Monthly Archives: June 2009
Commissioning Ceremony and a Mattress
If you are ashamed to stand by your colors, you had better seek another flag.
~Author Unknown
My mom and brother came over yesterday for my commissioning ceremony. With them, they brought a twin mattress that my mom isn’t using anymore. Let me tell you… after sleeping on nothing but an air mattress that you have to re-inflate a few times a night or a couple of couch cushions on the floor–a mattress to sleep in is A. Maze. Ing.
I can’t even explain how wonderful it felt. I slept for about eight hours last night (which included being woken up three times by the dogs), which is more than I have been getting. But I knew I needed more and still wasn’t too tired. So I invited Lulu onto the mattress and cuddled with her until I got sleepy and then kicked her off and slept for another two hours. Wow, I felt so good. I’ll never complain about an uncomfortable hotel mattress again because I know it’s better than the alternative!
My commissioning ceremony went off quite well yesterday. Though I had already had my administrative commissioning, this was a day for me to make it about the two organizations I represent: an aviation museum and the Navy.
We called it “Navy Day” at the museum and thankfully it wasn’t all about me. We had more than 25 Deppers (young men and women who are in the Delayed Entry Program and are awaiting their turn to go to the recruit training in Great Lakes) who also re-swore in. A few received advancements and are now in the next paygrade. Yay for them!
After they swore in, then it was my turn. Our local TV station was there as well and I did a one-on-one interview afterward. It was interesting trying to make sure I equally represented both my civilian employer and the Navy during the interview! Unfortunately, the interview didn’t air (which is fine, I don’t need to be on camera!) but we did get some great b-roll that went on the air so all is good.
We even had a Lieutenant Commander who showed up (the Officer Programs Coordinator) which was surprising. He was really nice and complimented me on the success of becoming a PAO in the Navy Reserve as only 9 were chosen this year. I’m glad to be able to represent not only the Navy, but represent Michigan to the Navy (our state had 2 of those chosen).
The other great thing about yesterday was the fact that the enlisted recruiters in the area were all present. I know many of these guys (they are all guys right now) because Huzzy was one of them until just a few months ago. They were helping me learn some of the things I needed to know and it was just very, very odd for them to be calling me “ma’am” and to be saluting me.
I think that having the perspective of having my husband as an enlisted guy will help me. I understand what the flip side goes through and I DO know how their attitudes towards officers. I think that will really help me. I am so very, very honored to be serving our country and be a part of the world’s greatest Navy. I hope I can make everyone proud.
Friday Funny #5: Mow the Lawn
Laughter is the corrective force which prevents us from becoming cranks.
~Henri Bergson
It’s time for the next “Friday Funny.” As a Navy wife with a husband who isn’t home much (and not at all right now) sometimes things can get a bit melancholy.
Please join me with the “Friday Funny” meme. It can be anything from a comment that made you laugh or a funny story or even a funny photo/video you have seen. Leave a comment if you post one and I’ll visit your blog to see!
This week’s Friday Funny is another video. Okay, this might be a bit controversial, but this is a commercial from the UK. I find it extremely hilarious.
UK Commercial: Mow the Lawn
~Wifey
Thursday Thirteen #8: Random Thoughts
Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?
~Winnie the Pooh
It’s time for the Thursday Thirteen again. If you have a Thursday Thirteen of your own, leave your website in the comments section and I’ll try my darndest to visit it 
13 Random Thoughts
- I suddenly looked down the other day and noticed that our 17 month old Great Pyrenees puppy is no longer a puppy. He’s filled out and is totally boxy now instead of lean and lanky. It happened pretty much overnight
Skah at only 11 months... he had lots more growing to do!
(which is probably why he’s limping… they do that when they have huge growth spurts). My puppy is gone! But at least he’s replaced by a majestic, regal dog.
- Why do people insist on being stupid? Ignorant I can deal with but stupid is a whole ‘nother ball game.
- I hope I get gained by my Navy Reserve command in the next few weeks. I’d love to start drilling soon.
- My commissioning ceremony is Saturday. Holy Moley, it’s turned into something huge! Apparently the CO of the recruiting district has made it mandatory for all recruiters in this zone. Probably has something to do with the good connections both my place of work and myself have with him.
- I’m terrified that I’m going to show how new I am that day. I had to ask the local Chief with help on how my combo cover is supposed to fit. And I just finally figured out today a good way to do my hair the way I’m supposed to.
- I was about to cut off said hair to my chin just so I didn’t have to deal with putting it up the “proper” way, which I couldn’t figure out until today.
- This past weekend marked 3 months that Huzzy and I have been married.
- By the time I see him, we’ll have been apart 11 out of 18 weeks of our marriage. Most will say that it’s the Navy life, but he’s not on deployment. That will happen sometime this fall.
- I need to make a page on OPSEC (Operational Security) so people know why I can’t be more specific than “this fall.” I got the idea of doing a page like this from To the Nth. I hope she doesn’t mind me copying her idea.
- I am really craving some Olive Garden Soup, Salad and Breadsticks lunch. Huzzy and I need to save as much as we can since we are supporting two households (and I am working two jobs to do that). But he went out with friends to see Transformers last night and I think I should get something, too. Besides, that lunch won’t cost as much as the movie did.
- I really need to get my house finished and on the market. I’m glad my mom and brother are coming over this weekend to help. Too bad I have to work on Sunday, too.
- My mom is bringing over a twin mattress. WOO-HOO!!!! No more sleeping on couch cushions on the floor (though they are infinintely better than sleeping on an air mattress that can’t hold its air)!
- I need to start doing these things days in advance so they are already up and I don’t have to scramble around every Thursday morning to get my morning stuff done AND my TT.
Wordless Wednesday #8: Posed Wedding Photos
Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction.
~Antoine de Saint-Exupery
It’s Wordless Wednesday again! Leave a message and I’ll try to return the favor.
Posed Photos
The men before the reception
My parents' ring bearer pillow, my shoes and my flowers
With my brother, who walked me down the aisle
Us girls
My new nieces
I love this one
Stay tuned for the next two Wordless Wednesdays for the rest of the posed photos!
Exhaustion and a Plane Ticket
God help me. I’m so tired. I need my sleep. I make no bones about it. I need eight hours a day, and at least ten at night…
~Bill Hicks
That’s how I feel right now. I could sleep for hours just to get up and do it again. I just don’t know how much longer I can do this anymore. And no, I’m not ill.
Huzzy and I started sleeping on air mattresses when the movers came to PCS our stuff and packed up our mattresses
Yeah, this is how I feel. Every. Minute. Of. The. Day.
and everything but some clothes, a few pots and pans, a TV and one broken old couch. That means, I have not slept on a mattress for more than two months now. Huzzy got a few nights in a hotel on his way to Washington to his new duty station but other than that, air mattresses are what we’ve been dealing with.
We have also found out that air mattresses (or at least ours) will not hold their air after about a month of nightly use. Huzzy’s went first (though it did survive the 2,600 mile trek westward) and my started having problems slightly afterward. I’m at the point where I fill it full just before bed and then wake up at about 4 a.m. with excruciating back pain only to find that the mattress has deflated enough that it needs to be filled again before I can sleep and my back gets some rest.
So that’s how it’s been going. Until Friday night, when a mass of severe storms rolled through producing three tornadoes within a 20 mile distance from my house. Electricity went out about 9:30 p.m. just as I was taking the dogs out for their last walk. I’m sure it was a sight to see me outside yelling for the dogs to hurry, hurry, hurry because the lightning started getting close again and I could only imagine the next day’s headlines “Woman struck by lightning for holding flashlight while getting dogs to poop in a strong storm.”
Anyway, so the storm went out and I was left with no way to inflate the mattress (no, I couldn’t do it the old-fashioned way by using my lung power, either). So I did the only thing I could… I took the cushions off the couch and put them in the bedroom to sleep on. The dogs were miserable and so was I. If you take one fuzzy dog that pants at 65 degrees, put him in a house that is stifling at 80+ degrees with no way to ventilate because of a ranging storm and have no way of placing fans on him (which is the only way he sleeps soundly) because the power is out and you have my Friday night.
After listening to Skah pant for an hour, I decided to take my couch cushions and sleep on the couch. After an hour of listening to him pace and pant over the gate I put across the bedroom (a heavily panting dog with hardwood floors and no furniture makes a HORRIBLE echo… it was even louder than when I was in the room due to the echoing), I gave up the couch and took my cushions to the other side of the kitchen in the tiny family room. It was there that I finally got some sleep…. at about 1:30 a.m. when I had to be up in less than five hours to go to work (second job).
But darned if I didn’t get better sleep there than I did on the air mattress… probably because I didn’t have to wake up a few hours before my alarm to turn on the light, fumble for the air pump and re-inflate the air mattress. So I decided I wasn’t going to use the air mattress anymore.
I’m not sure which is better… sleeping on a full-sized air mattress where you have room to stretch out and move around but have to wake up in the middle of the night to re-inflate OR sleeping on couch cushions on the floor that don’t even give you room to turn over (ouch!) and will sometimes split apart where you fall down between them… but at least I can stretch out there too. Or is it the third option?
So I decided to try to compromise and last night I slept on the couch so I wouldn’t fall off the cushions and so I didn’t have to re-inflate everything. The dogs needed to be with me or I’d hear Skah’s panting and pacing again so I covered the entire floor with blankets and dog beds to stave off the “click-click” when they walk around during the night.
Downside? I can’t stretch out on the couch. My back is paying for it today. But I slept all night long and so did the dogs, so that was a plus. I guess I can’t win either way.
Which goes into my next topic… I bought a plane ticket for Washington for the end of July because I expect to be drilling out there by then. I planned on just changing my ticket if my paperwork didn’t go through quick enough, but I really feel like the $400 plane ticket is worth it just to sleep in a hotel for five days. Oh, and because I’d also be able to see Huzzy for the first time in 11 weeks.
HA! Who am I kidding? Seeing Huzzy is my #1 reason and the rest are all a very distant second. I’m so excited! <insert happy dance here> We’ll have been married 18 weeks by then and will have only been together for seven. It’s about darn time I see him before he has to deploy sometime this fall.
Since I bought the ticket on Sunday (or was it Saturday? I can’t remember), missing Huzzy has gotten worse. It was easier to deal with “eh, I’m not going to see him for a long time” than “I get to see him in <checks watch> four weeks and two days!” It’s so close that I find myself longing to be back in his arms.
When I didn’t know when I’d see him next, I could just shelve those emotions and say, “Eh, honey that’s not for a long time.” But now it’s within reach… he’s almost within reach. And the wait is starting to become really hard. Any other military spouses out there feel the same way? When seeing your spouse is so far away, you can deal with it better than as the time nears?
