My grandmother is not a soft spoken woman. She tells it like it is (or like she thinks it is) no matter what the situation. My grandmother is also not someone who lives an hour away and who we never see. She lives two houses away, and I grew up in her house-from 7am to 7pm-even occasionally living there. She fixes my clothes and sews things on B's uniforms. I take her dog out and drive her places when she doesn't feel like driving herself.
When B and I first started dating, she was very concerned with his military-ness. Which, honestly, I find rather odd since my grandpa was in the Air Force and she was a military wife. But, he did his four years and left. B is, at the current moment, planning on 20 years. A lot of what she says is very defensive--she doesn't want you to know what's really going on, so she yells at you instead. I heard a lot of "you don't want to do that" "why would you want to do that" "you're going to be miserable" "you'll never be able to do it." (She loves me, I swear, but she always thinks she knows what's best. If I had broken it off with him because of the military, she would have yelled at me for that too.)
But this week I told her we were stationed in Wyoming. She didn't yell at me. Through tearing eyes, all she said was "...I thought it wasn't supposed to be that far."
So, needless to say, my weeks been kind of...eh. And I've been really worried about leaving our families.
But tonight I came home from class and found two bars of Dove Milk Chocolate (THE BEST ever chocolate!) and a card on my desk. The inside of it had no typed phrases, no goofy love quote, and nothing hallmark. But, it had two pages of writing from B. Two perfect pages of exactly what I needed to hear this week. Exactly.
Do you remember this post? The one where B got his job and we ranked our top six bases?
On our list was: Georgia, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, California and Louisiana.
We found out through ways that we won't discuss (completely at no fault to us) last week that we were stationed. But, we wanted to wait until this week when B was officially told where we were going to say anything.
So where are we going? Georgia? Delaware? California?
No.
Wyoming.
F.E. Warren in Cheyenne, to be exact. A missile base with no runway. In Wyoming.
I'm not going to complain--I'm just going to accept that although the air force said "rank your top 6" and had six good choices but chose somewhere not even relatively close to any of those we ranked, it's not like we can change it. So we're going to Wyoming. And buying a horse (that is the only way to fit in there, right?). I'm also fairly certain I'm going to need more scarves, coats, and gloves.
But I do have one question: is it wrong to name a child Cheyenne if you live in Cheyenne?
I think we'll have to learn how to ski. It's a crime not to know if you live that close to Colorado, right? What is there to do/see in Wyoming or Colorado? Because you can bet we're going to be planning some trips!
The only part I will complain about is that now I'll have to wait 2 hours after everyone else to see my favorite shows :( Geeze I'm a junkie. But, I do worry about being 19 hours from all we've ever known. Georgia was at least a familiar state, and only 9 hours. I drove through Wyoming once when I was 7, and B's never been anywhere out west, and that's basically all our experience with that area. But we'll live :)
It is no secret that I love to bake. Cupcakes, cakes, pie, bread...anything horrible for you and completely unnecessary to a meal is right up my alley. But cooking a meal? I don't do that very often. It's probably been 4-5 months since I've "made" a meal (unless you include dialing Marco's Pizza or microwaving things). The problem I have with it is that I don't like doing the same recipe multiple times. The problem I have with using a new recipe every time is that I can't afford to buy extra ingredients that I don't usually keep. But, this week in my Family Circle magazine (shut up, you know you like it too), a particular recipe caught my eye: Turkey Meatball Heroes.
I'm a big fan of anything made with ground turkey instead of ground beef. It's a million times better for you. And, I don't know how it is in your house, but in my house when people know you used turkey instead of beef they dislike whatever you make. But if I keep my turkey substitute a secret then they never know the difference and they love it meanwhile I've made a healthy choice for them. Whiney turds.
I'm not entirely comfortable posting the recipe on here, since it's probably a copyright infringement (aka illegal) but you can probably find it on the site, or you could email me and I could just scan it and email it to you. The ingredients, plus two eggs, are here:
Aside from the meatballs being a bit overdone (I should really know better than to cook them for the length they tell me too, but not-done raw meat freaks me out) and there not being really enough sauce to keep them moist (two teaspoons on each? please, that was BY FAR not enough and I even doubled it)...
...they were actually really good!
And plus, if you put them on a red plate with a golden underplate, it makes them look all special...
And one is definitely enough, but I made a salad to go with it. I ate probably 3/5ths of mine, but that's just me.
Other than that, today is Thursday, and we're hoping to find out about the woah thing.
A: "How much will you give me if I can stick this whole sandwich in my mouth?" B: "I'll give you two dollars." A: "You'll seriously give me two dollars if I stick this whole thing in my mouth?" B: "You have to stick it all the way in and close your mouth." C: "That's what she said.."
And I'm no better, because I laughed my butt off. Oh well. It's the little things. :)
I've been kind of absent, I know, but I have been kind of absent from everything else too. I'm having a hard time not talking about the 'woah thing' at all, so I'm just not talking. That's fair, right? ...just agree, we'll both be happier.
But I'm also been sick since Saturday, and am currently on my third dose of DayQuil in 11 hours. I'm sure that's destined to sound like a casual suicide attempt, but I hate when my illnesses get ahead of me and 6 hours between doses just seems harsh. Plus I give it less time since all the medication in this house is expired sometime between January 06 and January 08. Personally I think it works better (which may or may not be a cover-up for "im too broke to buy a whole new set of medication").
It's not the flu, though, which is both bad and good. No chance it's swine flu if it's not the flu, so I still have to go to work and class. However, it appears that people with swine flu are really being alienated as if they're carrying the bubonic plague...which is rather stupid, since the regular flu has always and will always kill more people than any swine flu will. Deal with it, germophobes.
Booked the DJ on Friday. Went to Oktoberfest on Saturday. Laid in bed sick from 330 on Sunday. But, honestly, decent weekend. Other than the rain, of course.
Oktoberfest Caricature. Ignore the random white spots, it must be from the camera flash.
This week has been crazy, but it was made crazier today.
Aside from my car breaking down at Devil University (again), spending an hour trying to fix it, finally getting my cousin to come down and help only to have him get in and turn the key and have the car magically start up, going to the dentist and finding out I have two little cavities, defending the fact that I do not drink a lot of soda (due to my inability to do so and still live) nor do I eat 98234928 pieces of candy a day (due to my lack of being 4 years old), borrowing my grandmothers boat that makes me feel like I need to drive 20 miles under the speed limit, snagging my cousins car for my night class, and getting across the river just in time to sit in traffic because the highway closed 2 minutes prior for an accident...something big may or may not have happened.
I can't say what this is. I know that it may be true, and it may be false. We hopefully will know for sure next Thursday. Until we know for sure, I can't say what it is. Which partly has to do with the fact that B is freaking out about it and I'm doing a damn good job at pretending to be perfectly fine with it and I can't slip up with that until after B is done freaking out. 2 people - 2 freaking out people = 0 people left to deal with it. But if it is true, it will have been completely unexpected and completely not what we planned. Completely.
Until further notice, this will just be known as the "woah thing" and nothing more. Because it's like...woah, you know? And I hate doing this to you guys, but it's doing it to me too...and it's not fun. So I spread the joy a bit...
On September 14th of last year, we had a plan. My mom had spent the entire summer fighting a deadly disease in the kind of upbeat fashion you've never seen anyone fight with. So we planned on having a surprise party. 100 people were invited. We were going to meet in the park. It was my dad's responsibility to take her out somewhere so she would be wearing clothes she was comfortable being seen it when she came to help me because my 'car broke down' in the park.
September 14th just happen to be the one and only hurricane we've had in the midwest in my entire lifetime.
So we ended up meeting at the park. I had to call my mom and say that my cousin and I went to the park and now my car won't start. She looked at my dad on the way there and said "We're in the hurricane. Why the hell did she go to a park?" And then when she arrived, the only car she immediately recognized was my uncles monte carlo, to which she stated to my dad "why did they call me if he was already here?" Surprise accomplished.
We left the park and went to one of my mother's best friends homes just up the road. A few trees came down while we were there. The electricity went out. The storm, in fact, caused way more than 500,000 homes to be without electricity for anywhere from 1 day to 2 weeks. But we were celebrating that day. It was a happy day, and we didn't care about the weather. In fact, the only picture I took of any damage was the first picture up there, and that was nearly a week later.
Until the people who opened their home to us received a phone call.
"Two motorcyclists were killed when a tree struck their motorcycle. The victims were with a charity motorcycle ride to benefit the families of fallen and injured soldiers."
And the day changed forever. Their son and his wife: TJ & Stephanie. They were gone forever. And suddenly the weather didn't matter.
One year on. One year since we lost them. 365 days since the hurricane that changed our lives forever and left a baby girl orphaned.
One year later, and the courts have still not awarded permanent custody to anyone over 18 month old Abby.
We remember this today, and nothing else. And we pray that by the end of the month Abby will have a new forever home--she's lost enough, and we remember every minute of it.
Many of you know that cancer research has a large spot in my heart. Breast cancer for sure, as so many women in my life have fought the disease. But, all cancer are horrible. All cancers need cures. And pediatric cancers are often overlooked--the littlest patients are often overlooked. But not today. Today they will be our focus.
Be Aware. Care. Save.
Today is Childhood Cancer Awareness Day. Did you know? No?
Here are a few facts, taken from the internet,which will hopefully help enlighten you:
1. Cancer is the #1 cause of death by disease for children, killing more than asthma, diabetes, pediatric AIDS, congenital anomalies, and cystic fibrosis combined.
2. 46 children are diagnosed with cancer every day in the US.
3. Every year, 35-40,000 children are in treatment for cancer.
4. Less than 3% of all cancer research money goes to all pediatric cancers combined.
5. September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month yet most people have never heard of this.
6. Only about 20% of adults with cancer show evidence that the disease has spread to distant sites on the body at diagnosis yet 80% of children are diagnosed with advanced disease.
7. Each year, 3000 children die of cancer in the US- or 1 in 5. That's 20%.
Think about your child's class at school. I'm guessing around 20 kids, right? Now imagine the principal told you four of those children, picked at random, would be dead by the end of the school year, just for showing up to class.
Would you send your kid to school?
Think about your child's football, or baseball, or soccer team. Ten or fifteen kids, right? Imagine three of them will be killed on the court or on the field this fall. Would you let your child play?
I'm always amazed when I hear someone say, "I'm so lucky .... I've been blessed with (insert number here) healthy children and I count my blessings every day."
Guess what? Many families are blessed with healthy kids, too.
Until one of them wakes up one morning with cancer.
Don't think it can't happen to you.
It can.
It does every day for forty-six families in this country alone.
It did for Dillon. Who was one of the "lucky" ones.
Don't assume that you're somehow exempt, that it's not your problem, because your children have always been healthy thus far...
But there is something we can do to help ensure luck won't be a deciding factor anymore --
Donate to childhood cancer research.
The best organization I know for this is CURE Childhood Cancer. They are doing their best to help fund research for PEDIATRIC cancers, something the American Cancer Society does very little of.
A few facts about CURE, taken from their website:
"What exactly does CURE fund?
Research into the development of “targeted therapies” – that focus only cancer cells and do not harm surrounding healthy cells. Targeted therapies are critical to ensuring that patients are spared the devastating and often life-threatening “late effects” caused by current conventional therapies
Basic and clinical research
Training of future pediatric oncologists and researchers through the fellowship program at Emory University School of Medicine
Emergency financial assistance for families stricken by childhood cancer
Professional development and continuing education efforts for nurses, family support team members, and others caring for children with cancer
Innovative programs that address the critical and urgent needs of patients and their families, such as meals to inpatient families, outreach at the time of diagnosis, and bereavement support"
Because every child deserves to experience their first day of school. Every child deserves to make goals and plans for the upcoming year ..... to HAVE an upcoming year ....
Please, go to CURE Childood Cancer and donate in awareness of Childhood Cancer Month.
In preparation for the forty-six kids who will be diagnosed TODAY.
***This post was originally written by Kristie at "Not Quite What I had Planned" and then by Mrs. Staff Sergeant at "Married to the Military", whose children are both alive and healthy to this day***
I'm so tired. Just worn out. The weekend was good... Save the rain. But I'm tired. And going non-stop for as long as I can see. It'll take just a few weeks to get used to my new schedule(s).
...I hope.
Because I am exhausted. And it's only Monday. And a holiday.
But this...
...this always gets me from one day to the next. Always.
In my bathroom, after I shower, I hang my towel on the shower curtain rod and leave the curtain open. When guests come, I close the curtain, fold the towel over once and hang it on the rack on the back of the door so it's not ugly and the curtain can be closed. There is never anything on the behind-the-door rack besides my towel and that's only when out-of-towners come to stay with us.
We do have a linen closet in the hallway right next to the bathroom, but we rarely use it due to the fact that you have to move the rug completely to open the door (poor planning, but cheap and awesome rug!). Instead, we have this wicker basket in the bathroom. This basket is not tiny, and it does not have a lid, and other than the trash can and the toilet bowl brush it's the only thing on the floor of the bathroom so it's not like it's hard to miss. This basket ALWAYS has four, clean, rolled towels of 4 different colors and four washcloths to match them inside of it.
So why is it that when out-of-towners come, they think it's a good idea to use the ONE towel that's on the back of the door on the DRYING rack instead of one out of the perfectly nice and clean looking towel basket?
It creeps me out. And makes me have to use one out of the nice pretty basket that's a different color than mine, which makes me have to do two loads of laundry. Three if the other out-of-towner took a shower (which, let's be truthful, she did--and it's a completely different color than the other two towels). This makes me start questioning things when I notice it...hmm, my razor was not flipped up after I showered yesterday, did they use it? Hmm, the hair in the bottom of the shower isn't mine, if I remove it and she has lice will I get it? And ZOMG, what about my shower puff?? Did they use THAT too? No washcloths are dirty! I don't know these people that well, what if they're diseased?? Should I hide my shit from now on??
So this leads me to proper shower etiquette for guests:
-Use common sense and pick a clean towel. If you can't find one or have any doubt on which to use, ask. -Use one towel per person. I don't care how much hair you have, it's unnecessary for you to have two towels. -If you are really nice, you could pick a blue towel and a green towel so they could at least be washed together. -If there is a clean washcloth available at your disposal, take advantage of it. -If the shower is curtained, keep the liner inside the tub. Or, if you fail, clean up the water on the floor when you get out. -Don't use other peoples bar soap, shower puffs, razors, or washcloths you found already in the shower. -When you step out of the shower, it would be awesome if you would place a part of the towel on the ground and then step out onto it so the rug or floor doesn't get soaked until you are dried off. -Towels should never be placed on wooden surfaces. This includes, but is not limited to, wood floors and wood furniture. -Limit the amount of time a towel is left on carpet/rugs. It causes mildew. -Before you do anything else (but please after you put clothes on) return your towel to the bathroom and hang it up on either a drying rack or over the shower rod or somewhere you would logically hang a wet towel. -Close shower curtain/shower door.
And I think that's all for now. Although I'm sure I'll think of more later :) But we're supposed to be leaving for the weekend in 24 minutes and I'm neither dressed nor packed so...I should hope off.
Do you remember those? From the 90's? The small, cheese flavored, balls of air? The ones that disappeared without warning?
Well, we've found them! At a small store in an even smaller town about a half an hour from the lake. They are awesome! Possibly a bit stale, but who would know what stale cheese flavored balls of air taste like??
I know my posts have been rather random lately, and I apologize, but I've been seriously busy. I've not really had any room to breathe as of late, but today the universe agreed with me on that today and was nice enough to cancel my morning class and push my classroom observances back until Thursday and allowed me to sleep in :) Doing some laundry, went for a run, about to shower, and then to hit up the sparknotes on A Passage to India for my night class.
Oh, did I mention we have been back in class for one week and we already have 2 cases of swine flu on campus? I think it's swell. Devil U has decided to make all the professors create contingency plans incase they have to suspend classes for the flu. A further development with that is that the Uni is requiring you to stay off campus for 1 full week after exhibiting any flu-like symptoms. Well, that's fine and dandy, except that I have 3 class that if you miss a week of their class you fail. Apparently, they forgot to tell the professors this rule.
And I'm actually kind of enjoying my linguistics class. NEVER thought I'd say that. That is, until our 615-9pm class is still taking part at 910, that kind of pisses me off. And I've decided that, based on the way and how many times I've heard the professor say the word "Blog," it's really kind of a gross sounding word.
Still haven't found a photographer I'm 100% happy with yet. Have found a DJ and a backup DJ just incase the first one books before I get a chance to meet with him, which could be like 2 weeks from now.
I'm pretty sure I won $15 at work on day 2 during a selling contest. That makes me happy. And I'm getting closer to my video camera.
Maybe next time I'll focus on one thing? Maybe? Just maybe?
I have a degree as a Secondary English Teacher but am currently a stay-at-home Mama to a wonderful baby boy. I'm a children's advocate, a writer, a reader, a baker, a painter, a family prioritist, a traveling fool, an Air Force wife, and a soccer enthusiast--navigating the world one PCS at a time.
