Tick - tock!

I'm waiting on the mail to start my seeds!  I did (of course) put in two seed orders, I know - I said I didn't need any, you know how that is!  The first order came already but I'm waiting on my Baker Creek order and then the flats will be started.  The hubs has to hang lights for me in the kitchen this year but that will only take him a few minutes.  Every year those darn flats seem to migrate around and this time they are going to be right in the middle of my kitchen, ugh.  Oh well, the alternative would be to not start seeds and buy plants myself and where is the fun in that?!

I have been sick, sick, sick the past 10 days.  Yuck and yuck.  Nothing that newsworthy but it was the worst cold I can remember, lost my voice for about 5 days and even though the sick has left,  I feel like I got hit by a truck energy-wise.  It's better every day though, and by the time this big storm we are supposed to get the next 3 days moves through I should be ready to get my gardening butt in gear.  

I haven't gotten any yard cleanup done yet, it's been pretty cold here and every nice day we have temperature wise has been accompanied by rain and mud.  Soon enough I'll be able to get out there but I feel like I have my work cut out for me more than ever this year.  It's a mess.

For now, just planning the garden and imagining how it will look once spring cleanup is done!  Until then, I have to wear these blinders Loch made...

And mom... I will have a post up with the boys' swimming videos soon!

I'm not late!

I'm not so late after all!  Here's my garden calendar from last year...

That's February 23rd, so although I waited until the last possible minute to even start the spring plan, luckily it appears that I don't really even have to order seeds,  I have plenty in the stash so it looks like I'm right on track.

The girls know there was no rush - and it's a good thing there isn't an intruder in the house as well!  This is the less frequently seen side of neurotic herding dogs, they do in fact have an off switch - sometimes it works.

Do they think  I won't be able to see that they are on the couch?  

The hubs now works crazy hours again, leaving me with peace and quiet after the boys go to bed.  The now famous "Garden Binder" and sharpened pencils are standing ready and tonight I will finally get my act together and get my plan in place.  There is quite a stack of seed catalogs that I can't bear to toss even though I have plenty of seeds already so you know there will be an order of an unnecessary assortment of edible horticultural fluff there :)

What else?

I made a big batch of beef jerky a few days ago... this is all that's left in the half gallon jar!

I will leave you with some fun - 

I receive Martha Stewart's Living magazine, not sure why since I never subscribed, but her monthly "Martha's Calendar" is a must see:

the 17th looks like an exceptionally busy day

I wonder how long it took Martha to dust all those lightbulbs herself?!

I'm off to plan!

Deja Vu...

For days now I have been wanting to post, but with all that has happened here recently that has created much stress I kept hoping I would be able to brush it off and have positive things to say.  Hasn't happened yet so I'm just going to tell y'all what happened and try my best to "purge it" and move on.

The hubs is back!

they all got off the ship with hardly any bags, thinking they would only be in town a couple of days! 

Yes, our country has trained these people and sent our lives into upheaval for a year of anticipation and getting emotionally ready (and we were!), but now has decided it cannot pay them or pay for any part of the deployment.  We can thank sequestration for that.

It was an odd thing, having him leave on deployment only to get a call "come get me, I'm baaaaack!".  It was so sudden it was absolutely unreal in a world so structured as the military life.  The ship had not yet crossed "the pond", so was scheduled for what would equate to a 4 day liberty port here for a really quick visit and then it was off to cross the Atlantic.  When the ship pulled in it was obvious that it was only a stop for a couple of days, as all the jets were still on the deck (those have to be flown off while the ship is out to sea if they remain in port), and the hubs came down the pier with only a small backpack, having left everything else onboard.  Day 3 of the 4 day visit we got the call - no deployment, government can't afford to send in the replacements... (yes, there is another ship that now cannot come home as scheduled because of this!).

Some might wonder why this isn't as happy an occasion as it would seem, so I will try to sum it up the best I can.  For 6-9 months before deployment even starts we tiptoe around not getting "involved" in any big projects for fear of not completing them, they are gone most of the year preceding on little 4-6 week long trips so it is very stressful on the kids, even more so than deployment, and we actually start counting down the days until they leave for good, so we can start counting down the homecoming!  We have to spend hundreds of dollars on specialized military uniforms and gear (it's 120º literally over there, and they have to work in full gear on a hot flight deck so items wear thin quickly with sweat).  People buy nicer gifts than usual at Christmas or birthdays and spend money to get home to see their families and it's okay, because we know that the extra combat pay they get on deployment will pay them off quickly, after all in the military that old saying about death and taxes is actually deployment and taxes, they are always certain.  Not anymore.  We actually have it good - there are many sailors who gave up their apartments and moved their families back home, and now what do they do?  There is actually an emergency housing situation here now, many, many sailors with no place to live, no cars since they are stored in other states, those single parents that sent their kids to live with the grandparents during deployment... it's a big mess.  

Our country has now gone from our standard "always 2 aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf" to ONE.  This actually causes loss of sleep in a military family.  The carrier that is over there cannot come home now due to sequestration cuts, think of those families who have been waiting almost a year and are now being told deployment is being extended "indefinitely".  

So, while I'm am happy to have the hubs back, maybe you can understand just a little of why it is so complicated.  Add to that the fact that deployment wasn't "cancelled"... they must remain at the ready, so more small trips (called workups), not knowing when he will go next, and whether they can even pay him the extra combat and hazardous duty pay he is entitled to when he is over there.  We try not to show the stress around the kids, because they are just happy as clams to have daddy back, but we have so much to think about these days.  Also difficult is the fact that most of America has no idea how seriously this affects our nation's readiness or even knows or cares about sequestration.  

Not very exciting as it hadn't even been a month, but it's a homecoming video just the same...

Funny thing is, the hubs had to leave again last night.  They have to take the ship out to sea far enough to get all those jets off the deck and then return.  I sure wouldn't want to be the Commanding Officer of the ship right now, this situation is just unheard of in the Navy and I bet he is spittin' mad!  Friggin' government, and that's all I'm going to say that is negative.  I'm brushing myself off and going to make a new budget for our family, one without his duty pay.  Maybe Congress could take a cue from us little people and do the same.

Sooooooooo, how are you all?!  I am going to be honest and say I am 30 blogs behind in my Reader but tonight's the night, I'm going to eat chocolate and catch up!  I haven't even planned my spring garden yet, but it's a good thing since it looks like there will be an extra mouth to feed this summer and winter so I would have had to have a do-over anyway!  I miss you all but was really hoping to be more upbeat about all this, but I will next time since I got my rant out of the way.  Thanks for reading, I'm very lucky to have the blog as a coping mechanism and outlet, and I appreciate each one of you that follows our mis adventures!

Snow Day at the Beach!

Started the morning off with a forecast of snow and I was needing a break from knitting the sweater from hell (6 weeks and still knitting!), so I decided to knit up a quick thing... no, it's not a squid!

It's a scarf!  I had about 80 yards of handspun wool that worked perfectly for this fun knit, start to finish in under an hour and I was wearing it by 10 am.  Size 17 needles!

The kids were off school all day for a teacher work day so thankfully they won't have to make this snow day up, since they would have called off school here for sure.  Virginia doesn't deal well with this stuff....

this afternoon...

seriously, people?

a fun side note for my Minnesota friends - our newest meteorologist here is from Duluth!  That brings the number of meteorologists here that hail from MN to THREE... what are you people doing to them up there?!

 "the new guy"

FINALLY, at about 4 pm the snow started coming down quickly and the kids headed out to play.  Finn asked me for the snowshoes and I lied and told him we left them at grandma's house - otherwise I would have had to crawl up in the attic just so my kid could snowshoe around the neighborhood in grass with a few flakes of snow mixed into it!

I'm not sure if this is a battle cry or he is waiting for the snow to fill up the snow block maker - even though I am a Minnesota girl, I am constantly reminded that my kids are Virginians through and through!  Times like this I just shake my head.

No mud rooms here in the south, so now I have that lovely mixture of wet clothes all over the living room floor and dogs with melting snow puddles around them.

I'm nice and warm inside here and have a million things I could be doing but I just love looking out the window at the snow in the streetlight... so peaceful!

I think the kids are going to bed early and tonight is the night to get started on weeding through all the seed catalogs that have been piling up.  I sure would love a real wood burning fireplace tonight!

We should end up with about 3-4" tonight, I hope you are all staying warm!

It's a done deal

Yes, time will crawl when you're not having fun!  He has now been gone a week.  It's okay, I signed up for it with my eyes wide open.  Here we go!  I figured I'd just rip the bandage off and show you what is involved in "leaving for deployment", so here's how it goes.  It's about the same for everyone no matter what service they are in, there is no pomp and circumstance when it comes to leaving, it's a pretty unimpressive event compared to homecoming, which is probably why it always takes us by surprise!  I apologize for the awful photos - this departure was documented in the dark with a cell phone camera, not ideal!

Departure Day involved Finn hanging off daddy most of the day

with only 2 hrs before we load up the kids are trying to pack a year's worth of activity into an hour -

It's time...

everyone is unusually quiet as we pass freeway signs leading to the piers -

incredibly long lines at the gate and tons of traffic for a Sunday night, every one of these cars is either dropping someone off for deployment or exiting the base with crying kids in the car, ugh.

As we look for a parking spot you start to see the long line of sailors waiting to board, that is the aircraft carrier (or "boat" as we call it) in the background.  If you have never seen one in person, well, I can't even describe the size of it! 

The insanity starts... this is the line to board the ship!  To get an idea of how many people are in line, those lights in the furthest left corner are the carrier.  There are close to 6000 men and women onboard an aircraft carrier so that gives you an idea of how long it takes to board and get underway!

The hubs' mind is already a thousand miles away at this point I think.

One last photo...

Rumor has it this will be the longest deployment we have been through thus far.  I will now start the usual routine of cleaning the house like Spring Cleaning, rearranging furniture, organizing... pretty much anything I do I do it "furiously" now, like I'm in a race!  I don't know why that is, but I have asked around and I have found many other spouses have the same reaction.   Keeping busy, I guess!

So, ready or not... here we go!

Just Checking In...

I have not forgotten my New Year's goal of getting back my blogging mojo, however things have been crazy lately as we try to get all our pre-deployment items checked off the list.  Who am I kidding - it's a scroll!  Hubs has been working until way past dinner at the squadron every day so the kids have had no time with him at all, we haven't even had dinner with him until last night since Christmas.  Our new normal will begin very soon...

Until then, enjoy this photo of "normal winter attire" for our area!

Maybe when we move back to Minnesota the climate change will have made it so we don't have to change our ways!

I'll be checking in soon, with those photos everyone loves to cry over :(

Introducing "Practical Santa"

"Wrapping up" the Christmas related posts, I'm getting to the good stuff now. The kids are getting harder and harder to shop for the older they get.  Everything they want is video game related and costs a ton, and sadly for them they don't have the type of parents that value the same things :)

Luckily, the kids still love Legos, and they managed to get a few sets of those, and they are loving the new "more grown up" Lego Technics sets they got from the grandparents!  They got a few other cool things from extended family to include science sets and marshmallow shooters and models to build, none of them are video game related so I am very thankful that the extended family is onboard the same train as I am, haha the "old skool" train!  

It was pretty hard to top the gifts that arrived in the mail, but we got Loch this "Box O'Danger" as I call it... I wasn't planning properly though because he really needs daddy or grandpa or his uncles to help him with this one - I'm sure I will mess this up in a "shocking" way during deployment :)

The hubs got "a toy" for deployment...

I wonder how long his remote control helicopter will work before he smashes it into a bulkhead on the ship or he buzzes fellow sailors while sleeping and they decide to end his fun by throwing the thing into the Persian Gulf?

The newest tradition around here involves Santa.  The kids have figured out the whole Santa deal (I overheard them), but weren't letting on that they knew the scoop.  This is pretty smart of them since they know that means less presents, soooooo....... I dreamt up a new, more practical Santa.  This Santa only brings gifts that we need, or are useful.  Lame, huh?  Ha!

For me... a new dehydrator!

with a sweet camo cover for super-tactical fruit leather :)

Hubs was also happy with Santa this year...

The kids, not so much...I'm nothing if not a sarcastic and practical joker kind of a mom!

They got hearing protection for the whole family...

Also addressed to the boys was a 10 lb bag of chickpeas, 2 jars of powdered peanut butter, mylar bags and O2 absorbers.

They were not amused.

But we sure were!  Practical Santa is here to stay.

Their "real" present came the next day when we surprised them with their first trip to the shooting range!

They were beyond excited!  It was about time as they are the age where curiosity can be dangerous and I want them to be properly educated on firearm handling and know that if they ever want to shoot, they just need to ask their parents and we will go and do some safe target shooting together.  One of my worst fears is that my kids will be at a friend's house and either find a gun or be shown a gun in a house where they are not locked up and I don't want it to be so mysterious and intriguing that they can't help but touch it.  Now they both know they can just ask mom or dad.  We found out that Loch is a pretty good shot, and Finn needs a bit of work.  I am very proud of them since they both took it seriously and really listened to direction and followed all the rules.

If we lived out in the country I think my freezer would be stocked with squirrel right now :)

Loch

Finn & Dad

( I know hubs has probably looked forward to this ever since the kids were born!)

I had to take a photo of this little girl, she has a pink Red Ryder BB gun at a range, LOL... 

To quote Finn:  "This was the best day of my LIFE!"

The best present of all for me has to be the hubs getting home and drywalling the hole in wall in the bathroom from the leaky pipe incident!

Now that the holiday is past and all cleaned up I am really starting to look forward to delving into the seed catalog pile... I am up to 11 now!