Category Archives: Fun
Blogger Santa Present!
Silent gratitude isn’t much use to anyone.
~G.B. Stern
I’ve been remiss in sharing with you the present I received from Amber (The Unlikely Momma) as part of the Blogger Santa matchup that Ashley at I Heart Change did.
I didn’t know Amber before the matchup (okay “know” as in virtually “meet” by reading her blog) which is why matchups like this are fun. You get to know more people. I’m pretty sure she wasn’t a reader of my blog before (and hope she is now!).
But wow, she sure checked out my blog and learned enough about me to get an awesome present. If you have been reading this blog long, you’ll see how perfect this gift is. Lookie at this book:
Yeah, she got me an I Can Haz Cheezburger? book. That’s awesome. I opened it and the first thing I saw is my favorite LOL Cat of all times:
I made you a cookie. But I eated it.
He he. So great. I needed the laugh. Thanks Amber for the perfect gift!!
Good Ol’ 2009
An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.
~Bill Vaughan
2009 was a year that had its ups and downs. It was the year I said goodbye to my husband (for eight months of the year) and it was the year I went through my first deployment as a Navy wife. It was a year of injury and a year of being in constant financial worry. But it was also the year I got engaged. And the year I married my fantastic husband. And the year I became a Navy Reserve officer. So I have mixed feelings about 2009. But, in all, I’d say it was a pretty good year. No one close to me died. I consider that a very good year.
2009 is also the end of a decade. Or so most seem to think. I’m not sure about you, but I count 1, 2, 3, … 9, 10. So wouldn’t that make 2010 the end of the decade? We had this discussion back in 2000 when the class of 2001 argued that THEY were the first class of the new millennium. No matter, I’ll follow like a sheep and recount my first decade in the new millennium too.
2000- This year saw me graduate from high school, become a camp counselor at a YMCA camp, take off on an international trip to the Dominican Republic with two friends and start college on the other side of the state.
Sadie with her teddy bear
2001- I got my first animal as an adult, my calico cat Sadie and become an RA at my college. 9-11 also happened and that’s when I first realized that the U.S. is not invincible.
2002- Honestly, I can’t really remember much of this year. I know that I was working full-time (two jobs) plus going to school full time. One of the jobs was as an animal demonstrator at a zoo… yeah, I got to play with the snakes, birds, opossum, and more!
2003- I turned 21 (which really isn’t a huge deal) and graduated from college after being there for just over three years.
2004- This year saw me get my first real-world job (and subsequently move an hour south of the college), become financially independent and adopt my second cat, Jake.
Skiing in Colorado
2005- This was a rough year for me. The worst in my life. In February, after a week of my dad being close to death in the hospital, making a miraculous recovery and being sent home by flabbergasted doctors, I found my dad dead outside from a heart attack. It was a very dark year. My mom, grandma and I spent Father’s Day in Colorado with my cousin to help avoid the holiday. I started a new job (which is where I work now) and used the money I received from my dad’s estate to put a down payment on my house.
2006- I can’t remember much about this year, either. I do know that for the first anniversary of my dad’s death, I headed by myself to Colorado to see my cousin again. We had a great time. I adopted my first dog, Chase the Greyhound. Four months later, I agreed to foster two Greyhound puppies and three months after that, I officially adopted Lulu (one of the puppies).
Chase and Lulu
2007- While recovering from a tonsillectomy, I met Huzzy, who I had been talking to online off and on for a few months (have I ever told you the story of how we met? If not, it’s funny).
2008- Continued to date Huzzy, he moved in and he got a fuzzy Great Pyrenees puppy called Skah. I also decided that I wanted to put together a package to try and receive a commission as a Navy Reserve Public Affairs Officer.
and that leaves us with 2009….
January: I found out I was recommended for commissioning by the Navy board that looked at my officer package.
First Navy function with Huzzy
February: Huzzy proposed to me on Friday, February 13. Yes, Friday the 13th. I think that makes Friday the 13th a lucky day from now on, instead of an ominous one. Right? Also, started planning the wedding… we only had five weeks to plan.
March: Huzzy and I were married on March 21st. The first day of Spring. For our “honeymoon” (which was really 3 days of house-hunting leave for you MilSpouse) we flew to Washington state. It was my first time visiting the gorgeous land that will eventually become my home.
April: Huzzy checked out of his recruiting command and started his 40+ days of leave. The movers came and packed up our entire house except what we figured we’d need to get by for a few months. How wrong that assumption would end up being.
May: Huzzy left to PCS to Washington. We had been married for seven weeks at the time. I slept on couch cushions surrounded by our three dogs and two cats. I started living with about 7 changes of clothes, one pot, one pan and one baking dish. It was this month that I also received my official letter that I was going to be commissioned.
Skah at 6 weeks
June: Raised my hand and swore to defend the Constitution of the United States and signed my life over to the military for eight years. Well, kinda, since I’m in the Reserves, but they have rights to me for eight years! Oh, and my mom brought me a twin mattress so I didn’t have to sleep on the couch cushions anymore. I continue to sleep on that on the floor. I started working a second job to make ends meet.
July: Stepped on a carpet staple on my second toe on my right foot and thought nothing of it. It didn’t even bleed. This started four months of hell. Flew to Washington to drill for the first time and to see Huzzy for the first time in weeks.
August: Spent two glorious weeks of vacation (with a drill weekend thrown in!) with Huzzy. We went whitewater rafting, too… a first for both of us. We thought this would be the last time we’d see each other before deployment. Toe was still injured and a pain–literally–to walk on. The Navy realized they screwed up Huzzy’s paycheck six months prior and decided to rectify it… by taking ALL of his pay for the entire month of September. Not fun.
March 21, 2009
September: Stopped working the second job because I couldn’t do another 57 day stretch where I got only 3 days off.
October: Drilled for the first time with my new (and current) unit. Surprisingly was able to see Huzzy one more time before he went on deployment. Finally got the toe taken care of. Apparently, my skin decided to go crazy and make extra scar tissue (from the pin-prick that never bled!). Had the extra scar tissue removed ala “cookie-cutter” method. Huge hole left. Nice scar now.
November: Went active duty for one week where I traveled to Rhode Island for the first time. Was immersed in deployment. Spent Thanksgiving without Huzzy. Didn’t get to talk to him for the last half of the month.
December: Spent Christmas without Huzzy and didn’t hear his voice for nearly the entire month. Spent New Year’s with a friend at a local hockey game… but was in bed before midnight!
Here’s to the Heroes
Anheuser-Busch is providing free entry to any one of its parks to any active duty, activated or drilling reservist, or National Guardsman and up to three of their direct dependents. Check it out here! He or she need only register and
Anheuser-Busch website photo
submitting his or her information or in the entrance plaza of participating parks, and show a Department of Defense photo ID. Dependents may take advantage of the offer without their service member, though an adult must accompany minor dependents, and dependent ages 10 and over must present valid dependent I.D.
That would be so awesome to do! I hope many of you will take advantage of this. Thank you, Anheuser-Busch… and thanks for also remembering those of us who serve in the Reserves! We appreciate it!
Of course, don’t forget to check out my Free Stuff & Discounts for Military page! Don’t forget to let me know if you know of other discounts. We want to give these companies as much exposure as we can.
GIVEAWAY for my 100th post!
God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say “thank you?”
~William A. Ward
So my 100th post is coming up very soon. Like this is my 98th post. I just realized I should do something special for my 100th post. Now, we don’t have a lot of money right now and have to really save money just in case I have to go on unemployment if I don’t have a job when I move to Washington, so I can’t spend a lot.
But, hey, a freebie is a freebie, right? I’m offering a choice of a $10 gift card for iTunes or a $10 gift card to someplace else of the winner’s choice.
Leave a comment on this post and you’ll get an entry. Want a better chance to win? Here are some other ways to enter.
- Leave a comment (like I already mentioned)
- Tweet about my contest (make sure you let me know you did this)
- Announce my contest on your blog (again, make sure you let me know you did this)
- Ask a question that you’d like me to answer in my 100th post (ya know, to learn more about me or get my opinion on things, etc)
So, in theory, you can get four different entries. And since I don’t have many readers, you have a good chance to win, anyway! I’ll use the random number chooser thingy to impartially pick the winner. You have until next Sunday (27DEC) at 1200 EST (that’s noon on the East Coast!) to enter.
In my 100th post, I’ll answer your questions and maybe provide you with more information (that you didn’t ask! ha!) about me.
Good luck!
Manic Monday turned into Maahvelous Monday
Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.
~Mark Twain
By 9 a.m., I was itching to write a post about how this had been a pretty crappy Monday and a pretty crappy way to start the week.
It started out earlier than I expected because Skah had decided that he was going to pace and pace and pace the hardwood floors in the livingroom and the *PLOP* his 120-pound self down onto the floor only to get up and pace again because he felt that at 5:30 in the morning, it was time to get up.
After taking the dogs outside (and it was rainy and icky to stand out there), it was time to get their food. I opened the refrigerator because that’s where the open can of pumpkin is kept (in order to keep nasty Big D days from being repeated) for his daily food add-in. Yeah, as I was taking it out, I managed to spill an entire large bowl of garlic mashed cauliflower (awesome substitute for potatoes!) all down the shelves of fridge and all across the kitchen floor.
After cleaning that up, I was quite late getting ready for work when Huzzy called… at the time I was already supposed to be at work. So I did what any other good MilSpouse would do when a husband who is deployed calls… forget work and sit down and talk to him. So that lasted about half an hour so I was REALLY late for work, but wasn’t worried since I’m salaried and can make it up by staying late or taking a shorter lunch (I live 2 minutes from work).
Flowers from anonymous coworker
So I grabbed the brand new tweed peacoat that I also purchased and went to head out the door… only to notice that they left the security ink tag on it. And I had put my only other jacket that I have left in Michigan in the wash. Luckily it was 50 outside so while it was chilly, I didn’t NEED it. But I sure wasn’t happy to have to go back to the store to get it taken off. Halfway to work, I realized that I had forgotten my cell phone at work. Fan-flippin-tastic.
And that was all by 9 a.m.
Nothing else happened that made the day worse, but the start just kinda ruined it and it just felt crappy. Until the afternoon.
I was in a co-worker’s office that she shares with two other people (a very large office) and commented that the other female co-worker’s flowers that she got a few weeks ago were amazing since they were just now dying. Then I mentioned how I’ve only received flowers at work from Huzzy once (got flowers twice total since we met). I also said I wasn’t complaining especially since he remembered that I loved daisies and made sure those were in the vase.
Two hours later, I get a call from the front desk saying I had flowers waiting for me. I almost started crying because I couldn’t believe what a coincidence it was for Huzzy to send me flowers just a few hours after mentioning that he’s only sent me them once at work. I mentioned this to my office mate and she was extremely excited too.
So I went down to get the flowers and was blinking back the tears of joy. I read on the card, “And now it’s two.” And they were yellow daisies.
Um… that wasn’t from Huzzy. So I went straight upstairs to coworker’s office and told her that she didn’t need to send me the flowers and but that I appreciated them. She insisted that she didn’t send them and suggested that maybe my husband did send them.
So I went back to my office and called the flower shop to inquire as to who sent them. The guy on the other end said he didn’t know who it was and that it looked like it had been paid in cash. So I asked him if they were ordered today or sometime in the past and he said today. Obviously that wasn’t Huzzy since he’s somewhere in the Pacific.
Then I started thinking that there WAS one other person in the room when coworker and I had our conversation. Coworker #3… a guy who I’ve not always had the best working relationship with and who will be retiring in a few years. So I went to him and told him the same thing… that he really shouldn’t have but that I appreciated it. He, too, insisted that it wasn’t him.
So coworker #1 and I went back to check the card and it definitely looked very similar to coworker #3′s writing. So I went back to him and he still insisted that it wasn’t him. I decided that it has to be one of those two and that it could possibly be both of them. So I told them that if they did it, they totally made my day because I was having a bad one. And I thanked them.
I think I’m going to write a thank you letter and address it to both of them. Just telling them that I’m still pretty sure it was one of them and that it’s fine if they don’t want to come forward but that they totally made my day. And I’m going to promise to pay it forward one day. Because I feel that is very important. I’ve done it in the past and it is just such a wonderful feeling.
