Home.....And Back Again

Kids are home!

So after may delays, my kids are home! Yay, sort of. :) No just kiddingg, its a Yay. On the plus side - my lawn finally got cut and my garden weeded. On the down side - I actually had to go to the grocery store again. Silly kids - actually insisted on having breakfast stuff, and not liking living off of a pot of soup for 3 days. However, they were also there to carry it all in, so there is that. I only had to yell at them once yesterday for not picking up while I was at work, but then they cleaned up right away and Josh and I made dinner. We made rice with a vegetable mix and sliced teriyaki pork. Yum! Even with having to compete for the TV again, its oddly comforting to have other people in the house. Dont get me wrong-it was cool to know I could drag out my craft table with my fabric everywhere and know no one would mess with it, but it was really nice when I went to sleep knowing my kids were home. The house felt.....right. :)

Now...just waiting eagerly for my husband to fill in the rest of the gaps. :)

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th everyone! Did you have an awesome holiday? I did. I had a crazy fabulous weekend! Ok, not crazy but still fabulous. I went to Charleston to visit my sister (and baby-sit for her anniversary). It was great fun. My nephews were silly and we got to play and hang out and fall asleep to Wall-E. Then Sunday I got to Skype with my husband! Yay! I haven't been able to that for a couple of months. Phone calls are great but man I love being able to see his face. I cant wait until he gets to come home for R&R! I asked him if they were doing anything for the 4th over there and he paused for a minute and said,

"We don't really do fireworks in Afghanistan honey. Usually rockets and booms here are not a good thing. We will just do cake".

Huh. Well that makes sense. And then I felt like a total idiot. :)

We had a lovely lazy Sunday at my sisters. Adrian BBQ'd and all I had to do was enjoy. Those are the best kinds of meals don't you think? Someone else cooks and cleans and all you have to do is say please pass the grilled corn. Seriously now - there is just no better way to eat corn I think. Sweet corn grilled in the husk is just awesome. Both Adrian and I had to work Monday so we skipped the fireworks since it's a 2 1/2 hour drive home to Ft. Stewart.

I was mad at first when I was told I had to work on the 4th but then I realized I got paid double time for it. Yay! If I have to be there I might as well get a bonus out of it. Instead of being the receptionist for the day though we went on post and volunteered at a lunch for soldiers and their family. Nissan had teamed up with a BBQ place and we wrapped and passed out 4000 pulled pork sandwhiches. It was crazy! I worked my butt off! I was ever so grateful for the shade tent we were working under though. I tend to lobster pretty quickly in Georgia's sun. I was exhausted after - but I felt pretty good about having done it. It was nice to volunteer and feel like I was helping.

They had a Zach Brown concert that night but I was too worn out from heat and stuff so I stayed in. For some reason that was the first time during the weekend that I really started thinking about the 4th, partly because I was watching 1776 (which I really truly love). It's different now, kind of like listening to things like America the Beautiful, or the Star Spangled Banner. I always loved them but.....I think I never really thought about all the people who served and sacrificed to make it all possible. Them, and their families. When your loved one is serving - is away fighting - it is just different now. More. So I watched 1776 and cried. I looked at my flag on the computer and cried. I don't think they were sad tears, just.....feeling tears. Thank you - to all those who serve, those who ever have, and those who will. And thank you to their families, their friends, and all who support them. Thank you to all who support me as an Army wife, who listen to me when I am afraid, who put up with me when I am lonely, and laugh with me when I call them crazy happy because I got a phone call that day. :)

America is my home. Faults and all. She is not perfect and her government can sometimes be a bunch of cantankerous squabbling chickens. She also has some beautiful vistas and her people can pull together in an amazing show of love and solidarity in times of crisis. She is part of me, part of my life and I am forever grateful to be born here, in this country where I am free to become whoever I choose to be. I don't have to be frightened of bombs, guerilla fighters, and ethnic cleansing or a host of other problems in the world today.

No - she isn't perfect, but I am proud to be an American. Happy Birthday!

Fiddle Faddle

Ha! You thought I was going to talk about the treat!Well I'm not. Actually I have never had it so I can't tell you anything about it - except it's fun to say. Kind of like one of my favorite Dr. Who quotes that says "People assume that time is a strict progression from cause to effect but actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff." Ha! Now that's fun to say. :) Wibbly wobbly timey wimey gets stuck in my head all day sometimes.

I had a great weekend. I went to a pot luck for the FRG and surprisingly we had a bunch of people come! Normally when I plan things I just dont seem to get a lot of response so this was very nice. We had good food, and a lot of laughs. It was supposed to go from 1-4 but we ended staying until about 8:30. It was great fun. I made chhesy potatoes (funeral potatoes) and everyone loved them. Normally at home you would bring a pan and people would be like "great - thats our fourth pan" but not here. Here no one has ever had them before so I got to be there person with the cool new food. Score one for me!

Sunday I went to church and then went to Savannah with my friend Dawn. We found a Torrid in the mall there and that was great fun. I love that store. I know I am not a size 10 - but I still want cute clothes and this store is perfect for that. My husband had been begging me to buy a new pair of jeans for a while now. He thinks once I have to patch them that they aren't any good anymore. I beg to differ - but I decided to get some new ones for when he gets home. I can't wait for that!

I got to talk to my husband twice on Sunday! Once in the morning and once before I went to bed - so that was super cool. I also was able to Skype with my kids. They went to Scout Camp with my dad and apparently had a fabulous time. This is always good news - it IS possible to have fun while not pugged into something electronic! Ha! I couldn't beleive the pictures my dad sent me. They are getting so big! Who told them they could grow up?

I gave the gogs a much needed haircut. Poor max was getting so fuzzy he had this lion mane thing going on and I couldn't put his collar on anymore so I took the buzzers and tamed him. I didn't shave them - that would be mean, but I definitley could have made a sweater with everything that came off them. Hopefully that will help out with this crazy heat.

Then I decided I was going to sell candles and stuff. They are a pretty cool company that does everything boi-degradable, eco-friendly stuff. Candles, soaps, household cleaners, lotions, warmers and cubes, and OAM stuff that it kind of like the scent cones and air fresheners but better. :) I promise not use this to sell it though. Just mentioning it. We will see how it goes. But I will give the adress to my site - just this once. :) www.samanthas.foreveryhome.net

Other than that - just hanging out and being groovy as my husband likes to say. :)

Scattered.....

Today I am scattered. Not frazzeled - I feel pretty good actually, just scattered. I brought speakers to work and I am listening to my newly discovered pandora staions. It could become a serious love thing I think. So I am bouncing around my seat and waving my flower pens in the air orchestrating the music while the salesman look at me strangely but walk past without asking.

I wrote Happy Birthday to my father on his facebook page but he is at scout camp so he wont see it. I wonder if I can call him up there - or if I should wait until he gets home so as not to distract him. I am still not done making his father's day/birthday present even though I started a month ago. I just keep letting myself get distracted.

It has been nice and quiet in my house with my children gone and I am enjoying my time alone. Except....you know those times you are watching something, or reading something and you just want to talk to someone about it? Or you need to talk about your day? Or even when you just did something stupid and want to tell someone so you can both laugh about it? All these little simple things you don't even think about and totally take for granted when you have someone home to tell it to. I have called my sister a million times in the last week. *Sigh. I miss my husband.

Celibacy does strange things to your mind. Ha ha I know that sounds funny and it is really. It's only been 3 1/2 months but when you have someone with you all the time and now you can't even hold their hand or even see their face very often - its hard. Not hard as in "I couldn't help myself I had to go find someone else to fulfill me" kind of BS (and that is major BS in my opinion) just hard as in "I just wish I could at least look at his smile because I miss him so much it hurts" and "I miss feeling him sleep next to me and listening to him breathe" and "I would kill to have him hold me right now". Ok maybe thats all more loneliness but still - I have started to crave physical contact. Nothing dirty - just....like a hug you know? I cuddle with my blankets. My dogs know it because they have to always sit on my lap or next to my legs. Its both cute and annoying.

I have started looking up all kinds of random trivia. My sister unfortunately gets to hear most of it for when I feel I simply must share it. :) Love ya Genn. Wikipedia and Google are my friends.

I cleaned my house day before yesterday. It's still clean!

My tomato plants did not survive - but my pepper plants are doing awesome.

My kids are having a fabulous time visiting family and are currently camping instead of playing video games. This is a fabulous thing. All the stuff I said I would get done while they were gone I haven't done yet. Ah well, I have three more weeks. And I admit I miss them too and will be happy to see them when they come home.

I am trying not to count down the days until I get to see my husband for r&r since I was told it was bad luck and makes it go by slower - but I can't help it. I know the day he gives me is just an -ish, since there are always unexpected delays or bumps or whatever but still.....I cant help it.

I love my husband. I love my children. I love my parents and my siblings and - well all my super cool family. They are all totally awesome. I am a damn lucky woman. *sigh now if I could just manage to get us all together and away from these evil, awful, nasty biting bugs. :)

To my Dad...

I have one of the best dad's in the world. I know a lot of us say that but I mean it. He is the best dad that I could have had - which I am sure is why he got stuck with me. God knew I needed him. He is silly and strange and not afraid to look like an idiot while playing with his kids and his grandkids. He is also a rock that I always knew I could hang on to and count on. Even when I ignored that - he still offered it. My dad has been there for me through laughter and tears. He always wanted me to be happy and strong - and loved me enough to help me when I confused happy with fun - no matter how mad I got. There are many many days that I wished I had listened. I know he probably doesn't read this so I will have to print it and mail it to him :) but I needed to say it anyway. I love you dad. I am sorry for all the tears and the frustration and the really awful things I said and did. And I am so grateful you never gave up on me even when I am sure I deserved to be smothered. Thank you dad. I love you.

P.S. I was reading in Mosiah last night and King Benjamin was talking. I have said before that he speaks with your voice and this particular one just brought it home. He was talking about how we should believe in the Lord and believe in repentance, believe in the scriptures and that (and here is the part that really sticks to me as you) *if ye believe these things see that ye do them. I think that says it all really. :) I love you dad.

Truth in Fiction

I love to read. It is one of my favorite pastimes. With the job I currently have I have been able to do more of it. As the receptionist - I sit at my desk for 9 hours and when it gets slow, I read. It's a fabulous thing - even if I do have a small headache almost all the time from the eyestrain. Now that my children are away I have a lot more time to read at home - even though I haven't been. For some reason it has become craft month and my living room may never be the same. :)

However - I must say that reading can be very educational. I'm not talking about textbooks or history books or biographies (even though those are all great books). I am talking about fiction. My particular genre that I most enjoy is science fiction and fantasy. There is so much that can be done and said in them - lessons taught, morals learned etc. Some are more obvious like C. S. Lewis, some I dont think even tried to be educational but are anyway. Think of the myriad things you learned from Dr. Seuss, and Ray Bradbury, and Orson Wells. Well I did anyway.

I think of the political and moral lessons I learned in The Sword of Truth series, the strategic and tragic lessons from the Ender series, and the wonder and joy of it I still get when I vist the world of Pern. Stories are meant to speak to us - and they speak to us differently I think. Sometimes I know that the things that speak to me - resonate and speak truth to me - are things that really are just part of the story and not necessarily meant that way. Certain phrases I want to highlight and bookmark the way I do my scriptures and say yes, see that is it! that is what I was trying to say but couldn't find the words - that is what I was feeling but couldn't express. Other times I read something and think to myself - wow, I never thought of it like that before and a whole new way of thinking opens up to me, a whole new world of believing is suddenly there to poke and prod at and see how it might fit.

Then there are the simple things - bits of trivia I wouldn't have bothered with - like did you know Wednesday is Odin's day? If you go back enough that is one of the roots of it. Little did I know that hump day belongs to the All-Father. He must cringe at the thought :) Or how reading a book in a very similiar but definitely alternate universe can make me spend as much time on wikipedia looking up things like the Crimean War and Duke Wellington as I do reading the book - trying to find out how much was real and how much changed for the story and in doing so I learn more history than I did in school.

Every time I read something new I have to be open to new thoughts, new worlds, new lives, new hopes and dreams. And every time I do - I learn something - about the book, about the world, or just about myself. I believe this is a good thing. We always have to be open to new ideas and ways of being or else we get stuck in a rut and might miss something amazing - even if it only affects us.

And maybe three months without my husband has made me a bit strange and far too much time to ponder other things to try and avoid missing him. :)

Peace and Quiet....ish

I put my kids on a plane last week. Its been 5 days that they have been gone now. The three days I was at work the routine wasn't all that different. I came home - did some laundry and made dinner and went to bed. It was quieter to be sure. No one argued about whether they had to go to bed or take a shower, no one whined about waht I made for dinner. No one helped me bring the groceries in the house or helped me wash the dishes either so that part sucked. It seems like the trade off is no backtalking but no slave labor either. Hmmmmmmm.

The weekend though....thats where I really felt it. I slept in on Saturday. All the way until 10:00am!! No one bothered me - no loud tv, no sneaking in my room to ask if they can have the chips for breakfast, no one called me or texted me, no one rang the doorbell and even the dogs were quiet! It was heaven! Ahhh blissful sleep where you actually wake up refreshed - I cant remember the last time that happened. It felt so good I decided to continue the trend and not leave the house. It was a jama day! I stayed off the computer and watched a Grey's Anatomy marathon and quilted the day away! Still no one called or texted or came over. It was just me.....and the massive mess I was making. :) It was a fabulous day.

I was planning on going to church on Sunday but I woke up feeling like death. I knew it! I had to pay for my awesome Saturday! It really felt like the worlds worst hangover. Nausea, pounding head that was very unhappy if I moved fast, or sounds were too loud, but I didn't drink! Then I realized that was the problem. During my quilting spree of a day I didn't eat anything or even have more than a small glass of milk. Now I was feeling it. Leftover chicken and rice soup with a huge mug of lemongrass/chamomile tea and a nap on the couch seemed to fix me right up. So what did I do with the rest of my day? Clean? Make lunches for the week? Nope. I finished my quilting! I made two baby blankets and I they were pretty cute too. Yes, I am feeling slightly smug. I made up my own patterns and they actually worked (which believe me is not the usual) and turned out nicely. They are just small receiving blankets but still. And the best part is - still no one called or came over. It was just me and the dogs.

*sigh .....and as nice as that was - I sure wish my husband had called me. It's been a week now but I know they go out on a lot of missions and they dont have phone services at a lot of places they go to but still....He wasn't there to make dirty jokes, or take a nap on the couch and be in my way while watching Nascar. He wasn't there to rile up the dogs or blast his stupid music while making a mess in the kitchen cooking me lunch. He wasn't there to snuggle up with and talk to me. He wasn't coming in and out of the house while working on his truck and swearing about how crappy it is and he is never working on it again. Sometimes........it's too quiet. So I guess while peace and quiet is nice..it's only nice if it's quiet..ish.

Everybody Dies - Now go to bed!

When I was a child this was my dad's line when it was bed time. He would turn off the television, or tell me to put my book down and say "everybody dies now go to bed". It didn't matter what we were watching or what I was reading. We could have Fantasia or Real Genuis on and it was the same - "everybody dies now go to bed". We sighed and did as we were told. But I knew it was just something he said - not that it was true.

You can imagine then my horror the first time I read "On the Beach". I was in high school and I threw the book down and said what??? I ran upstairs and yelled at my father. "They all died!" I said. He didn't even know what I was talking about and without missing a beat he looks and me and says "I told you so." Argh!

I realize that I am a Happy Ending type of person. I like them - I prefer them. I am good with just ok too. It doesn't have to be happy so much as everything has top work out "ok". Does that make sense - like in the Hunger Games - it was sad and a lot of bad things happened, but it ended ok. Bad guys got what was coming to them and she found some peace. I'm not much into sad "what the crap was that? you cant leave it like that??" kind of endings. You know you have seen shows or read books like that. It's why I dont like a lot of the "human classics" that they make you read in school. I dont like Kafka, I hated Brave New World, and Animal Farm was deeply disturbing. It was supposed to be yes I know and it was well done etc, that doesn't mean its going to be my choice "light saturday night" reading.

It was like watching 12 Monkeys. Was it well done? Yes. Well acted and well written? Yes. Will I ever watch it again? No. Hell no. The bad guys win! Why would I ever want to watch crap like that?? I dont like the bad guys winning! It goes against my chosen reality. Even worse than that one was Fallen with Denzel Washington. That was a prime example of "what??? you are ending it like that??"

Ok - I admit it. I like my happy (or just ok) endings. I dont really care if that makes me a wuss, or "unable to appreciate the masterpeices of human emotion and suffering" in many of the classics. Sometimes I like the deep emotional stuff, sometimes I like some mental bubblegum. But over all I can say with certainty that I hate it when "eveybody dies - now go to bed!"

Happy Wednesday

Just checking in. All is well, mostly, you know.

He has been gone a couple months now. Not a whole lot here is different and it feels like it should be, but my schedule didn't really change. I still get the kids up in the morning, go to work, come home and make dinner, make the kids help clean up and do homework, go to bed. Time with him after work is what I miss. It's funny - even the annoying things that made me want to smother him I miss now. It is quieter though - a little more laid back. That sounds disloyal but I cant help it. My husband is....a little bit high maintenance, emotionally at least, and attention wise.And lets face it - I just have more me time. Too much really when I just want to cuddle with him. If I could have home and just go on a nice fishing trip or golf trip or whatever - somewhere fun with the guys - one weekend a month or even every other month, well that would be perfect. I would have him here for the most part and then get just little breaks from each other. A year is just too long. :)

Other than that not much is happening. Kids brought home some good report cards last quarter, hopefully they do so again this quarter. Josh got a Star Award for honesty and trustworthiness. I told Aaron and he laughed and said the teachers there must be pretty gullible. He is a good kid though -even if he is a magpie. My mom says he suffers from OSS - Oh Shiny Syndrome. He just picks up whatever and it all ends up in his room. If you cant find something in the house - check Josh's room. Scissors, screwdrivers, the cheese grater anything. :)

They are doing well though and I am proud of them. My only real complaint is that the internet where Aaron is really sucks and we cant harldy use it - or when we do the quality is so bad I cant really hear or see him. I know I know - I should be grateful to have it at all when for most of history there wasn't any communication or hardly any at all. But still - we do have the technology now and it is pretty common in most of the world. People in the cities in Afghanistan have high speed internet just fine, and with sattellite's people can get the internet anywhere. I just think if we have the technology and I pay $80.00 a month for it - then it should work - and just in crappy spurts. I'm just sayin...

He is moving to a different FOB where it is not so "quiet". Great. I'm thrilled. I wonder to myself - why couldn't he have been the cook? No - he has to go look for bombs. It's ok though - I'm just venting. I miss him. I have a pile of his laundry that I did after he left on his side of the bed that I haven't put away. It's like an Aaron shaped pile just on the other side of me when I sleep. Is that crazy? I don't know. I can't wait for R&R though - he gets to come for 2 weeks to visit and that will be awesome. It will make the last half of it last even longer but it breaks it up into smaller times that he is gone so that works out great.

Anyway - enough rambling for today. Just checking in- all is well. Oh and Happy Wednesday - Happy Cinco de Mayo.

Leaving on a jet plane.....

Deployment went from being around the corner to being here. They left last week on their way to Afganistan. I cant be much more detailed than that though. He has made it there and in one of the first phone calls after he got there was to tell me he made it, he was safe, and did I know how many countries he had peed in in the last few days? Not how many he had been in - how many he had peed in. It was hard to see them all go, but luckily he has been able to contact me almost every day for at least a few minutes so that has been awesome. I looked at some info form people who are already at the place he is going and found this picture:

which admittedly doesn't show much but I liked it anyway.
Here are a couple more from when he left:

Just before he left we decided to have an awesome weekend. So we went to the beach with my sister on Saturday which was really fun. They had a St. Patricks Day Parade that the kids liked and the boys all decided to make sand angels. We went to the Crab Shack (not Joe's) after that. i really love that place. Except that just because I had told my sister how awesome it was it had to be super busy and slow. That wasn't half so bad as the swarms - and I mean SWARMS- of biting gnats that were trying to eat us alive. That had never happened to me there before, but of course had to happen then because I wanted to impress my sister. Oh well.

Then we went to a Rattlesnake Roundup on Sunday. Which I personally think was more of a fair with a pavillion in the corner with a few rattlenakes. Not that the snakes werent pretty and all but it just was a little underwhelming if you ask me. I think I drove him crazy because I just wanted to go in all of the little booths. Thats always my favorite part. I don't really care that most have the same stuff I still want to go check it out. :)

Since he left its been kinda quiet. My house was a disaster between my husband and his buddies Wolford and Mclain packing and unpacking nd repacking. And they stayed at my house on the couch for a few days too so I made my boys clean. Cleaning is good. If the boys go back to Utah this summer the house will be REALLY quiet lol. Hopefully he will get some leave this summer and we can all go back again for a visit. That would be nice.

Click your heels 3 times - and get on a plane.....

Deployment is around the corner - so the Army Gods (aka the company commander) saw fit to give leave so the soldiers could go home and visit their familes. My totally awesome brother Nate and his equally totally awesome wife Kimber were kind enough to get us plane tickets so we could do just that! Yay for them!Or us - or however that works. Gold stars for them either way.

So we left the kids with my sister (thanks again) in South Carolina, the dogs with my neighbor in Georgia, and got on a plane in Jaxonville leaving my car in Florida and headed out for Utah. How cool is that huh? Huh? Anyway - it was weird to go from 80 degrees to 28 when we got there at midnight. Brrrr! But it was wonderful to see my parents waiting for me!! Love you! We stayed with aforemetioned awesome brother who were oh so kind as to let us use the spare bedroom. (Thanks again!) My Uncle Clem let us borrow his suburban so we didnt have to beg rides and our vacation began! We got to see just about everyone in our families (well - immediate everyones anyway)which is good since that was the whole point really. He was able to see his mom but we were worried he wouldn't be able to see his dad. He was working out of town and wasn't sure that he would be able to come see us. Then the next day his mom died. (Aaron's grandma - his dad's mom - not Aaron's mom). His dad was pretty upset as you can imagine and immediately came home so he could be with his wife and plan how to get to the funeral in Wisconsin. This meant he could also see Aaron. Which worked out well since I think seeing Aaron and talking to him helped a lot. It was important. So we spent all day with them and then they had to leave for Wisconsin.
After that we spent some time with his brother, and visiting some friends. We had a couple lazy days with Nate which was nice even though he was sick. I made him some chicken soup - because that fixes everything. We were wanting to have a family dinner at my parents but then we thought - why just do dinner? Why not have a Murder Party? Yay! Who doesn't love those?? So me, my mom, and awesome Kimber went to the game store and picked out a disco one. I was Chaka Moon and Aaron was Vinny Divichi. There were some other pretty cool names like Angina Palpitori (Katie), Polly Esther Stuffincup (Kimber), Knight Feevah (Nate), Brady Bunsch (Andy), Barry Manitone (Dad), and Belle Badham (mom). It turns out - the dead guy really deserved to be dead, none of us were really great people, and I was the killer. Thats right - me! I did it - in the disco, with a golden cleaver, while naked. How about that?? Not bad for a blind chick who had crippled wrists that someone (Knight Feevah) had broken when I was a kid with his pet rock! Ha ha haha ha. It was a pretty fun night! (Pictures will post later I promise.)

We also has a great time playing darts at Gino's. I got pulled over taking evryone home - but they were just checking for drunks and since I wasn't it was all good. Gold star for me! It was snowing pretty bad though and I remembered something - I hate driving in it! Maybe I dont miss snow- not at all. Oh sure it looks all pretty on the mountains but I dont think that is a good trade off for driving in it, shoveling it, scraping it off the car, freezing in it etc. So nope - don't miss it. Saturday we went to Joes house and had a lot of fun there. Brad got out his guitar and started the weirdest sing a long I have ever heard. And if you know my family that is saying something! Aaron ended up naked in the hot tub and lost his underwear. (Sorry Joe) Of course if you know Aaron - this is not a surprise. :)

I went to church in my old ward on Sunday - that was really really nice. I almost forgot just how great those people are. Its the best ward I have ever been in. Lots of love I'm sending out that way! Then we had dinner at my moms. Monday was just pack up and do laundry day, spent the night at my moms and my dad drove us to the airport Tuesday morning. Also - Monday was a "pick up things for Gennee" day too. She wanted fry sauce in packets, Leatherby's fudge, and licorice. (Now the fry sauce I get, and the fudge, but I am pretty sure everywhere sells licorice.) It was pretty funny actually to go into Arctic Circle and just ask for fry sauce. She looked at me and said "to go with what?" I said "nothing - I would just like some fry sauce. I will pay for it but they don't have any in Georgia." She looked perplexed but sold me 10 packets then put like 20 in the bag. Nice lady. What's really funny is that I put them all in my suitcase in those small flat rate post office boxes, with the fudge in a plastic bag, and an Amish Friendship Bread starter bag. When we got home I saw one of those TSA tags that said they searched my bag. Ha ha ha ha - I wonder what they were thinking?
When we got back my sister was kind enough to meet us in Savannah to exchange hostages. Well, ransom back my children is porbably more accurate. I gave her the fry sauce, fudge, and licorice - and she gave me back my kids. I think she got the better deal. :)
It went by really really fast - but it always seems that way once it's over. I love my family very much and I am forever grateful I was able to go visit. But I have to admit - it was really nice to come home and sleep on my own bed. Anyway - this is way long as it is - I will post pics soon!

Superbowl

So we had a football Sunday. I have to say - I am rather pleased with myself. I cleaned the house, really good too. We made stuff for the game, muchies, salsa (oh man I love Aaron's salsa- I think I could eat an entire batch by myself and heartburn be damned), burger stuff, stuffed mushroom stuff, and I had time to clean the kitchen after all that prep before people came over! Yay me!

Now if my husband hadn't been grouchy because his external hard drive quit on him the day before and we couldn't figure out how to fix it and of course we hadn't backed anything up - since that WAS the back up. * sigh *
But it's all right. We managed to still get a few rounds of Golf in (a totally awesome card game I learned from my in-laws) and watch the Steelers go down in flames. Much to Curtis' disappointment. He and Josh were really rooting for them, they are Curtis' favorite team. Poor kid.

Then after everyone left around 11, I cleaned again! All my dishes were done and counters wiped down before I went to bed. Yay me! If only I could stay that motivated all the time. Visitors do that you know - cant let them think I live in a sloppy house. Well not all the time anyway. :)

2011 - It begins :)

First post in 2011 and it only took me until Feb 2nd! Whoo hoo! I never really did listen to my christmas music. But I did spend a couple days with Peter in my MP3 player. I wish I could have gone to see him but it just didn't quite work out that way. Christmas was nice - a little weird but nice. It was just strange to not have anywhere we needed to go you know? We opened presents and sat at home, watched TV and played games. It was nice. Josh got the skateboard he has wanted for a while. It was a nice one too - I was rather proud of myself. Curtis got some posters so his room wouldn't be so naked, and his own Zune with a docking station. It was relaxed, and somehow not quite real feeling. Does that make sense?

Of course, 2 days after Christmas I got snow. It was awesome. Just these pretty little flakes floating down for a couple of hours. Nothing to shovel, nothing to drive in, nothing to stick and ice over, just enough to float down and look pretty. Perfect! New Years was pretty calm too. And now we are in 2011. Can you believe it? Where does time go?? So here we are getting ready for Aaron's deployment. I am not sure how I feel about that. I have known it was coming for a while - it is just more real now. I worry of course but for the most part I am fine.

I know some of the girls here think I am cold beccause I am not crying hysterical, or angry and yelling about how I don't want him to go, or crying about how I will miss him so much I don't know how I wll live. He is out on a field excercise for a week now and some of the girls are crying about how much they miss them and cant stand having them gone. All I can think of is - seriously? It's 4 days! Get a grip. But then I am not a young newlywed so what do I know. Personally I find a week to myself relaxing. Is that bad? Maybe because I have been expecting for a while it easier for me? I mean - he did join the army in the middle of a war - we knew he would deploy sometime. Thats a given isn't it? How could you not expect this? If you didn't want to go - you shouldn't have joined. I know me and the kids will be fine. I work, my kids are older so I know I will be busy. My routine just wont change much. To be fair if it was me and a couple toddlers and no job - I could see this as daunting. Oh well.

On the plus side - where they are going they should have the internet at least part of the time so he gets to skype! Whoo hoo! So I guess it is just cuddle as much as I can while he is here and go from there. :)