving the experience. I have always heard of women who loved being pregnant and I'm beginning to wonder about their sanity. Throwing up, being nauseous, dizzy, tired, my skin drying out, my hair feeling and looking dull...and the icing on the cake today was that I fainted.

I'm really looking forward to the 2nd trimester when everyone swears I will start feeling better. This cannot happen quickly enough.

****FYI...I just got off the phone with the urgent care nurse at the hospital and she says fainting at this point in the pregnancy is perfectly normal. She wants me to watch my temperature and make sure it does not go too high, or I have to go in.****

We're Moving!

I finally managed to convince Sgt D that we need to move on post, and we are moving on May 22nd. I am really excited, because we are expecting Baby D to join our family in about 6 months (give or take depending on whether or not Baby D will be early or late) we qualified for a three bedroom house in a great neighborhood. Our new neighborhood is called Beachwood and our house is literally less than a block from American Lake. I can't wait to go fishing in the summer and walk back and BBQ our catch at our new house.

The house is a three bedroom home, with a carport and two storage areas. The best part is that our move in date matches almost perfectly with when our lease is up at our current apt, so we won't be charged any lease breakage fees. Sgt D's commute is also going to be cut significantly and we will be closer to grocery shopping, the PX and most importantly in the coming months...the Hospital.

Once we get settled and have the internet up and running at our new place I will post pictures. I am very excited!

Long time no blog

So, many of you may have noticed that I haven't been blogging recently. I have a good reason, I swear. I have been keeping a secret and trying to let as many people know personally as possible, however, at this point I have either been unsuccessful at getting in touch with you or you already know.

SGT D & I ARE HAVING A BABY!!!

We are really excited and I just wanted to let everyone out there know that this is the reason I haven't been blogging. I'm terrible at keeping secrets, but now that we have reached the 3 month mark, I finally feel good about sharing the news.

Never Say Never!

I was watching the weather report on Friday morning and the meteorologist said that there was going to be rain all weekend and (direct quote here) "absolutely no chance of snow below 3,000 feet." Well...this is why weathermen should not use the word absolutely in any sentence. I woke up this morning to snow falling, and falling hard at that! It was absolutely beautiful, but it made me laugh. Why on earth would he say that, all it did was guarantee that at some point this weekend we would have snow!

Silly weatherman should have known better than to be forecasting in absolute terms!

NO Adult Supervision

I started quilting when I was 20 years old. My first quilt was for the birth of my niece. Very simple, in fact the backing was leftover fabric from my rainbow days. My next quilt was for a four year mistake, damn I wish I hadn't wasted the quilt on him! My third quilt was for my nephew, then I made a quilt top for my cousin B, my mom finished it this past year and it was a Christmas gift from both of us. My fourth quilt went to my in-laws and my sixth quilt made it here to my own bed. It turned out beautifully. It is an "Around the World" pattern and while it isn't perfect I absolutely love it.

Yesterday though was a really exciting day in my quilting life. I put together a quilt that I made by myself...With No Adult Supervision (meaning no help from my mom). That was a big moment for me. It isn't 100% perfect, but that is what makes homemade gifts special, the little imperfections. This quilt is for my Adult Supervisor (I like to call her mom though). She has already seen it and knows I'm making it, so I don't mind posting it in a place where she can get a sneak peak of one of her gifts.

(the picture quality isn't the best because I used my camera phone)

Rant Against Scramble!

Written by a very passionate Sgt D!

To whom it may concern:

Your game, however fun it may be for those in this world who find it amusing to play a game with stupid rules, sucks with the force of a thousand black holes. My wife finds your game amusing, even fun, well not even that will stop me from exposing you for what you truly are: 1. Madre is Spanish, so why in God’s creation is it in this game, last time I checked the game wasn’t “Scramble en Espanol”. 2. How about the word Edh? Find that in a Webster’s dictionary. Just because it represents a sound in some backwater Anglo-Saxon dialect doesn’t make it a word. 3. I don’t approve of your use of frowning faces with tears to represent vanquished opponents in your pathetic excuse for a waste of time. I’m in the military and let me just tell you that not even my organization can match the insipidness and lack of planning as your game.

You have wasted my valuable off-duty time with your dunderheaded attempt to compete with timeless games such as Scrabble and Boggle!

Thank you very much for taking away time which I will never get back, time which could have been better served ironing the wrinkles out of a used pair of gym socks!

Unless you are completely lacking in intelligence you will make drastic changes to your useless game, but since I feel that this is a stretch by any means of the imagination, just continue to wander the path of mediocrity that you are currently on.

From a concerned citizen of the world.


P.S. your game blows hard…..REAL HARD! Good day to you.

Looking for a reason to celebrate...

2009 did not start out quite the way I would have liked. During the first week I found out that my husband is being deployed this year, I have sort of known for months, but now it is official. During the third week I found out that one of my dad's co-workers passed away, he was a very nice man and he will be missed by everyone who knew him. Exactly one week after that I found out that someone I have known my entire life passed away, and that one really hurt as it is the lady who taught me to knit and who had an amazing spirit.

I wrote on my Facebook yesterday that I needed some good news and my dad was able to put a big smile on my face when he reminded me that him and my mom will be visiting twice this month. That really cheered me up, and I really needed it.

If you have anything else going on in your lives that deserves celebrating or is in the realm of good news, please let me know because I really could use something happy right now...

Sleep

When I was younger (I know, I know, I am young now, but when I was even younger!), my mom used to get on my case about the amount of sleep I got. In her eyes I didn't sleep enough. I would stay up really late, doing whatever, and then get up relatively early. I was a zombie all day and at times really unhappy or grumpy (there's another word for it, but I won't use it here).

I am finally starting to understand the value and importance of sleep. I am going to school full-time, substitute teaching part-time, and I'm a full-time wife/friend/cook/housekeeper/laundress/daughter/etc. On top of all that I am dealing with the emotional highs and (mostly) lows of being married to someone who is gearing up for deployment. While he is excited about getting maced, tazed, and shot with bean bags, I am sitting here thinking "why on earth would anyone be excited about that!?!" Keeping all of this in mind, I haven't really been sleeping all that well for the last week or so. I've been having nightmares, waking up at 3 in the morning and finding myself unable to fall back to sleep. I reached the point yesterday when I realized that I had done all my reading for my classes and couldn't remember one thing that I had read. That in and of itself is a big problem as my teachers have the expectation that not only will you read, but you will be able to discuss what you read in an intelligent manner!

Last night we went to bed around 11 pm. I know it is late, but I don't even get home on Tuesdays and Thursdays until 10:30ish. I only woke up once last night and I didn't have any bad dreams. I felt wonderful when I woke up this morning. I felt ready to face the day and felt a lot more positive about life than I have felt this last week. Sleep is an amazing remedy for a lot of things and I just want to use this platform to say to my mom, in front of the world (well really the people who actually bother to read my blog)...YOU WERE RIGHT!

Inspiration

I have been having a lot of nightmares lately. Go figure, my husband is getting ready for deployment and I'm not sleeping well. That combined with my stressful class schedule this term, it is a wonder I am getting any sleep at all.

This morning when I woke up, as I was making my bed, the color white caught my eye. I normally don't open my blinds until after I have taken my shower and really started my day (mainly because I live on the first floor and don't really want people peeping in on me when I'm getting dressed). Today though, I opened my blinds first thing, and when I opened them I saw white every where. In the past year I have only woken up to snow a handful of times, and for some reason this time I felt really inspired by it. Maybe because I am trying to find beauty in my surroundings today or maybe because I need a little inspiration to power through.

Whatever the reason, here are the results: I took some photographs of a beautiful holly bush and the plant next to it just outside my back porch. I hope you like them.

P.S. As I write this post it has started to rain and the snow has begun melting away...

Dinner

Four nights a week I am not home for dinner. It bothers me a lot that I do not get to enjoy a meal with my husband on these days, especially in light of his upcoming deployment. Instead of focusing on how much it bugs me, I have started to invest extra effort in the meals that I cook for him ahead of time. On Sunday nights I go through my cookbooks (for the first time Sgt D did this with me yesterday) and I pick out recipes that I will cook during the week and I make my shopping list.

Monday mornings I go grocery shopping, which I find oddly relaxing. I usually have to make two trips, one to the PX (post exchange - kinda like a big Walmart with no food) and one to the Commissary (the grocery store on post). Then I come home and put everything away. Around noon everyday before I make my lunch I start cooking Sgt D's dinner. Today it was a Chicken Tex-Mex Casserole. Tomorrow it will be a beef stew. I try to make things that don't require him to do very much beyond putting something in the oven or turning off the crock pot. He works hard all day and the last thing he wants to do is come home and learn to cook.

It is weird though, I have begun to really enjoy these meals I make for him. Trying to find good recipes that won't require to much work on his part has been fun (if you have any please send them my way). I also like the nice break it provides in my days, which are usually spent doing nothing but homework. It is also a great challenge every week, trying to keep things new, interesting and delicious.

The Washer and Dryer

Call me weird if you want...well most of you already have at some point in my life...but I really love the sound of the washer and the dryer. I do all my laundry while I am doing my homework throughout the week. At least one load every two days, I know this sounds like a lot considering we don't have kids, but Sgt D wears two different uniforms a day and his PT uniforms need to be cleaned immediately or they start to smell something awful! I find the noise the machines make to be relaxing and they lull me into a good working frame of mind.

Maybe it is the rhythmic sound the dryer makes dropping the clothes in a circle and the zippers and buttons hitting the sides, but there is something about it that I find kind of relaxing and peaceful. I'll have to ask my parents on day if I was one of those babies had to be put in the car or on top of a running washer to soothe them to sleep. I know I sleep great in the car, anyone who has gone on a long car ride with me can attest to that fact, but I don't know about the washing machine thing...

Inauguration

There are few moments in our history, where the entire country sat in front of the television, somewhat united and watched an event with bated breath. I am certain that today is one of those days. It is historic. The first person of color is being sworn in to the Office of President of the United States of America.

Not only is this a historic moment, but it is a positive one. The last time, in my short life, that I can remember a moment like this it was 9/11. It was not a positive moment in our Nation's history, but it did unite us as a country.


President Obama has the hopes and dreams of an entire country in the palm of his hands, and he is on the largest stage the world has to offer. For those of us in the military it is a different moment altogether. It is a moment filled with anxiety. There are so many rumors and concerns floating around about pay cuts, scaling back the military, pulling out of Iraq and Afghanistan before either country is secure. Some people worry whether or not they will be able to re-enlist, some people are worried that they will not receive the re-enlistment bonuses that they are counting on to pay off debt or to put a down payment on a home.


I would like to wish President Obama good luck in his future endeavors as the president of our nation and I will stay positive, that as a military wife he will try to operate with our best interests at heart, considering the many sacrifices our military has made for this country the past 8 years.

Bums...

Sgt D and I are the biggest bums on the weekend. We get up around 10 am usually, but we don't really seem to accomplish anything until much much later in the day. Today, Sgt D decided to completely rearrange our office in light of all the new gear he got and the lack of room in our apartment. 5 hours later...the office looks pretty good. Let me tell you, it took a lot of compromise to make what few changes we did make, but at least we didn't have any major fights (which is usually what happens when he starts organizing!).

It still looks like a military clothing and sale store blew up in our office, but that should only last a couple of more weeks...I hope.

Tonight we are going to catch a movie, we figure on a Sunday night, how crowded can it really be. Via three day weekends!!!

Orders

Sgt D got orders this week to go Down Range. I can't post anything about it here, other than to let you know that it has finally happened. I fully plan to respect all Op Sec rules regarding this future deployment and want our friends and family to know that we will keep them informed through other means of any developments. I am ok. I had a hard time dealing with it earlier in the week, but we knew it was coming for sometime. Although, even though we had an idea, having it in writing was still a difficult thing to handle.

I am eternally grateful to my family and friends who have listened to me cry this week. I'm sure over the next several months you will get more phone calls from me just asking you to listen. I know that I signed up for this when I married someone in the military, but that doesn't make it any easier to deal with and I certainly do not need to be reminded of that and I would like to thank everyone for not taking any cheap shots at me by reminding me of that fact.

This is probably the first time in my life I have ever looked forward to starting school so much, as it is an excellent distraction. I am also trying to re-pick up my hobbies of quilting and knitting (not that I ever really stopped knitting). I am having my sewing machine serviced and it will be ready by tomorrow evening and my mom is being generous to give me some quilting kits to work on for her, which I am really excited about. Anything to keep my mind from wandering to places it does not belong.

Please keep Sgt D and his fellow soldiers in your hearts and prayers these next few months as they prepare for their deployment.

Dangerous indoor activities...

I was going to blog today about the nasty weather we've had the past couple days and look to endure for the rest of the week, but instead I thought I would blog about what we've been doing to keep ourselves occupied indoors to avoid the awfulness outside.

Yesterday, Sgt D and I decided that we could warm ourselves up a little by play Wii sports. I turned the game on and sat through the information screens about putting on the wrist strap and watching out for furniture around you. After all I have seen those screens every time we have played this past year, I didn't really need to watch this time. Well...maybe I should have. While I was doing my round of punching the bag on the boxing, trying to determine my Wii Fitness Age, I ended up whacking a wire shelving unit we had stuck in front of our fire place temporarily until we could find a better home for it. I yelped, and ended up with a fat bruised pointer finger on my right hand. Let me tell you, it HURTS! After that little incident we decided to move the shelving unit until we were done playing, but the damage had already been done...

I guess next time I should pay a little more attention to the warning screens on the Wii...and maybe to my surroundings as well...

I hope you are all finding fun ways to occupy yourselves during the nasty bit of cold weather we have had lately, and more importantly I hope you have managed to do it injury free...unlike myself!

Upcoming Road Trip

Sgt D and I are planning a 3,300 mile roundtrip from Lakewood, WA to Salt Lake City, UT (for one night), to Belen, NM to San Mateo, CA, and finally back home. We will be doing the first two legs in 48 hours. I almost think we are insane, but on the upside we will get to see both of our families, which I can't wait for. We haven't seen Sgt D's family since last year at Christmas, and I'm hoping at New Years we will be able to see some friends that I haven't seen in quite some time.

Keep your fingers crossed that our trip goes well...better yet keep your fingers crossed that Sgt D and I can finish our classes successfully before we leave for our trip. I can't wait for this quarter to be over, it has been a really long one!

Bad Blogger Strikes Again!

It has been at least three weeks since my last post. I've been a little busy, what with taking three graduate courses and substitute teaching several days a week.

Today is Veteran's Day. A day for remembrance and also a day to be thankful for the members of our armed forces, both past and present. Today I am thankful. I am thankful to my husband, to the men and women he serves with and I am thankful for all who served before them. Even if you do not agree with the wars our country is currently fighting, I hope you can find it in your heart to still appreciate the men and women who are sacrificing their lives fighting those wars on behalf of our country.

1 year and counting...

Well folks, we made it! Sgt D and I just passed the one year mark in marriage. Yesterday was the official day, but my new quarter of school started last night, so we slipped away last Friday for a romantic weekend in Bellevue, WA (home of Microsoft). We stayed at the Hyatt in downtown Bellevue and we were truly in the heart of the city. Here is a picture of view from our room (we were on the 17th floor).



We got in late on Friday, and had a late dinner at PF Changs. On Saturday, we got up early and walked about a mile to Gilbert's for breakfast. For those of you from San Francisco, it really reminded me of Squat and Gobble, and was absolutely worth the walk. On our way back we stopped at the mall and can I just say it is probably the biggest mall I have ever been to in my life. I mean the Nordstroms had three restaurants in it!!!



Saturday night we went to Daniel's Broiler for dinner and it was probably the best dinner I have ever had in my life. Here is the view from our table on the 21st floor of the Bank of America building.

While we were eating dinner another couple got engaged. We thought that was a good omen, celebrating our one year anniversary and seeing another couple begin their adventure together. At the end of the night another diner was kind enough to take a picture of us, and since we don't have many pictures of us together I was really excited about that!

Here's to many more wonderful and memorable anniversaries to come!

Victoria, BC

I just got home yesterday from Victoria, British Columbia with my parents. We had a wonderful time. We stayed at an amazing B&B that my mom found name Abbeymoore Manor. It was so beautiful. We stayed in the Primrose and Rose rooms. I sadly was without SGT D this trip, he had to stay home for some Army stuff, but he is definitely going to do his best to make it on the next trip up there.

We went to the Butterfly Gardens, Butchart Gardens, The Royal British Columbia Museum, Government House and the White Heather Tea Room for afternoon tea.

Here are Dad & Mom at Butchart Gardens

Here are mom & I at Butchart...

We had an amazing time, our only regret was that Sgt D couldn't join us. Hopefully next time though!

Vacation!!!

This week and next week I am on a two week vacation from school. Although I am substitute teaching for science tomorrow. I still need to make some money...

I have been super busy knitting away. So far I have made a super cute purse for my 7 year old

niece for Christmas and I have finished a pair of socks that I started two years ago.

I also found out my grades today for my first two master's classes and I am proud to say that I have a 4.0 GPA. Heck Yeah!!!

My next blog post will hopefully have pictures of Victoria, Canada, as that is where my parents and I are going next week. So exciting! Sgt. D can't come because of work, but his job is an important one, so he is forgiven.

Other than all that, nothing else new going on here. Same old stuff just a different day.

Math

So a lot of people in my life think I am completely incapable of doing math. I would like all of those people to know that is fundamentally not true. For the record I received all A's and B's in high school, it wasn't until I got to college that math, specifically Calculus, became a struggle and I started to dislike math.

The way math was taught in high school we were essentially trained to be dependent on our fancy Texas Instrument graphing calculators to do all the work, and we never really learned how to solve most math problems by hand. No one told us that when you get to college they take those fancy calculators away and expect you to be able to solve math problems by hand. I have always felt that aspect of my education is where I was truly short changed. I was never prepared for that part of college, and in a way set up for failure. If you have not been given sufficient training on something, no matter how hard you try, you are less likely to be successful at it. (Something I have learned from my Master's in Education classes.)

Well yesterday was a fantastic shot in the arm for my mathematics self-confidence. I substituted for two Algebra classes and one Geometry class and I was able to not only remember how to do the math, but I was able to teach it. That whole if you can't do, teach saying, did NOT apply, because I was able to do as well. It made me feel really proud of myself, and made me feel much better about substituting all subjects rather than sticking with specific ones.

I Survived!

I made it successfully through my first two days of substituting. I covered for a nutrition and health class (x3 periods), two ELL (English Language Learners) classes, steel drums (x2 periods) and concert band. I have now been experienced teaching in the high school and teaching in the middle school. I have to be honest, I preferred the high school. I know that everyone says high school kids are not the ideal age group, but I have to be honest, they are easier to talk to, and I didn't feel that there was nearly as much drama. All the classes I have covered so far, with the exception of the ELL classes, have been electives so that could also be why it has been so great the past two days. The middle schoolers kept me going the entire day, the only time I sat down was at the end of the day to write a note to the teacher. The high schoolers knew what they needed to do and for the most part were very self-sufficient.

I am really looking forward to getting some experience in the core subject areas of history, English, math or science. Just so I can get an idea of what those classes may be like.

Autumn in Washington

Autumn arrived a week early in Washington this year. It was as if the state just decided to hell with summer, we are ready for crisp days, freezing nights and, oh yeah, bring on the RAIN. I'm used to California summers that sometimes last through the middle of October, well let me tell you, I do not have my hopes up for that to happen in Washington.

The leaves have already started to change color, and it has started to rain again. In fact I just looked at the forecast for the next four days, and Google is telling me that it will rain 3 out of 4 days. Although, I guess in a state where if it doesn't rain for a week people think that we are going through a drought, the rain is actually a good thing. I mean after all it hasn't rained here in like what...three whole weeks. Probably the driest I have felt since moving up here.

I guess what all this boils down to is if you are planning a visit up here anytime soon, bring your raincoat, galoshes and perhaps a thick wool sweater for the night time, because you are going to need it!

Say a prayer...

Next Wednesday, Sept 24th, I will be teaching in a high school classroom...all by myself.

I have signed up as a substitute with the local school district in order to get some real life experience in the classroom and also to pay for school (both equally important). My first job will be in a high school music class. I felt pretty confident that I could handle this assignment, after all, I was in the band from the time I was 10 until I graduated from high school. On and off for 7 years, I should be ok...right? There was another assignment open for teaching math at the same high school on different days, but I figured I should play to my strengths and math has never been one of them. I have been learning in all my classes that the teacher needs to be the authority and I do not want to walk into a setting where my students probably know more about the subject than I do, that wouldn't be fair to anyone; me, the teacher I am subbing for, or the students.

I hope it all goes well...pray for me on Wednesday, I'll need a little help. Not to mention confidence!

Allergies part 2

Wheat, Eggs, & Milk...what do these three items have in common? They are all things I am not allowed to enjoy for at least the next two weeks, and maybe longer :(

My new allergist wants to see if the reason I get so many headaches, among other issues, could be caused by these foods. It is seriously depressing, and might I add expensive to find foods that do not contain these products in them. I am, however, giving it the college try, I figure I owe myself that much to figure out what the true cause of all my headaches may be.

Yesterday Sgt D and I made a trip, for the first time since moving up here, to Trader Joes. They are so wonderful there. They let us taste food before buying it, and told us about their return policy, which can be easily summed up "if you don't like, return it, no questions asked." The other thing they did that I really appreciated was taking us on a brief tour of the store to show us some of the items they carry that I can still eat, and they also printed out a comprehensive list of their gluten free products. There are still somethings on the list that I can't eat because they still have milk or eggs in them, but at least it gave me a starting point.

Here is a list of some of the things I was able to find:

• Brown Rice Tortillas (actually pretty good, this is what we got to taste in the store)
• Brown Rice Pasta (last nights dinner, and it tastes just like regular pasta)
• Brown Rice Bread (this one will require some adjusting too, but at least I can still have some form of bread)
• Egg free mayonnaise (thank GOD!)
• Dairy free margarine (haven't tasted it yet, but looking forward to it)
• Wheat free cereal - Puffins Cinnamon flavor (I have the feeling this will become snack food)
• Soy Milk, plain & vanilla flavor (Sgt D said he won't be drinking this, so I'll still be buying regular milk too - I can't expect him to follow the diet too, that would be cruel)
• Wheat free sweet & sour sauce

Sgt D is being pretty wonderful about all this, trying a vast majority of the foods without complaint. He will still have anything he wants for breakfast & lunch, but dinner he (and I) are going to have to adjust to this new diet.

Wish me luck that I can actually stick to this...

Allergies :(

I posted a blog earlier about being allergic to Washington...I wish! Yesterday I went for allergy testing, and of the 50+ things I was tested for, only one came back positive. Wait for it...CATS! I apparently have an allergy to my attack cats, which is why I have been having asthma attacks daily for months and months now. The attack cats are headed back to California to live out their golden years, and I will not be allowed to have anymore of them. The kicker of all of this is that I still have to have allergy shots for cats because I have been having attacks when I'm around other people, which means that my sensitivity is really high and could cause me problems. To say the least I cried....

Promotion!

Cpl D is now SGT D. That's right people he got promoted. It actually happened on Wednesday, but I have been so slammed with school work and taking a CPR/First Aid class that I haven't had time to post about it. I'm sorry.

Here are some pictures of his promotion ceremony. Let's all celebrate with him!!!

And now for some pushups!

A few words from the Captain...

Don't feel bad if you missed out on the ceremony. I did too, I was in class :(

Sad but true...

Cpl D told me a story this morning that made me want to shake my head in shame at my own gender. Apparently during formation yesterday, his battery was lectured on how they need to prepare their wives for the possibility that they may be deployed sometime in the future. This meant "teaching" them the following things: how to drive, where the commissary is located, how to pay bills, etc. I didn't know who to be more disgusted by, these women for not taking a more active role in their own lives and families, I mean seriously, being a full-fledged adult woman and not knowing how to drive, let alone where the commissary is, give me a break! Or should I be more upset with the men, for letting the "little missus" get away with that sort of behaviour.

I can understand how some men like taking care of their wives and how some women really love being taken care of, but at a certain point, you are more of a child than an adult in a relationship, when you don't even know where the commissary is located. (For you non-military folk, the commissary is the grocery store, it is the size of a Costco and rather hard to miss as it is one of the largest buildings on post.) I realize that I am one of very few people in enlisted realm of the army that is pursuing an advanced degree and that being from California I am a little bit more outspoken, and probably in the eyes of some people in the military quite brazen, but I just think that women got the right to drive, vote and do all the things men did a long time ago, and it is a pretty sad state of affairs, when a group of women would rather be taken care of coddled than take advantage of their privileges and rights. It is sadder still that their husbands have to be reminded to teach them how to do such simple tasks as paying an electric bill and finding the commissary.

Sorry for the rant faithful readers, but I couldn't let this one slide...

The Olympics

I am a big fan of the Olympics. I have watched every year for as far back as I can remember. The past few Olympics though have been rocked by scandals of Olympians abusing Human Growth Hormone or other performance enhancing substances. This is beyond disappointing for sports junkies like myself who enjoy watching these games for the sheer fact that some of these sports are sports we played as children and we enjoy watching people who have turned them into an art form. It is also disappointing because the young children of today look up to these Olympians as role models, and what kind of role models are the children of today getting if all they are learning is how to cheat and not get caught.

This year there is a truly inspiring story of 41 year old female US Olympian on the swimming team, Dara Torres. She is in her fifth Olympics and is the mother of a two-year-old little girl, Tessa. Due to all the scepticism regarding her quick comeback after her pregnancy and her age, she is taking part in an experimental drug testing program just to prove that she isn't taking performance enhancing drugs. I find it slightly sad and an interesting statement on our times that she has to prove ahead of time that she is not on any performance enhancing substance. No longer do we live in a society where you are innocent until proven guilty, now you have to go out of your way to prove your innocence before even being accused of a crime.

Considering the sheer number of US Track and Field medals that were revoked earlier this year in reaction to the recent drug scandals that have rocked the USOC, I personally am hoping that the Olympic athletes keep in mind that they compete not only for themselves, but when they put that US uniform on that they represent the millions of Americans at home who are rooting for them and cheering them on. When they fall down, we fall down with them, and we are tired of being dragged down in their drug scandals.

I wish all of the athletes good luck as they begin their Olympic journeys tomorrow. I hope they do themselves and their country proud.

Licorice

I love licorice. Black licorice, red vines, red rope at ball games, and most recently Cpl D was turned on to Australian Style Gourmet Licorice which comes in all kinds of flavors, so far we have tried Green Apple, Black and Watermelon, all of which are delectable.

You may ask yourselves why I am writing about licorice, well, dear readers I am writing about it b/c today, I opened up my new bag of Australian Style Gourmet Black Licorice, yes it comes in a bag, only to find my big fat love of a cat, Patches, standing at my feet looking up at me. You see he heard me open the bag and assumed I was opening his bag of cat treats, which duh, of course meant I was going to be feeding him. How could I resist? I was absolutely forced to open the bag of cat treats, give Patches a few morsels for himself and only after I had done that, did I then help myself to a piece of licorice.

Congratulate me!

I'm going back to school. I am finally getting that Master's degree that I have been wanting to get for forever and a day. Next Monday, August 11th, I will be starting classes at St. Martin's University, Fort Lewis satellite campus and I will be starting my course towards a triple teaching certificate and a Master's in Teaching. I will be the first person in my family to get an advanced degree as well as the first person in Cpl D's family. Talk about big!

Many people reading this blog may actually be kind of surprised that I am going for teaching, but believe it or not, I actually started my teaching credential about 6 years ago when I was still enrolled in college in California, so it isn't as big of a stretch as all of you might think! I will be going for the following teaching credentials: History (of course!), Social Studies, and Humanities. This will give me the opportunity to teach grades 6 through 12 and the Master's degree gives me the opportunity to go into administration if there are not teaching positions available. For all of you who thought that I didn't like children, I bet you guys are all shocked right now!

Now if anyone would like to donate to the "Send Mrs. D to School Fund" please feel free to email me, I am not so proud that I will say no to a little tuition assistance ;)

Patches Bit Me Today!

My big fat love of a cat bit me today! I am a little upset about this but then again he feels like he is being violated and I am the one doing the violating...although it all happens to be for his own good. Anyone who has ever met Patches would say that he has a few issues, he is severely over-weight, he is anti-people, and lives almost exclusively under our bathroom sink. Also, when you put him in his cat carrier he howls and it actually sounds like he is meowing the word "NO!"

His reason for biting me is that he was in a scissor lock between my legs having a pill shoved down his throat. Now all of this I assure you was for his own good. My dear love Patches has developed Hyperthyroidism, which in a cat can be very dangerous and can result in death. In most cats, although not Patches, it can result in severe loss of weight (obvious from the picture above and the severely depressed couch cushion, that he is not suffering from that side effect), depression and an overall lack of activity in the cat. It can also result in liver damage. With the exception of the weight loss Patches has all these side effects.

As of Friday, August 1st, which also happens to be my dad's birthday, Patches has started medication which should hopefully reverse all the side effects, including the liver damage and restore him to full health. Keep your fingers crossed that Patches will get healthy and that I will get to keep all of my fingers in the process of getting him healthy!

Cpl Ds Leave

Cpl D was on leave from June 30 to July 8. We had a wonderful time exploring Peugeot Sound and the Olympic National Park. We went on two amazing hikes - one called the Quinault Loop Trail that was 4.0 miles long and one called Marmot Pass that was 10.6 miles long (we only made it about 8 miles though - it was a long day). We also went on the Seattle Underground Tour, visited the Tacoma Art Museum, the Washington State History Museum and we attended the Tall Ships of Tacoma festival. All in all we had a really fun and relaxing time together.

I am really looking forward to the next time Cpl D has leave - which will hopefully be in October as we are planning a trip to Hawaii to celebrate our 1-year anniversary. In the meantime we have lots of pictures from this time to remind us of the great time we had.

http://picasaweb.google.com/paws7281

Age is a matter of perspective...

When I was 15 years old 30 seemed really old, now that I'm turning 27 in a week and a half it doesn't seem so old anymore. My perspective has changed. Another thing that has changed about age is that before I moved to Washington I used to be the youngest. I was the youngest person in my family being the baby and all, I was the youngest person on my team at work until right before I left and hired my replacement, I was the youngest of my of my friends (give or take a month), I was just used to being the youngest. Now though, I'm the oldest, and there are a few people who seem more than happy to remind me of that fact.

A couple of weeks ago we moved into our new apartment, it is a really awesome place, much bigger and in a newer part of the complex. Most of Cpl D's platoon came to help us move and with the exception of one guy who had been in the army over 15 years, I was older than every person who came over. Including two NCOs and an Officer who outranked Cpl D! Most people don't realize that I'm 27 years old (for all intents and purposes), I can admit that when I don't put anytime into my looks, I can pass for a teenager, but when a 20 year old says to me upon finding out my age "Oh WOW! You're OLD!!!" I have to say I was a bit taken back. I have never thought of myself as old before. My grandparents are old, not me, but as the title of this post says, age is a matter of perspective, and for a 20 year old 30 probably seems old, and as I'm a lot closer to it now than I ever was before in my life, I guess in his eyes...I'm old.

...I can't believe I just said that :)

Home Sweet Home

So we have moved into our new apartment, and it is really lovely. The rooms are larger, the neighbors are 100 times nicer and quieter. Overall, I would have to say the move was definitely worth it. I haven't taken pictures yet, maybe when I get back from California next weekend.

Did I mention that I'm going to California? That's right, I'll be home for a week. I am so excited to go home and spend Father's Day with my parents, it will be nice. The only thing that is kind of a bummer is that I am going to be away from Cpl D for a total of two weeks, b/c he has been in the field all this week, and I'll be gone all of next week. Oh well, it will be worth it.

Well, this is going to be a short post, because I'm tired, and it is late. Good night everyone :)

Allergic to Washington?

Is it possible to be allergic to an entire state? I've been pondering this the past few months. Mainly because ever since Cpl D and I moved up here I have managed to get one bout of illness after another. I have honestly spent more time at Madigan Army Medical Center in 8 months than I have at any other hospital in my whole life, and as my family can attest to, that is darn impressive. I have been hospitalized for migraines, sinus infections, colds, and today I was informed that I most likely have pneumonia. So if it is at all possible to be allergic to a state, I think I may quite possibly be allergic to this one. It is either that or I am just so homesick for California that my body is attacking itself from the inside and will do so until Cpl D manages to get himself stationed in California. If that is indeed that case, I am in serious trouble as there are only a few duty stations in California and none of them have his MOS at them...

On another note, history was made last night and as a history major I just have to mention it on my blog. This country has nominated an African American man to run on a major political party ticket. It was an exciting night for our country and I can't wait to see what happens in November, both as a citizen of the United States and as an Army Wife, seeing as the person who is elected will be my husbands new boss.

Lazy Days...

Cpl D and I usually start our days pretty early on the weekends. We are usually up before 8 and moving, getting things done, but not yesterday. We didn't get up until well after 9:30 am, which is probably the latest we have ever slept in and the day just kind of snowballed from there. On Saturday night we had rented a movie, "I Am Legend" with Will Smith, and we didn't finish the candy we got to go with our movie, so we actually had candy for breakfast. (My mother would be so ashamed of me right now.) Cpl D had Junior Mints and a Hostess Cherry Pie and I ate half a box of Red Vines. We then spent the rest of the morning and much of the afternoon packing our apartment, doing army correspondence courses and I ate lunch - much healthier tortellini and chicken as compared to the candy for breakfast, Cpl D never had lunch. We didn't even manage to take showers until 3:30 in the afternoon. It was probably our laziest day ever, even though as far as the packing goes we got a lot accomplished.

We now have a veritable barricade of boxes going through our living room. The cats are so confused, the know what boxes are at this point, having gone through enough moves by now, but the last time they didn't move with the boxes, they moved 2 months later, so they don't have a clue what's going on. On the upside, with the exception of our clothes - which aren't getting packed, and our kitchen - which is the last thing getting packed, we are done packing. That is a nice sense of relief, considering how long it took to pack last time.

The Deal

You make this deal with yourself when you marry someone in the military, their career comes first. Usually it is because you don’t really have a choice, you got married really young, right out of high school, neither one of you really had an education or a skillset and the army guaranteed a life. It guaranteed housing, food, medical benefits, a pension if you lasted 20 years, and a salary that covered all your expenses if you lived modestly enough. If you are like me, you got married in your mid-twenties, you already had a pretty decent career going, and your husband was looking at making the military his career. You figured, 17 more years in the military would not be so bad and with your college degree and the skills you had already acquired working for nine years in the corporate world, getting a job anywhere would be a relatively easy process…that is until you got to your first military town, during a recession. The closest and best jobs are more than 50 miles away and while you get 1-2 job interview offers a day you can’t afford the gas, the commute or the time away from your marriage, even if you landed the job (and job title of your dreams). It comes down to sacrifice. You have to be willing to put it all on the line for your spouses career. As everyone keeps reminding you, you did sign up for this. You no longer live in Silicon Valley where there are job opportunities around every corner. You need to figure out how to make it work. Someone spent $150k on your education, they thought you were smart enough to invest that much money in you, prove them right and figure out how to make this work. Figure out how to “have it all”. The job, the husband, and the happiness you deserve.

Pushed Too Far

Cpl D and I have officially been pushed too far by our neighbors and we are moving. Unfortunately, we are not moving out of our complex, just out of our building and to a different building on the complete opposite end of the complex.

This blog is titled "Newlywed Adventures in the Army" and sometimes I feel as though I don't spend enough time talking about the army aspect of our newlywed adventures. Well, let me elaborate a little. The army doesn't tell us where to live, but they have this program called the "Rental Partnership Program (RPP)" where they are essentially "in bed" with Equity Residential Properties and they offer a 5% discount on rent, no deposit fees and if the person in the military is deployed you are offered the ability to easily break your lease. Equity also manages all of the on-post housing as well. As I said the Army and Equity truly are "in bed" with one another and I wouldn't be surprised if there were some form of kickbacks occurring on both sides.

We were led to believe that by becoming part of this program that the army would be our advocates if we had problems with the complex, especially if the problems involved other RPP residents. Boy were we wrong! Not only are they NOT our advocates, but they actually side with the rental property on everything, as though the fact that we have gone to both the rental property and the army on numerous occasions with complaints regarding noise violations and now property damage was not enough. Somehow we should have done more.

The worst part of all of this is that our lease isn't up until November 4, 2008 and we are stuck here until we get orders moving us somewhere else OR we are willing to pay 1.5 times our current rent to break our lease. The Army has proven that it isn't willing to go to bat for its soldiers and their families, and that they would rather protect their business partner. I feel totally violated, and the worst part is that there is nothing I can do about it. Come November we will be looking for a different rental property, not associated with the Army or Equity, and if we can manage we will be looking to rent a house so that we do not have to worry about sharing walls with rude, inconsiderate, childish neighbors.

I guess you could say...that I/we have been pushed too far!

Good weekend, gone bad...

Our Memorial Day Weekend started out kinda rocky...at least weather wise. We decided that we were going to head down to see Mt. St. Helen's, after all, we live in Washington, we figured we should see the Volcano that caused one of the largest natural disasters of our time. It poured rain the whole way down to the National Park, we were really hopeful that it would go away the further south we went, but no, it followed us all the way to the Monument. We finally got to Highway 504 and went to the 4 different visitor centers along the route ending at Johnston's Point. During a presentation by a very knowledgeable park ranger we learned that the mountain was only visible 140 days a year...go figure we visited on one of the 225 days per year when the mountain is not visible.

We went to bed trying to figure out what we would do on Saturday, we were thinking of heading back up to Olympia to go to the Farmers Market again or maybe heading up to Lacey to go to the spring fair. However, Saturday morning we woke up to a gorgeous sunny day, quite uncommon in Washington. We drove back up to Johnston's Ridge (skipping all the other visitor centers this time) and enjoyed the most beautiful view of the mountain. About an hour later, we headed down to the valley and went on the Hummocks Trail. A Hummock is a mound of earth caused by a debris avalanche, the ones we walked through used to be part of Mt. St. Helen's, now they are part of the valley floor. Our hike started out with beautiful sun, and by the end of the hike it had begun to trickle rain, as we got into the car it was a torrential downpour, and absolutely awesome to the weather turn so quickly.

Sunday was very relaxing. We celebrated the fact that one year ago on Memorial Day Weekend, Cpl D and I officially got engaged by going out to dinner. We what used to be one of our favorite restaurants, Sea Grill. We will not be going back. The food was wonderful, but the service left so much to be desired, that we feel next time we would rather spend our money and time elsewhere.

Monday is where the weekend all went downhill. We went grocery shopping and discovered that we had been the victims of a hit and run. My Rav4 had a bunch of paint damage to the passenger side rear panel and the best part was that it turned out that our next door neighbor is the person who hit us. I hit rock bottom with our complex. Cpl D and I just didn't feel safe living here anymore. Today though, we talked to our complex and they are offering to allow us to move to another apartment in a different building. Our rent will go up a little, but at least we will be away from the neighbors on both sides of us that have been nothing but nightmares since we moved in. I hope everyone else had a better weekend than we did.

Baking

I really do love to bake, don't get me wrong, I love to cook too, but baking makes other people happy and as I seldom eat what I bake, I love that what I bake makes other people happy. When I was down in California last month, my mom gave me a new book called Cookies, by Martha Stewart. Last week I made the Snicker Doodles from the book and as they didn't have chocolate in them I actually partook of a couple and they were quite delicious. Today I am making the chocolate chip cookies from the book, sadly I will not be trying any, as I do not want to tempt the migraine fates. I will have to wait until Cpl D gets home to find out if they are any good, but from the first batch to come out of the oven they are the right color and they smell divine :)

Since I haven't been working (one whole week now) I have baked cookies a total of four times. Once for Cpl D because he had duty and I always like to bake for him and the other soldiers he is on duty with. I figure it is the least I can do for the guys when they have to stay up for 36 hours straight. I baked peanut butter and chocolate cookie for a soldier friend of Cpl D's that is stationed in Korea and I also baked oatmeal cookies for a soldier friend of ours that is stationed in Iraq (I'm friends with his wife).

I swear if I could find a way to make money off of my baking and photography I would be a very happy woman. If you can figure out a way, let me know :)

Learning Photoshop

So for the first time since I bought a digital camera (2.5 years ago) I am finally bothering to learn Photoshop. I took a digital photography class last year, but I didn't actually learn photoshop, I have always relied on just being able to take a good picture. The book that was required for my class was Real World Digital Photography by Katrin Eismann, Sean Duggan, and Tim Grey, but to be honest I never actually opened it until now.


I spent about three hours yesterday learning how to insert layers and play around with the coloring, the hue & saturation, the color balance, the contrast and a million other things yesterday. Unfortunately, I am working with a really old version of Photoshop, version 7, but for now it will do.


I worked on two photos, one that I took back in 2006 at the Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco, and the other that I took this past weekend at the Rhododendron Gardens in Federal Way, WA.

Here is the orignal photograph before any photoshopping:

Here is the photograph after I spent a couple hours playing with it:

Here is the original Fern Photograph:





Here is the finished Fern Photograph (this one I was able to do a lot quicker, b/c I was more familiar with Photoshop):

Washington State Capital

Today Cpl D and I went to Olympia, WA, the state Capital of Washington. It was another beautiful day and we just couldn't be couped up inside. We went down to the wharf and to the Farmers Market which is open May through September, Thursday thru Sunday. It was the perfect day for a farmers market.

After we went to the Farmers Market, and picked up a loaf of cinnamon bread (can't wait for breakfast tomorrow) we drove up to the state capital building where we discovered they were giving free tours of the capital building and joined in on one.

One thing that I personally found highly disappointing was the fact that there were several war memorials there, which was very nice to see, however, none of them had been well kept over the years. You could hardly read half of the inscriptions or any of the names. I found it to be really disrespectful, and it brought me back to Berkeley, CA. Everyone up here in Washington compares Olympia to Berkeley and for the first time it really felt true to life.

Oh yeah, and I just discovered a really lovely sunburn to go along with the beautiful weekend of sun that we had. It was well worth it though. Here is a picture to let you know what color my shoulders are right now :)

Rhododendron Gardens

Today it actually felt like summer in Washington. In fact we have had two summer like days in a row. It has been rather amazing. Cpl D and I decided to get out and enjoy some of this gorgeous weather and take some photographs, so we headed up to Federal Way, WA, which is located between Tacoma and Seattle to the Rhododendron Gardens. It was so gorgeous there, although, totally hot and a little uncomfortable due to the fact that there wasn't so much as even a little breeze, but beggars can't be choosers and I'm thrilled to death with the beautiful weather we are having.

I used our wonderful Nikon D80 in an effort to start working on building a true portfolio of the artwork that I love to do, Nature Scene, and Cpl D used our little PhD camera. Here are a couple of pics that I shot.

A view of the Ferns (looking down)

The most beautiful blue I've seen in nature...

More pics will be available on my Google Picasso account once I go through and work on somethings. I am really going to be working hard these next few weeks and months on getting together a marketable portfolio. Wish me luck!

Bad Blogger...

I seem to be suffering from a somewhat incurable case of Bad Blogger. I know it has been more than two weeks since my last post, and so much has happened since then. To start with, this past Tuesday I quit my job. I did this for a lot of reasons, the most important of which was that it really wasn't working out, the company I was working for just wasn't really ready for a full on Marketing program and all that entails. I thought that we would all be better off if I left, and I was right. I am now looking for work, and I will probably temp in the meantime, if anyone knows of any companies hiring in the Tacoma, WA area, let me know.

Other than that, Cpl D has finally selected the job that he wants to do in the Army and now we are filling out Top Secret clearance forms and waiting for everyone in our lives to be checked out so that he can find out if he can do this job. If he can, we may or may not be moving again. I am voting for the move. If nothing else, he will certainly be leaving for 5 months of training in Arizona if he does get the job, because that is where AIT is, I would personally love to get stationed in Arizona, right by Tucson.

I have decided that while I look for a job I am going to start re-focusing on my photography and really trying to figure out a way to sell it and make some sort of an income off of it. If anyone has any ideas or knows what I need to do, please let me know, as I am definitely new to this area.

I hope all my readers are well.

Here is a little something that I saw the other day in the town I live in and it should lift anyone's spirits and truly make you believe that there really are people out there willing to go the extra mile:

Love it or hate it

I am beginning to realize that I'm going to either have to love the army or hate it. There really is no in between. Not at this point. The army is in every aspect of our lives. We schedule our vacations around it, our weekend trips around it, doctors appointments around it, basically we schedule our lives around the army and the people who lead it and can arbitrarily decide whether or not we can do the things we want/need to do. I never realized that by marrying Cpl D that I too had joined the army. I mean, I knew my life had changed, but I didn't realize that we were essentially going to have to ask his command permission for everything. Permission to visit my parents, permission to go to the doctor, permission to have surgery, permission to go on vacation and for the location we want, permission to re-enlist and when we re-enlist permission to re-enlist for the 25 crappiest or most dangerous jobs in the army. The army controls everything, and from what I have noticed, the more you try to deny it, the more they take over your life.

Early morning wake up call...

Cpl D is basically a poorly paid baby sitter sometimes, and I have to admit that at times it drives me a little crazy. I have been sick all week, and this morning he had to get up at 4:15 am to be at work by 5:30am. Believe me, I don't envy him. He is so sweet though, he always gives me a kiss good-bye in the morning before he leaves, although most mornings I am up already when he leaves. This morning though, I was still passed out because I am still sick, trying to recover in time for a minor surgical procedure I am having next week. At 4:59am Cpl D's cell phone started to vibrate and it immediately woke me up and in an effort to get to it, as he was out of the room, I banged my head into the corner of the wall, so hard in fact that I still have an indentation. I hate starting my day like that. Now I am trying to concentrate and work, neither of which is easy with the splitting headache that I have...

Another example of life in the army, early morning wake up calls.

Facebook

It's official, I'm on Facebook. I've had an account for a while now, not that I've actually done anything with it, but last night Cpl D got one, and this morning I had a friend request from him and one of his friends. Then I started to play around a little. Imagine my surprise at all the people I found on there. People I haven't spoken to since high school are on there, people I have searched and searched for on Myspace but never found are on Facebook. So now I am on both, Myspace and Facebook. I'm sure for now that I will stick with both. I have already reconnected with a really good friend from college and a couple of really good friends from high school, and even a couple of Cpl D's friends. I put a couple of pictures up and we will see where this goes. I know after I graduated from college I dropped off the face of the planet, but now that I have moved out of my home state, I am beginning to realize just how important community is, and I need to rebuild mine, even if everyone in it is 800+ miles away.

Embrace the Suck

Embrace The Suck. That is what you are supposed to do in the Army when something sucks, like the weather or the overall situation. You are supposed to embrace and deal with it. We went to a battery BBQ on Friday for Cpl D's Battery Commander who is leaving this week for an appointment to go teach at West Point and to get his second Masters Degree. I guess you could say the guy is pretty intelligent. For those of you who don't live in Washington, let me give you a glimpse into our Spring so far this year: Rain, Sleet, Snow, Hail, and Sunshine (for about 10 min at a maximum of 45 degrees). During the BBQ we experienced each of these variations of weather. The guys in the battery kept saying "Embrace the Suck". I kept thinking to myself, can't we just go somewhere warm and inside before we all get sick. Now I'm not sure about that "we all" part, but I know one thing is for sure, I am definitely sick. I guess I didn't "Embrace the Suck," and to be honest I have no plans to so in the future either. The only way I am going to a BBQ in the future is if it is a minimum of 85 degrees out and there is no rain, sleet, snow or hail in the forecast!

Army Whiplash

I am now suffering from a severe case of Army Whiplash, or at least that is what I am going to call it. Not 20 minutes after I posted my blog yesterday did Cpl D call me and tell me that 31B was already filled and it wasn't going to happen. In a matter of 24-hours the army had already turned him down. What I really don't understand, and what I really truly want someone to explain to me, and not one of my readers (sorry, but I want an answer from the army this time), is why are they making it so damn hard for someone who genuinely wants to stay in the army to stay in the army? Every time he finds a job that is open, they close, every time he finds a job that he is interested in, nope he doesn't have the right outside the army training (which by the way isn't even listed on the goarmy.com website). It is downright frustrating and to be perfectly frank it is starting to piss me off. For an organization that is having trouble reaching its enlistment goals, let alone its re-enlistment goals, you think they would work a little harder with the soldiers to make sure that they stay in. All this is doing is making us want to finish up the next year and get the hell out. We are not going to do that because that isn't part of our "plan" but it is certainly starting to rub me the wrong way.

I will do my best to keep you posted on Cpl D's re-enlistment and job change status, and in the meantime I am going to schedule myself a massage for my severe case of whiplash!

Things change fast...roll with the punches!

I received a phone call yesterday while I was at work, Cpl D is going from 13M to 68T to 31B. For all of you non-military folk who read my blog that translates thus: 13M is a Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS/HIMARS) crew member - Cpl D's current MOS. 68T is an Animal Care Specialist - which is what Cpl D wanted to do, but it turns out you need to have vocational training for before you even can be considered for the MOS. 31B is Military Police - which is hopefully what Cpl D will be approved to do by the DOD. Things change fast in our lives, so fast that sometimes I don't know what page I'm on. If you can't keep up, I don't really blame you.

We should find out by May 15th if Cpl D has been approved to go to 31B AIT (Advanced Individual Training), which will consist of 12 weeks of training in Missouri. This means I will be home alone, with the attack cats, yet again. The nice thing about 31B, if he is approved and gets through all of the training, is that all military bases have Military Police units, this opens up our choice of duty stations to a lot more options. Who knows we could even end up in Europe.

Go GIANTS!

I'm at home right now, in the bright, sunny, warm, and DRY state of California visiting my wonderful parents for the weekend. Last night I had a W family Spring/Summer tradition for dinner - frozen yogurt, don't knock it till you've tried it. It really hit the spot when I got off the plane and immediately started to sweat. I guess I have finally gotten accustomed to the 30 and 40 degree weather we have every day in Washington, so pretty much anything California could throw at me was going to feel warm.

My morning today started out so wonderfully. I woke up around 8:30, visited with my parents and ran to the Farmer's Market with my mom. Then dad and I went up to the San Francisco Giants game against the St. Louis Cardinals. We took the train up, seeing as I've never actually taken taken the train to a ballgame before it was fun. The game was a pitcher's battle until the bottom of the 6th when the Giants scored 5 runs in the inning. It was starting to look like the Giants were going to run away with the game, but alas, they blew it in extra innings.

While at the game my dad and I did manage to find something that I have been wanting for a very long time, which I am very very excited about. We bought me an "I See Orange People" t-shirt. I have wanted one of these ever since they came out, which I believe was about 5 or 6 years ago the last time they were in the running for the World Series. We also got Cpl D a really cool retro blue t-shirt that I think he will really like too.

I must be off as we are about to go have dinner at one of my favorite Bay Area restaurants, Central Park Bistro, on 4th Ave in San Mateo. If you are ever in San Mateo, CA I highly recommend it.

Our First Field Problem

Cpl D just got home from his first field problem since we got married. He spent 10 days in Yakima, which is high desert in Washington, babysitting a radio living and off of less than 4.5 hours of sleep broken up into 2 and 2.5 hour chunks a day. I stayed home with the cats and was pretty much lonely the whole time. My parents were great, they talked to me every night, even on the nights when I'm pretty sure they wanted nothing more than to just eat dinner and veg out, they kept me company. I read three books, watched re-run tv and several DVDs to keep myself busy. It still felt like a good portion of my life came crashing down...sorry faithful readers, but I will not discuss what aspects came crashing down out of respect for my family and also because I have brought some of the issues to the army, and I'm not really sure I can discuss them on my blog.

Cpl D's homecoming was great. We had a pizza dinner on Thursday night, he got home far too late to cook. We have spent the past 72 hours doing nothing but laundry. Every single item from boots to back packs to socks to sleeping bags had to be washed. Not to mention regular laundry. We have tripped our circuit breaker at least 6 times, we have had to give one cat a bath due to his personal health issues (we actually felt really bad for him), and we still need to vacuum up all of the Yakima dust that Cpl D brought home with him in his ruck sack, duffel bag and back pack. While he was there some of the most immature hi jinks I have ever heard of occurred, and let me tell you, I'm glad he is in the army and not me, with my temperament, I know I would not survive.

I am so glad he is home. I missed him dearly, and I am not looking forward to his upcoming temporary duty assignment to White Sands, New Mexico which has been pushed back to sometime this summer. I am looking forward to Cpl D working on his correspondence courses, making his sergeant, and looking for a new MOS so we can get out of this unit!