Day 142

Today was a pretty lazy day for the most part.  Gabe and I chilled out around the house til the afternoon, when my neighbor down the street (the same one I went to the pool with back on day 135) called...they had bought an inflatable pool for their son, and he wanted Gabe to come down and play with him.  I had a little bit of fun with it - I told Gabe to go put his swim trunks on, but didn't tell him why.  Once he put them on, I just handed him a towel and told him to go to his friend's house.

A little while later, I got a phone call from the friend's number.  Turned out it was her husband, calling to see if I could run her up to the c-store.  They were relaxing and having some wine, and then they ran out of wine.  Since both of them were drinking, I became the designated driver.  While we were at the store, I let myself get talked into getting some alcohol too...

I only had one drink, and the three of us sat and played poker for a while (I won...heheh).  Somewhere in there, the boys decided to ask if Gabe could spend the night.  So, I got to hang out with friends, AND got a child-free night to boot!

Onward to day 143...

Day 141

Oh no...

Another day that has disappeared into the depths of my mind....

Let's see what happens on day 142...

Day 140

Surprise, surprise...today was another day spent at LINKS.  There are actually three scheduled workshops every month - an all-day workshop on a Wednesday, an all-day workshop on a Saturday, and a two-day workshop on a Monday and Tuesday morning or evening.  Other workshops get added in, usually because a particular unit requests a workshop.

Like I've said before, being at LINKS doesn't present many photo ops.  However, I did take a picture today of me in my lovely LINKS garb:

You can't really tell from the picture, but it's got the LINKS logo with 'L.I.N.K.S.' written under it.

And now, on to tackle day 141...

Day 139

Today was my monthly LINKS team meeting.  I think I'm going to be spending almost as much time at LINKS this month as I'll be spending at home.  It's all good, though; whatever time I'm there is time I'm not spending at home wishing time would pass faster.

Today's picture is courtesy of my wacky cat.  Every once in a while she'll lay on the top of the couch behind me, looking for all the world like she's completely engrossed in whatever I'm doing on the computer:

And that, my friends, is all until day 140!

Day 138

Another "don't remember day"...shame on me for not keeping up!!

Day 137

Today started out pretty much a repeat of yesterday, furthering my belief that it was a virus or something of the sort rather than a hangover.  I dealt with it for a while; a little after lunchtime, I hit Lacy up for some Pepto Bismol so I could at least attempt to enjoy part of the holiday.  Speaking of the holiday....

We did have fun.  We went over to the Brian and Lacy's house and hung out.  Brian had invited some of his Marines over for food and drinks; after we ate, we sat and played poker for a little while. 

And that about sums up my day.  I shall return on day 138...

Day 136

It was a good thing that I had so much fun last night, because today was a lousy day.  I woke up with an upset stomach, and the day just didn't get any better.  Brian tried to tell me it was a hangover, but I knew better.  I think it was just some random virus that I picked up from somewhere or another.

On top of being sick, I have this pretty little souvenir from our trip to the pool yesterday:

My first official sunburn of 2010...sigh.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better.  Til day 137....

Day 135

Today was a lot of fun.  We went to the pool with a friend from down there street.  Her son rides the bus with Gabe so we used to see each other almost every morning, but we haven't seen each other much since school got out.  It was really nice to be able to hang out for a couple hours and catch up.  It also gave me the opportunity to take this lovely picture:

As we were leaving the pool, Lacy texted me and asked if we'd like to come over for dinner.  She had talked Brian into making homemade fettucine alfredo.  It was kind of dicey for a minute, as she said we should come over with bells on and I didn't have any bells handy.  Luckily, she said that was okay.  We ended up going over a little earlier, as Brian's truck needed to be picked up from the shop.  Since he was busy cooking, she and I went to pick it up.  We had a wonderful dinner, then we sat around drinking and shooting the breeze til way too late.  It was a good time, though.

I shall return on day 136...

Day 134

Here we are, at the beginning of a new month.  While I'm happy that we have yet another month behind us, I can't help but wish that time would start moving a little faster.  I've had a lot of people tell me that the deployment will start flying any time now.  I'm not so sure, considering that we're already four and a half months in and time is moving just as slow now as it was at the beginning of the deployment.  What's funny is that time seems to have moved faster in the past than it seems to move in the present...the individual days seem to crawl, but then I look back and it doesn't seem like it's been over four months already.

Not much happened today.  I went to my monthly regiment volunteer meeting.  We volunteers are mostly working on planning things for the regiment families.  We have a get together once a month, usually a potluck or a dinner.  I figure anything that helps the time go by faster is a good thing.

And on that note, onward to day 135...

Day 133

Today Gabe and I had a lot of fun spending time with good friends.  We went next door this morning so I could watch Lacy's kids while she took her mom to the airport...and we ended up not leaving til about 10:30pm.  Our cable and internet were out pretty much all day, so we decided to keep each other entertained.  They were gracious enough to let us stay for dinner, and then we all just hung out and talked. 

One thing I didn't do in all the time we were over there was take a picture. =(

Next up, day 134...

Day 132

I'm back!!  Did anyone miss me?  Nah...didn't think so.  =)

I went out and did some running around today.  First I met up with my fellow LINKS hospitality manager at the commissary so we could buy a few things to help restock the LINKS larder.  I was going to go meet up with some ladies from the message board for lunch afterwards, but they ended up eating really quick and I couldn't get there in time.

So, Gabe and I went shopping instead.  First we went to Sam's Club...a place where it's really easy for me to spend way too much money.  Luckily, I don't go there that often.  After that, we headed to Walmart to pick up some things that Ben asked me to send him.  If anyone can think of a way to ship crayons to Afghanistan without them melting, I'd love to hear it (and no, honey - I didn't buy any crayons...yet. heheh).

As is the norm here in North Carolina, the evening brought in some storms.  Here's a picture of some of our lovely storm clouds:

Even though I don't always like what the clouds drop on us, they're really very pretty.  I believe there are more sitting on us right now, as I just heard the boom of thunder...sigh.

I'm out of here til day 133...

Day 131

Woohoo...I actually left the house today. I'm a member of a message board for Marine wives, fiancees and girlfriends; it's been a great way to meet people (and meant that I already 'knew' people when we moved to NC).  I got to meet a couple more of the ladies from the message board today; unfortunately, one of them will be leaving for Okinawa a little later this year.  Such is the nature of military life...you have to enjoy the people you meet while they're still around to be enjoyed!

Today's picture is my wonderful husband.  Taryn didn't take her daddy doll with her when she went to her dad's house, so I reappropriated him for the summer.  Here he is all tucked into bed (though I have to wonder if he wouldn't be more comfortable without his cammies...lol):

See everyone on day 132...

Day 130

There's not much to write about for today, as not much happened today.  Gabe got to go out and play with some of his friends, although I think they did more fighting than playing for the most part.

Oh well...maybe day 131 will be more exciting...

Day 129

Yay...I finally got my blog caught up!!

Today was a good day.  We went and met Taryn's dad so he could take her for the summer; now it's just Gabe and I til mid-August...could prove interesting.  We're used to Taryn leaving for the summer, but this is the first time in a while that it's happened when Ben's not around.

Once we got back, Gabe and I went to "Funtastic", an event designed to celebrate military kids.  They had all kinds of different things to do...the fire department and military police were there; there were military vehicles for the kids to check out; and a lot of the different activities on base had things for the kids to do.  Here's a picture of Gabe 'driving' an MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle):

He had a lot of fun, which was the point of the whole thing.

And with that, I'm off to bed.  Til day 130...

Day 128

Another day, another long drive...to pick Taryn up from camp, that is.  The weather was much better this time around.  The original plan was that we were supposed to get there around 11:30 for an award ceremony, followed by a slideshow and lunch.  Unfortunately, that plan went out the window when Gabe got sick about 20 minutes before we got to the camp.  We ended up staying just long enough for Taryn to get her award (every camper in every cabin got an award of some type from their counselor), then I checked Taryn out and we headed for home.  Taryn was a little ticked at me for that, but she got over it.  Here's a picture of her with her counselor and the rest of the girls in her cabin:

Gabe was fine for the rest of the day, so I'm not really sure what the whole sickness thing was about.

Almost caught up - just have to do day 129...

Day 127

Today was another day spent at LINKS.  We had a workshop for a unit...it meant less work for me, but it was still fun.

Unfortunately, LINKS days don't provide many photo ops, so I don't have a picture for today.

Now to day 128...

Day 126

Today was another one of those lazy days I seem to have so many of...sigh.  The day at least started good...I woke up to Harley all cuddled up behind me:

Day 127 is calling...

Day 125

Today didn't start out so great; for some reason, I woke up feeling kind of yucky. Luckily it passed, because I had things to do and places to go. I had to run to the commissary to pick up some things for LINKS, then it was off to...LINKS...lol.

Again, I have no picture for today...boo me. Next up, day 126...

Day 124

Today was another volunteer day at LINKS. I can't remember if I've mentioned it before, but I was asked to be one of the hospitality managers at the LINKS house. Basically, that involves coordinating meals for all the different workshops, and just helping out wherever help is needed througout the day. This was the first day of this month's scheduled two day evening workshop; I stayed til after dinner was served and cleaned up, then I took off for home.

This was also the first day that Gabe went to the child care that LINKS provides. I was kind of worried that he wouldn't like it, but he had a blast. I'll probably still try to arrange for him to go to friends' houses and such sometimes, but at least now I have a back up plan for when I can't find anything else.

Don't have a picture for today yet, so I shall press onward to day 125...

Day 123

Today it was off to yet another camp.  This one was at the Eastern 4-H Center in Columbia, NC.  The trip was a little longer...two and a half hours instead of one and a half.  I'm sure it would have been a beautiful drive, had we not hit torrential rain both on the way up AND on the way back.  I also managed to get my GPS lost (as opposed to it getting me lost).  Apparently a chunk of one of the roads I took to get there has been moved, so the GPS couldn't figure out where I was.

Once we got there, we had to stand in line for an hour or so to get Taryn checked in.  However, standing in line provided us with today's amusing picture:

You can clearly see that the sign beside the door says "STORAGE ROOM", but the sign on the door of the same room says "NOT FOR STORAGE".  Taryn and I thought it was pretty funny.

Once we got through the horrendous line and the multiple stations it entailed, one of the counselors walked us down to Taryn's cabin.  She staked out a bunk, and Gabe and I took off for home.

I hope all you dads out there had a wonderful Father's Day.  My heart goes out to all the fathers (including my husband) who couldn't have the one thing they most wanted for Father's Day - to be home with their families.  Please know that those of us back home are grateful for what you are doing, and can't wait to welcome all of you back home.

Onward to day 124...

Day 122

Today was yet another laundry day.  I had to get all Taryn's clothes washed so she could pack them back up for the second camp she's going to. 

I'm not sure what I was thinking hooking her up with two camps in two weeks...I guess as long as she has fun, it's all good.

Off to day 123...

Day 121

We have now officially made it through four months, and we're one-third of the way done!  It's the same old story...the days seem to go by incredibly slow, but it seems like the overall four months went pretty quick.  Everyone keeps saying that time will start flying...I'm still waiting for it...lol.

We marked this momentous occasion by....driving to Greenville to pick Taryn up from band camp!  The drive is only about an hour and a half...not bad at all.  I had to check Taryn out of the dorm by 4:30; I think I actually checked her out around 3:00.  We went to IHOP for dinner...yum!  We still had some time to kill after dinner, so we went back to the campus and just wandered around.  Here's a picture I took of the kids hamming it up:

They were in front of this wall that played music and sprayed water as you walked past it.  There was also an archway that played music...all in all, it was pretty neat.

Around 6:00, we headed back to the auditorium where the bands (there were four different bands) were having their final concert so Taryn could change clothes.  Then we sat around waiting for the staff to open the doors and let people in.  The concert intself was about two hours long.  Unfortunately, Gabe chose to sit and behave for every band *except* Taryn's band.  Lucky for him, I bought a recording of the concert.

We headed for home around 9:30, and got home around 11:00...straight to bed for everyone!

Day 122 is incoming...

Day 120

Yeah...day 120 is pretty much lost in the blur that is my life.

Here's a picture of Taryn and Harley:

Taryn was pulling all the dead blooms off my plant; Harley was just hanging out.

Let's try day 121...

Day 119

Today I went out to lunch with some of the lovely ladies from a message board I'm a member of.  One of the ladies is moving away, and was in town for an appointment.  Another of the ladies decided to throw a surprise baby shower for her.  So, we all got together at Olive Garden...good food, good friends, good times!  Here's my little ham, on one of the few occasions he actually let me have the camera long enough to take pictures:

Day 120, here I come...

Day 118

Yet another lazy day in the life of a deployment widow.  I did get to get out and converse with actual adults...one of my neighbors came by and asked if Gabe and I wanted to come over to their house for a cookout.  Since we haven't really hung out with these neighbors for a while, we had quite a lot of fun.

I don't have a picture to go with today...sorry.

Next up, day 119...

Day 117

Unfortunately, I don't really remember much about what happened today.  However, there is one notable memory...Gabe lost another tooth!!

Off to day 118...

Day 116

And it's off to camp number one!  We took Taryn to Greenville to start band camp at East Carolina University today.  Getting her to want to go there was an adventure in itself.  She went to band camp at Virginia Tech last year, and had her heart set on going back this year.  However, I wasn't so enthralled with the idea of driving to Blacksburg to get her there.  She fought against going to ECU, because she had friends tell her it was a lot bigger, etc, etc.  I think what finally pushed her over is finding out that her band teacher here would be one of the counselors at the camp...and finding out that the girls were allowed to use the elevators in the dorms because they're put on higher floors than the boys...lol.

The trip up wasn't too bad...it took about an hour and a half.  I had been in the Greenville area once before due to some bad directions from my GPS coming home from a trip to visit Ben, but I couldn't remember how long it had taken me to get there.  Once we got there, we discovered that parking can be tricky.  Apparently, ECU has no parking that isn't either meter parking or permit parking.  My truck didn't get towed, so I'm assuming they make exceptions for summer programs (or I just got lucky).  We found a place to park not too terribly far from the dorm, then made our way in to get her checked in.  One interesting thing about the ECU program as compared to the VA Tech program is that they don't make room assignments until the kids check in.  Taryn ended up in a room on the 7th floor with a trombonist named Emma.

Once we got her checked in and took her stuff up to her room (where she was happy to discover that the previously mentioned band teacher/counselor was on her floor), we had to go find the campus music center so she could audition for her band placement.  I am proud to report that I only drove past the music center once...and in my defense, it really could be more clearly marked.  We were in for another adventure once we went inside, as they had no signs or anything saying where the different instruments were having their auditions.  We finally managed to find the check-in table, where they were kind enough to tell us where the clarinet players needed to go.  They said that there were plenty of practice rooms where the kids could go to warm up; what they failed to mention is that the majority of the rooms were locked.  We finally found a room for Taryn to use (by virtue of the fact that someone happened to be coming out of it as we were walking past), and she warmed up.  Then we got to go stand in line so she could wait for her turn.  When Taryn checked in, they gave her this slip of paper with an audition number on it; we're not sure why, since the kids just lined up outside the door where the auditions were being held, and the numbers meant nothing.

Taryn was a little upset because she froze on her audition; I can sympathize, since I'm the same way.  The kids were given the choice between eating in the dining hall and having their parents take them out for dinner; Taryn wasn't quite ready for me to leave yet, so I took them out to Sheetz to get something to eat (I know it sounds weird, but we don't have a Sheetz where we live and we've missed it...lol).  We took our food back to her dorm room to eat, and then Gabriel and I headed for home.

Today's picture is the thermometer in my truck (and some short blond kid who was hanging out in my backseat) as we were leaving ECU to come back home:

And that, my friends, pretty much sums up day 116.  See you all on day 117!

Day 115

Today was "make sure Taryn is ready for camp" day.  I took the kids to lunch at Taco Bell, and we took a trip to Kmart to pick up some last minute things that she needed.  Then we came home and Taryn packed and packed, and packed some more.

While we were eating dinner, Lacy texted and asked if we wanted to come over and watch a movie.  She had just gotten the streaming disc for the Wii from Netflix, and figured that using it to distract all the kids would be a good idea.  So, we went over and watched:

It was acutally a pretty cute movie.  I also took my laptop over there so I could burn a bunch of pictures to discs so she could take them with her on a trip back home.  All in all, it was a good night.

And now, off to day 116...

Day 114

Today I had planned to go shopping for the last of the things Taryn needed for camp.  However, it was rainy and nasty out, so I decided to hold off for one more day.

We ended up going over to Lacy's for dinner again, though we didn't have pizza this time.  We had what she calls Poor Man's Casserole...basically chili with cornbread baked on top of it.  Add a little cheddar cheese, and it is soooo good.  We did a little more drinking, though not nearly as much as we did on day 112.  Brian makes this drink he calls Applie Pie...apple cider moonshine, pretty much.  We mixed it with ice and a little bit of grenadine.  It wasn't as good as we were hoping it would be, but we never did get around to figuring out what else we might want.

Here's Lacy with a jar of apple pie:

And that's all she wrote for today.  Now for day 115...

Day 113

Today was mostly spent recovering from day 112's strawberry daquaris.  Neither Lacy nor I were feeling all too hot when we woke up, and we decided not to go with the whole "hair of the dog that bit you" cure theory.  We figured we did it to ourselves, so we'd suffer through it.  This is pretty much what we felt like:

Not much else to report for today, so forward to day 114...