Monday, June 25, 2012

Things men dont get, part 354

Im probably going to have to strangle Allen soon.

Men dont understand that when a woman is waiting on news that is life changing (not pregnancy, lets clear that up now) she needs to know whats going on.

So, say you were going to make a phone call around 8 am that was going to give us an answer to a question that COULD throw your whole life in a different direction (are you following? Its confusing). IF, hypothetically speaking, the call didnt complete at the appointed time, you should CALL YOUR WIFE AND LET HER KNOW THAT. Because she MIGHT be sitting at home pacing, wanting an update.

But IN GENERAL men dont get that. They hang up the phone, say “eh, Ill do it later”, and then 3 months from that time they decide to tell you that they didnt “get a chance”.

Rage.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Blogging on the run.

Or, on the stand anyhow.

Im currently standing in front of the TV to blog, as the only safe place in this house seems to be the top of the stand these days. Mr. Mobile (AKA John Douglas) broke his second MAC charger in as many months today. We go through these things like candy, and they arent cheap ($80 a pop to be exact). His obsession with the laptop started when we used to skype with daddy over deployment, and  now he wants to be on it all the time. We even went so far as to buy him a kids laptop, but he isnt easily fooled. He wants the real thing, and hes quick. He gets to the charger before I get to him, and APPLE products are made to break so that they can take all your money. I hear they are accepting body parts now as currency.

In other news, I finally got all my transcripts sent into Columbia College (no easy task when youve gone to college THREE places). I still have no real idea what track Ill take, but I realize that I have to do SOMETHING. My brain needs to be in motion, and crafting from Pinterest (while amusing) just isnt my thing. I WISH it were my thing. I have friends that can make a loveseat out of fucking Coke cans - and thats awesome. But every time I try to do something (say, stain a frame for fathers day???) it ends up looking like a 3rd grade art project. Though thats insulting to 3rd graders.

So, Im going back to school. Even if I dont go back to work, there is nothing wrong with being educated. In addition, Im picking up my LSAT book. My goal is to take the test by September of next year. Maybe Ill never go to law school (because have you seen the price tag?), but at least I can say I did it. And at this point, thats enough.

Maybe I can do it all. Or, I can at least try. Ive always dreamt of being a lawyer, but Ive always let excuses get in the way (no money, kids need me, good enough job, no time, ect). I only have one life ... ONE. I dont want to make excuses forever. It may never work out, I may never practice law, but all the ways I try to get there are only going to make me better.

And now is a good time, since we are ready for baby #3. Of course, we have no idea if we can even get pregnant again, since John was such a surprise. So I think school / law school is a great track to go on. At least its one that I can control.



But, it would be socially irresponsible not to at least try to produce more of these 

Monday, June 11, 2012

Hell has frozen over.

As you know, my child has won the award for clingiest baby EVER for all the months of his life. But right now he is behind me playing.

Quietly.

By himself.

I attribute this phenomenon to his new ability to make “truck and racecar” noises. It really is the cutest thing. Hes only 8 months old so I thought it was a fluke, but he certainly does it enough while playing with his trucks and racecars for me to believe hes a baby genius. Thats what moms do, right? We believe our children the smartest in the world? Today I am honoring that.

Anyhow. Generally were enjoying our time here. Its nice to have some time off of chasing the big one around through all his sports/hanging out/homework/ ect. He is spending the summer building a cabin (yes, a whole cabin) with his dad in the woods of northern GA. At 13 its good for him, especially the part of being cut off from technology. He needs that.

Thankfully two of our friends from Fort Lewis are stationed here, so its been nice to hang out with some of my best friends again. I forget that level of comfort that I miss so much, until I have it again. I have some wonderful friends at Stewart BUT its true that nothing bonds you like a deployment. Those are friendships like no other.

During the days here, if we arent at Tanya or Bridgettes house, we just hang out. We play, we watch the birds, we go on walks. We Skype with friends. Its very, very low key, which isnt easy for me. But Im seeing the beauty in the slow down. There is nothing to clean, no errands to run, nothing to do but spend 5 weeks playing with my growing boy. Although sometimes I hate slow paces I know one day Ill be grateful that I got to spend some uninterrupted time just watching how much hes growing up.


Ive also been playing with my camera a bit. No worries - Im not going to open up a Facebook page and call myself a photographer! But, we bought this very nice camera (well, it was nice 2 years ago, not so much now) and it would probably serve me well to learn to use it while I have the time.








Im also going to learn to sew. This is what John thinks of that. 



Thursday, June 7, 2012

Around the world (or, the country anyhow) in 7 days.

I TOTES meant to post before this, but were settling in (and before this, were prepping for) the big cross country adventure of ours.

Yes, we took an 8 month old shrieking child in a car, and drove from coastal Georgia to Southern Arizona! Please know that we are the craziest mother fuckers ever to live, but we did it and were all in one piece. Mostly.

I now present to you a picture montage. It is titled “Who thought this was a good idea?”.



Our suggested route. We deviated slightly, but you get the idea. 


On Saturday the 26th, Allen decided he was going to go fishing with our neighbor during the early morning hours, leaving the night free to pack up for our planned Monday departure. This was a STELLAR plan right about until I woke up Saturday morning. The boys had left around 5 am, because men are stupid and like to believe that they are working hard when they fish. By the time we rose at 8 am, there were tropical storm warnings being blasted all over the internet / television.

First of all, what the fuck? True story, the day before I HONEST TO GOD said “Well, looks like were going to hit wonderful weather for our entire trip!”. In my defense, there was no indication that some tropical force was spinning its way towards us at the time. So of course, I panic, mostly because I want to eat the food in New Orleans and any delay in our leaving is going to prevent that from happening.

Of course my husbands phone doesnt get service on the ocean (and because hes an asshole), so I go into DEFCON 3 panic mode. Johns crying, Im throwing clothes around and crying, and I believe I texted Allen to not bother coming home so that Beryl could take his ass out to sea.

Listen, real life isnt always pretty.

However, he got home, we got everything calmed down, and we decided to hit the road one day early - ahead of the storm.


This took about 7 hours. 

We made the relatively uneventful drive to Pensacola. I had pre-booked our hotels for the stay, but this one I had to wing because of the last minute plans. It wasnt terrible, but it was Memorial Day weekend so apparently people were out that dont usually stay in hotels. I spent most of the night listening to some folks who probably just got released from jail fighting with the management over their hotel room. I have no idea what the issue was, but I heard the words “AC”, “new room”, and “I will cut a bitch” a lot.  The next day we headed to the beach (new favorite place!), rented chairs and an umbrella, and had a great day together. Allen and I made inappropriate comments the entire time - I wonder why we dont have a TV show but I figure its because 90% of the time we just watch TV in our underwear. No one wants to see that. 

John and Daddy checking out the beach

The next day was our 5 year anniversary (still havent killed each other, huzzah!) and on to New Orleans. Hello, I love you NOLA. When you drive through the city its not much to see. Its a little dirty and sort of scary. But then you get into the actual town and you realize what all the fuss is about yo. We valeted the car at the hotel (any city that requires valet is thumbs up in my book) and headed straight for Cafe Du Monde. Id never had a beignet but I was going to correct that, poste haste. Then we saw the cathedral, some of the shops, and ate lunch. Then we went back out and ate dinner at Ralph and Kacoos. Sort of touristy but NOLA (for all its wonderful-ness) isnt super baby friendly. However, John was a darling for that dinner. And, I had alligator for the first time.

Basically I was like Pac Man down the streets of New Orleans. I just ate my way from one side of the city to the other. The next day we hit the National WWII Museum, which I highly recommend! 


John ready for dinner with the grown ups!

Then we headed to a pit stop in Sealy, TX. Absolutely nothing to see there, just a good halfway point until our next stop. 


The kid loves the steering wheel. I mean, whatever works right?


The next day we headed out to stay with two of my fellow September mommas (who both ended up being August mommas, oddly!). Jaquelyn was a most wonderful hostess, and Allen and her husband ended up getting along pretty well. It was a great few days, and John is WAY better when surrounded by other babies. That probably means we need more.


Mommas and babies on the lake!


After two wonderful days there, we said goodbye and headed for El Paso (our last day in TX!). My wonderful friend Sarah offered up a home cooked meal and we gladly accepted. We also brought our screeching child over to remind them just why they dont want children :P

And then we arrived at our destination! So Ive been settling us in for the month and a half that were here, before I turn around and do it all over again in reverse. I obviously am a glutton for punishment.

Like I said - who does this shit?