"The needs of the Navy", it was bound to happen again!

As most of you already know our son, David is in the Navy. His job is a MWD Handler (Military Working Dog); he has always been interested in law enforcement. His senior year of college he found out that Master at Arms (Navy law enforcement) was one of the very few jobs in which you can’t go to OCS (officers’ candidate school). Once he was made aware of that, it didn’t matter that he was in his first semester of his senior year of college. He was quitting school and joining the Navy, like now!!! What you do???? You have to let go and allow them to be an adult at some point in time. You give your blessings and support them even if it’s not what “you” would like them to do. So that’s exactly what we did, supported him in making his dreams happen!! He goes through all of the stuff one does to enlist in the military, gives us a date of March 6, 2006. My first question is that “written in stone”? He tells me no it could change at the “needs of the Navy”!! Never did I realize at that point in time, just how important those words would become over the next few years. He did leave on March 6, 2006 as he originally stated. Off he goes to basic and all seems to be well, we don’t hear from him often, a letter here and there. We were sent a letter a few weeks into basic stating graduation information and all of the information we’d need to make plans to attend!! I was so excited; I began counting the days until we were headed to “Great Lakes Naval Station”. Basic graduation was great!!!!! I balled my eyes out like a big baby the entire ceremony!!!!! Once I got my hands on my sailor the first thing I notice is how he had matured over that short eight week period of time. We and lots of other families were bursting with pride as we visited the city of Chicago with our brand new sailors!!! What a sight to see, something I’ll never ever forget!!
Shortly after we headed back to SC, David was headed to San Antonio, TX Lackland Air Force Base, where he would receive his Master’s At Arms training. A few weeks into training he tells us they had a MWD instructor come and talk with them about the changes going on within the program. The major change that would affect David and his training mates was you were no longer required to work a set amount of time nor be a certain rank in order to apply to the MWD program!!!!! Those changes became effective, “at the needs of the Navy”! This is great news for this training class; of course it did cause some animosity toward from those who weren’t that fortunate. David put in a request to continue his training in the MWD program, after a short wait that seemed really long, he was accepted. Great news for him and it just made us that much happier he was going to be working in a profession he loved!!! Lucky young man to say the least!! Mater’s At Arms training ends and there are few weeks before MWD training begins, what to do???? Remember those words, “at the needs of the Navy”, (are you seeing a pattern here of those words, keep paying attention they do keep popping up!!) it would be such a waste of time to sit around and just wait for the program to begin, so “at the needs of Navy”, David was granted leave!!! Great for us, he comes home and visits friends and family and hangs out and best of all we were able to take one more family vacation to our favorite beach!! All is grand!! Leave is over he is back at Lackland for MWD training. I’m not sure how many weeks this was but I know it was very intense, he learned lots and still had no orders for a future duty station. Time keeps slipping by and still no orders, he begins to get to the bottom of it, no clue as to what happened that he no order or why he still had no orders, it’s so late in the game so to say, it doesn’t look like David is going to get anything on his “wish list” of duty stations, great!! Here is where those words, “at the needs of the Navy”, pop up again!! It appears his duty station is going to be chosen you guessed it, “at the needs of the Navy”!!! Lucky for David those needs just happened to Pearl Harbor, HI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow fabo, maybe this was all worth it now!!! Late October of 2006 he arrives at Pearl Harbor, begins working and loves his job. During this time he and a very nice young lady he had dated in the past and he begin “talking” as they call it. David lets us know some time around April or so he has requested leave for late May through late June of 2007. Great can’t wait to see you, shall we plan to go to the beach or what shall we do while you are home??? He sort of hesitates a bit and says well no beach I live on the beach remember?? OK, fine there where???? He then tells me that he and Kayla are planning to visit Gatlinburg, TN while he’s home. I oh OK sounds great, dad and I have never been, he clears his throat and says nothing, um David are you there, you OK????? He proceeds to tell me that if it’s OK he and Kayla were going alone, Oh sure sorry, didn’t mean to try to but in on your time sweetie, go have fun!!!!! I hear a sigh of relief in his voice for a few seconds. He asked me did I know why they were going to TN, um no not really, maybe a quick getaway or something such????? I hear that bit of uncertainty in his voice again; I ask if all is OK, he assures me yes all “should” be fine. So the mom in me says, “spell it son, what’s up, you are never ever at a loss for words, give it to me straight!!!! He then very calmly says, “Well mom if you’ll go to such and such jewelry store at the mall and ask for item # whatever, you’ll be able to see the engagement ring I just bought for Kayla, mom I plan to ask her to marry me while I’m home. “Wow, OK, great son, we are happy for you, are you sure this is what you want, you guys haven’t been together in a while and you know how the conversation went. So anyway he comes home visits for a few days, goes to her parents house for day (they live about 2.5 hours from us) so he ask her father for permission to marry Kayla, that still makes me tear up after all this time!!!! So proud of our son, always trying to do the right thing!!!! Long story short, daddy says yes, but better take good care of my little girl, David agrees. We throw a small engagement party before he has to report back to Pearl Harbor. A February 2009 wedding is sort of the date they are planning on no true date as of yet just that time frame give or take a month or so.
Shortly after getting back to Pearl Harbor, deployment becomes the huge topic of all conversations!!!!! OH no, we knew it could happen but!!! July comes, that is July of 2008, just weeks after being back from leave, and “the needs of the Navy” shows its ugly head!!! We find out not only is David deploying, he is deploying mid to late September of 2008. At that point he was to leave Pearl Harbor go to Camp Pendleton in CA for uniform and gear, he would be deploying with the Marines so he needed new uniforms and all Marine “stuff”. He was to spend a few weeks there, then on to Uma, AZ for “in country training”, with all being in “country” as in Iraq by late November early December. No clue how long deployment may be possibly six or nine months who knows how long. After lots of tears, lots of fear and major planning we are able to pull off a PERFECT beach wedding for them on 08/08/08!!!!!!!!!!! So after being married for two whole long weeks, David leaves Kayla on an island in which one can go no further than 40 approximately miles in each direction before hitting water!!!! Kayla settled in nicely, met a few wonderful girls who were there for her, they had all had spouses deploy before so they knew the ins and outs and the good, the bad and ugly!!!! Those girls were a life saver to Kayla, we are so thankful for those ladies to this day. They took our sweet very young 22 year daughter in law and helped her make an old ugly 1940’s style base housing into a home for David to come home to.
Deployment was tough for all of us to say the least. Kayla was 5,000 plus miles away from home, further than she had ever in her entire life been and for longer than ever away from home, all alone!!!!!!!! Of course that is until those wonderful ladies came to help her. We are so proud of Kayla for sticking it out for deployment all alone; she found a job doing hair shortly after passing her SC boards. I think those 9ish 10ish months were the longest time of my entire life, but he made it home safe and sound, ready to start a family of his own!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m sure it was a tough adjustment period once he was home for both of them; again the friends stepped up and helped out with that process as well. About a month or two after he has been home, I get a phone call from David telling me Kayla is pregnant and they are so happy they can’t stand it!!!!!!!!!!!! About six months into her pregnancy we found out they have now have orders to go to Norfolk, VA!!!!!!!! Oh my oh my, is it really true, please tell me yes!!!!!! It was all very true so that makes them a five hour drive from us here in SC and only about two hours from my sisters in NJ!!!!! Life is great, Caroline is born in June, by November 5th we pick their dogs up at cargo in Charlotte, NC and two days later we pick up Caroline, David and Kayla up in Norfolk and bring them to SC for a 45 day leave. We spent lots of time doing a whole lot of nothing and hanging out with the baby and just having a grand old time!!!! Around December 5 they head to Norfolk and their new apartment which will be home for the next four years at least!!! We were lucky enough to spend Christmas with them, we got snowed in, and so all we did was VISIT!!! We enjoyed the “kids” and the baby more than I have words to describe!!!!!!!!
Life is good, we find out that David will be re-enlisting on February 3rd for the I think four maybe even six more years. It’s another excuse for us to go and visit and hang out with everyone!!!! So looking forward to spending about a week in Norfolk the first week of February. This is all fine and dandy and I’m excited to see my sweet lil Caroline and just give her the biggest hug and kiss Me-Me can find for her!!!! Then those words pop back up, dam it all to hell and back again!!!!!!!!!!!!! “At the needs of the Navy”, David will be deploying to Afghanistan sometime between 60 and 90 days!!!!! We don’t have an exact date yet, not sure if or when we will, it seems like we never did have an exact departure date from his first deployment. I have so many things going through my mind right now, I feel as if I’ve just rambled along this post without really saying anything at all!!!!! But then again I feel like that about all of my posts!!!! He is fine with going, he says he is ready for this, its job and he signed up for it and he’ll do it. I hate it, I really do but on the other hand I am so dam proud of that young man, I can’t even find words to express my feelings!!!!! I’m sure there are people out there who are thinking or even brave enough to say it, “well no body made him join, he knew the country was at war when he signed on the dotted line and every other thing you could think of and more. Yes, he did say yes, yes he did sign on the dotted line, yes he has gotten “called to duty” and he is going, no questions asked on his part, that makes me proud of our son. So I’ve said all of this to say if you hate the war, hate the military, think he was crazy to join or any other negative thing that comes to mind, please don’t write it here!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also, FYI…………………………most of the guys over there fighting and the ones who have been or are going or whatever all pretty much think the war sucks big time, and would like it to be over, there are even some who feel they shouldn’t be there fighting, BUT they go and they do their job because that’s what they signed up to do, at the needs of the Navy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m sorry this is so long, I went over it for hours trying to see what can be left out or how I can shorten this or that but you know sometimes I just got to go with your heart and go with my heart I did!!!!! I have a huge favor from you my internet friends, would mind keeping my son and all of the others in your thoughts and prayers, please??? That would just mean the world to me to know that people that I have never laid eyes on nor you on me are hoping and praying for David to come back home to Caroline, Kayla and the rest of his family who all love him and are so proud of him!!!!!! Thanks for taking the time to read this, I’m sorry I know it’s long, a lot longer than I ever meant for it to be!!! Thanks again friends!! I haven’t been around to anyone’s blogs today but hope to catch up tomorrow.
Good night friends
Marie

A whole of nothing.............

I’m not really sure what So-Co’s problem is today but she is bugging the crap out of me!!!!!!!!!!!! She has been out to potty and yes she did potty outside (so really I have no true reason to complain about her then correct???) she appears to be very clingy, big time!! Normally she is good to sit on my lap for a while just chilling and sleeping or watching or whatever it is she does all day. Today, she has been on my lap more than she’s been in her own chair, which is a hugely comfortable chair that normally she loves! So you say that’s not so bad? Well if she didn’t have to be right in my face, with her cheek smashed up against mine so I can’t see anything but beagle eyes, that’s what’s wrong. I’m normally calling her to come and sit with me and I love to snuggle with her but this having to stand on my lap and paws on shoulder and face smashed as hard as she can against mine, not so much fun!! I gently take her paws off my shoulders and sit her on my lap; she’ll be good like that for a short time. Then it’s back face to face with her tail wagging so fast I feel horribly guilty making her get down. So after allowing her to smash my face for a bit I put her in her chair, she jumps down, walks over to my recliner and sits there and whines and whines and if that doesn’t get my she howls!!! Now she knows I love her lil beagle howl and that she’ll get a rise out of me, I look at her and tell her to come up, right to my face all smashed up to hers!!! Got to love me some beagle but come on girl!!!! Neediness isn’t always pretty!!!!!!
So they have been calling for that four letter word that all people of the south hate!!!!!!!! SNOW!!!! I have to say as much as I am a fan of huge snow storms I truly hope it doesn’t snow here. Why you ask???? Well because these crazy people here get all kinds of crazy and go and buy every loaf of bread and every single gallon of milk they can get their hands on!! I have no idea what they plan to do with that bread and milk should we have a huge storm and are snowed in for days upon days!! I mean really now!!! I went to the grocery store yesterday only because I wanted a few things, not really needed them only wanted them!!! You know you just gotta have some chocolate covered plums when the craving hits, you know?? If I hadn’t heard the weather before arriving at the store I’d have surely known there was the “threat” of that white stuff!! The place was crazy there was no milk to be had, not even regular ½ & ½ that Dave uses in his coffee, none!!! So please no one tell him that he’ll be using fat free ½ & ½. The lines were so long I had time to read the entire center story in US magazine about that crazy Amber chick from 16&pregnant on MTV. Man that is one crazy as hell chick if you haven’t seen that train wrecks of a show you really should like it up on the net! Too bad I don’t “own” that network that shares my initials!!! They should have had to pay me to name the network that considering those initials are MINE!!!!!
So do tell my friends do you use a PC or a Mac??? My laptop is really sick and is getting sicker by the day. I plan to replace it with another laptop and my hubby loves his Mac (and he works for a mega corporation that makes laptops) and has tried his best to get me to convert over the years. When we bought this laptop we went to buy me a new Mac laptop, but after seeing it was just a lil different than a PC I got scared and so nope give me that purdy lil pink Sony over there!!!! Fast forward about three years and the wonder people at Apple bring us that wonderful little iPad I’m so in love with!!!! I sure do love my iPad, all of my books are on I have games to play, you can text, you can make phone calls with certain apps and just all kinds of cool things. Too bad my iPad can’t play certain videos and certain games on Facebook, as well as print from it. If only that wonderful little piece of wonderment would do all of those things I’d say forget about replacing my laptop, if only!! So I’m now in the market for a new laptop I want a MAC, but just as I’m OK with replacing my laptop I get cold feet and am afraid that there really are major differences between Macs and PC’s and I’ll never be able to figure out how to use it, I’ll hate it and be stuck with something I have no clue how to use. So please do tell which one you use or prefer and why, are they truly as easy as hubby tells me or is he just trying to “sell” me on a Mac??????

I think hubby and I are addicted to Rice a Roni, you know the “San Fransico treat”!!!!!!! We’ve had it three times in less than a week. It’s just so yummy and easy as can be to make and I’m all about easy to make!!! I so don’t like to cook; hubby does a good bit of cooking around here. Mostly in the spring and summer; he is the master of the grill, oh man can he cook some yummy stuff on that thing!!! He really is a good cook inside the house too, but man does he make a huge ass mess when he cooks inside!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh does he make a huge mess, that so doesn’t even come close, uses every single pat, pan, dish, baking dish, cookie sheet anything he can find he uses. Then I get the “I cooked dinner you have to clean it up” deal from him. I bitch and moan and bitch and moan some more but too bad he won’t clean up, no matter how much I bitch that when I cook I clean, doesn’t matter to him. So I clean up his huge ass mess and try not to allow him to cook inside very often. OK, back to our Rice A Roni, I’m pretty sure it’s not exactly the healthier thing as a side dish but it meets my requirements, yummy, easy and we both like it. So is there anything that is quick and easy that you like a whole, whole lot and will eat it more than once a week?????? We may or may not have it a 4th time in a week, because we have leftovers of it tonight and depending on what we have for dinner tomorrow evening Rice A Roni just may be on the menu once again!!! OK gotta run one of my mindless TV shows is on, “Sara Palin’s Alaska”. I sure do love me some reality shows, I like just about anyone on Bravo and TLC, I do like some of the VH1’s too, I don’t like really any on MTV accept 16 & Pregnant and Teen Mom. I also love me some court TV shows, not the real “Court TV” but the Judge Judy’s and Judge Mathis and those type oh hell yeah I sit around all day and watch that crap while reading or playing on the net!!! Yes I have such a full life but it affords me plenty of time to watch what hubby calls “mindless TV”!!!! Oh, yeah BIG BROTHER oh me oh my, that is my most favorite show on this earth!!!!!!!!!! Stupid people doing, stupid stuff hell yeah but I love it!!!! OK off to go watch “Sara”. Also do tell your guilty pleasures with mindless TV too, because I can’t be the only person watching this crap!!!!!
Marie

Just another day in my life................

So I went to the doctors yesterday for this creeping crud I’ve had for a few weeks. I was lucky enough for my “cold” to turn into pneumonia in my left lung, just a small area so not terribly bad. Enough to make my short of breathe doing anything but sitting on my lazy butt, such is life!! I’m taking lots of medicines and I think the prednisone she gave has decreased some of the inflammation because my chest doesn’t feel as tight today as it has been. All good things, right??? Well one would think all good until they looked at my right lung, it has what they called a “mass” yesterday, but today when she called me with lab results she told me it calls it a “nodule”, basically something that shouldn’t be there no matter what they freaking want to call the dam thing if you ask me!!!!!! So I had several labs drawn the normal ones and then one called a “CEA” anyway it looks for “tumor load” in your body that maybe cancerous. My level came back very LOW, which makes me want to run and jump and say yippee, and all of that good stuff, but remember I’m a little SOB (no not son of a bitch, well that too but, short of breathe is what I was going for there). At some point after I’m over this little pneumonia I’ll have a CT scan and possibly a biopsy depending on exactly what they see. I feel better after getting the labs back but still am stressing a bit, I keep trying to remind myself that I’ve had two chest tubes in that lung as well as several blood clots that can cause scaring. All of which a plain old chest X-ray can’t truly distinguish between, so we wait and hope and pray and all of that good stuff!!!!!

OK, now on to some wonderful news on So-Co my famous beagle!!!!!!!!! Let me say I had a very long talk with her and told her that her peeing in the house was getting old as hell. She appears to understand what I’m saying. She tried to give me that crap about it being cold outside and or raining or snowing or any combo and how would I feel if I had to do my personal/private business outside in those conditions. I gently reminded her she was a D-O-G; she wasn’t impressed by me saying that. I made a deal with her if she would potty outside I drag myself outside with her each and every time I put her out. She seems to b e thinking this is a fabo idea, why you might ask????? Well first because she hasn’t had any more “accidents on purpose” in the house since the day of her post last week. I take that as a good sign she “gets it”. Don’t want to jinx us or anything like that but if I have to go out with this crazy dog each time to keep my carpets and my marriage healthy than that’s what I’ll do. I really think her “deal” is that she goes outside and just runs around and plays and sniffs to be sure no one that hasn’t supposed to be has been in her yard. I now let her out and allow her to run around a few minutes (if it’s not too cold or raining) then I say So-Co go potty, hurry lets go potty, she looks at me like I’m nuts but does follow through. It may take her a minute or three to find that right spot but she goes, so who cares, right?? Interestingly enough she has also taken it upon herself to bug me while I’m reading or playing around my computer to let me know she needs to go out!!!! She comes up and hits me with her paw, So-Co code for I need or want something, then runs to the top of the steps and waits for me to open the doggie gate and allow her downstairs. Baby steps, baby steps!! I just hope it all continues because you know I am sort of attached to my marriage and I have been enjoying clean carpets too!!! Her diet of a ½ c of green beans and a ½ c diet dog food seems to be going very well!! She had lost a good bit of weight, which was like 4 pounds or so a while back. Then I was in the hospital again for a while and she sort of somehow always seems to get off her diet during those times. I’m not sure how much she weighs right now but I know she’s too heavy because her clothes seem to be tight for the most part. Yes I said clothes, a girls gotta cover her goods up can’t be showing everything she has to the world out there!!! I’ve asked her to save herself for marriage or at least try to do so!! I know she’s not hugely over weight but I know beagles tend to gain as they get older and I don’t want her to have to lug around any extra weight than she has to, as for us humans it’s not very good for us. Me included but heck that’s a whole nether story in itself!!!

Since this seems to be an update post I might as well also mention that I asked the doctor yesterday for some “nut-nut” meds, OK, first of all I mean this in a jokingly way only!!!!!!!!! I do take mental health very seriously as one should, it just makes me feel better to call it that and since it’s my blog I can. So with that said she gave me a script for Zoloft, anyone out there ever tried it???? Feel free to give me any info, good, bad or the ugly. I’ve never really taken anything like this. Back when our son was deployed I did take Ativan everyone once in a while when I just couldn’t turn my mind off or when we hadn’t heard from him in several days and my crazy mind played horrible tricks on me. So we’ll see if it does anything for me, I suppose it may take a week or two or three before I really notice any difference. If I don’t feel any different in about a month or so I’ll just go back and see what else we could change it to or maybe even just not take anything we’ll see what happens. I will be sure that I cover all of that with my doctor first. You know sometimes doctors have no sense of humor when it comes to a non-compliant patient, I don’t understand why, NOT, it would bug me too!!!

OK my little friends I’m finished rambling along here, but before I close I’m sure interested to know who from Russia and Denmark have been reading my blog!!!! Mainly just because I’m being nosey, but also because I think it’s pretty cool that someone all the way over there found my lil ole blog in SC!!!! Have a wonderful weekend, stay warm my friends in the cold parts and the ones in the warm well I guess even though I’m jealous you enjoy your warmness!!!! They say we may get a little of the white stuff, all it will do is make a huge mess of traffic and the grocery stores I’m sure!!!!
Later,
Marie
Pictured above So-Co in nite-nite shirt!!! You know you love a nice dressed beagle!!! Go ahead and admit it, I'll wait!!!!

Come out, come out where ever you are!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi, my name is Marie, what's yours????????? I'm looking at my stats I have several sight views but no comments, wonder why?? Also interestingly enough I've had three views from Russia and five from Demark. So my internet friends please do speak up!!! I really don't bit!!! Sure I have a big mouth and sort cuss more than I maybe should but bit, nope haven't bitten anyone in years!!!!!!!! Like since the last time my mother told me if I were to bit anyone else she would take me to the dentist to have my teeth pulled!!! Um, OK i'll not bit anyone else!! So if you come to my crazy boring blog just leave me a quick hi, my name is, and I'm from would work for me, got it?? OK!! If you also have a blog leave me the information I'm always looking for more reading material.

Now that we have gotten that out of the way, I have had a very lazy day today for the most part I sat around and watched the steam cleaners clean our carpet. Man thoe guys can vaccum a house like no body's business!!!!! I asked the one guy if I could hire him for vaccuming alone. He said sorry that was his least favorite part of his job. So I'm guessing that's a no! I truly have no plans for the rest of this week for the most part. Really that'a not so true now that I think about it, I have a doctors appointment for this crud I've been fighting for over two weeks now. I sort of thought that since I can't breath very well upon laying down and coughing it just might be time be get it checked out!! The up side of this???????? I have to drive right past a Starbucks!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm just going to have to stop in there, you know to make me feel better and all!!! OK, you know what you have to do, I'm going to jump in bed and cuddle with my lil beagle and watch a little TV, mindless TV of course!!! Good night internet friends!!!!!!!!!
Marie

Caroline Nicole

So as you might have guessed by now we have a new grandchild as of June 10, 2010!!!!! Everything anyone has ever told me about how wonderful grand kids are didn’t even come close to house I feel about this lil girl!!!!!! Much to my sorrow due my health issues and recent blood clots I wasn’t able to fly to HI. That was a rough time for me, I so wanted to be there for our son and daughter in law, I’m so glad they were both so understanding as to why we couldn’t go. I wanted hubby to go, but he said he wasn’t going without me, he’d see her for the first time with me!!!! Now do I have a wonderful hubby or what??? I spoke to the kids by phone daily sometimes more than that but I still felt as if something was missing. People sent us congrats cards and best wishes and all of that good stuff, but I just couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that I truly was a grand mom or in my case a “Me-Me”!!!!! Sure I sent lots of stuff to them had a baby shower while in NJ via Skype, but still it didn’t seem real. I had to get my hands on that baby and once his orders were ready and he knew he was going to Norfolk, VA only a 5.5 hour drive from here I was about to burst!!!!! It about killed me waiting for firm dates as to when they’d be arriving in Norfolk, you now the military they are on their own time plan!!!!!!!!! We finally get word they are coming in on November 6, wonderful, what a fabo 27 wedding present!!!!!!
We were up bright and early on Saturday November 6 and headed to the airport, where it seemed as if I had been waiting an externality for them to get off the plane!!!! Couldn’t they let them off first???? They should have known a crazy first time me-I was waiting to see her baby girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I spotted the kids first, dragging looking tired as can be and then a sweet lil girl in Kayla’s arms!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She handed me that lil girl and my heart melted and tears came and came and came some more!!!!! I did finally hug the kids too, but I had what I had been waiting forever for!!!! She is a sweet lil baby, our daughter in law Kayla is a wonderful mom!!!!!!!!!!!! She just impresses me big time, she’s a first time mom and I swear if I didn’t know it I’d not believe it. She has the most patience of anyone I’ve ever seen; she is just a fabo mom!!!! We are so proud of her!!!! Our son is truly a first time daddy!!!! He changes nasty diapers and all but gags doing so, oh well such is life!!! He gets so excited any time she does something new, he worries over every little thing, his eyes just light up when he walks in the room and she smiles at him, just melts my heart!!!! I’m so proud of those kids it’s not even funny!! I mean they got married, he deployed for nine months, he comes and she is pregnant with what everyone in the military calls a “post deployment baby”. They are way over in HI with no family, a few friends and a new baby, but they have done well, good, bad and ugly days, you know just life in general with a new baby in the house!
I knew I had fallen in love with that baby from photos but something was still missing until I got my hands on her, after that my friends as they say is history!!!! I so enjoyed her being here while they were on leave, I cried my eyes out when they left for her parents house each Monday. Knowing full well they would be back in just a week!! Didn’t matter to me I was going to miss my sweet lil Caroline!!! The day the left “for good” to move into their apartment in Norfolk I cried like a baby for a couple of days, this knowing all along I’d be seeing her again in just about 3 weeks. None of that mattered I missed that sweet lil baby looking up at me while I feed her a bottle or just rock her nite-nite!!!!
So the count down from December 5th until December 22nd was still hard but I used my time wisely!!! I Christmas shopped!! A few days before we left the crazy weather people were talking about a huge snow storm coming up from GA to the north/east, a nor’easter!!!!!!!! Great, well at least it wasn’t to begin until Christmas evening around 7PM. Let’s just say for once they knew what they were talking about big time!!!!!!!!!! It began snowing lightly around 6:30 or so and didn’t stop until well into the following night. At our house in SC we only got a dusting but in Norfolk we got 14 inches if not more, we had winds greater than 35 miles an hour and just plain ole cold, cold and colder!!!!! Kayla was truly like a little kid at Christmas, you see she grew up not very far from where we currently live so she has never seen that much snow in her life. Too funny to see someone else so excited about the snow, I love it, and I miss it big time, hubby and son not so much!!!!! We thought we’d be snowed in, oh what a shame couldn’t be snowed in at a better place. Much to my sorrow hubby got my car out no problem on Monday afternoon, the roads weren’t to very bad, but icy enough until we hit the interstate. Of course the drive home brought lots of tears from me. Of course I knew I was again going to see her in just a few short weeks but that didn’t matter, I missed that sweet baby!!!! To be exact we’ll be going back on February 2, 2011, our son is re-enlisting in the Navy and we are going up for the ceremony. Being a me-me is the most fabo job I’ve ever had, I don’t ever want to be fired!!!! Ha ha, I tell Kayla every time we see them if I’m taking too much time away from you and Caroline, jump in and tell me to give you back your child!!!! She laughed and said she doesn’t mind getting up with and doing anything that Caroline needs (well except for a bath, that’s daddy’s job!!!) but it’s nice to have a break!!!! There is nothing better than rocking a sweet lil baby just out of a bath, seeing her look up at me with those sweet lil blue eyes melts my heart and the nothing is more important at that very moment!!!
It was wonderful spending Christmas with the kids, my oldest sister drove down from NJ and had plans to stay until the following day but since the snow was coming she left shortly after dinner. That was sad but the very fact that she got to come was just fabo, just fabo!!!!! She figured it had been at least 20 years since her and I had spent a Christmas together, maybe even more than that. My last Christmas in NJ was in 1987, my mother had just had a stroke in July of that year and we had had our daughter in May of that year also. I really “needed” to spend Christmas with family this year it just felt so good. I’ve sort of had a hard time with Christmas since Christmas of 2007. My mother passed away on December 4, 2007. We had moved her to SC with us and we were still in our old home in Greenville, SC, I had such huge plans for Christmas in our new home with my mom. That was not to be she took a turn for the worse shortly after Thanksgiving and passed away just three days after we closed on our new home. That year was also the first year our son wouldn’t be home for Christmas, he was newly stationed in Pearl Harbor, HI. It was truly the hardest holiday I have ever spent, I should have been happy, we had our dream house, we wanted for nothing material. Thanks to my fabo kids, hubby and sisters we all made it through the holidays that year. I promised myself I would “do better” next year; I’d have a tree, put up all of these brand new decorations I had purchased just for the new home!! Christmas season 2008 begins and our son is deployed in Iraq!! How in the freaking hell am I to be all happy and joyous as can be when mean people are shooting at our son???????? Pretty hard year again!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Again thanks to fabo family and friends I made it through the holiday season. Looking forward to “next” Christmas which would be Christmas of 2009, our son was safely home from Iraq, happy, healthy and all in one piece!!!!! Why oh why did I not get around to the tree and of all that good stuff that year?????? I had just happened to come home from the hospital two days before the kids came from HI to visit. I had been in about five weeks or so, I was in no way, shape or form up to doing the whole “deal”!!! I was so happy the kids were here, my sister even came for a few days when I first came home, so it was all great, except that I was so weak I couldn’t sit up for more than an hour without feeling as if I’d pass out. Everyone offered to do the “deed” of decorating, and that would have been such a nice thing for them to do for me, maybe even help me “feel” better. My only thoughts were, “if they put all of the crap up, I’ll have to take it all down at some point”. At that very minute I just couldn’t see how in the world I’d be able to do that so I passed on the offer. My sister did bring me small tree which she left in case I wanted just something “little”. I never did put it up, Christmas day is quickly approaching and we have so not even thought about the meal for that day, our daughter is a paramedic and was working that day, Kayla’s family lives a good 2.5 hours from us and I just didn’t see us having a huge meal to begin with not to mention I didn’t want the kids to have to try to split the day between families. We solved that issue by ordering pizza for dinner Christmas Eve and they left early Christmas morning for her parents. I don’t even know what hubby and I did for dinner that day. Fast forward to this year, well if you read my last post, I just didn’t have the energy nor desire to decorate, such a baby me-me!!!! Then I began rationalizing my reason for not doing any decorating was the fact that we weren’t going to be home for Christmas, so why bother????? So we’ll see what happens next year, I truly hope I’m in a better frame of mind and get that decorating bug and just “do it up right”!!!!!!!!!!! So that’s my story, excuse, reason whatever for not decorating, next year I just may have to I sure don’t want Caroline growing up thinking her me-me is lazy and doesn’t have a Christmas tree and all do I????? Heck no way, so we’ll see!!!! You know what they say about best laid plans and all!!!!!!!!! Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and thanks for hanging around to read this crap I ramble out after being such a slack blogger for so very long!!! New Year new plans!!!!!!! Have a great rest of your day!!
Marie

Happy New Year!!!

We all ask the same questions, why does time seem to fly the older we get??? Who knows but I know it sure does fly!! I mean if I stop and really think about (which I try not to because it gives me a huge headache)it doesn't seem possible that we have a son who is not only married but married with a sweet lil baby girl!!!!! Then our daughter is all finished with school and working in the big bad world as a real grown up, apartment and all. I have to remind myself that yes I am 48 years old and yes I've been married for 27 years now. When did I grow up??? Well let's not ask hubby that because he just may say I haven't done so yet!!! Such is life.

So it's a new year and everyone are making all of these promises to do better and such, not me, why bother, ha ha!!! Although I do want to make a better effort to do more with my life on a day to day basis. Back when I worked I was into my job and raising our kids I didn't have a chance to take a deep breath at times. Then I got sick and things settled somewhat, no more work. Our kids and my health became my number one job everyday!! Then a funny thing happened along the way. Our kids graduated high school and went off to college and then off to the real world. I sort of kept busy going to lunch with friends and hubby when he was not traveling, all was good. I missed the kids but often looked so forward to them coming home on break, then with the same eagerness I often looked forward to them going back. Then my house was nice and clean and peaceful again, and I was sad!!!!!!!! I spent large parts of their break worrying about the house being messy and dishes in the sink and the noise level oh my!!! Then they would leave and I'd feel bad that I wasn't truly "present" while they were home. Fast forward to this past November our son is being transfer from Pearl Harbor HI to Norfolk, we agree to pick up his two personal dogs a few days before the kids and baby are to arrive. Oh my we already have two dogs of our own, now I have a huge German Shepard and a lil weenie dog too. No problem everyone gets along great, we have a huge back yard dogs are all happy!!! Then a few days later we pick up our and daughter and baby, they had 45 days leave!!!!!!!!!! Kayla is from a town about 2.5 hours from us so they took turns spending a week here and a week and back and fourth, it was wonderful!!!! I made myself promise not to worry about messes, I mean I had already missed out on Caroline's first 5.5 months of life and I wasn't about to miss anymore if I could help it!! It was tough at times our house was pretty messy often but you know what? I couldn't have cared less. I enjoyed my time with everyone and tuned the mess out. When they left each Monday for her parents house I spent that Monday cleaning my house, no biggie, I lived through it!!!! We all had a wonderful visit and made great memories. So now what have I got to bitch about now??? Well you see, I sort of feel as if I'm in a slump maybe??? Who knows all I know is most days I don't go any where, just don't feel like dealing with getting ready and dressed to go out. Hubby travels often and that leaves me home alone for sometimes a week at a time. So I've gotten myself into a slump of where I don't care to go any where nor do anything. Yeah sure I have good days and bad days but that's nothing new, next month on the 20Th I'll have been battling my kidney/bladder issues for 17 years, so nothing new there. I find myself wanting to sleep late because of course then there is less time in the day for me to sit around here with nothing to do. I have no clue how I got into this slump nor how long it's been going on. I'd guess for at least a year maybe, I think I can trace it back to my huge ugly surgery in November of 2009 where I had my urostomy. I just don't have the energy or desire to do anything. I hate, I can see myself doing it but don't know how to change it. When the kids were here everyday I was up 8:30 or so as I used to do daily. But once they are gone I'm back to my slackness. I clean my house but not as often or as well as I once did. So my friends I have a fabo life, an even more fabo hubby, great kids a great daughter in law who loves our son and is a fabo mom to our grand daughter, proud mom of a son serving in the US Navy, a daughter who has her dream job, her dream apartment and all of that good stuff. So why oh why do I feel like a slug????? I've never been one to be depressed, often times in the beginning of my illness my physician would ask if I needed to talk to someone or if I felt as if I needed meds, my reply was "no I'm good for now". So am I depressed or just lazy or just have no energy for no reason??????????? Of course there are many reasons I don't have as much energy as I used to, years of a chronic illness will do that to you. So my friends any suggestions???? Ever feel this way, what did you do about it????? I'm not talking about the energy to run 10 miles a day but I'd like to have the energy to get out of bed every day and not dread the next day each night before falling asleep. I feel as if my life is passing me by as I slug it off!! I've thought about making an appointment with my physician and see what she has to say, I feel really comfortable with her and don't feel as if she'll think I just have WWS (AKA Whiny Woman Syndrome) as some physicians (sorry to say this but....) of the male gender may think!!! So do I make an appointment with her or do I make an appointment to talk to someone or both???? Any help would be great!!!! Thanks and hope everyone has a fabo year!!!!!
Marie

So-Co Lucille needs your help, please..

OK, here's the deal I have a 4 year old beagle who has just happened to become unpotty trained!!!!!!!!!!!! Our house is all freaking CARPET!!!!!!!!!! I know I know sell the dog!!! um, no I'd have to sell the house first, my lil beags as I call her is bestest friend in the whole wide world!!!!!! Yup I have no friends that's why I have a blog, one that I can't even keep updated!! See why I have no friends???!!! OK back to "Southern Comfort" or AKA So-Co, Soie, beags and any combo of the that. She's really a good dog, hard headed as beagles come but good. She's been to what I call "boarding school", yup I'm a slacker and can't even train my own dogs!!! All of them have gone to boarding school, it's good for them and me, they go wild and crazy and come home all nice and trained. Let's not mention the beags had to stay for six LONG weeks not even getting a weekend pass for the first three weeks at that. Just a little hard headed!!! But I loves her as I tell my hubby who has a love - hate relationship with her. Here's what I've done so far to be sure I've covered it all, she's been to the vet no UTI or bladder/kidney issues (lucky dog!!!), she goes outside very often as in like every hour or two because she hears a leaf blowing and has to go check it out. When I see her do it I tell her no bad, and she does her "criminal" walk away like she knows what she did was wrong!!! I've had every inch of our carpet cleaned and cleaned and cleaned some more thinking she still smells where she last pottied, no help!!! It's getting pretty pricey to keep doing that, but even pricer to replace all carpet which I plan to do if I can ever get her potty issues solved again!!! It's been since early spring or so she has started this. I just wonder if she's too interested in "playing" sniffing the back yard as if it's her J-O-B, to remember to potty when she goes outside. Is this possible???? I have noticed if I go outside and tell her to go potty she'll run off the patio and walk around a second or two and potty. So does this mean that I have to go outside with her every single time to be sure she goes???? The other thing is it's been really cold here (for the southerners here not us transplants)and she HATES the cold so I know that has some to do with it but it didn't have any bearing this summer/spring. I don't know what to do with her!! Hubby is pissed off at her, I mean it's only right considering our house is barely three years old and all!!! HA HA poor beags!!!!!! Oh yeah back to what I do to insure no potty accidents, I take her out as soon as her feet her hit the floor every morning, every single time she wakes up from a nap, right before and shortly after she eats, if she's been in her crate while I'm gone she goes straight to the door as soon as I let her out. Please don't hate because I use a crate!! I know some people think it's horrible, but frankly I don't, she loves her crate as a matter of fact she has two of them, one on each floor of our house. The door stays open for her to go in and out of it as she pleases and often times if she's not upstairs in HER chair, she's in her crate downstairs by her own accord. I also don't allow her out of my sight much at all. If I'm upstairs she's baby crated in whatever room I'm in. The only time we ever use the downstairs to our house is if we are outside on the patio and backyard or in the kitchen eating, she knows she's not allowed on any furniture downstairs so she goes to her comfy crate and chills while I cook and we eat, unless of course she's right under foot as I do so!! So I'm out of a plan for her, any help would be great!! Oh yeah it's pee-pee she blesses us with on the carpet, of course huh?? Just this very minute I went to free her from her time out in her crate downstairs all alone because I had let her out and she ran to the grass and came back to the door, so I thought she had gone potty earlier, but once she came in and walked over to the carpet and pee-peeed I realized I could be incorrect on that very fact, ha ha!!! My fault of course!! So since I saw her do it, she got a time out for it, as I said if I don't see her do it, I've been told I shouldn't punish her for it since she may not remember or know exactly what she's been punished for, is that correct????? OK, so I freed her after about an hour or in which she could have most likely cared less considering she was all nice and comfy in her crate. I let her out and walked off the patio with her and told her to go potty. She ran around a few minutes and stoped and um pooped, yeah good girl, you are such a good girl all kinds of praise goes to her!!! Then she runs across the patio to the other side of the yard and then stops and pees!!!!! Yeah good girl mommy so proud of you, good girl!!!!! She comes running to me all excited and giving kisses and all. So you see I think she knows what is right and what is wrong but she still seems to do as she pleases!!! I suppose I could go outside each and every time she does if that fixes it, maybe after a while she'll get it again and I won't have to. But of course if you folks have any suggestions I would surely try them. Oh yeah, anyone wondering how or why she got her name? Well can we just say she started out as our son's dog his senior year of college. I had always wanted a beagle, love the howl, bark and just general cuteness of them!!! So knowing he is going in the Navy after college he still gets her, well we all know the rest of that story huh??? So the very fact that he was a college student and her real name is Southern Comfort" we can guess what his drink of choice at the time was can't we??? ha ha!!! Considering she began life in our family as "his" dog and he is now a K-9 officer in the Navy I tell him his dog us unruly, his response is well, "preachers kids are often unruly so I guess it's only par for a dog handler to have an unruly dog!!! On that note So-Co Lucille and I both thank you very much for your help!!!! Above is a photo of my fabo beags, see why I love her so much????? Oh yeah she likes to dress up too, and I do put a jacket on her to go out and potty when it's really cold, see how much me loves her???? Happy New Year everyone!!!!!
Marie