For the Family!

This is the 3rd time I have tried to publish this... our winds are being clocked here at 67 mph!  Taking power hits and hoping my internet stays long enough to post.  I sure hope you friends farther inland and north"er" than us are doing okay with this storm, it's just wind and rain here, no snow.  Stay safe!

I've been meaning to get these videos up for 2 weeks now. This post is mostly for the family that misses out on the kids' events, one of the reasons technology is so great for military families!  Of course if swimming doesn't bore you to tears, you may enjoy it as well!

I apologize in advance for the loud yelling... it's a pool, they aren't very quiet places :)

We will start off how every good American sport should... with our National Anthem!

Please forgive me for straying sometimes from the lane I'm focusing on, I am also a Stroke & Turn judge so while I'm filming I'm actually having to judge 4 lanes of swimmers on technique - I actually never get to watch my own kids swim at the meets because of this, so I requested to have the lanes where they were swimming this time.

Finn 25m Freestyle

Finn 50m Backstroke, 2nd place

Loch - 25m Freestyle

(he is 2nd in from the right, ignore my dyslexia in the video)

Loch - 50m Backstroke - 1st Place

-what kills me here is look how slow he is, even in 1st place... imagine how fast he could be if he could swim against faster kids and not stop and do his hair and makeup at the turns LOL

This was the last meet of the season, so they do a "Coaches Relay", the kids love seeing their coaches race!  Funny thing you will notice, our team only has 3 coaches instead of 4 so for the second swimmer they subbed in an 8 year old kid!  Although they were last in this video during the 6-8 year old meet, they did the same race again an hour later with the 10-12 year olds and again subbed in a kid and took 4th place.... shame, shame on the coaches in 5th and 6th LOL!

I saved the best for last... check out the oncoming lifeguard as we were leaving...

I may be showing my age here but...

all I could think of was...

...Bluto!

Quick "Deal" Alert!

Right now Amazon has the Hunger Games Trilogy Kindle edition for $5... yes that's 5 bucks for all 3 books.  Now is a good time if you have been holding out!  These usually don't last long, 12-24 hours so get it quick!

CLICK HERE

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!