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...