right now

right now

Jan 1, 2013

My ma always said...

...if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all!  That kind of sums up my approach the past few weeks.  I had yet more mini-deployment disasters occur, and then the news of Sandy Hook - well, I just couldn't find words that would suffice and not seem overly angry, frustrated or even that wouldn't be seen as offensive to some maybe, so I just. shut. up.  Take note mom, I DID learn that even if I never quite learned it in time for you to reap the benefits!

Now that I am on the back side of things I think I can tell you all about the never ending list of disasters and have a bit of gratitude as well that things DID get handled, we ARE all safe, and I am sure this will be funny someday.  Well, maybe not that last one.

Back up to a couple of days before Christmas, the boys and I are out (hubby still gone) delivering bags of goodies to some friends and we decide to stop at a shopping center to grab a bite to eat.  Traffic in the parking lot is hellish, I'm in and out of first gear (I have a stick) as I wait patiently to find a spot.  All of a sudden the car dies, smoke is POURING into the cabin through the vents, thick white stuff that smelled like burning plastic, yuck!  I get the car to start again and beeline it (it's now making screeching noises) to the far side of the lot where I'm not blocking traffic.  I yell at the kids to get away because smoke is all over the parking lot now and people are running away...  I go to raise the hood and when I prop the hood up, the stick literally buckles into a U shape, it's that hot!  It's cold, dark outside, creepy part of the parking lot, and now I have to wait with 2 kids for an hour for the tow truck to show up.  Don't get me started on the tow guy, he was a total moron - told him I had a manual and he proceeds to start winching my car up with it in 1st gear and the e-brake on, grrrrr!  Of course there was no "bite to eat" that night and the kids had a dinner of cereal at 9 pm, another great moment in parenting.

It gets better... I was without a car until after Christmas so there was then absolutely no chance of holiday travel... and it cost $1300 to fix, yikes!  My clutch was shot, I also ended up with a new axle as well.  I am floored by this one, I've had Subarus for years and never had issues like this.  I don't ride the clutch, heck my little Subaru Justy had almost 200K on it and was on the same clutch!  I hate to say this but this is the first one I've had that was assembled here in the good ol' USA, not a good feeling.  

Anyway, that's all done and the car is back.  

Now it's the day before Christmas Eve and we are looking forward to picking up the hubs as he returns from the past 2 months of being absent, my text msg lights up.... of course, he's not coming.  On to explaining that to the boys, that was loads of fun.

Then finally, the next morning I hear they are coming back that night, just in time for Christmas - I'll believe it when I see it!

I actually called the tower and asked if they had any flights coming in since I wasn't given a flight number and the guy says "I don't see any but if you want you can come on down and wait and see...", seriously.  Well, that's what we did...just waited in the parking lot in the car!


wonder of wonders, there is a jet, but is he on it?!  


Right about this time is when the other spouses started showing up to hope for a Christmas Miracle... imagine about a dozen women ready to spit nails with over-excited kids - sound fun?!

Finally!  He's here...

(I didn't know when he'd walk through, so you get to see other random homecomings too)


We really had to improvise this Christmas since all our plans for him being home in time to travel fell through and then the vehicle issues but we managed to get through it all anyway.  When friends called Christmas Eve and invited us to go skating, my initial reaction was to decline since I was going to make a small turkey breast and have some semblance of a normal holiday dinner - after thinking it through we decided to just forget tradition this year.  I actually threw that turkey breast in the Crock Pot and we went skating!  I'm so glad we did or I never would have discovered how good it is in the slow cooker, and so easy!  


I didn't even put veggies in with it, just some dried soup mix and broth, it was amazingly moist.  I did put it in the oven for about 15 minutes before serving just to brown it a bit.  Easy Peasy.



Best part?  We got to have FUN, and spend time with friends!





15 comments:

  1. I'm so glad your hubs got home for Christmas. Sorry to hear about the car expense. If it's not one thing it's another. Skating with friends sounds like a fun way to spend an evening. And that turkey looks delicious!

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    1. Sparkless, it was just crazy - if it wasn't for great friends offering rides and family helping with financial Christmas gifts instead of knick knacks I don't know what we would have done! Lucky for me my parents knew exactly what kind of gift was best this year LOL! The turkey was really good too :)

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  2. So happy Dad got to spend Christmas with the boys!

    I guess I'll have to try crockpotting my next turkey breast. I did mine in my roaster oven, and it was done in 2, rather than the 3 hours it was supposed to take. By dinner time, it was quite dry. Thank heavens for gravy!

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    1. Gran, the turkey really surprised me! Was really moist... of course my crock pot wouldn't fit a whole turkey but it did just the breast wonderfully. The boys were ecstatic to see daddy!

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  3. Oh Erin, I'm so sorry about all the trouble you've been having lately. :-( I am so glad your hubby made it back in time and you got to have some fun together. I hope the new year will bring you lots of happiness and less aggravation!

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    1. Anke, this will go down as the worst pre-deployment/deployment ever I think LOL! I am really hoping 2013 will be better :) Just keep swimming, Just keep swimming.... ha!

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  4. Thanks for sharing the homecoming. I can't imagine how you say hello and goodbye, but I thank your hubby, you and your boys for all you do for us!

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    1. Thanks Ruth! I'm so glad I have a place to vent about this stuff, it certainly helps with the "moving on" to the next adventure LOL.

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  5. haven't been on for a while, but have been thinking of you, i see you have been very busy as usual, thanks for sharing so much your honesty fills my heart with love for you, peace

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    1. Thanks Ruth, I haven't been a very good blogger this year but I'm not giving up, I get too much in return from all of you, advice, support, etc... I hope to be better about it in 2013!

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  6. Happy 2013 Erin and family, I hope all the kinks have been worked out and life is going a bit smoother now!!

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  7. That's what the guy at the airport told you, "come down and wait and see"?? Really? I know that I am so very far from knowing even the smallest thing about military families, but come ON! NObody knows if your husband is on a flight or if there is even a flight? Gawd, I hope that "real" military operations are a bit more precise and organized than that.

    I don't know how you do it gal, I'd be on edge every single day.

    Glad you & the kids got to go skating AND learned about Crock Pot Turkey!!

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    1. CR I hope you never have to experience our military flight planning LOL!!! It is just like that all the time, even from overseas! They never know what's up since the jets break down all the time and just land in random places and they don't tell the guys if/when it will be fixed so they don't want to call home on hopes they wll actually get in the air. Some times they actually do tell us a specific place & time and then they will land 150 miles away. Totally fun times. Sometimes this works in our favor however - one time I was fortunate enough that my brother, who was on his way to Iraq - had a layover right here in my town and then they got here so late that he missed his overseas flight so I got to have him right here in my house for a whole week until he could get another hop overseas :)

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    2. I should also mention this only applies to "travel" related flights... when it comes to mission specific flying they are reliable as can be, only I don't benefit from those kind of flights :)

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  8. Riot! I was watching your video, all nervous and excited - just waiting for your hubs to come through the gate! I even yelled at some of the people who got in front of your camera, LOL! Glad you got to spend the day together. That Subaru incident was a humdinger! Why is it that all this stuff happens as soon as your hubby is deployed? Let's hope that the bad stuff is now all behind you - 2013 is going to be a marvelous year!

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