Furloughed

I am officially out of work until the government fixes itself. As some of you know I work at the library on base. We are considered nonessential personnel so we officially closed as of 11:30am yesterday. 

Yes, I am glad my husband is still being paid. The man is in Afghanistan. Lord knows he deserves to be paid. But so does everyone else who works and needs a little thing called a paycheck to survive. 

We are very fortunate that our bills can still be paid even if I'm out of work for the time being. But many aren't so lucky. 800,000 federal employees are sitting at home right now. Not to mention the thousands of government contractors not included in that high number. 

Congress didn't do their jobs and they are still being paid. Yes I heard about the 27 or so donating their paychecks to charity. Great. But you know what? If you had done your job in the first place it wouldn't be necessary. I'm not patting you on the back for failing to do what you're hired to do. 

I'm not pointing a finger at a party here. In my book the democrats, the republicans, and the president are all to blame here. Every one of them is at fault. 

In the meantime I will sit in my empty house and wait for my job to open again. We can't go anywhere, the call can happen at any time, and I am naturally saving every penny I can since we have no idea how long this will last. 

If I didn't do my job, I'd be fired. Maybe the government should hold themselves to the same standards the rest of us are at. 

And since this post is a bit depressing, I leave you with a picture of the Dup post bath. Someone jumped in the pond during our walk and was very unhappy with me when I had to hose her off when we got home. That's what happens Rylie girl! Sorry!

 

New Routines

One of the important things is to get a new routine down.

I decided to take the Dup for a walk every single day. That lasted three days until it rained for like a week straight. Sigh. We will keep trying.

Then my mom and brother came to visit which I loved. We spent time together, went to the beach and they kept the Dup company when I went to work. 

Anytime I go to the beach on base I collect shark teeth and I have a small jar I keep them in. My mom and I were finding a lot since high tide was going out and Stefan was skim boarding. Suddenly Stefan goes, "I found one!" And I kind of went into typical big sister mode as he came over an expected to see a shell or a really small one. Nope. Kid had me über beat. This was hands down the biggest one I've seen on the beach and it just hit him in the leg when a wave came in. Lesson learned. 

After awhile Stefan convinced me to try he skimboard. I did not die or hurt myself! i was pretty proud.

We also went to one of my happy places for dinner, Buddy's! I got my usual crab legs and a corona with plenty of fries and corn nuggets. 

I still sometimes forget just how old my brother is getting. I'm ten years older than him and now that he is nearing adulthood it still baffles me sometimes. Especially when we were walking on the beach and he asked me how I was doing with this deployment and if it was different from last time. He's awesome. 

I also got to hang out with my friend Donna and explore this store 2nd & Charles for the first time. You can buy used DVDs, books, CDs and games and also sell them back. It's like heaven for nerds. Especially for Whovians...

I got myself some TARDIS knee socks ;)

Otherwise I'm reading a lot, watching movies over from the library and occasionally treating myself to Cook Out when I need it. Crazy Stupid Love, the Dup and burgers. Not bad. 

 But I live for text messages ala wifi from Ryan and getting to FaceTime. That's definitely something we did not have last deployment!!

Him: Why didn't you tell me my nose is so huge?!

Me: It's not!

Him: Yes it is! Look!

Sigh. I miss him so much. 

Quiet

It has been a quiet week here. Ryan is out of town spending time on his predeployment leave with his family. I sadly have to work all week so I couldn't go. Even stranger Ryan took Rylie with him so my parents can meet him and take her so we can go out of town later on. No husband and no Dup makes my house eerily quiet. 

No one is at my feet begging when I have pizza at the coffee table or rolling their eyes when I turn on a chick flick (you can guess which is which). I've been without Ryan before but since getting the Dup I've never been without them both. I'm not sure I like it. Sure the first night was peaceful but now I'm antsy. I've read four books this week and I'm starting a fifth and watched more girly tv shows and movies than I care to admit. Work is fine but when I get home at night I'm almost at a loss on what to do. 

Last weekend Ryan's best friend Josh came into town. It was a weekend of no sleep, catching sunrises and drinking more than I had since college! After Ryan dropped Josh off at the airport he went all over town to find me roses. Apparently Sundays are not a good day to do that since he was gone for ages and I had no clue what he was up to. The roses are gorgeous and they were for, in his words, "Putting up with the two of us all weekend." 

Every time I walk by my roses and the Mickey Mouse thank you card I smile. 

At least he will be home tomorrow. And at least when he deploys I will have the Dup for company. At least there will be noise aside from my own breathing and the tv. 

A Day in the Life

I have seen a lot of bloggers do a 'Day in the Life' posts and last Wednesday I decided to give it a try! With my phone in hand I did my best. I took a lot more pictures than I expected to and I still didn't get as much as some other bloggers I read (way to go guys, you made it seem easy!) but I tried. So here we go....

When I wake up in the morning I usually hit snooze two or three times check the weather and my email on my phone...

And if I have time usually I peek at the Chive too. Ryan got me hooked on the site/app and I have become a huge chivette. He only has himself to blame! I purposely picked this picture because there is the Genie. In Latte Art. Awesome.

Usually by now the Dup comes sauntering in to our room from the couch (which she sneaks out in the middle of the night to do, NOT allowed) or wiggles out from under the bed. We do a puppy stretch before going outside. 

She has her morning potty break and usually runs around until she hears the magical B word...
 

Breakfast!!! This dog knows the words dinner and breakfast by heart. We use them sparingly in our house.

While she eats I usually head to the bathroom and start my shower.

But without fail she finds me when she is done eating. Rylie loves to curl right up near the shower so when you emerge to reach your towel you practically have to leap over her and pray you don't twist an ankle. But it is cute.

My beauty routine is pretty low key... eye shadow and cover up (never expected to have such awful skin at 25, really acne?) and trusty chapstick.

Most mornings I do blow dry my hair. The Dup hates the blow dryer but she has to be close by regardless. Afterall, the loud handheld machine may attack Mommy at any moment.

Once I am ready for work the Dup and I go outside for a rousing game of fetch. Such a lab.... she loves tennis balls and running back and forth until she cannot stand up any more. Now that the weather is warmer I should start doing morning walks with her... but fetch seems to be a hit.

As it gets time for me to go I say, "Time for work! You want a treat?" and the next thing I know she is patiently waiting in her crate for a milkbone. Oh that face. I hate to leave her but we gotta pay the bills!

At this point I am in the car. Ugh. I hate taking selfies, but for the blog, why not?

My commute is so lovely... ten or fifteen minutes max. I am post rush hour and never have any problems. So I usually get to work pretty early.

I open the library, sometimes myself, sometimes with coworkers. This particular Wednesday was our monthly staff meeting day. I was blessed to go to the afternoon meeting this month so I opened alone. The morning meeting does mean going home earlier, but it also means fighting gate traffic to be at the main library for 8:30. Any milspouses out there know the hell that is gate traffic and understand my kvetching there! Back to opening the library... I normally turn on my computer first so I can clock in and have my systems open to check in books and read my email. KCCO!

I then turn on all the computers for the patrons and start emptying the dehumidifiers. We have an OLD building (like it was a barracks in the 1940s old) so these are essential. Without the dehumidifiers we get tons of mold, not just on the walls but in the books too, so we cannot have that. On rainy days and in the summer we empty these babies morning and night, sometimes in the middle too on bad days. In the winter rarely at all. But yay for moldy water?

As I am opening the library I usally prepare my breakfast... a bagel or a freshly microwaved strawberry poptart. Breakfast of champions, I know, but I am not really big on eating in the morning.

As that heats up I kid you not I take a moment to stop and smell the books. I LOVE the smell of books, especially old ones. And if I am standing in the non fiction section I get it in droves. I heard they make a candle with book smell, I may have to buy it. I have a problem. I honestly thought I failed my interview for this job when I gushed about how I love the smell of books. Only once I was hired did I learn that both my manager and coworker said the same thing in their interview so they knew I'd work out! ;)

Once we open I am at the desk working on my project. I am currently making a running list of all the book series we have in the library. I am doing the name of the author, the series and listing all the books plus marking which ones we have and which ones we should order. This week we were also logging what we did at work every fifteen minutes to show the government how busy we are and how having us understaffed is not a good thing. Thank you sequestration! You know how tedious it is to track yourself all day for fifteen minute incriments? And the week before a long weekend? It was rough.

Then in the early afternoon I got to drive over to mainside for the staff meeting.

My coworker came back from the morning meeting with a huge cherry slushie for me, so naturally I took it with me to my meeting for refreshment purposes.

This meeting rocked because there was cake for all the May birthdays and anniversaries. Man, I love cake.

Unfortunately our meeting ran long which meant when I was going back to work I got caught in afternoon rush hour gate traffic. No bueno. Sigh.

When I got back to work I took a late lunch (practically dinner). Every lunch I take I fully abuse my library aid status and read a book. Wouldn't you? And before you ask, no, we cannot read on the clock. I wish!

I usually eat my food in the staff room then go outside, especially if it is nice, to read the rest of my break. I also fully enjoy the ospreys flying overhead.

The afternoons and evenings are the busiest at our branch so I took no pictures. Fail I know, but I never have my phone on me at the desk. I keep it in the office and only check it sparingly. So I worked on my project and helped patrons until it was closing time. Also no pictures.... but it was basically the same as opening any way.

I then ran to the exchange real quick to grab some bad habits for the hubby and I before heading home.

Again, I miss rush hour so my commute is pretty smooth!

I love the nights Ryan gets home before me and dinner is ready when I get home. It doesn't happen a lot so I relish the nights it does. No one wants to cook at 7:30 when they walk in the door! Technically tonight was leftover spaghetti he brought me home from a command dinner, but it was from Olive Garden so I was a happy camper. Man I drink a lot of Diet Coke...

Evenings, especially weeknights, we mostly just cuddle on the couch and watch TV. Favorites include How I Met Your Mother, the Big Bang Theory, and our newest favorite Duck Dynasty.

I had to be stealthy taking pictures of Mr. "I hate having my picture taken" so you get a semi artsy sillouette shot of my husband as we watch Duck Dynasty.

Then we move to the garage, sometimes with a glass of wine or a beer, and smoke and talk about our day. It is one of my favorite parts of the day (not because of addictive substances) because we really have some awesome conversations/debates during this hour or two leading up to bed time. Ryan was checking our investments (a very popular topic in our garage) so I got to sneak this one.

By this time it is late enough for bed. Generally I make our lunches and coffee for Ryan in the morning as we slowly unwind.

The Dup comes in and we all hunker down for the night.... usually with Rylie diving under our bed and making herself comfortable. Our house has no boogey man, we have a Dup.

So that is a semi-typical day in the life of me. Not the most thrilling, but it was fun to see and track and try for one entry. What is a day in your life like?



(I realize I am posting this a week after my putting it together, my blog app was giving me issues! Hopefully I can blog about our wonderful weekend in Jersey this week and get that up for you all. Thanks for reading!)

Beach in January

Last week the weather was so gorgeous we took Rylie to the beach with our friends Ben and Chelsea and their dog Boomer. The dogs had a blast running on the sand and Rylie was in the water whenever we let her! Although it was in the 70s the water was still a but cold for the likes of us, but I did allow my feet to go numb so Rylie could go in a bit! Although it is absolutely frigid now (and all this week) it is supposed to be in the 70s again next week. Fingers crossed!

Here are some pictures. It looks cloudy but it cleared up off and on and was still warm! We stayed until the sun almost set and it started to cool off!