The Ghost of Primary Programs Past

Tomorrow is the big day for our little Hawaiian Primary.

And I have to say, the Program is way more fun as the Sunbeam Teacher than it is as the Primary President.

This year I am not worried about stray Book of Mormons being launched during the chorus of Scripture Power.

No Lamaze breathing to help me cope with the Tasmanian Devil twins sitting right in the front row with me.

No worries that half the teachers won't show and the kids will run wild all over the stand, or that we won't know the songs...

Ahhh, what blessed peace!

Here's a little Primary Math:

3 Primary Programs as the PP
+ 1 as a counselor
+ 6 as Secretary
+ 1 (tomorrow) as a teacher
___________
11 primary programs. In my 13+ years of marriage.

I'm happy to not be setting up chairs and microphones and printing last minute name labels and worrying about too many announcements and praying that none of our main speakers get sick. I'm thrilled to be sitting in my little seat, just trying to keep my own little guys happy and, if not reverent, at least quiet.

Happy Primary Day!

read

No time to blog.

Must.

Go.

Read.

I am a fast reader, but Hannah is faster. If I spend anymore time on the computer she will finish Twilight and steal New Moon from me....gotta run....

And just so I don't have to get into a cat fight with Amanda or Tori, I won't discuss who I love best. BUT, Sarah (my little sis, who lives in right there in the Olympic rain forest) have you read this book? It is set near Port Angeles, WA. with a minor character named Charlie... interesting... I may have to come out for a visit... you haven't seen any strange tracks out there while hiking, have you?

A city of women

Since we moved here to Schofield Barracks almost a year ago, we have lived in a neighborhood full of women. Now, there are a few men around - my husband, the guy down the street who washes his car each and every live-long day, and a few others.. but around 75% of the families that I know are waiting for dad to come home next month.

This is a topic that I think about a lot, but I'm having a hard time catching those thoughts and organizing them to write down. This is such a muddle. sorry.

I think there is a different feel to a neighborhood without dads. Not bad or anything, but different. And I wonder how it will change the feel of things around here when all the dads start coming home.

My husband has been gone just a month, and already I've started in on some of my single mom patterns - there's less laundry to worry about, less real food to cook, and I get the computer all to myself every night! (and I'm lonely and missing adult conversation and I don't have my dive buddy...)

When Nathan comes home next week I'm going to have to make a few adjustments to my daily plan and remember how to play nice and share. And I'm happy to.

But I wonder how it would be if he had been gone for 15 months. Seems like such a time warp - go off to war when the baby is a few days old.... come home and the baby's walking and saying bye-bye. And I know I'm enough of a control freak that there would need to be some serious adjustments happening to slide back into that happy family mode.

Maybe it's easier for everyone else, but the re-deployment time is tough for me.

The girls I know have weathered this deployment with such grace and strength. I'm sure the re-deployment will be no different (or even better!)

And, after all the welcome home signs get put away and leave is over and the guys head back to regular work, it will be fun to watch our neighborhood change. More 5 o'clock traffic. Less cobwebs on the 2nd car parked in the driveway. More playing catch. More Dads!



PS - why do they call it re-deployment. I don't really like that term. To me it sounds like he was deployed. He returned home for a day or two. Then he had to quickly re-deploy. What would be better? reunion? but not everyone is coming home to a loved one.... homecoming? sounds like high school football..... repatriation? sounds strange.... i don't know...

Because Because Because Because I said so...

William Tell Overture for Mom's

Hannah and I laughed over this today.

++++++++++++

In running news, I was playing with my ipod this morning when I was passed by what sounded like galloping horses. It turned out to be 2 army guys. I am so slow.... I may have been faster than the speed-walking woman, but she was going the other way, so it's hard to tell.

It was really humid early this morning, and I was sweating so much there were drops of salty wetness dripping off my elbows. Ew.

And my hair was getting so puffy in the moist air that I could feel my ponytail swishing between the backs of my arms.

I usually worry about chub-rub, and spend a lot of my run checking to make sure my shorts are not creeping up. I have to admit, I was a teeny big gleeful when I saw a strong, fast, man having that same trouble!

Next week is Fall Break, so I will get to sleep in and run AFTER p.t. That will be nice.

Seven Sillies all in a Row

1 - I didn't take a shower today. I didn't run this morning, so that's not as gross as it could have been. I meant to shower, but I didn't.

2 - I did put on fresh deodorant. And some lovely smelling lotion.

3 - I ate a brownie for breakfast. My friend Kelly gave us a plate of brownies last night. I covered the last two brownies and put them in the oven to keep them safe from any scary bugs. This morning as I preheated the oven to bake some banana bread I could smell the most delicious chocolate smell. When I opened the oven to put in the banana bread I found the brownies, which had warmed just enough to melt the chocolate chunks....mmmm......

4 - I got to go Visiting Teaching this morning. I laughed so much my smile muscles were sore! Huzzah Huzzah for a great companion!

5 - After we had spent an hour at one home, and had said goodbye a couple times, I was getting anxious to go, so I started to do a little dance. My own little running man dance. More of running in place than of actual dancing. I sometimes do that little dance here in the privacy of my home, to get myself in the hurry-up mode - it usually gets a few "mooooooomm" groans from the kids. I am a wee bit embarrassed that I was showing off my moves in front of those two ladies. It's making me blush just thinking about it!

6 - While waiting at the church for Young Women's to finish up, I noticed that my re-applied deodorant was not working so well. Sorry if you noticed when you gave me a hug.

7 - Before moving here I was not a big hugger. It was one of my top ten Hawaii worries. But, I have to say, the hug/cheek kisses are kind of fun! I'd probably still wait for you to bring on the hug first...


Thanks Lemon Stand for the tag. If my cheesy grin inspires you to list 7 silly things on your blog, let me know! If my teeth just scare you, go ahead and keep that comment to yourself!

Tiki Hut Decoration

I'm hoping you can help me with a little decorating question.

I am not much of a decorator. In fact, this move was the first time that I have put curtains up in my house. Ever. I love my blue curtains and the way they blow in the evening breeze, but my house is still a little bare.

Hannah says not to think of it as bare, but as having clean lines.

I like that, but we have one gigantic wall that I would like to put a picture or two on, and I was thinking you might be able to help me make a decision.

Option #1 is to wait until we have family photos taken at the beach and make up a family collage on that wall. I love the Galleries done by Lisa Russo, but the problem I see is that i hate to have to straigten a lot of different picture frames.

Option #2 is a large map of the world. Kind of antique like. I've been wanting to do this for a while, but I'm not sure. The furniture in this room is dark. Dark brown leather sofa and love seat, dark walnut 100 year old piano, and dark tv hutch. I especially like the blue in the map. I think it would be nice with my blue curtains, blue patterned pillows and blue vases. But I'm worried that with all the other grown up furniture, the map will seem a bit stuffy.




Option #3 is 2 or 3 vintage Hawaiian Travel posters. I love these, as you might be able to tell from my blog, and I think we could have fun with them here. But maybe they are too silly, and would I really want them when we move in a couple years?






Option #4 - ???

*******

I'm also searching for some patio furniture....

Return to Sender

Dear Erin,
I thought of you yesterday. We were at Old Navy and I noticed their cute maternity clothes. I meant to buy you a gift card, but I got carried away with the sale on shoes and bags. By the time we made it to the check out, you had totally slipped my mind. I was hoping to be your #1 favorite sister. I failed. But, gosh, my new shoes are cute!

Your (lame) Sister,
w
***************

Dear Housing Office,
I hope you are considering installing a bigger fence between my house and the building going up next door. I could use a little more privacy. Early Friday morning I heard some of the workers over there laughing. I'm sure they were laughing at me! There is nothing wrong with taking out the trash with my hair up in a towel. My sunrise Yoga seems to be getting a bit too much attention, too (I wonder if I'm doing my downward dog properly?)

Tentant #101,
w
****************

Dear John,
I'm not really interested in wiping your bottom any more. Even when your poop is a suprising and unnatural shade of green.

Love,
Mom
PS - did you remember to wash your hands?
PPS - get back in there and flush!

******************

Dear Bathroom Scale,
You lie. Don't pretend to be so innocent. I would appreciate just a little recognition for all my early morning jogging and vegetable eating. Come on, just move a little...

Eagerly Awaiting your Response,
w
****************

Dear Nathan,
Go ahead and let the Army know that I have accomplished all my pre-deployment training: fast food speed dialing? check! Retail Therapy? Check! Scary sounds and sleep deprivation? check! Minor emergency involving a trip to the doctor and huge amounts of laundry? check! (Extra)Large bug sighting and messy squish? check! Grouchy kids sent to bed early? check!

I have no need of further training! Come on home!

Yours,
w

It's Aloha Friday

Looking down on the North Shore and the Pacific Ocean:



School Bus with a view - just another beautiful day in Hawaii.

I headed out with Sydney's 4th grade class on a field trip to the Polynesian Cultural Center

It's easy to see why this place is one of the top tourist sites in Hawaii. Clean, educational, and Great Service! When one of the students in our boat lost her hat, our Paddle Boy was nice enough to back up and fish it out for her. He didn't look very Polynesian, but he did have a lovely Australian accent.



Is Sydney hiding behind her passport?

I made sure to get a picture or two of each child in Sydney's class - what cute kids! It might not be okay for me to post them on the internet, though, so I tried to make sure I got a good one of Sydney that I could post. But she wasn't interested.



Malo e Lelei from Tonga!
The Tongan Show is one of our favorites at the PCC, and though today was more educational then the usual performance, it was still fun!



Talofa from Samoa. Did you know that Samoa is pronounced SAH-moa. Not suh-MOA?

I'm not sure if teaching a bunch of 9 year olds how to make fire with two sticks you can find in your backyard is such a great idea!



As we left the PCC the tourists were lining up to head in. We seemed to catch them a little off guard, and I could imagine them thinking, "That's right...regular people with real children do live in Hawaii."

What a cool place to be.

Happy Aloha Friday!

Thursday To Do

All week I've been feeling like this:



Like I'm climbing up up up...but I'm not getting anywhere.

Tomorrow is Thursday, and if I make it through the day, then I'll be coasting through to the weekend.

Here's what's going on tomorrow:

Run

Pack Lunches and Sunblock

4th grade Field Trip to Polynesian Cultural Center

Pick up John (Thank you, Sarah, I totally owe you)

Hula x 2

Hannah's video for computer class

Laundry

Hot Wheel tidy up

Fix Dinner

Go to bed early

Looking at that list makes me feel a whole lot better. Besides the fact that the field trip is taking up the whole day, I really don't HAVE to do all that much. In fact, I should probably just go ahead and delete laundry, hot wheels, and fix dinner...I may not get to them before that early bedtime...

Silly or Sad

There is a lot of excitement on post as Soldiers are starting to trickle home from their 15 month Iraq tours. I can feel a little buzz of anticipation when I talk to the moms from school who are comparing dates and decided whether or not to be optimistic - mid month or end of month? or maybe even earlier! In my neighborhood I've seen lots of updated highlights and fresh haircuts. A little more exercising and a lot more smiles. I have a feeling Victoria's Secret is noticing as well.

Today I helped Emily's 1st grade class decorate pillowcases for returning single soldiers, who won't have family to meet them at the airport. It is part of Operation Headrest. An idea thought of by a wife here, who noticed how sad it can be for those soldiers without loved ones nearby to welcome them home.

I think it's a neat idea, but also a little hokey. I'll admit, the picture book she read to the kids made me tear up (that happens a lot to me), but I have a nagging feeling that a puff-painted pillowcase with "My Hero" (hero spelled wrong) hand written by a 1st grader is maybe not the hero's welcome these guys and girls are hoping for. I could be wrong.

With those pillowcases in mind and the fact that this deployment is ending and a new deployment that affects our family is right around the corner, I've been doing a little how-to-cope research. This may be totally sacrilegious to write, and I may get banned from SpouseBuzz, but there are some really silly (and rather sad, when you think about it - "your dad couldn't make it tonight to your 8th grade graduation because he's out fighting bad guys in Iraq, but do you want me to bring Flat Daddy along for the pictures?") ideas floating around out on teh internets to help support families of troops. And some really good ones (I think I'm going to order a couple soldiers bracelets as stocking stuffers, attractive though certainly not life changing) - but just for tonight, let me list some of the sillier ones, okay?

Take the Daddy doll. Just send in a photo of your loved one in uniform and we will make it into a precious doll. And when you 3 year old misses his daddy, tell her to go snuggle her Daddy Doll. I find that a wee bit disturbing, (though come January I may go out and buy me some iron on transfers...)


Or the Huggee Missee Security Doll fromCuddle Babies. Just slip a photo of your loved one behind the plastic-sleeved face. (nice hair cut, but still odd, though reasonably priced)


Or my personal favorite, and one I'm actually planning to try (mainly because my neighbor has one and I want to be just like her it's kind of cool) creepy though it is - Flat Daddy. It is a full sized cardboard cutout of your very own American Hero. Waist up. Send in his measurements and a color photo and you, too, can have your very own Flat Daddy to bring along to all important events and prop up in family photos! One free per deployment affected family. Or with a little rubber cement and tag board, you could print your own. If I order my free Flat Daddy today, we could get it in February....I'm going to have to get right on that...
I can see myself driving around town with Flat Nate propped up in the passenger seat....

Good thing they offer free, confidential, counseling...

Brace Face

Look who has braces, now! Hannah has been counting down the days....



I've been practicing my favorite nicknames, for her: Railroad Tracks, Metal Mouth, Tinsel Teeth, Jaws! But so far I haven't been able to make her cry.



I was amazed when I zoomed in on that first photo to see the detail! You can see spit bubbles and lip texture and boogers. (just kidding, no bogeys - sorry Han.) Congratulations on your new Tin Grin!

**********

Nathan left me home alone with his camera this month and I am having fun learning just how coolio it is! It is amazing how many things you can find to photograph when you bring the camera along. Must go browse through Pioneer Woman's Tutorials

I Looked Out the Window and What Did I See?

As many of you head in to fall, we are in a constant state of bloom! The little scrubby trees in our yard are covered in these pretty yellow and pink blossoms. The Rainbow Shower tree is the official tree of Honolulu. I found an article about them here:



John loves to climb into this little "tree" and scare me!


Can you guess what kind of tree it is? Here's a clue:



He climbs in the hibiscus hedge under my kitchen window. Because it gets trimmed frequently we have only seen a couple flowers on it, but this week there are three!

+++++++++++++

A busy week ahead:
A fieldtrip with Sydney.
4 little boys here to play.
Hannah is getting braces.
School Photos.
Fun!

I just want to say -

Thank Heavens I'm not in charge of the Primary Program this year.

Whew! What a big job all you Primary Presidencies around the World have.

From my seat in the Sunbeam secion I just want to let you know that you are doing great! And, thanks for all your hard work. And don't worry, the first day of practice is always a little crazy!

Construction Zone

There are many great things about the Tiki Hut, but John's favorite is the contruction zone, conveniently located next door. The enticing sounds of trucks backing up and power tools whining and banging, draw us outside. We watch dump trucks with heavy loads and big cement trucks with loooooong chutes and the crane lifting big pallets and tiny ant-sized men walking on the roof.



John likes to get in on the action!



This is serious work



John's buddy Sam came over to help. They had a snack before heading back to work



Poor Sam had to dig with his slipper, but he didn't seem to mind...or did he?


Boys!

It's Aloha Friday

Time to relax. And nothing says Hawaii like relaxing in a hammock.

I think a hammock is actually a required item when living in Hawaii. We have a camping hammock.


Emily and Tahina

We took it to Girls Camp this summer.


John with Talea

It fit perfectly between two palm trees, and was a great place to swing! I had hoped to bring it home and put it right to good use in our yard. But it is rolled up, forgotten and abandoned, on the floor of my laundry room, as none of our trees are close enough together to hang it.

So, I'm dreaming of something like this:



(wish we had that view, too...)

The Tiki Hut NEEDS a hammock. Really. Can it be a Tiki Hut without a hammock? The kids like to play outside each evening, but I'd rather lay on the couch. With a hammock I could get all my relaxing done while they run around! Perfect!

But (and I do mean butt) hammocks do sometimes have the embarrassing problem of allowing all your soft parts to mush through. That's something to think about, you know.

**************

While you ponder that fascinating bit of diamond shaped squish, I have two movie recommendations for your Aloha Friday Movie Night:

Last weekend we checked out Sweet Land. It was the grown-up movie in our movie night selection, and by the time it started all the youngsters were snoozing. It is a totally SWEET movie. Seriously. One of the best movies I've seen all year. It had all my favorite things - the prairie, hard work("farming and banking don't mix"), accents, angst, and love. Loved it when they held hands. Beautiful. and rated just PG. It is a little slow and had kind of a confusing beginning. I hope you love it as much as we did.

And tonight I am going to watch Dear Frankie for the 4th time this week. It is the story of a young deaf boy who writes letters to his absent father. His mother has set up a PO box to collect his letters and answers them as if she is his "da" who is a sailor. Frankie tracks his dad's ship as it travels the world. Things get tricky when the ship his dad is supposedly on comes to port in Frankie's home town, and Frankie's Mammy has to find a substitute dad to act the part. Again, another sweet story. Gerard Butler is hawt! I wonder what else he is in... Some language near the end of the movie, and the Scottish accents are really strong. I had to turn on the subtitles to catch all the words.

What's on your queue?

Motivation

Running is hard work again. With my foot bothering me this spring, I decided to give my poor arch a chance to heal, and only ran a few times all summer long. But it's time to get back to work.

For the past 3 weeks, I have gotten up at 6 am to get my run in. And it's been tough! Whew!

Last year at this time we were in South Dakota, and I was getting up at 6am (just like I'm doing now) to run for a half hour (just like I'm doing now) and it was a peaceful way to start my day. It was rare that I would see a person, or a moving car on my whole run. I would occasionally see a paper boy or someone walking a dog, but mostly it was just me and the sunrise.

Here's how my run went this morning:

When my watched beeped at 5:55am I told myself I would run in the afternoon. But after about 2 minutes I talked myself into getting out of bed to at least go on a walk. I put on my running shoes, turned on my iPod, and, singing along with ABBA, walked out the front door at 6:08am. It was a little cool this morning, maybe in the 70's, and though it was bright out, the sun was still behind the mountains to the east of us, so I didn't have to worry about the sun in my eyes.

I stopped at the curb to stretch my calves and noticed several soldiers walking through the parking lot near our home, headed to the field behind our house. They were each wearing the required black shorts, grey ARMY t-shirt, and attractive day-glow orange belt. I had on grey shorts, and a pink shirt. No belt. I felt a little under accessorized.

I started jogging through our quiet neighborhood, and it seemed to be a lovely peaceful morning until I decided to go left instead of right, and I encountered a huge pack of soldiers stretching out for their morning PT. I'm not sure why this surprised me, I know they're out there every day, but I guess just forgot.

This is the point where I start to feel a little silly. Is my stride okay? Is my sports bra doing it's job? Please don't trip on the curb...

I got past them and began to enjoy my run.

When my watched beeped 15 minutes, I headed back toward home and I really wanted to walk for a minute, but there was a group of 6 Army guys a little bit ahead of me, heading my way, and I didn't want them to see me walk. So I kept running.

Then I went around a curve and I was definitely going to walk, but there was another couple Army girls and I didn't want to look like a wimp, so I kept running and I found that I didn't really need to walk after all. By then I was nearing our neighborhood and I saw that the field was full of Army guys (and girls) doing different exercises with their groups. Some were doing lunges, some were doing push ups, some were laying on their backs doing crazy bicycle legs, some were doing pull ups at the bars, but most were just standing, facing the road I was running on... so I had to keep running...

...and wiping the sweat off my mustache and brow (I am sweaty, okay. And also it's a little humid here.) I happened to look down and I noticed that my pink shirt was sweaty in a not-so-attractive way, and I wished I had worn my black t-shirt....waaaa...

I usually feel almost invisible, but this morning I felt like an awkward middle schooler - like every one's eyes were on me (though I'm sure that wasn't really true.)

I was embarrassed, and feeling a little silly, so I gave myself a pep-talk as I had to turn the corner and run right along-side the field: no one is looking. no one cares. you look marvelous. nice legs. go wendy!

I ran the entire 30 mintues this morning, and I felt great! I miss the peace of a quiet morning run, but it's always motivating to run with the Army!

The Shipping News

A couple weeks ago I ordered 3 skirts and a t-shirt from Target. They were all on clearance, and I was able to send them with "free" shipping.

The next day I started to worry that "free" shipping would mean the slow boat to the islands, so I got online to track my packages. And sure enough, the projected delivery date was October 16th.


I was a little sad about that, but a couple days later I decided to just check again to see if my new skirts had made it any closer to me.

And I noticed something odd.

My skirts were taking the scenic route through North Dakota. Hmm, I wondered, now why would they head up there? A little side trip to Mt. Rushmore? A quick trip to Sturgis? Without me? How strange!

I took a closer look at my order information and noticed that, though my billing address said Hawaii, my shipping address said South Dakota! Yikes! My skirts were lost!

But, thanks to the small world of the Air Force LDS B-1 community, we know the family living in our old house. I have to admit I've been a little jealous that the P. family would jump our claim so quickly, but in this case, it was rather handy.

So, I pulled out my old ward directory, and dialed them up. Sure enough, their phone number is the same! I told Mary P. my tale of woe and asked if she could watch for a package with my name on it and send on to me.

Just yesterday, my 3 skirts and 1 t-shirt arrived at the Tiki-Hut, safe and sound!



After a box of chocolate covered macadamia nuts to say Mahalo, and a little $ to cover the shipping, my "free" shipping ended up costing me about $20!

But the skirts are cute!

Ice Cream Sundae

What fun!

We made home-made vanilla and blueberry ice cream, and invited over 4 families to share it with us... and it was so yummy and fun!

Sydney was my big ice cream helper. She did a great job of measuring the salt and checking to see if the mixer was still mixing. She stirred the blueberry sludge, and also the hot fudge sauce! Isn't 9 years old great!

The vanilla ice cream was creamy and yummy, but a little runny. I made it a couple hours before our party, hoping it would "ripen" in the freezer, but even after 2 hours in the freezer it was still very much soft-serve. Next time I'll either have to make smaller batches, or let it ripen longer.

The blueberry ice cream had great color, but it was a little chalky. I think my frozen blueberries could have been a little fresher. The blueberry batch was a much smaller batch, and the mixer kept it mixing for a looooong time. When I finally checked on it, it looked like real ice cream. It stayed frozen for a much longer time than the vanilla, which melted before you could eat your whole bowl-full.

With the 5 families we had 19 kids running around, and all in all they did great. It turns out we have a terrific yard for evening get togethers. It is shady, it is quiet, and there is lots of room to run! We'll have to do this again... I just wish I had some porch furniture, and a hammock, and some tiki lights....

**************

I need a little mom advice, please. One of my kids is often "scared". She doesn't like to go upstairs alone - and will bribe her brother or sister to go up with her if she needs something. This happens in the day time as much as after dark. She is also afraid at night, and seems to end up in my bed more often than not.

Tonight when I tucked her in bed, she asked if she could come into my room. I told her to go to sleep. Then, a few minutes ago she got up to tell me that she's already scared. I, again, told her good night! She is asleep now.

She has her own room, but I'm wondering if I should take it from her for my sewing room as an excuse to have her share a room with her sister. Do you think that would help?

Does this sound familiar, Mary? Waaa! Help! My daughter is just like me! When I was in High School I used to wake up my sister Mary, to have her walk me across the dark house to the bathroom so I could take my shower before early morning seminary. It didn't occur to me that Mary might not want to wake up, or that after walking me across the dark house, she would have to go back alone. Sorry Mary.

I am still a scaredy-cat and get scared easily when Nathan is out of town, and even sometimes when he's home. There have been plenty of times that I've made him get up to go investigate a scary sound. And just last night, we had been out having a blast at Chuck-e-Cheeze (a place I thought I loathed, but ended up enjoying myself) and came home to an empty dark house. I was tired, but before I could relax in front of the TV, I had to go check to make sure all the windows were locked and that there was no one hiding behind the shower curtain.

I don't want my little girl to be fearful like that. How do I help her? Maybe I should teach her the trick of checking behind all doors and under all beds and shelves, just to make sure no monsters are hiding....or maybe I should start scaring her to harden her.... or maybe I should just ignore it...

What do you think?

Saturday is a Special Day

To Do -

Run Run Run

Clean up around here

Make my bed

Laundry

Bathrooms

Wash the car

To the store for:

rock salt
ice
gift for party

To the Library

Invite a couple neighbors for Ice Cream Sundaes on Sunday

Go to a Birthday party at Chuck-e-Cheese

MovieNight

A Bit of a Funk!

And I'm feeling a little blah...which may be because I'm lonely. Or maybe it's because I've been up since 3:30am, or maybe this is why:

#1 - Tonight I went to a nice little program to thank me and all the other *RAV's for our hard work. **(Readiness Assistance Volunteers, AKA Key Spouse, or FRG for the Army, or Ombudsman? for the Navy - which probably means nothing to you. It's kind of like Visiting Teaching, for all you Mo's. Basically it's a way to support those whose spouses are deployed, through phone calls, etc)

As I sat there munching on shrimp and flan I started to feel a wee bit guilty for neglecting my ladies. I call them every couple of months, and email them monthly, but that's it. I thought I would be doing more, but I don't mind that I'm not. Is that bad?

Most of their husbands will be home soon, and so far I've had brunch with one. Discussed going to lunch with another (never did.) Accidentally called one girl to talk about the extended deployment, but it turned out her husband was already home (whoopso) Delivered deployment packets to three. Went to one candle party, and once got Nathan's advice on the best way to put a mouse in a sticky trap out of it's misery for one girl. I feel like I should bake brownies or deliver flowers or something. But then I remember that I won't actually do that.... Waaa.

#2 reason to feel blah - remember the preschool decision? I decided to go with the cheap and easy neighborhood swap, instead of the more rigorous Joy School program. I thought I could avoid an embarrassing confrontation and let the Joy School girls down easy by saying "Thank you for inviting me, but I'm just not going to be able to do that right now." I didn't want to give too many details, but somehow this has resulted in a couple of phone calls and emails asking me if I'm okay, and letting me know that I always have a shoulder to cry on during these difficult times. Uh, okay...

I have a feeling they are worried that I am having a pre-deployment breakdown (which may or may not be true - I'll let you know later.) Nathan says I should just go with it, but I hate for them to think that I'm that poor helpless deployed spouse, you know.

#3 reason to feel blah - I have a fun blog idea, but I need a picture of ME (who else?) to make it work. And I know just which picture I want, but I don't know what has happened to all our family photos for the year. They are not longer in the My Pictures/2007 file. Where can they be? Did Nathan burn them to a CD? or file them in another folder? or are they saved over in our new hard drive? or are they lost? I may not know until October... Bummer!

So that's what's bumming me out. Just silly blah blah blog stuff.... Anything got you down this week? And, what do you do to pick yourself back up?

I can't and/or don't really want to do anything about those 3 items, but here's what I can do instead:

1st, I'll make myself a microwave s'more (one graham cracker broken in half. One marshmallow. 10 chocolate chips. Microwave 11 seconds. Yum. I may have 2)

Next I'll head to bed and get some SLEEP.

Then I'll get up early and go running.

And do laundry.

And clean the house.

And treat myself to a Taco Bell Bean Burrito(no onions).

I'll feel much better, guaranteed!

++++++++

In fact (brushing graham cracker crumbs off my pajamas) I'm feeling better already...

One Year Older

Happy Birthday to You!


Hope you have a special day!


Do you Dare go up that big big tree?


FOUR

Dear John,

Just a minute ago you were a tiny baby, and now look how big you are! 4 years old! You are so fun! I laugh when you make zooming car sounds as you run across the grass. I am amazed by how you can fold a paper airplane out of any paper, big or small. I smile when I see you holding your big sisters' hands. I hold you tight when you hug me at bed time. You make every day an adventure!

I love you, John!

Love,
Mommy

ps - don't grow up too fast!