So I had my little snit fit over the delay. Had a chance to chat online with J and he's equally frustrated by the situation. Yesterday afternoon I check my email after I've been out all morning with my son to discover that there's yet another delay -- hours? days? -- TOA TBD.

 

Time of Arrival To Be Determined.

 

And late last night (I have no idea what time cause I was sound asleep when the phone rang) I was informed the new arrival time was pushed back only a few hours -- from 1:15 pm to 3:35 pm.

 

Right now it's 6:50am. I'm enjoying a cup of coffee, getting ready to hop in the shower and get ready. I'm guessing it's gonna be a long day no matter how busy I keep myself between now and 3:30.

 

But today is the day. Jason is coming home.

I'M SO PISSED OFF. I'm told now that the anticipated return of my husband has been set back a day. To most people a day is nothing. But another whole day is making a long deployment that much longer. Last week, when the airplane was supposed to arrive on Saturday, it wasn't until early early MONDAY morning when it finally set down on the tarmac. So you know there were families waiting and waiting and waiting. That kind of shit pisses me off when I hear it, and it's bloody fucking worse when it's happening to people I know and am friends with...SO NOW it's happening to me.....

 

If there were a video camera on me right now, it would show me STEAMING HOT mad, cussing a blue streak, and slamming shit around.

 

Nothing I can here, but bitch, so I'm gonna just end this entry now. And try to be in a better frame of mind next time I blog.

 

 

I don't steal from others....I told Jamie I was gonna take it.....

 

1. You have $10 and need to buy snacks at a gas station; what do you buy? A Dr. Pepper, some chips, a bottle of water.

2. If you had to be reincarnated as some sort of sea dwelling creature, what would you be? I think I'd like to be a whale. Spending my days floating around the world, attacking fishing boats and have someone write a book about me.

3. Who's your favorite redhead? Bonnie Rait.

4. What do you order when you're at a pancake house? We have Waffle House here, and I'm keen on pecan waffles with a side of bacon.

5. Do you own any naughty toys? Of COURSE I do. Anyone care to suggest another way to manage 8 month deployments when my hubby is away? How about those 12 month deployments? I have some I use when J is away, and a few we use when he's home to play.

6. Have you made out with anyone on your link list? I'm pretty sure I have not. No, wait a sec...there is one..... 

7. Describe your favorite pair of underwear: I don't wear panties...But you know what? I just found out Oprah goes  commando, too!

8. Describe the last time you were injured: I was moving stuff around in the garage, my husband was helping. We were on opposites of the garage, when I suddenly slipped and fell. Hit my knee on the concrete floor. My husband FLEW (literally) across the stacks of boxes and was at my side in nothing flat. I was more concerned about the look on his face as he checked my knee. He looked like maybe I had spontaneously amputated a leg. Bless his heart! Anyway, it was just a very minor contusion. It colored up so nicely: blue, purple, green, yellow...Some doctors will give out Oxycodone for the minorist of pains!

9. Are there any odd things that make you feel comfortable? Pinching my husband's Achilles heel between my toes. It's like instant Ambien.

11. Tell me a weird story from your high school years: I attended an all girl Catholic boarding school. Isn't that weird enough? No? Ok, then....The priest back then, Father Wagner, was a strange soul. On more than one occasion, he was known to walk the hallways, searching for a classroom door, and had a short strip of toilette paper stuck to his shoe. What makes this weird is that he did more than once. If you're caught with t.p on your shoe once, don't you...like...check yourself thoroughly EVERY TIME? So it doesn't happen again?

12. What is the wallpaper on your cell phone? Um, it's not so much a wallpaper, as it is a phrase: Hola, Dude!

13. Soda? Coke! But lately I've been drinking plain club soda.

14. Flavor of pudding? Chocolate.

15. What type of shirt are you wearing? Not really a shirt...it's a kimono.

16. Prescription medication? I am currently NOT taking ANY meds of any type.....Ok, that's not true. I "self-medicate" with a gin and tonic, or a glass of wine.

17. If you could use only one form of transportation for the rest of your life what would it be? I really really enjoy my Jeep. I see me trading in this one for a newer model in another year.

18. How many people are on your links list? Am I supposed to keep track?!

19. How many people on your links list do you know in real life? 2.

20. What are you listening to right now? I hear the tv in the den, my son is watching some lame-ass show he tivo'd.

21. Most recent movie you watched: The Chronicles of Narnia!

22. Name 5 things you have with you at all times: Purse, Cell, money, pictures of my husband and my son, lipstick!

23. Would you rather give or receive a foot massage? I love getting 'em. I enjoy giving, also, except I know so few takers. People are kinda hung up about their feet, I find.

24. Name a teacher you had the hots for: Um....well, don't usually get the hots for a nun. I attended Catholic school from 1st thru 12th grades.
 
25. What is a saying that you use a lot? What the f#ck?

26. What's one piece of advice that you think should be passed on to every child?  Understanding the sooner you start accepting responsability for the choices you make, the better. Certainly by 11 years of age, a child has a firm grasp on the difference between right and wrong, so making a choice for a wrong brings with it consequences, and it's really the child's responsability for whatever occurs after the choice.

 

 

This semester is gonna be a beast, I was sure of it last week, I'm only more sure of it this week. I don't mind the work, not really. But I'm finding I sit here, staring at the screen, and having near nothing come into my head to write about. Well, that's not exactly true. I have big stuff brewing up inside my head, but little time to contemplate what I want to say....I have AutoCAD to work on, and then there's Algebra problems to work on, and multiple drawings to work on for the Residential Design class, oh, and can't forget the Building Codes class, cause I need that to make sure the drawings for Residential are accurate and in accordance with code. Baptism by bonfire, again. But I'm gonna get thru it, and it will all get done. And probably blog once a week or so.

 

Assuming that when my muse comes to call my husband isn't on the computer doing his thing...cause he'll be home on Friday...that's 4 days from now.

 

I was asked if I was going to get my nails done for my husband's return. The answer is yes. I've already had them done. And the pedicure, too. And I've shaved my legs. And all this while trying hard not to kill my 14 year old, and ostensibly balance a full load at school.

 

I hear a Gin and Tonic calling my name.....

 

more again later.....

 

(how about them Steelers?!!!)

 

I dunno about anyone else, but I'm getting the feeling Jerome Bettis will retire with a big fatty Super Bowl ring on his finger. I watched that game yesterday, and while the last 3 minutes were a wild out of control emotional roller coaster for me, when the clock wound down, my boys prevailed. Much to my relief and absolute delight.

 

My Daddy just turned 77 a coupla weeks ago, and reward for living a long life is he is facing kidney stone laser surgery next week. He's had the procedure done before, some 14 years ago or so. My sister said the doc who did the procedure back then is the doc doing the procedure next week.

 

My hubby is preparing to return home after 8 long month away. The 2 weeks he was here in November were a blur, as he came home to attend a conference, therefore to work, and we didn't really get to spend alot of time together as we had hoped. He's there, anxious to leave, I'm here, anxious for him to return.

 

I started back to school on the 11th. While my daily schedule has eased up considerably (as far as school is concerned), the actual work load is more. I know the huge blocks of free time that appear on my calendar will be filled with me working on two end of semester projects. They will be beasts, and I only know that it'll take the whole semester to get it done. Starting now.

 

Ran very little last week. Wanted to see how school was gonna go. Do I run in the morning? Do I run in the afternoon? For now, what I'll probably do is run in the afternoons. Until it's too warm to do so. Then I'll run in the mornings, when it's not so cold. And even with the little exercise, I still managed to lose another pound.

 

more again later....

 

 

1 mile/?? min

139 lbs

Today I ran a whole mile. It was not as hard as I thought it might be. I probably could have even run further, or perhaps even faster, but I'm pretty pleased with myself. I didn't time myself cause I got distracted by my son's school bus driver. I was getting ready to walk out the door to go on my run and to my surprise, there was my son and 3 kids STILL waiting for the bus at 8:20. Half an hour later than they're supposed to be picked up. I waited at the door to see when the bus did arrive, cause I seriously wanted to know what the blazes was the problem. Well at 8:30 the bus turned the corner, and I walked out into my front yard and flagged the driver down. He said that on the earlier bus run, a child had been found with a gun, and they needed to search the vehicle before they picked up any more children. Well, you can imagine what thoughts ran thru my head. Stepping back into the house to fetch my watch wasn't on my mind, I just started running, and thinking about some damn fool kid with a gun on a school bus. So that's why I don't know what my run time was. Next time I run, I'll put the watch on before I go out the door.

 

My hubby tells me he should be home in about 3 weeks. I jokingly told him I need more time, can he please put off his return for another week. He said no. Imagine that. The truth is I wish it were tomorrow his return. When he returns, he'll have been gone a week shy of 8 months. How do I do it? One day at a time.

 

 

more again later....

 

1 mile/?? mins

140 lbs

That's what I'm doing. Gonna run for my life. Got a bug up my rear about running, have had it for some time. When I was in the Army, I had to run every day for PT, and that was ok. Then I ran more. Five mile runs were regular things for me. Then I started to train for the Army Ten-Miler (usually run in October, in DC). That was 1990. I don't remember my exact time, but it was like an hour and 17 minutes, something like 10-minute miles on average. Fifteen years ago, I thought that was pretty good.

 

I didn't run the race for time, I just wanted to run the race. I had never entered a road race before, so I just enjoyed the experience. On the day of the race, I got there early. Way early. I didn't want to get lost and miss the whole race, so I opted for early is better. I can sit and wait, how bad can it be? Well, I didn't get lost, I grossly underestimated the drive time to the race site, and I ended up getting there like 2 hours before the start of the race. And I was amazed by the number of racers there before me. There had to be 100s of people milling around, doing their stretches, eating their bananas and oranges, checking their pulses, etc etc...all this 2 hours before the race starts. I just hung back and watched, kept to myself.

 

As race time approaced, I made my way up to the front, and began my stretches, and doing my own psych-up self talk...cause no matter what, ten miles is a sizeable distance, and you have to get in the right frame of mind to run it. Well, in a span of what seemed like 10 minutes, I suddenly stood up, turned around, and there behind me was THIS HUGE HUMONGOUS CROWD. It was crazy! So many people there to run a race, I had no idea. Truly, this was my first road race, so I was clueless! I turned back around to face the start of the race, and people started crowding up around me, and it was wild. I found out later, there were 8200 race participants! The largest crowd the race had ever had up till then. And there I was, little ol me, lost in the sauce. The race started, and people were running past me like I was tied to a tree. The fast runners all ran past me in no time, then I just started trundling along, lost in my head, admiring the scenery, grabbing a cup of water here and there, and just ran my race. As I approached the finish line, I kicked in what little reserves I had after 10 miles and ran as fast as I could. My exact time, as I said, I don't remember, but it was something like an hour and 17 minutes, give or take.

 

The first person crossed the finish line in something like 45 minutes, the last person finished in just under 3 hours. While the last person was running, race officials were gathering up runners in their respective age groups. I stuck around for the ceremony, not because I thought I was about to get an award, I just wanted to hear the times for the different groups. While all this was going on, I had a cigarette, and it was the best tasting smoke I had in a long time. ("how can you smoke after running 10 miles??" is a question that was tossed about, I ignored it then, I'll ignore it now) So when the ceremony finally concluded, the woman who won her time in the 75 and above group ran her race 3 minutes faster than I did. And I was so happy for her. Here is this 77 year old woman running 10 miles faster than this younger Army soldier. She inspired me! For years I've thought of that woman, and told myself that I would be a 77 year old woman who ran.

 

Well, after 9 1/2 years of military service, over 100 parachute jumps in 6 years, and miles and miles walked, marched and ran, I got out of the military and didn't run anymore. Just stopped. That was 8 years ago. And the running bug has been making me itch for a while now.

 

I didn't make a new years resolution to start running, cause I don't make new years resolutions. But I told a friend of mine that I wanted to run the Army 10 Miler this year, so I made up my mind to just start running again. Now, of course, I'm not running 10 miles today, nor will I be running 10 miles in the next few months, but today I ran 1/2 a mile, without stopping and I ran it in 6 minutes. I'm very proud of myself. My thinking is that I'll get into a routine, then the times will decrease, the distances will increase, and 8 years of physical waste will firm up, tone up, and when I go on my cruise for my 45th birthday, I'll be sporting a two piece bikini poolside.

 

.5 miles/6 minutes

143 lbs