Saturday

I got my delivery from Gunner today and I was totally surprised. Someone knocked at the door and Em peeked out and when I asked her who it was she told me "someone with flowers". I opened the door and received a beautiful bouquet of flowers with a sweet card for Gunner. He knows after almost 14 years how to melt my heart. Our anniversary is the 17th, and I can still say after 14 years that it just gets better and better, even if he is not here all the time. Who the heck am I kidding, he's not here most of the time. I still love him though.

I went to school today with my mom and the kids to decorate my bulletin board. We pieced something together, and I am just hoping that it will make it through the week. It's cute though, and very, very busy. I noticed when we went in that the door was open, so when we left I checked it and it was unlocked. I called a friend who told me she would track someone down. Two hours later someone was supposedly on the way when a MP pulled up. I went over to him and explained the situation and he said he would stay there until someone arrived. Junior was tired and the wind had about worn all of us out, plus we had no food. The last thing I wanted to do was to leave the school unsecured and be blamed if something happened, so I did my part.

Had dinner with my mom and the kids and then my mom took all three kids back to her house. I have to go over there and work before I pick them up and then run them to Girl Scouts tomorrow afternoon.

I still have a million 3-dimensional shapes to make, supplies to separate for my lesson and my big appraisal by the principal too. I'm nervous, but figure I have nothing to lose, plus it is the last week of classes before the Christmas holidays, so I am super excited about having two weeks off from school.

Off to bed after working on my lesson for my appraisal. I hope I did it right, and I hope I don't get too nervous! Wish me luck!!!

9 months

We've made it 9 months.

All three kids are still alive.

I still haven't given up diet coke. I also live on having a monster each afternoon. I don't hit the gym as much as I would like--okay honestly it hasn't been much at all since I started working, but I am hoping to change that over the Christmas holidays.

I still haven't cleaned out the garage or sorted through the piles of stuff that I said I was going to, but I didn't want to be an overachiever and do it all the first 9 months of the deployment, right?

I haven't lost any weight, but there's still time.

I'm just glad that whether the deployment is 12 or 15 months, we are over halfway there.

Abs is up and so far has made a mess, spilled cheerios, broken the remote and spread legos out all over her room. Good thing she has only been up for half an hour and an even better thing that she is spending the night with Grandma tonight so I can have a break!

My stars...

I taped Enews last night and sure enough there were my sweeties! Here's the pic my friend sent.
I took the girls to Hobby Lobby tonight. Abs rounded the corner away from me, and I was madly running to catch up with her, I heard a crash. I called out her name, knowing what was coming, and sure enough a lady at the end of the aisle said "Yep, it's Abs!". I really think I am ready to retire from this parenting business. It exhausts me.

Yesterday in my class......they found......lice! I'm still itching, although I was given the all clear. Can you imagine the wordless Wednesday pics I could have had though with the 4 of us with mayonnaise on our heads and plastic bags?

I want to tell you that I am sleeping in tomorrow, but I would never utter those words for fear it will come back to bite me.

Check this out....

My friend Mel called to tell me that Gunner and Junior were on tv. Apparently E! did a segment on gifts and they profiled a digital picture frame and there was Gunner and Junior. She had to do a double take and sent me a pic on her cell. Too funny. So check it out at 10 pm tonight! It was on Enews or something like that. Channel 53 if you are in the Hood.

More tales from the other side....

Read here about my menagerie....I laughed and laughed.

I'm thinking about what I want for Christmas.

I think the germaphobic side of me wants one of those light wands that kills germs.

The practical side of me wants things for my classroom.

The non-practical side of me wants a day at the spa.

The realistic side of me just wants a day with a minimal level of catastrophes for me to clean up.

What's on your list?

Lock up your valuables

Abs is in her "I can't sleep" phase again.

I remember having a conversation with her early this morning, but that's the extent of it--never a good thing.

When my alarm got up this morning I heard someone stirring.

I went and found Abs sitting quietly on the couch--a sign of trouble.

I sent her to go potty, and then went to check my email on my laptop. I found 5 games open and going. I checked to see how far along she was in Virtual Villagers, and luckily it didn't look like she had been playing more than an hour.

When I sent Abs back to go potty and get dressed, she danced all the way down the hallway...loudly. Some days I wish she had a mute button. I checked email and went back to her room to check on her and she was sitting naked on the floor playing legos. She also decided it was time for Em to wake up and she had flipped on her light.

I got her to get dressed and now she is brushing her hair and singing opera.

On Sunday, the girls made an advent calendar in Girl Scouts. They each glued a hershey's kiss to the calendar to open each day. Em walked out and asked where all her chocolate went. Abs of course has no idea what happened to them, so now Abs has lost her calendar to Em. Ab's response was "I just don't see the rationale in that." Ummmm....yeah....I don't see the rationale in half the stuff she does, but it doesn't stop her!

Em just came out in shorts. Apparently I am out to get her because her jeans are not clean. She claims that she only has one pair, not the 4 pairs that I have bought her. Considering that is is freezing outside, I vetoed the shorts and she is sulking in her room. I can hardly contain my excitement when I think of Em being a teenager and Gunner gone for a year and I have to figure her out on my own!

Junior is still asleep amazingly, but it is 5:40 am and now time to wake him up. He hates to have his pajamas taken off (I still put them on backwards), so morning time is always an adventure while I try to convince him that there is more in life than footie pajamas. Maybe that is what is missing from mine....

Only in Texas

Can it be a balmy 70 degrees and then it dropped and now is sleeting outside. At least ice is hitting the back door and it's cold and wet outside. Too bad I can't just lie in bed tomorrow and relax.

And here are the updates on the kids:

Em--she cracks me up. She has a book report due in two days and has switched books numerous times. Does she get an easier book each time? Nope, she keeps moving up. I told her this was her last change because she was running out of time. Tomorrow will be filled with homework for both girls.

Abs--I was on the phone with my friend Mel and Abs was in the shower. I was checking on her and all was well so I continued my conversation while I cleaned up a little for dinner. I heard a lot of noise from the bathroom and so I figured I better check it out. What I found was the entire bathroom drenched. Abs was taking a cup, filling it with water, and throwing it up on the ceiling. It was all over the ceiling and was raining down. Her rationale was that she was in a tropical rainforest. How can someone so smart not think things through?

Junior--He woke up screaming Sunday morning "I'm stuck, I'm stuck, I'm stuck" and screamed some more. I jumped up and ran in there. There was my baby boy with huge tears in his eyes and running down his face. Where was he stuck? He was stuck in the crib and couldn't get out. I told him it was 5 am and he needed to go to sleep but then he smiled and told me thank you for getting him unstuck as well as saying "I waked up Mommy". I couldn't resist so we got up bright and early. Little stinker! He still hasn't had a haircut, so his cowlick is out of control.

I'm hanging in there and counting down the days till Christmas vacation. 8 more school days!!! Woohoo!

Books

I had to order some books for a lesson, and so while I was at it I sorted through the 5 pages of books that I saved in my amazon cart for later.

I settled on these:

The Soldiers' Night Before Christmas--"'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the base
Only sentries were stirring--they guarded the place.
The soldiers were sleeping and snoring away
As they dreamed of 'back home' on good Christmas Day..."

One Christmas Eve at a military barracks in the Middle East, some homesick soldiers are paid a visit by Sergeant McClaus, the Santa of Soldiers. This lively and poignant tale is inspired by Clement C. Moore's classic yuletide poem.

The Night Before Christmas in the Military--Santa receives thousands of letters from children who have parents in the military. He decides this year he'll do something extra special for the troops that are away from home.

The Soldier's Tree--In a world where bigger is often better, a tiny tree realizes that its extra small size can make an extra big difference. This book is a wonderful deployment tool designed to help military children enjoy the Christmas holiday while separated from a loved one overseas. Military families will be inspired to create their own Soldier's Tree which can be sent to their special service member serving abroad. With a poetic storyline and perfectly imperfect illustrations, The Soldier's Tree is sure to be loved by children who wear the stars and stripes of America.

Oh yeah, I am sure these will make me upbeat and happy about the Christmas season.

Have you heard of the Impossible Patriotism Project? It is a great book for kids. It's about a class that is doing a project on patriotism and one little boy can't think of anything to do. He tries to come up with an idea and wishes that his dad was there to help him, but he is deployed. So at the end of the story he does a picture of his dad and talks about him. I read it to my class and could barely make it through the book. The girls really like it though.

So those are my picks of the weeks. I spend way too much money at Amazon.

I should get a book on howtogetyourchildrentopickthingsupinsteadofwalkingonthem.

Oh crap!

Another depressing post, so skip it if you don't want to hear it!

I am still miserable, but trying to keep moving. It's hard, but I know things could be worse, although at times I don't feel like they can be. Everything kind of happened at once, and all I wanted was Gunner home to tell me everything will be alright. Although he tried while thousands of miles away, it just wasn't the same. Thanks for all the emails, messages of support, etc. They all made me cry even more.

I got my first Christmas card today. My friend is a journalist and has time to write a card complete with the letter--guys, I love the letters, so keep them coming! I was excited to get my first one and thought about how I should think about getting one out in about 3 weeks. Then the "oh crap!" hit me when I realized that Christmas is a mere 3 weeks away.

I have no tree up. Very few presents bought. No Christmas picture of the kids for a card, and I haven't sent a box to Gunner yet. So the "oh crap!" feeling hit again.

Want to know how I got to feeling even worse? Gunner called Thursday night--11 missed calls. He never calls that much. He asked me if I would be home on the 13th. I told him I didn't know, but I could be--I was starting to think he was going to come home, which was way too early and is not a good sign. I started to feel sick, and he assured me everything was okay, but that he couldn't get his item to arrive the following Wednesday.

The following Wed? Why? What was it? Keep talking Gunner. What am I not getting here.

Oh crap! It's our anniversary on the 17th! I thought he was supposed to be the one who forgets. Score 1 for Gunner. To my defense he is usually gone on our anniversary. He missed the first one deployed to Bosnia for a year, and now will miss our 14th one this year. He's probably been around for a handful in between. I don't remember him getting me anything any other anniversary either, so this was a shock. The boy must be saving his $40 a MONTH allowance--you read that right.....my husband gets $40 a month while deployed. On the bright side, he is up from the $25 he got the first two deployments. I don't get the guys who spend hundreds of dollars while deployed, every.single.month. Crazy I tell you.

Em really wants a nintendo ds, but I just don't see that happening--way out of my price range. Abs is undecided on what she wants, but I am sure it will include dinosaurs. Junior would be happy with a nintendo ds box, a new supply of binkies and a gallon of pedialyte, his favorite drink. He's still way into barney and my friend Abbey has more than filled our lives with that singing and dancing purple dinosaur. (I really don't mind Barney, although I would prefer Amazing Race or something a little more exciting!)

I have decided that I am not a strong person. Even when I try to get everything for everyone done, someone will focus on the one thing that I have to let slide and make a point of saying how important it is. I spend more time crying than not. This is not the type of person I used to be.

I feel like I have spent so much time trying to get things better for me, for Gunner, and our little family. Instead I always seem to fall short. It's not a good feeling. But I know that what is most important is Gunner and the kids, so I'll try to focus on that. So if you don't get a Christmas card, if the kids don't get exactly what they want for Christmas, if the tree isn't put up until we are on Christmas break, hopefully everyone will at least remember that I tried my best and that I poured my heart into everything that I did.

So Gunner, I am sorry that you won't have a Christmas box on time, but know that we love you with all of our hearts, and we are counting down the days till you are home again!

What tomorrow holds

is not pretty.  The Mrs told me I shouldn't wonder what it would really hold, and I wish I could go back in time.  I can't even get into it because I am all cried out...well not really since I am in my dark classroom during lunch, crying as I type this.  The kids are okay.  Chris is okay.  And eventually I will be okay.  Other than that I just don't give a damn at this point about much else. How's that for a ray of sunshine?

The benadryl escapades

So I go into daycare this morning to drop off Junior and his brand new bottle of benadryl. They take it and ask if I want them to throw away the old bottle. Blame it on my mom, but I hate to throw away anything--well except for expired food, that I toss willingly as soon as the date reaches the one on the package. Anyway, I take my bottle of benadryl out to the car and I wait for the call.

The nurse calls. I need a new bottle of benadryl with a prescription label. But, she tells me that I have till Dec 30th to get it, so if I have the old bottle then I can return it and be good to go.

So I returned it this afternoon, and will make an appointment over Christmas to get a new prescription for it, as well as the new pile of forms that they gave me. After they fed Junior eggs at daycare, his picture is now plastered all over the tables like a "Wanted" poster to make sure it doesn't happen. They have also taught him that eggs are "yucky".

Tonight we watched the Shrek Christmas special. I just can't get into the whole Shrek thing. I don't particularly like crude humor, so I graded papers while we watched it. Family bonding at its best.

Super busy day tomorrow. If I wasn't teaching, this deployment would last forever, but I would have time for the gym and probably have less gray hair!

Off to get ready for tomorrow. I remember that my uncle used to set out the cereal and the bowls and spoons for the next day. I can't be that organized.

Seriously?

I got pulled over tonight with all three kids in the car. I was going not even 5 miles over the speed limit. He was really nice and asked for my license while I sat searching through piles of papers for my proof of insurance. (Mental note to clean that out and put the new one in--luckily I had one that expired in 30 days.)

Abs offered to talk to the police officer for me, but I vetoed that. Junior was excited to see a police officer. Em was scared.

During Gunner's first deployment I got pulled over, when Em was 5 and Abs was 2. They proceeded to make siren noises and then kept asking the MP if he was going to arrest all of us. I saw him laughing every time he went back to his squad car.

I wonder what tomorrow holds....

Things heard around the Hood...

Abs is still grounded from the tv. She came out while the other kids were watching tv, and I told her she needed to find something else to do.
Abs: I found something else to do.
Me: What's that?
Abs: I'm just going to sit out here and look at you because you are so beautiful. I won't even need to watch tv, because of your beauty.
Me: Thanks, now go find something to do.
Abs: It was worth a shot, but you are pretty.

A quick kiss and she was on her way.

The Day After

My friend Mel showed up at my house bright and early on Thanksgiving Day (6:30 am) while I was trying to hook up the DVD player in the car. I think I was missing a wire, so I abandoned that plan. The kids were up, dressed, and packed. We loaded the car and off we went...down the street. I forgot to feed the kids breakfast, so we stopped off at Jack in the box.

So now are headed off to my mom's house, with 2 adults and 3 kiddos. We end up in Georgetown where my sisters and mom are running around getting last minute things together. They load up their car and then all 12 of us head down the road. We were going my aunt and uncle's house for Thanksgiving dinner. We arrive just in time to eat, and spend time talking. My brother and his wife and son met us there, along with a bunch of other people I ad never laid eyes on, but somehow was related to in one way or another. My mom has a huge family.

Lunch was great, but I got tired of chasing Junior so Mel and I and three kids headed to the hotel. We stayed at the Drury Inn, and the staff was so nice! They had happy hour from 5:30-7 with three free drinks, so we made plans to go down there. My mom and sisters and kiddos arrive shortly after and we all headed down to happy hour.

My mom pulled out some leftover turkey and ham, but I couldn't bring myself to eat it since I knew it had not been refrigerated and it had been out of the oven for hours. My mom was less than pleased with us not eating. Luckily happy hour and food and we feasted.

After happy hour we decided to head down to the Christmas tree lighting in Post Oak. We got into our pajamas and started walking. We saw the fireworks and kept going even after we saw crowds or people returning to their cars and houses. We were quite a spectacle with all of us in pajamas moving along the busy streets. We wandered around for a little while and then headed back to the hotel. And then the fun began....

My mom kept my girls and Mel and I just had Junior. We were just about to go to sleep and then he puked. I went down stairs and the staff got me sheets, towels and blankets. I came back to find Mel changing Junior's clothes since he puked again. This went on all night, with many visits to the front desk for more supplies. We both got little to no sleep. At one point, Junior was hurling and my weak stomach couldn't take it anymore and I started to join him. Mel kicked me out to the bathroom and took care of Junior. Talk about a friend!

The next morning, Junior was fine, and so far so good, so are the rest of us. We spent yesterday at my brother's house eating leftovers and talking and talking and talking. Throw in 8 grandchildren and the house was busy.

The drive back was uneventful and today I am cleaning, organizing and getting ready to head over to my mom's to celebrate my sister's birthday. I have so much to do to get ready for school on Monday. Three more weeks till Christmas vacation!!!!

We're outnumbered by two

5 adults. 7 children.

Mel gets awarded friend of the year since she spent last night with me in a small hotel room and a barfy kid. Yep, leave it to Junior to get sick on this trip.

More later, but in true Gunner family style, we have left our mark.

More to follow....

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are off on the road to head to Houston for two days of togetherness. That might be all I can handle.

Dinner wasn't anything special. It was thrown together, and last minute. The time with my BIL was nice, he's a nice guy. Junior was wanting juice and strawberries and his Oma was catering to his every whim. I just let him fuss and eat my dinner, and he tried to tell her the same thing, but it fell on deaf ears. Welcome to my world.

Tom did say that Junior is the spitting image of Gunner and acts just like him too. Now if only Gunner were around to enjoy this time too. He missed the age from 2-3 with Abs too. Good thing we quit while we were ahead or I would be doing this again and again and again and he would strategically arrange it so he wasn't around for the terrible two's with each of them.

Anyway, my inlaws have a long way to go with the house, but my MIL admitted to me that she doesn't like having so many dogs. Ya think? I told her that when she said she was going to keep 4 of the puppies. Insane.

Anyway here are some of the things I am thankful for:

Gunner
Em, Abs and Junior
My family
My friends
And this crazy life that is my own. Who could ask for anything more?

And the hits just keep coming

So my inlaws never showed up. Big surprise. So I loaded the kids up to take to the gym with me.

Stopped to get gas. Pumped gas all over me and the car. Leave there and go back by the house to get cleaned up and leave the check for the maid, which I had carried out of the house.

Had a great workout--I am way too competitive.

Took the kids to Blimpie because the maid was still cleaning. Had a nice lunch with no fighting.

Came home and put Junior down for a nap.

I just sat down to relax and I get a call from daycare. Junior's not even there today, but they want to let me know that his benadryl for his egg allergy is expired and I need to get him a new prescription in order for him to go to daycare. ARE YOU KIDDING ME????? It is Wednesday afternoon, I am getting ready to go out of town, I am a teacher and work from sunup till sundown, have three kids and a husband who is deployed and you are telling me now that my son will be denied care on Monday????

So of course I can't relax now. I called the daycare back to talk to the director, who is out on vacation, I hope she is able to relax. I asked for the assistant who told me that he wouldn't be able to come if he didn't have a prescription benadryl. I reminded her that it is an OTC medication and the only reason that one had the information on there was because I got it from a military doctor and all OTC medications are free. I told her I was upset because I am being notified at 2 o'clock on a Wednesday before a holiday about this and being told that my son can't receive care. She said sometimes they make extensions so I might be able to take him in Monday morning and then it would be okay. I told her again that I was a teacher and didn't have the luxury of just taking off whenever I wanted (especially with the rate we get sick around here). I told her that I needed more notice than this, etc. She gave me the number of the community health nurse.

So I call her, get her voice mail, and leave a message. Then I called back to the main number, explained my predicament and how I needed to know if I could take a bottle from the store and swap them out because if he was with a civilian doctor that is what I would have to do. They aren't sure, but they think so. They said that they will track down an answer for me. Let's hope so, because if I show up Monday morning and Junior is denied care I am going to lose it.

The girl called back and everyone is gone, enjoying their holidays. My MIL works on Mondays so that option is out. Since one virus can knock out 4 sick days alone, I can't really justify taking time off and then not being there when I am needed. I'll buy a bottle of benadryl and hope for the best.

I think I prefer overflowing toilets and exploding diapers over dealing with incompetent daycare people and crap like this.

And to think now I get to go have Turkey Day with the outlaws that stood my kids up earlier. They texted me to tell me to bring dessert if my kids wanted any. They don't, we'll have our Turkey Day tomorrow with all the trimmings. I am just hoping that they cleaned and I won't get sick!

Boring?

I was just telling my mom that I have had nothing to blog about because my life is so boring.

I spoke too soon.

Junior exploded all over himself, the floor, the world. How can one little boy make so much poop? It was awful. Gunner owes me.

The outlaws are coming to get the kids, so I decided I better make sure that my hooptie was cleaned out. I went out there, and it looked good minus a few odds and ends. I opened up the trunk to get a few things out and there it was. In the little recessed area in the trunk, a gigantic bottle of antifreeze had come open and filled it. Of course there was stuff in there. So I got my favorite cleaning supply next to towels--papertowels. I can now say I know how many paper towels it takes to clean up a mess like that. And bounty is not a very quick picker upper.

So I finally get all of that cleaned up and throw it away, but then the bag I dragged out to the car was heavy, so I decided to continue dragging it. Yep, trash all over the yard. I buy the ones that never seem to break, till now. So I clean up all the trash, come in, and notice a rash all over my arms from the antifreeze.

I did what any normal person would do and called my mom. She told me to read the bottle, but that seemed like more trouble to go back out through the trash, not to mention gross, so I declined and took a shower. So much for the gym. So the rash seems to be doing better once I got out of the shower, thank goodness as a trip to the er doesn't fit into my plans. I am getting dressed and decide to clean my ears. I do the first one with no problems, then lose the qtip part of the second one in my ear. (Yes, I know you shouldn't put qtips in your ears, but I like clean ears!) So now what do I do? Abs just took a look and didn't see anything. Em didn't see anything, and Junior was searching in the wrong ear but wanted to get in on the action. It kind of hurts now. I don't know if it is from the qtip or the kids smushing my "ear knob" to get a better view.


It's only 9:30 am.

Update: Abs was eating breakfast and came out of the kitchen with her shirt stuffed. I hated to ask, but I had to. She spilled applesauce on her shirt and didn't want it to get her sticky or wet, so she unrolled papertowels and folded them nicely to stuff up her shirt. I asked her why she didn't just change her shirt. Her response "I just didn't think of that".

Yesterday she was telling me about how much faster it was to travel in a straight line vs a curvy line. She showed me a real life example, then thought about it a while and declared "But a curvy line is much more fun". That it is Abs.

It never fails....

...the one day I can sleep in and Junior wakes up at 5. He didn't cry but played for about half an hour till he fell asleep again. I am wide awake.

...the one day I want to go to the gym and I can't find any of my sports bras. Is this a sign?

...the one day a week that the housekeeper comes and I am cleaning like a crazy woman.

...the one day I have off and I am going to go into school to work on stuff...maybe....

My friend Mel came over last night to hang out for a while and decompress. Her husband is deployed and she has no kids. I am not sure how hanging out at my house with three kids is decompressing. Junior loved her and climbed up in her lap to be read to with a bicycle helmet on. She just went with the flow and pretended that kids everywhere wear bicycle helmets for fun.

We are going to the outlaws tonight for Thanksgiving dinner. I am hoping that the dogs aren't around. Call me cold, but I have no desire for a pet of any kind. I have children that slobber on me, cough on me, barf on me, and poop on me. I clean up shampoo poured on the floor, flooded bathrooms and the dining room after the girls have been "creating". I've dealt with overflowing toilets, messy rooms, and hundreds of trips to the er. Who wants to add to the craziness?

Gunner called the other day--two days in a row, I almost died from the shock of it--and I asked him to send me 20 pictures of himself or something since it had been a while. The boy sent me a couple pictures of himself and then.......flies? I have a great shot of a flystrip with a 24 hour catch and a closeup of it all. I HATE flies, so I am still trying to figure out what he thinks I need with this. There were a couple of other things, but this meals looks great. Much better than the microwave meal I scrounged up and the ramen and leftovers I fed the kids!

I think I hear the rumblings from a certain Abs which means once she is up the whole house is up within seconds.....

Around the Hood

Em had her xylophone concert at school. She did a great job, especially from the hallway where I spent most of the time watching through a window. Junior was especially cranky and was trying to get on the stage to his sister. My mom was there, but she had to leave when during the last number Abs was unscrewing lightbulbs on the stage. Mental note to find a babysitter next time.

Abs has been especially whiny and after the concert incident, I asked her what her punishment should be. She thought about it for a while and she decided that she should lose tv until the 30th of December. I gave her till the 1st of January. She is able to earn back one day by behaving--so far she has only earned back one day, but at least she can start off 2009 on the right foot. Hopefully this will make an impression on her. Not much seems to have an effect on her. She's Gunner's kid.

Gunner's other kid believes that she is not loved because I make her do her homework, clean her room, go to bed at a decent hour, and I won't let her wear nail polish. Rough life.

Gunner's son has discovered fruit chews and is in heaven. I didn't realize that every time he asked for a set of "gummies" that Gunner's girls were giving him some. He polished off a gigantic box of 48 in a week. No wonder I have to change so many dirty diapers.

Only two days of school next week, I can't wait!

Are you ready for this???? The donut of misery is at 56% done, 44% to go if we stick with the 15 month deployment. If it goes to a year, then we are 70% done, 30% to go, which means the number of trash days I will have left is manageable--well sort of manageable.

My inlaws asked me weeks ago what I was doing for Thanksgiving. I told them that I was going to Houston. Today I had 5 missed calls from them and several texts wanting to make plans. Maybe I will tell them that we can do it Wednesday? Maybe I will spend Christmas with them or something.

Junior got the memo and slept in this morning. 9 hours of sleep. Perfect.

I am hitting the gym this week. Maybe today. Maybe Wednesday. Maybe after Thanksgiving? The donut of misery has motivated me to get moving because I don't have long to get it all together! I think I need a personal trainer.