Surviving The TDY: Practice for Surviving the Deployment

So in preparation for his deployment that is coming up, my husband had to fly to Texas for training. He is going to be gone for 17 days. Then he will have more training in January. During these times it hits me the hardest that I am a military wife. I signed up for these longs weeks and lonely nights. Pulling double duty as mom and stand in dad. When he is away the work load goes from 100% to 200%. I have a few local friends who have offered to help, and lots of people sending their prayers, well wishes and advice from afar. It all helps. But the only way I am going to survive this TDY, the next TDY(temporary Duty Yonder) aka my husband is away on military training...and ultimately this deployment, is to of coarse BLOG about it! Most days will be short accounts for the days events or lack there of. Maybe a few emotions and meltdowns thrown into the mix of my attempt at making light of the daily chaos. So, here ya Go! Here is the first two days of this installment.


Day 1: Day 1 of surviving the TDY(aka practice for surviving the deployment): Mommy got both kids to clean up their rooms, I made dinner and cleaned the kitchen and the rest of the house. Both kids are showered and in bed. It may seem like just an.ordinary night. But it's day 1 of a lot of days and weeks of doing it ALL alone.

Day 2: Part 1: Day 2 of surviving the TDY my car battery died while sitting at Eriks school. thank God Kara was still there to take me back home get jumper cables bring me back and give me a jump....
Day 2: Part 2: Day 2 Part 2:Surviving this TDY: The rest of the day didn't go much better. Emily has perfected the art of the tantrum, im talking jumping (flailing) up and down, throwing her self on the floor whole nine yards. To which I reply with swiftly putting her on her bed for a time out. Then the rest of the day was chaos with the kids alternating between destroying the house while playing nicely, and screaming bloody murder at each other...There are still a few scattered toys on the floor and I haven't unloaded the dishwasher yet. I have NO IDEA what to pack erik for lunch tomorrow because I KNEW had i treked to the store with two brats in tow...one or more of the three of us wouldn't come back alive...So The score stands, Mom:1 Kids:1. I guess I take the next 30 mins for dishes and straightening, then Bones at 8 then bed time at 9. Good Grief and good night!

The Nostalgia of Home

“We are homesick most for the places we have never known.” 

― Carson McCullers

nos·tal·gia

  [no-stal-juh] 

noun

1.

 a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time.

A Swiss physician named Johannes Hofer coined the term nostalgia in the late 17^th century to describe what he considered to be a cerebral disease unique to Swiss mercenaries fighting wars far from home.

Maybe He wasn't too far off. Nostalgia can work one of two ways. It can bring a memory to mind that makes the future brighter with hope and newness. Or it can remind us that the good things, the good people, the good times, good memories are behind us now. Leave us with a longing to go back. 

Often time in our adult lives we have a longing to go back 'Home'. 

Where is home? A better question might be, When is home?

Home is a ballerina 4th birthday party with a black and sparkly dress.

Home is warm buttery pancakes on a Sunday morning.

Home is pink shag carpet and a barbie dream house. 

Home is endless movies at grandmas house. 

Home is huge piles of leaves in the fall. 

Home is the time when love is never a question.

Home is pictures over the fireplace and sports trophies on the mantle.

Home is wild flowers that outlined the garden.

Home is bike rides until dusk. 

Home is weekends at the lake sailing and swimming. 

Home is the light in the hall when monsters take hold of your dreams.

Home is the shelter from the darker side of memories.

Home. Home was.

Home is all the things I wish I could go back and freeze. . .

Home has to change over time.

As we grow older, and years pass, we adapt. We evolve. 

Home becomes the smell of a newborn baby.

Home becomes the walk around the duck pond on a sunny spring afternoon.

Home becomes the smell of a pie in the oven.

Home becomes the embrace of your loved one after weeks of work required separation.

Home becomes watching your babies sleep in their beds. 

Home becomes coloring pages of homework.

Home becomes a new paint color on the walls.

As Home becomes we become. New.

Then again even later in life, Home changes yet again.

Home is now your children returning home for the holidays, birthdays and BBQs.

Home is now the journey of new hobbies.

Home is now the kind of love that remains the same through the years.

Home is now coffee with an old friend. 

Home is spoiling the grandkids with cookies before dinner. 

Home becomes finding your self, in your lovers arms.

So when you think of Home, don't look back on days gone by and wish they would return. They were here or their season. Instead look to the home you have now. Hold it close. And never let it go. 

The not long, hopefully not boring blog

So I heard that my blog was putting people to sleep. Too many words I guess. SO here's a blog for those who just want something quick to look at. With out words there isn't a whole lot to convey...so I'll just clue you in on what my family has been up to lately.

Erik started Kindergarten August 14th. He is in Mrs. Gutierrez's class. So far he is doing REALLY well.

The first few weeks we had to learn about sitting quietly and raising our hands.

We had our first parent teacher conference yesterday. He knows a LOT of what he needs to pass Kinder. We just have a few letter recognitions to work on and penmenship. She said he is a great helper to his classmates and when he's given a task he performs very well. We are VERY proud of him.

It's hard to believe my baby is already in school. 

In Other News:

Yummy dinners. This is the only one of my masterpieces that I remembered to get a picture of...
and it was probably the LEAST photogenic..but SOOO tasty! Southwest Chicken & Bacon wraps with triscuts, salsa and apple sauce.

I guess I wasn't making dinner FAST enough for Emily.

Family Nights in the backyard

A little experimenting with some artsy fartsy editing ^

Duke being....duke. \/

AND....we have of coarse added to the family ....again.
Barry and his OBSESSION with the fish tanks. What started out with a $7 carnival fish...has become a new lifestyle.
New to the family are two cat fish, tagger and stripes. Then Barry saved 3 albino cat fish, not yet to be named. And one night he SNUCK in Freckles, the other catfish...and some new tank decor. THe betas, and all the catfish minus freckels are in a separate divided 20 gal. tank and the rest are in a 55 gal tank.

Pre-Deployment Photos

 Last June

 Daddy's Princess

 My Soldier and Me

Partner in Crime

My Partner in Crime

   Most days right about now, it is so blazin' hot here in the Mojave desert. I pray for rain, and dream of days when I will be able to wear my hoodies again! They call my name from the closet each morning as I get dressed and take Erik to school. One of my fondest memories is when summer gave way to fall and the leaves started to change. There was a clean, crisp, coolness to the air as I walked to high school. But as much as I long for the heat to fade away, I would give anything for this summer and this fall to last forever.       You see, this winter, my soldier is leaving me. The sheets will be cold in february, with no one there to warm them up next to me. There will be no cocoa on the couch watching Just Like Heaven, for the 1,000th time, with my partner in crime. Day's of 'Hey honey, how was your day? Dinner is ready.'...will turn into days of 'Come on kids! It's time to skype daddy!'. I miss him already and he hasn't even left yet. Home will not feel like home. Because home is where his boots are....and his boots will be far far away.

   I will try to keep my self busy. I will extend invitations to ANYONE who wants to come for a visit. I will pack the kids up once a month for a small trip to visit others. But it still won't be the same. My partner in crime is the only one who can fill those boots. But I know that God (and skype) will help me keep from going completely insane. 

   I WILL put out this notice...To any one who knows me, you know it is NOT easy for me to ask for help. I will have a brave face for my kids, and for my husband who will be missing us just as much. I will say that I can do everything on my own. I will learn to fix leaky faucets, I will set a schedule to make sure that everything gets done in a timely manner and that the world doesn't fall to utter chaos. I will count the weeks until he returns because counting days makes it seem soooo long. 

   But then I will fall asleep with tears on my pillow. Because the other half of my heart is 10,000 miles away. I will have days when I sit on the couch and watch comedy after comedy trying to make my self laugh, then settle for just not crying. I will NOT watch the news. I will work out every single day for 7 months wanting my husband to be proud to come home to a fit wifey. 

   I will call on my family and friends. To be there, to share a meal. To be there to take the kids to the park. To sit and have a cup of coffee with me. I will need you. I will need you especially when I've worn my brave face for too long. I will need you to know that though I look strong, most days I will be crying on the inside. I'll need you to just be there. 

    There are a lot of things that are uncertain about being a military wife. One thing I know for sure. I will miss, my partner in crime.

You Might Be A Stay At Home Mom If...

*You have perfected the art of opening a treat package slowly as to not alert the thieving children playing in the other room...

*The closest thing you've had to a facial was opening the dishwasher to retrieve a sippy cup and lid during the drying cycle...

*You've ever seen a grown man/woman throwing a fit at the customer service desk at Target and resisted the urge to ask if it's nigh nigh time...

*When your husband says you need to receive a package from him Thursday and all you hear is, you have to wear a real bra and clothes ALL DAY Thursday.

*Going to the store (even to buy groceries) (especially to buy groceries) without any children is a mini vacation!

*The words, You're naked, get over here, don't pee on my floor, are said more than once in a day...not to the dog.

*0323661702
+

*The last one was typed by the 18 month old, that I thought was hiding in the bathroom while I went to find her pants....and diaper...

*Theme songs written by Disney get stuck in your head

*If you spend the better part of the morning deciding between finishing the chores, or catching up on modern family...and end up playing my little ponies.

When I win the Lotto, I'm moving to Coronado Island

This weekend was our early birthday / pre-deployment, six years of marriage trip to 

Coronado Island. 

It took me a little while to stop crying after we dropped them off. Erik was of coarse fine,  he had a new friend and was playing within seconds of walking in the door. Emily had found the kittens, and she was smitten. (Smitten...with the kitten...hehehe) Then, of coarse, RIIIGHT when we were about to walk out the door tear free....the kitten had had enough and scratched her. Bring on the tears, and crying for mommy. And, crying...for mommy. A quick hug and making sure no arteries were severed...and we went out the door...I cried for a while. Got it together while we set the gps for Naval Amphibious Base Coronado. I held back the tears long enough to call and make sure my baby girl wasn't crying any more. She was fine a few nano seconds after I went out the door. 

Along the way we got hungry so we pulled off the road. A few wrong turns later and we ended up at Hanson's Market. WARNING: If you are environmentally sensitive this next sentence might offend you, overt your eyes. It was a nice little organic hippie joint. 

We got some of the tastiest sammies ever. I was almost converted! lol jk jk. But seriously, delicioso! 

Traffic wasn't too terrible, and we arrive at the barracks....(top picture)

TOTALLY kidding! But that was the back side! We stayed in billeting. It was pretty decent.

We checked in, got refreshed and decided to check out the island. We found a candy shop. I got about 15 

gummy bears, Barry got...A CHOCOLATE DIPPED TWINKIE. I know. Ewww. 

We walked past Hotel Del Coronado, and a flower stand that had a huge selection of my favorite flower...No, Barry did NOT buy me one. :(

As you can see, I forgave him. ;)

After exploring for a while we went down to the Ferry Landing to check about taking the Ferry to San Diego in the morning. Then we got hungry for dinner and went to the Coronado Brewing Company for dinner. It was a decent wait but WELL worth it! Barry got fish and chips, but he really should have ordered chicken and garlic pizza. Because after I ate dinner, and had MORE than HALF left and the waitress went to bring me a pizza box. When she returned only a few minutes later, Barry had taste tested 3 pieces of my left overs. lol In his defense, it was really good. Oh, and if you're wondering why barry looks like Kermit the Frog, he is insecure about what he thinks is a double chin..this was one of like 10 photos. 

After Dinner we took a walk on the beach and enjoyed a beautiful sunset. Stole a few kisses, and took a picture under a street lamp. A nice photog stranger walked by and offered to take our photo for us. She saw the play back and was disgusted by the yellow tint. So, she kindly pointed out that my white balance was probably not set correctly (duh...it was on auto, it was dark by then and I hadnt felt like messing with manual settings for a quick selfie.) So, she took the liberty to start adjusting my settings. Or trying to, because like I already said it was on auto. I nicely took my camera, said thanks but that will do (deleted the picture because she couldnt frame a picture if she were in Michaels with a 99% off coupon!) and kept my yellow selfie. What I WANTED to do was say, "Bitch please! Who do you think you are? Adjusting another photographers camera!?" PSHT! 

We went back to the hotel room and had a few white gummy bears. (No, not the ones I had bought earlier. Those were LONG gone! It's a drink. 1 part cherry vodka, 1 part peach schnapps, pineapple juice and sprite. Delicious. We attempted to play cards but soon decided that showers and t.v. and sleep sounded better on a kid-less Friday night; at 9:30pm. Don't judge us. We set our alarms for 7:15am, enough time to get up, get breakfast, and catch the 9:30am ferry to San Diego Broadway Pier.

We stopped at a fancy bagel place where they had every type of bagel ever made with tons of breakfast sandwich options and combinations of cream cheese, sauces and concoctions. Barry ordered a Garlic Bagel Breakfast egg, bacon something with orange juice so expensive that I'm sure they had Jesus out back making it from water....And that is the Biblical Jesus. Not Jesus in the east LA sense. I thought to my self...self, you're in a shop, where you can get any type of bagel your little heart can handle (and all the carbs to go with) so I orded.....A plain bagel, toasted, with plain cream cheese. And a house coffee. Profound. I KNOW! Hey, don't fix what isn't broken. lol.

We set out for the ferry landing. Boarded out ferry boat and set sail for the mainland. People on Coronado Island actually call it that. I laugh. First up on the docket after arriving on dry land after those many(15) moments out at sea(in the bay); was the USS Midway Tour. This was something Barry picked. I thought, hey, I'm a good military wife, I'm all for learning some history and getting an appreciation for a different branch and their operations. Let me take one minute to tell you that when we were in longbeach we went on a Russian submarine that is floating next to the Queen Mary. I decided right then and there two things. 1. I am claustrophobic, and 2. That there was NO way I could ever have served in the Navy (incase anyone was wondering if I could have ever served in the Navy). I do NOT like the idea of being under water, or in confined spaces. 

Flash back to the future, here I am on the USS Midway. climbing up and down very narrow, very vertical stairways following a bunch of other mouth breathing tourists around the bowels of a ship breathing recirculated air. In the beginning of the tour they give you a headset attached to a wireless thingy that when you press the corresponding numbers will rattle off some interesting facts and stories about which part of the ship you are now in. The only thing I could think of was, breathe in, breathe out, don't freak out on these people behind you, bumping into your backpack as you try to graciously traverse these stairs that I'm 100000% positive, have claimed many lives, it wont help, they don't even speak english.   We see the ship, we head up top to see the planes, jets, helicopters, whatever. Hallelujah, sunshine and fresh air. Let's get the Hell off this ship. Meanwhile somewhere in there I threw Barry in the BRIGG for suggesting we enter the depths of hell...

We finally made it back to dry land. We grabbed lunch at a local deli type place. I felt hungover so I ordered a hot dog and fries and a mikes hard lemonade to calm my nerves. The "hot dog" should have been called the hot behemoth. It was huge, and salty. I SOOO did not eat that. I am not a huge fan of hot dogs, I eat them once a century or so. Now I will make it once a lifetime. So a full morning of exercising, plus a mikes hard lemonade on a now empty stomach, a few fries....I was buzzed. Barry finished his behemoth and we set out to see if we could take public transportation to La Jolla to see the tide pools. We walked across the street to see about the trolley rounds. Yeah, also incase you are wondering ( if you are a person who wonders a lot, keep reading my blog) it costs $38 PER PERSON for a trolley ticket. And it only makes like 4 stops....the furthest of which would have only brought us as far as old town in which we would have to buy ANOTHER trolley ticket to go from there to La Jolla or Mission Beach. NO THANKS! We saw a cab across the street and asked what the fare would be from where we were to Mission Beach. $25, plus tip, each way. Around $60ish dollars. To go 7.8 miles. We decided to take our roundtrip ticket and go BACK to the island and grab our car and drive there ourselves. HAHAHHAAHHAHAHAHA

NOW I see why it is so expensive! 

We were stuck in traffic foooooorrrrreeeeeevvvvvveeeerrrrrr. (said in a sandlot voice)

Only to get there and realize there was litterally NO WHERE to park for at least 2 miles. We said, lets go to Point Loma and see the Cabrillo National Monumet and Tide Pools instead. We got there, got in free (thank you military discount that had saved us a LOT of $money already this weekend). 

We make our way down to the tide pool areas and we start seeing signs. 'Are Closes at 4:30pm'.

It was 4:17pm... ARE YOU FREAKEN KIDDING ME!?! OH ! And there was NO where to park! BAHHH!!! I was about to go bat shit crazy on someone. We had set out around noon on our quest to find tide pools. BUT we finally were matched against someone who had lost their will to live, won the knife fights and was VICTORIOUSLY took our rightful parking spot! (In reality, other people were taking the signs seriously and started to leave). 

We pull into the parking space and my message indicator on my phone goes off. I wanted to make sure the kids were okay so I checked it. It was not from the babysitter, it was from Verizon.

"Welcome to Mexico! Any calls, texts, or data used or made from outside of the USA are subject to roaming fees, would you like to accept these fees?"

HELL NO! I'm IN AMERICA!

Apparently we were close enough to a mexican cell tower that toto thought we weren't in Kansas anymore.

We did some exploring in the tide pools, saw lots of hermit crab, a few other types of crab, rock fish, and lots of other small sea creatures.  

(Barry in a cave)

(Love birds NOT in Mexico)

( C is for Crab)

A nice lady sitting on a rock, looking at the ocean, alone.

Point Loma something something base housing (must be a rough life)

Cabrillo National Cemetary

There is also a cool 1 minute video barry took underwater in one of the tide pools that I will post later.

After this we went back to the Island. On the way we saw that traffic on the bridge in the opposite direction was at a standstill due to a 3 car accident. The cars were backed up on the  ENTIRE length of the bridge, and ALL the way onto the island and ALL the way down Orange street (the main road)

Here is a view of the bridge from our hotel room, this PLUS MILES on the island were not moving. 

Luckily like I said it was in the opposite direction. Unluckily however we could not get to albertsons to buy dinner. So we paid a zillion more dollars and shopped at Vons. We had a nice picnic on the beach on the naval base. We had cheese, crackers, meat and grapes. And Milano Cookies and coffee for dessert. We sat and looked out at the ocean and saw DOLPHINS jumping just off shore!! How exciting! Of coarse when I got out my camera I was too slow to capture the split second appearance. 

 

What a nice way to end a great weekend!

The next morning we shopped for souvenirs for the kiddos

and headed back to Santa Clarita to pick  them up!

The GPS originally said 2 hours and 45 mins...

Yeah right! We got on the road at 10:50am. Traffic on the I-5 was stop and go and stop, stop stop some more, the whole way. We finally arrived around 2:45pm. I have never been happier to see my kids' little faces!!! I miss them SOOO very much!

They both like the shirt/sweatshirt they got.

We are all glad to be HOME & TOGETHER.

The rest of the week has been spent getting Erik ready to start Kindergarten on Wednesday.

Something tells me that will begin a weekly entry of Tales from the Kinder Class Room...