Trying

My faith is getting slammed again and again and again this year. I am trying so hard, but as soon as I get close something else happens and I am one step forward, three steps back. I am frustrated, hurt, overwhelmed and just tired.

Here is to going up from this point on. Please.

 

 

All images found on Pinterest. If other source credit is needed please let me know.

Training Cycle 1 and Life Goes On

As many of you know, my husband recently began his new job as a combat instructor with MCT (Marine Combat Training) as part of SOI East (School of Infantry). We are well in to his first training cycle and things have definitely been an adjustment. The hours are crazy, some nights he doesn't come home at all (and I have my trusty 9 mil on standby) and when he does the poor guy eats, showers and sleeps. He is definitely exhausted and I am trying my best to help where I can. I make his coffee, grab snacks and things for him when I can, have the house clean and leftovers in the fridge, and I try and keep the noise level down when he is home and asleep. It is weird after how much time we spent together lately that we barely see each other any more, most of that time is just sleeping, and he is usually too busy to even answer a text during the day. Training cycles are 29 days straight, so we still have a bit left to go in this first cycle, but hopefully with each cycle things will get a little easier. I know Ryan is pretty worn out already so here is to hoping things get better on his end too.

I finally had my pre-op appointment on Wednesday for my gallbladder removal. I met with the nurse, anesthesiologist and got blood work done. In between my meetings with each of them my doctor's office called me. I listened to the voicemail and they basically were saying there was a scheduling problem and they were wondering if I could push my surgery back until February 4th. Oh. Heck. NO. I was literally AT my pre-op appointment! Since Ryan cannot take leave my mom is flying in to take care of me. I am already scheduled for the time off work and the surgery is a week away! The surgery THEY scheduled back in MID DECEMBER.

Needless to say I was not happy.

I called them back and basically told them no... I could not switch. I mentioned my mom was flying in, ticket already booked, and it was not possible for me to reschedule. The nurse said "Ok, we will see what we can do. We just wanted to check with you and see if it was possible."

Well, it isn't.

I have been sick since October. I waited a month to get a diagnosis. When I finally did get one I had to wait another month to even see a surgeon. Then when I finally saw him I had to wait a week for them to schedule the surgery. Then I had to wait another five weeks for said surgery. Meanwhile I have been sick this entire time. I have altered my diet, I have endured gallbladder attacks, been nauseous nonstop, missed out on holidays and delicious food with my family, ruined date nights, been throwing up/nauseous/in pain/on medicines and I am DONE. There is no way I am switching my surgery when I am a week away from it... even if it is only by another week. Sorry. Done.

Anyway, I am working this weekend and Monday and Tuesday. My mom flies in Tuesday night and then Wednesday morning is my surgery. If anything changes that the hospital will have one angry patient on their hands! I may sound ridiculous right now, but I am so tired of not feeling well. I really hope this surgery works. I want to be able to eat again without being worried it will make me horrendously sick. I miss cheeseburgers. I miss just ordering whatever I want at a restaurant. I miss having the ability to cook anything and eat anything without fear of getting horribly nauseous or throwing up. I really, really hope this works.

Send some good vibes my way if you can!

Under the Weather

My poor blog has been so neglected this year. Not sure what else to do about it or if I even want to keep it going at this point.

Maybe I am just tired and grouchy from feeling sick.

Last Wednesday (as in the 15th) I got sick at work. I was closing and it was close to the end of my shift when I got really warm and dizzy. I threw up a few times at work and throughout the night. And the next day. It really stunk because, naturally, Ryan was in the field so I was home alone and feeling extra miserable and sorry for myself. I thought it was food poisoning and would go away.

Here I am a week and a half later and I still feel nauseous.

I have missed work, show rehearsals and just leaving the house.

I have been to Urgent Care, the Emergency Room at my regular Doctor. I have had to give more urine samples than I ever have before because no one believes a woman can be nauseous and not pregnant apparently. I had an ultrasound today that looked normal. I have taken drugs to stop throwing up but still am nauseous. For almost a week now all I have been able to eat are saltines and ice pops. Toast was a big breakthrough.

My show opens next week and work is (naturally) short staffed. I am tired of not eating and feeling sick to my stomach with no answers at all. One ER doctor even so kindly said to me, "Don't worry, you can survive without food for five or six weeks as long as you stay hydrated." before escorting me out of the office. I want to eat again. I want to not feel sick to my stomach. I want answers.

I want to feel better.



And now I am done feeling sorry for myself. Sorry for the pity party all.

Slightly Frustrated

I am a little, slightly frustrated with some things in life lately. Maybe it is because we hit our two year mark in this duty station and things are up in the air as to what's next. Maybe it is a lot of different things, but I know my husband is feeling it too.

We're both struggling a little bit at work. He has huge inspections on the horizon and is working 13+ hour days more often than not and is getting worn out quickly. I have been in my new position in the library for a few weeks now and I am just not hitting my stride. I loved my job in Tech Services... processing new inventory, repairs and lots of different things that made me feel like I was really contributing. Now I work in Reference. I am full time, so more pay and more hours, but I feel like sometimes I am doing less meaningful work than I was before. 80% of my job feels like handing computer passes to people and helping them print/scan/copy/sign on to certain websites. The other 20% I do, helping people find things, using research databases and interlibrary loans, just aren't frequent enough. We're also understaffed at the moment so I am working every other weekend or more and I definitely did not miss that.

So, things are a little frustrating. It feels like any time Ryan and I have off it is spent cleaning and cooking and doing other chores rather than spending time together. On the days I open we do carpool, but it is so early in the morning that our conversation is a little flat. At night we're so tired we are in bed by ten usually, and the time before then is spent just eating, packing our lunches, cleaning and watching TV until we drag ourselves to bed.

I haven't been to the gym in three weeks. First it was a killer cold, now a broken toe that makes putting my sneakers on kind of impossible (I battled a bedpost and my fourth/ring finger? toe lost). I miss going to the gym (shock!) and I feel like I was making real progress that all just got undone in less than a month, which feels pretty pathetic. I hate how it can take months and months to notice the slightest change but only a week to feel like it all has become undone.

I am frustrated. I want more time with my husband. I want to love my job again.

I want to feel happier.

Here's to some hopefully brighter tomorrows.

Cold

So anytime my husband goes from warm weather to cold he gets sick. Usually I don't get his crudiness. This time I did. Unfortunately it was chilly most of the time when we were in New Jersey so naturally sickness followed. I hope to update about our trip soon but for now I'm pumping myself full of medicine and trying to beat this thing. Ugh. 

Have I mentioned I haven't had a cold since 2009? Coincidentally it was when Ryan came back from Iraq and I flew from Florida and met him in DC and the November weather made him sick and then me. We were just dating back then so at been awhile for me! I have stomach issues and I willingly can deal with nausea but give me a cold and I'm a huge baby! Especially since Ryan's cold mutates when I get it and I have it worse than him and for twice as long. 

Sigh. 

He's lucky I love him so much :P

Hopefully I can update about our trip soon! Thanks for sticking with me!

 

Poor Pup Pup

Just in case I wasn't sure if Rylie had me in over my head or not she just had to give me a little nudge back to the other side! Oy.



As a dog owner, I am definitely not bored, let's put it that way.

This weekend my best friend Sam came to visit. I loved having another person around (especially my bestie!) because Rylie had someone else to bite play with and I had someone else to talk to... that could talk back! We went down to the harbor and Rylie girl insisted on sitting on the bench with us. People would come up to her and pet her and she didn't even have to move, good deal! I got up quick and took this picture on my phone as she people watched. So cute.

But we noticed Rylie, how can I put this delicately... was gassy. I mean craZy gassy that had us running for cover. Then I noticed when she went to the bathroom it was a little (TMI)runny. So Monday I call the vet and they told me to bring her in tomorrow as they were busy. I bring the pup in, as a walk in, and surprisingly saw the vet quicker than when I had an appointment. Hmm...

Long story short poor pup pup has giardia. Puppy Mommy Fail. It is a parasite they usually get from drinking puddles or from other dogs who have it. My vet personally thinks Rylie's favorite snack gave it to her, that being mulch. She loves to chew on it and since it had rained last week and the mulch was damp it more than likely came from there. Now I am trying my hardest to not let her pick anything up on our walks but it is not easy.

For awhile now (worse since she has been sick) Rylie has been extremely bitey. Mostly to me, rarely other people, but when we play she will bite at my hands like no other. I will give her toys and tell her no but she does not seem to bothered by that. It has gone up tenfold since she has been sick. I cannot even sit down without her biting at my hands, feet, shoes or pants. I am constantly up and giving her toys and ice cubes, anything. Geeze pup teethe already!

But two nights ago was a rough rough night, similar to the first night I was alone with her. I think the antibiotics I gave her were messing with her because she was up whining from three am til five am. Non. Stop. Whining and barking. We went outside five times, two of which she went. Needless to say I was a mess yesterday. I was so exhausted and when I get exhausted I get way too emotional for my own good. Sobbing phone calls to my mother usually ensue.

It was a gorgeous day yesterday so Rylie went on two very very long walks. I was sore and tired by the time we were done. For once I was able to shower without her poking her head in or barking at me as she was passed out on the floor. I put her to bed and either I was so tired I slept through any whining/barking or she slept through the night. I think it was the latter.

Thank. God.

It isn't anywhere near as gorgeous today as yesterday (I will take 70 in January ANY day) but we will try lots of walks again. Wish me luck. Two weeks until I visit Ryan and I get a nice little break!!

And to link up with Goodnight Moon, I have Queen stuck in my head today.

No Sleep

Last night was not a good night.

Ryan left yesterday to go back to 29 Palms which was hard enough. He rode into work with me in the frigid cold and we said our goodbyes outside my building before he got on the metro to go to the airport. It was about 18 degrees and I was shocked my tears didn't crystalize :P We are hoping to meet up President's Day weekend, which feels so far away from now, if not we don't get to be together until he graduates in April... which if I think about makes me cry so I can't do that. So I go through that long sort of day at work and rush home to the pup. Happiness!

We go outside, we eat, we play, we go outside again, we play more, we (and by we I mean Rylie) have an accident, we go outside yet again, I shower and finally at 10 I am snuggled in bed ready to put the day behind me.

I call Ryan for our nightly phone call. 20 minutes later Rylie is whining. Then she is barking. Not just a little bark but high pitched, non stop barking like she has never done before. I know we are supposed to let her bark it out, but I live in an apartment, I can't do that! So I hang up with Ryan (upset I can't talk to him already), get on the floor and try talking to her. We have been crate training her all along, soft calming voice and petting her and gently pushing her chest to not let her out. We sit and talk to her, lie down next to her, and basically make her comfy. She has a blanket over the crate, a pillow, towel, toys and stuffed animals inside to snuggle with. But Rylie was having none of it last night. She was biting me through the bars of the crate and shrilly barking non stop.

We go outside again, it had barely been an hour since the last time. We come back in and play a bit trying to tire her out but Rylie did not play like she normally does, she was just biting me and going nuts. Back in the crate. Still not happy.

Long story short it is 12:30am before I can sleep in silence.

Until 4am rolls around. More barking. I take her out. She goes to the bathroom and we go back inside and I put her in her crate. More barking. This goes on until about 4:30 am before she finally stops. Meanwhile in that half an hour I am sitting on the floor next to the crate sobbing and begging her to stop. She does.

Until 5:55am. I take her out again. My upstairs neighbor Adam is leaving for work and mentions he could hear her barking at 4. I apologize profusely but he laughs and said it made him laugh to hear it. He had been there before. Still I am mortified regarless.

We go back in and Rylie doesn't want to go to sleep. She is up until 6:20. I finally doze off to my alarm goes off at 7:20am. We go out yet again. I feed her breakfast.

I am so tired my eyes don't want to stay open and when I think about it too much they literally fill with tears. I was so tired and frustrated and I worked up my stress level so much I ended up throwing up in the bathroom as Rylie at breakfast. I cried the whole way to work so Carrie had to drive and I am crying now as I type this. At work. I gotta suck the tears up! UGH!

I love my puppy, I do, but last night cannot be a normal occurance. I talked to my aunt today, she breeds and shows labs for a living, and she gave me some advice. No water after 8pm, stick to a schedule as much as possible, do NOT play with her after bedtime, and move the crate out of my bedroom. All of which will be attempted tonight.

I feel like a puppy parent failure.

When Ryan was here it wasn't this hard.

Wow that sentence just speaks volumes doesn't it?

Even with a dogwalker during the day I think she is not used to being in her crate. Ryan was in and out when he was home but never 8 hours straight like this.

Once we have a routine down I know it will be ok. But the panicky part of me cannot help but wonder if we ever get there? What if we never get our groove? What if I am a sleepless zombie who cries at the drop of a hat until we PCS and are together again? I texted Ryan all night and he feels bad which makes me feel worse because I know this was not his intention in the least when getting us a puppy.


Sorry, I normally don't go on like this (or have such awful sentence structure), forgive me. The lack of sleep, feeling awful, and just missing my husband so bad I can barely breathe is really getting to me. I just had to let it out.

Please please please do not give me another night like last night.


Sigh.

At least it's Thursday...

... and not Monday.

I went to bed early last night because I was just zonked. I think I was out like a light by ten pm. Party animal right? Ryan had a pretty rough day so he was a little cranky but he didn't do too badly. After I got home I showered and then we went to Church. We didn't get lost this time! Weekday masses are always condensed, no singing and only one reading besides the gospel. So we were out of there in way under an hour. This new church seems ok so far, but I need to see a Sunday mass to figure out if I like it or not! Since my mother-in-law and her sister (my aunt-in-law?) will be here this weekend we probably won't go. I am the only Catholic in the bunch so yea... it would be just me or no one. May have to wait a week :(

After mass we went and got some Five Guys. Man oh man those burgers threaten to stop your heart mid beat but I love them! And their fries! Yum!

So we got home, I made it through one episode of Lie to Me, then crashed. I think Ryan watched another one or two so now I have to play catch up :P

Anyway.

This morning I wake up and grab what I think is my black sweater to wear to work. I get halfway to the office before I realize it is Ryan's sweater that he accidentally shrunk in the wash. Gah. It fits me oooook, but I've been tugging on it all day! And it is not as soft as it looks. Boo. The taking out pork from the freezer to defrost I hit a glass in the sink and it broke. Damn. Then I forgot my lunch.

Sigh.

Plus the hospital tried to call me today to fill me in on everything I need to know for my surgery, but since I was on the phone with a client I missed the call on my cell! I listened to the voicemail and called right back and got no answer. The same with the four other times I tried today. They better call me tomorrow! I am getting antsy here, it is less than two weeks away and I feel so unprepared!

Now I am waiting around at work for a client who is "running late". Oh well, at least I get a little overtime pay. Hopefully.

Tomorrow's Friday!

Thank you Lord.

Man Oh Man...

Have I been slacking or what?

I mean, blog-wise.

Life-wise, ohhh nosiree Bob. (Ever wonder who bob is anyway? It's like no way Jose... I actually said that to my friend Jose in Disney once and nearly lost it... anyway, focus Allie, you're blogging. Ok got it.)

So backing up a bit, last Friday I opted not to have lunch and left work an hour early. Ryan and I then went over to the Gaylord National and saw the Ice Exhibit of the Grinch. It was AWESOME. I'll have to post pictures tomorrow. You would not believe this entire thing was made of ice! Except for maybe the fact that it was 9 degrees in there and we had to all wear borrowed parkas. Aside from the cool (no pun intended) sculptures there was also an ICE SLIDE we could go down!! Fun fun fun.

We then went out to dinner at Cadillac Ranch for amazing burgers before heading home. Sadly the hubster had duty Saturday so it was the day for me to be extra busy. The apartment got a much needed cleaning, presents were wrapped, Ryan took laundry with him which I picked up and put away at the end of the night... it was quite a busy day.

Sunday we went out to breakfast, saw Tron, got Ryan a new jacket (note: the mall is insane the week of Christmas, just to let you know...) and I made meatloaf for dinner.

Otherwise work has been crazy busy. Tons of mailing and packages and billing to boot... so I am trying here! I am still reading all my blogs, but I am just bad at writing at the moment.

Thanks for sticking with me! Two more days of work!

Drained

Sorry, I usually blog better than this, but with the events of the past weekend I just haven't had the blogging spark.

That kind of makes me sad.

Anyone else play Words with Friends? I am addicted. Add a game with me if you want to play, the screen name thing I use is imyewneek.

We had our holiday party at the office yesterday (which was different from the corporate party last Friday!) and I ate SO much. Ugh. I literally had a rock in my stomach. The party was from 2pm on and I was there maybe an hour before going back to the phones and I did not eat a single thing the rest of the night. Poor hubs was stuck with left over tuna! Sorry but it happens.

As you can see this post has no direction whatsoever. I am so scatterbrained at the moment I just don't know where to start so I am jumping all over the place.

In lighter news....

One of the blogs I just started following (utterly chaotic) is having an AWESOME giveaway for reaching 100 followers. You can win what she is calling the Utterly Chaotic Package, it includes her fabulous graphic work, header, sidebars, signature, new button.... amazing. I have had this layout for awhile now so with the new year approaching a new layout would rock my socks off!

Ridiculous

This needs to stop. I cannot have another night like last night.

Absolutely fricken ridiculous.

No more.

Midnight Madness!

Ok not really... but that was the time I was at the theatre til last night! I got home around 12:30, showered because I was gross, and fell into bed with my passed out husband around 1am. I was up at 7am for work. Ugh. It has been busy on and off today but I am dragging. So. Tired!

I got to the theatre around 6, heated up my frozen dinner, and tried to wrangle 55 opera singers into costume to be prepared to go on time. Needless to say that did not happen. I got spoiled working the Fringe Festival the past two summers with professional singers. They were always on time, in costume and make up and warmed up BEFORE they needed to be. They were always willing to help out and were the nicest people. Some of these kids, yes I can say kids referencing to freshmen, have never done tech before and were nonstop complaining.

Tech sucks. Anyone in any show, play, musical, opera, knows this. You sit around for hours to do a minute of work (on the performance side) and if you are crew you are busting your butt for fifteen hours straight to get things done and not waste anyone's time. You are polite, you try, but some people just do not get it.

If in the professional world you EVER showed up an hour and a half late, you would be fired. If you back talked to an Assistant Stage Manager who called to tell you you were late and see where you are, you'd be fired. If you were consistently rude, not in costume, missed your cue... you'd be fired. You get the picture right?

Most of them are great, especially the principle roles. They are also so so so talented. The Queen of the Night's aria gives me chills every time. You know it...



The parts where she sings with no words I am sure you recognize! And the fact the women playing the queen are in college (or grad school) and are THAT good, is amazing.

But we ran over last night til about quarter after eleven trying to finish the run. Then I had to use my "bitch list" and basically assure them they were all great but there were some things that were just unacceptable (ie missing cues, trashing the green room, back talking to the ASM, being LATE during tech week). By the time they all got out of costume and I locked up and we had our production meeting... it was midnight.

DC was deserted as I drove home. It was kinda creepy actually.

I also left my laptop charger in the theater. Lame. At least Cat was there painting and hid it for me. No internet for me tonight post-work!

Good news is, I am not called tonight! It is Sitzprobe, aka music rehearsal with Maestro, and the crew is meeting to finish the build, but since I am "professional" (aka I earned my four years of crew hours) I can stay home tonight! I am out of here in four minutes and my goal is to be in bed by 8pm. (:

Long Weekend, Long Survey.

Oh what a long, long weekend.

27 of the last 48 hours were spent in a dark theatre hunched over a tech table and a score in a binder that weights a good ten pounds. Light cues. Media cues. Fly cues. Calling the show. Writing cues. "HOLD!" Music stops. Caffeine. Doughnuts. Pizza. McDonalds. Quiznos. Sugarfree Redbull. Sneaked cigarettes. Bleary eyes. Not enough sleep. Hard theatre seat from the 1970s. Neck cramp. Back ache (what else is new?). Dragging heavy platforms. Yelling at late singers. Cursing.... Listening to the Queen of the Night nail her famous aria. Seeing the stage look like it is a rolling ball of flames in the temple of fire. Laughing at the comedic characters' reveal and romance. Seeing the serpent slink out to open the show. Watching the leads find one another and be safe and together for a happily ever after. The stage positively ringing as 55 amazing voices sing out into a darkened theatre in perfect harmony.

That is tech weekend.

There is the good, the bad, the exhausting, and the tedious. But it usually ends up being worth it. Being in the theatre was adventure enough, but let us compare evening notes, post-rehearsal.

Friday Night

I went and watched another run through, pre-tech. I was supposed to get light cues but as usual we were way wayyy behind schedule. At least I got to see it again. I go home a little after 11. I get home around 11:45 or so. I sit down and make Ryan his "honey do list" (as he calls it) for the weekend. He had his first dinner with the Masons the night before (yes THE masons, he wants to join) and really wanted to tell me about it. I was exhausted and knew I had to be up super early but I knew he was excited so I agreed to go with him for ONE cigarette. We sit and talk for a bit about it and he goes to have another one. I am freezing in some baggy sweats and slippers and totally exhausted so I stop him. We get up to go inside and he looks at me and goes...

"Do you have your keys?"

No keys. No phones. No answer at the leasing office. Buzzing our ONE neighbor who has her doorbell hooked to her home 3 times and one hour later we get back inside at 1:30am.

I was ready to kill him. I may have punched him hard in the arm once. Or twice. I was so cold and tired and I had to be up at 8 to run errands pre-rehearsal. He got to sleep in.

He did try and help me fix my back though (sitting on a stoop for an hour did not help back pain) since it was too late for me to take my medicine and still wake up in the morning.

Flash forward 14 hours to Saturday Night

Long long day in the theatre. I finall get to go home at 11:30pm after being there since 9:30am. I am driving on North Capital St in the center lane. I am going slow as I know it is a sucky place to drive so I am being careful. Guy in the left lane was not. All of a sudden I lurch to the right as his front bumper hits me and scrapes the entire side of my car. I try to get out of the way and nearly get hit by a bus on the other side who honks at me as the guy who hit me tries to gesture at me to pull over.

My first car accident.

We pull over on the side of the road and I get out of my car shaking and crying. Damage is all cosmetic and I am shaken up but fine. The guy claimed full responsibility from the start and gave me all his information as he apologized. We both have GEICO so we call and get the claims in and finally after midnight I get to go home again. My mom was on the phone with me when I got hit (in a hands free device down in the middle counsel, promise!) so I called her back and filled her in. Then I had to call Ryan. You know any phone call that starts, "I am ok..." usually is not good. But he told me if I was ok and the car was ok just to come home. I walk in the door and he just stood and gave me a hug and I cried for about twenty minutes.

I really never want to go through that again.

It also made tech yesterday feel very long. But Ryan came and sat with me on dinner break and then stayed to watch us tech act two. He shocked me more when he said he couldn't wait to come back and see the show finished! Not bad since he sat there three hours and watched them sing in German with no translation.... he also did all the grocery shopping, a huge clean of the entire apartment, and laundry. I love him!

Two more minutes working here than off to the theatre til 11:30pm again.

This time next week it is done! Cannot wait to sleep.


I did this earlier to stay awake, feel free to do it if you're bored! I got it from Bella N Chief's blog.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disney World
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty - not the top but lower level....
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill not in this new job though
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors one of them anyway, sort of
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing

What happened to 49?

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie stud
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving in a windtunnel....
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person - does from an airplane count?
80. Published a book - I had a poem published in one?
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House - not inside, but outside?
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating - fish count?
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Got a tattoo
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee


55 definite dones and 5 maybe. I want to do a lot of the things on this list so who knows what the future will bring? Somethings I definitely can go the rest of my life without doing, like bouncing a check, but most of the travel related ones I definitely want to do!

Sporadic!

Sorry my entries have been fizzling. At work I cannot update my blog (but I can read and comment, rest assured I do read everyone's blogs still, even if I cannot sneak a comment!) and at night I have just been exhausted. I will try and type up an awesome entry on MS Word or email and post it tonight... just wanted to let ya'll know I am still here. I promise!

I'm Done!!!

No more camp! No more commute from hell!!!!



Last night kind of sucked... but I am too exhausted to get into it now. Just had to share the joy of being done with camp. Not the story of why I was up until 3am and then overslept on my last day of work and for the first time all summer.

Bed now.

Tomorrow Ryan and I are driving to NJ to surprise my Poppy for his 88th birthday! Lots of family will be around, no one except my parents really know we're going to be there, so I am pretty excited.

Perhaps more later!

Last Week!

I am SO excited that it is the last week of camp!!!!! Part of me cannot believe it is week 9 already and the other part is wondering if it were possible for time to go any slower. Our numbers (of campers and counselors) are MUCH smaller this week. Luckily my two co-counselors are still here. The camp itself has had some counselors who work at other sites come down for the week to help us out since our numbers were too low. Imagine after two months with the same people having this weird cluster of people who worked together that amount of time too thrown in with you! It is a bit strange. Well as for kids, tribes had only seven kids or combined to form a normal size, but not Cherokee. Oh no. We have 16. Did I mention 15 boys and ONE GIRL?? How do some tribes have eight, nine, or ten girls... and we have one?!?!

Plus we have 5 LTS! (Reminder: LT = Life Threatening, meaning a kid with a life threatening food allerguy...) So we have five bright red fanny packs between the three of us which carries each child's Epi-Pen. Carmen, Kaego and I are rocking it. Yahhoooo....

Today we had three campers out, including 2 LTs and our only girl! So we had thirteen six year old boys running around like crazy all day. Oye vey. My feet hurt so badly when I got in the car to do my hour drive home. And it is so hot and humid.



Is it Friday yet???

No. Saturday! Friday means working OT (over time, the kids who stay after camp) then working til 9pm to help with site breakdown. It's paid, what the heck. Hubby has a parade anyway and won't be home til outrageously late. So I need my weekend! And three weeks off before my next job starts.

It helps knowing my paycheck will be three times bigger next month. Man oh man it helps!!!!

Busch Gardens and 95N

Side Note: I figured out the button thing, there is now a link on the right sidebar. Please feel free to add mine! I got a tab at the top and added some buttons of the blogs I follow, but if I missed yours please let me know.


So this weekend was pretty great but there were some long moments! Ryan and I planned to head to Busch Gardens to meet an awesome blogger I am sure you all know... Nicole from Flip Flops and Combat Boots and her husband Danny.

Friday Ryan had a parade so I picked him up after I had dinner with my fellow camp counselors and we headed off to sleep. I managed to drag him out of bed in the morning and get us into the car by 10am. We start driving on 95 and make it twenty minutes and stop. Then slowly go. Then stop. Repeat pattern for four more hours and that was our drive. We did a morale stop at Sonic and then gave up on 95 after awhile and went around to another highway that added miles perhaps but saved time!!

We get to Busch Gardens around 3pm... five hours after we leave! It took us an hour to go in from the back back back parking lot, through the ticket lines, the turnstyle, and into the park. Nicole texted me saying she was on Alpengeist, a great rollercoaster, so we got in line and met at the exit.

I felt awful it took us so long to get there! By the time we arrived they had gone on all the rides more than once! But we went on a few more rides together and hung out before Nicole and Danny headed out for dinner.


Photo by Nicole, I haven't uploaded mine yet!

Ryan and I stayed, wanting to endorse my love of fireworks and the fact that we drove so long we had to stay til the park closed at least! We had a good dinner in "New France" (aka Canada) of a whole assortment and ribs and yummy things like fried pickles. The fireworks were pretty good, not like Disney, only 8 minutes long! But I still love them. We tried to get on the sky ride to see them all in the air, but literally the finale happened as we were loading! But we still saw it all.

Then we braved the crowds and got to our car. I drove home as Ryan drove there I drove home. He passed out within 20 minutes. I was exhausted but doing well as we were going up 95N. We passed the spot where Ryan's tire blew and I laughed about it a bit. Flash forward maybe 50 miles and the all too familiar sound starts. The car itself is vibrating. Ryan wakes up and I quickly pull over. We look at the tires and see nothing. So I start driving again. I hit full speed and it starts once more. I quickly pull over and tell him I know it is the rear passenger tire. We look closely and there is a bubble the size of a goose egg on the inside wall of rubber... kinda like this:



I will upload my picture of my tire soon and change it out! But that is the basic idea. Scarily enough Ryan said if it HAD blown all the rubber would have flown off my tire and I would have been driving on my rim! That freaked me out a bit, I was doing 70! Who knows if I would have been able to keep the car in control. He is convinced I would have been able to, but I am convinced someone was watching over us that night.

Anyway, luckily I had a spare so we changed it in the dark at midnight on the side of 95. It took us forever to find the frame of my car to put the jack on (Ford Taurus's rule like that) but eventually it got done! I made Ryan drive the rest of the way home and had a 20 minute nap or so myself. When we got home we passed out.

We decided after 12 noon we are no longer allowed to drive through Virginia on 95N.


Today was good. Laundry was done, nails, errands, cleaning... and Ryan made an awesome dinner. A broiled marinated dry rub steak, vinegar stringbeans and baked potatoes! We had cinnamon sugar toast for dessert and then two stepped around the living room to classic country on 98.7.

Shower and bed! Night readers!

A Tired Blogger is Not Productive...

Well, the good news first, my job is safe! Damage control was done majorly so I feel much better. I was such a wreck Monday night so it is a relief to not be so worked up.

But work is still killing me. The commute and the day itself just turns me into a zombie. I just want to come home and watch tv and do nothing. The apartment needs to be cleaned, wedding needs to be scrapbooked, pictures need to be sorted, dinner needs to be cooked... it just seems lke so much sometimes. I know it isn't, but I just feel so tired lately. Ryan has another parade tonight, for some reason they had 3 this week, so we're both in the same boat of exhaustion and work. At least I get paid tomorrow, 2 weeks worth plus all my training, definitely going out for happy hour tomorrow with some fellow counselors!

I want to jazz up my blog, make a button.... someone said they would help me but I forget who and now I just don't have the energy to go back that far in entries and look! I am happy I finally figured out how to do the 3 column layout though.

Sorry for being a Debbie Downer readers! Hopefully after Saturday, the last showing of the opera, my life will be a little less hectic...

[insert title here]

Sorry I have been slacking!

Welcome new followers! I nearly fell over when I saw how many more I got. I know it isn't a whole lot a lot but it made me quite happy. I know you came through my guest blogging stint at Flip Flops and Combat Boots so thank you!

I have been exhausted all week. Working at the day camp and the commute plus having some opera shows at night just drains me! Especially when I come home and cook or clean or do other things. Last night after dinner I went to lie down. Ryan and I kept saying we wouldn't fall asleep. I had to shower, make my lunch, we had dinner dishes, and it made me smile when he said I had to update my blog.

Well we passed out. I woke up at 11pm, changed into a night shirt, and passed out again. We were so zonked we didn't even feel the 3.6 magnitude earthquake that hit the DC area around 5am! Seriusly, an earthquake in DC?! I heard it on the radio when I got in the car to go to work and actually almost drove off the road. My first earthquake and I sleep through it... :P

So here is where my real entry comes, bear with me.



There is a rumor Ryan may get orders at the end of parade season.

This is really hard for me to wrap my brain around. When Ryan and I were just engaged and planning our wedding he had planned to stay in the Corps. I accepted the fact that come next May he would re-up and we'd move. A month or so ago he blew me away when he said he didn't want to re-enlist after all. He wanted to get a security job within the government and we'd stay in DC. Great.

Now apparently his Captain is fighting for him to get orders post parade season, September/October. I didn't prepare for that! I thought we had a year! We love our apartment, the area we live in... it will be hard to leave that so quickly. Ryan says it makes no sense for him to get orders. But because it makes no sense it has a high chance of happening since that is how the Corps works! If we move he'd do a deployment work up, but his contract would be over before he would deploy! But I know my husband, if he trained a work up with these guys he would not not deploy with them. He'd extend his contract for the deployment and then maybe get out then. Or just stay in. Now he is unsure.

Where would we go?

We don't know. California is mostly all deployed at that point and apprently are not taking new guys, so that's out. Our biggest chance is North Carolina... which scares me a bit as I would have not much to do there (at all) career wise.

I am a natural worrier, I am going through all this in my head and driving myself crazy. Ryan tells me, "Cut it out." Helpful isn't he? :P I know that worrying doesn't help but it isn't like I can flip a switch. Ryan said we have to mentally prepare for the damn possibility of this move but physically live here like nothing will change. I should look for a job for fall and just hope I am here to do it (if I get one!).

I just want to know one way or the other. Silly for a Marine wife right??

Thoughts?

Days 3, 4 and Tiredness

Day Three - Your Favorite TV Show

Lately Ryan and I have been in love with Mythbusters. I have watched it a lot before we got married, but since living together that is like the one show we can always agree on. We have watched hours and hours of it during marathons and both are so entertained by it. Plus the fact that Jaime reminds me a lot of my dad is quite hysterical.

I also love Top Chef, Will & Grace, Cake Boss, Golden Girls, America's Next Top Model, and the Office.

Day Four - Your Favorite Book

Hands down, Lamb, the gospel according to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore. It is the funniest book I have ever read in my life. He also really did his research! It explains a lot of the unanswered questions in Christianity... what happened to Jesus between the ages of 6 and 30? Well he went with his best friend Biff to find the three Wise Men to learn how to be the Messiah. Jesus, or Joshua as he is called in the book, is by no means dissrespectful. Biff does the lying and cheating and "knowing" women stuff for him. Mix in demons, kung fu, and Mary Magdalane and it is a great story. The ending is sobering slightly, but the book is amazing and I would recommend it to anyone. My mom is a parish secretary and she and our priest both read it and thought it was great. Take it how it is, a work of fiction, and you'll love it!

Harry Potter rocks my socks off too.



Going from camp all day to rehearsal at night is killing me, and it is only day 2. God I cannot wait until this summer is over and I can just relax with... a real full time job.

Oy.