Day 86

Friday, finally!  I get to sleep in tomorrow!!

Today was another day spent out and about.  I got my mini monster on the bus, then went and put gas in the truck...painful to the wallet, but necessary.  Then the plan was to go get my oil changed.  However, I pulled up at Jiffy Lube only to be told that they were short staffed and that the wait would be over an hour.  Since I had better things to do than sit around Jiffy Lube, I left and decided to hit the other one on the other side of the road on the way back through.

So, I headed off to Walmart to look for some things for Ben.  I will freely admit though that not everything I bought was for Ben.  I don't think he'd have much use for the carpet cleaning machine I bought, for instance.  However, I'm hoping our little carpeted room will thank me (once I get the thing out of the box, anyway).  I then went over to Staples, where I discovered that they don't sell plain old Staples brand index cards in quantities less than 500.  I got so distracted by that that I forgot to look for the other stuff I wanted to look for while I was there, and now I don't remember what that other stuff was.  Oh well.

Shopping completed, I headed to the other Jiffy Lube in town.  Luckily, they weren't as short staffed as the first one - plus, they have the distinction of being located right beside a Dunkin Donuts.  I went and ate lunch while I waited for them to finish up my truck, then I headed off again.  My last stop was one I should have made a week ago - stopping by the imaging center to pick up my mammogram films.  Unfortunately for me, I took too long to come get them (and they never bothered to call and remind me), so they've been mailed off to Fredericksburg, VA.  Now I have to remember to call up there and ask them to turn around and mail them back down here.  Fun stuff.

A little while after the kids got home from school, we were off again...this time to Beaulaville to drop Taryn off with her dad for the weekend.  I was very quickly reminded why I try my best not to leave base between 4:00 and 6:00 pm.  I believe we left around 4:15, and it was after 5:00 by the time we finally officially made it off base and onto the highway.  I find this a very sad state of affairs, since I only live 2-3 miles away from said highway.  Ah, the perils of being stranded...I mean stationed at this monstrosity of a base.

Today's picture is courtesy of Gabriel, sort of:

His school does this thing where the kids can get a bag of popcorn each Friday.  They can either bring a quarter to school with them, or the parents can purchase a 'Popcorn Pass' when it first starts - $8 for your child to get popcorn every Friday for the bulk of the school year.  However, today is a sad day for popcorn fans, as it was the last 'Popcorn Friday' of this school year.  I think we'll live, though.

And now, I'm off to bed before I fall asleep and get another sore neck; I'm still working on getting rid of the last one.  I shall return to regale you with my tales on day 87.

Day 85

Happy Thursday to all my blog readers!  Believe it or not, I actually have things to blog about today!!  Even better - for the first time all week, it has nothing to do with being sick.  Other than a little bit of stiffness in my neck, I seem to be over whatever weird illness I had.

Once I got Gabe onto the bus, I headed over to LINKS to sit in on a parent's workshop.  Let me tell you...parents can come up with some interesting questions.  For the most part, they just want to know the stuff their kids don't think to tell them.  A Marine not thinking to volunteer information - go figure!  I'm hoping that if I do enough observing, some of the other ladies' wonderful presenting skills will rub off on me.  I'll have to let everyone know how that goes.

Once I got home, I got to talk to Ben for a little while.  We've been having the worst luck lately as far as phone calls go.  He tries to call every few days, but the phone lines have been down a lot in the past week or so.  He actually tried calling this morning, but I was already gone.  When we finally managed to catch each other, the phone lines went dead less than five minutes into the conversation.  Luckily he was able to call back, and we got to talk a little longer than five minutes.

Taryn had her final band concert of the year this evening (she's the second kid from the left):

I probably would have enjoyed it more had I not misplaced my keys.  When we first got there, we chose to sit relatively close to the band, but at the top of the bleachers.  I couldn't get the regular lens on the camera to work right (I later discovered there was something jammed and it was an easy fix), so we moved farther away so I could use the telephoto lens.  I heard my keys fall onto the bleachers, but Gabe took off when I said we needed to move and I forgot to pick them up with the rest of my stuff.  When I realized that, I went to get them - and they were nowhere to be found.  The realization had struck a couple songs into the concert, so I had to sit and stew a while before people cleared out so I could go look again.  Turned out that someone had picked them up and given them to the principal.  Another crisis averted...lol.

And now, it is well beyond my bedtime.  So, I bid you all a fond farewell until day 86...

Day 84

Thanks to everyone that's been thinking happy thoughts for me for the past couple days.  I'm mostly all better, except for a really stiff neck.  I'm hoping I just slept wrong last night, and that it'll go away by itself.

It's Wednesday...chain picture day:

Yes, I know...I still have yet to find somewhere other than the closet door to hang these things up.  I figure it's a system that's working for now...lol.

And on that note - it's off to bed for me.  Goodbye til day 85!!

Day 83

It's day two of whatever strange illness I have.  It's simmered down a little bit...now I just have the headache, a stiff neck, and one heck of a sore throat.  This has been my constant companion today:

I've been drinking lots of tea and honey to try to make my poor throat feel better.  I figure it could be worse; at least this lovely illness chose to strike after the weekend was over.  That meant I didn't have to cancel any plans, and my poor kids haven't had to put up with their sick mother for a whole day.

Hope everyone is having a great week!  Be back on day 84...

Day 82

Sorry I skipped out today...as Lola (from Charlie and Lola) would say, I was really ever not so well.

I woke up with a little bit of a stomach ache; it went away, only to be replaced by a headache, a fever, and a whole lot of body soreness. Needless to day, I spent most of the day laying flat on the couch. Those of you who know the hours I generally keep during a deployment will be shocked and amazed to know that I was in bed by 9:30, and out cold by 10:00.

And now I'm off to post about day 83...

Day 81

I hope all my fellow mommies had a wonderful Mother's Day! I didn't get what I *really* wanted, but I'll have it by next Mother's Day. I did, however, get some beautiful roses from my kids:

They had a little help in the procurement department, but said help shall remain anonymous.  Taryn cooked me scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast, then we lazed around the house most of the day. I also got a gorgeous bracelet from my husband, but for some reason I am having the hardest time getting a good picture of it. As soon as I figure out where I'm messing up, I'll show it to everyone.

Today was our monthly regimental activity.  We had a wonderful dinner catered by MCCS (Marine Corps Community Services, for those who don't know the lingo), and the kids decorated picture frames to send to their dads.  We had a lot of fun, and I brought home three plants (sorry, honey!).

I actually forgot to mention, I've been feeling kind of lucky these past couple days.  At the dinner last night, I won two door prizes.  One was a pin - a yellow ribbon with an eagle, globe and anchor on it - and the other was a pretty little round picture frame.  Today, I won one of the plants in a raffle (the other two I just kind of ended up with).  It's kind of nice, since I usually never win anything.  Now if I could just win the lottery - though, I've heard you have to actually play the lottery to win it.  Oh well.

And so ends my Mother's Day.  Tomorrow is another day...day 82, to be precise.  I'll be back then!

Day 80

Today was a fun day. I had thought about going out shopping, but I just couldn't seem to get moving this morning. I figure I'll go either tomorrow or Monday (probably Monday, since it means I can shop kid-free). I know I need to get a move on, since I've been telling my husband that I'm going to send him a care package for a week or so now.

I went and got my hair cut today. For those of you who know me well, it was time for my every other year 'chop it to my shoulders' haircut. I went to a salon that was recommended by a friend, and they were really great. Now if I could just remember to go every eight weeks like I'm supposed to.

I got all gussied up tonight, and went to the LINKS volunteer appreciation dinner. It was a formal affair...a Monte Carlo black and white masquerade. There was food, and alcohol, and gambling...a good time was had by all. Ben even went with me:

Yes, that's right...I took Taryn's daddy doll as my date...lol.  I'm not sure he had much fun; he just sat at the table all night and refused to talk to anyone.  Oh well...maybe he'll have more fun next year.

And on that note, I'm going to head off to bed.  Day 81 beckons from the other side of a good night's sleep...