The Last Days

I have a lot to do today to help Mike get ready for his departure tomorrow morning. We will be going to Mikey's birthday party, which his Mom invited us to. She has been especially nice since we told her that Mike was leaving. But then, there was also a very large child support check that has probably contributed to her sense of friendliness.

We did the shopping we needed to do yesterday, for the things he needs. Now we need to pack everything. I have a few pants to hem for him, and I really should do my laundry, but he will probably have to take some dirty clothes with him. That is fine since he will have a laundry service while he is there. My guess is that they offer that because of the scarcity of water in the desert, and it is more efficient to do laundry in bulk.

For the past two days, the reality of his leaving have hit me really hard. I like being alone, and I look forward to being able to focus my time on things I have wanted to do for a long time. But it has only been a year since I found the love of my life and decided that I could spend the rest of my life with him. But now he is going to be gone. We have such a good time together, but now we have to be apart. I'm going to be fine, and I am not worried about anything, but it is good to feel a little angst now and then. Loving will do that to a person.

Social Novelties

Just wrapping up a great weekend. Saturday we had a friend of Mike and his three children come over for a lunch BBQ. The kids had a great time together--and so did the adults. We ate our lunch and then all of us went to the park near our house. When we came home, it was time for the ward picinic, which had been postponed last week because of the rain. Our friend Erik (this is the guy that was helping Mike get interviews with Microsoft--I know I never told you about it, but he's the guy) was not planning on going to the picinic with us, but since he had nothing to do, he came along. It was a great day. I like doing things with other people. Sometimes I forget that I am not a hermit. I have become so introverted over the years. It is nice to remember now and then that I love people.

After church, the kids had lunch, the we listened to 3 of the conference talks while we played conference bingo since none of the kids were with us that weekend. Then we let them play while Mike and I relaxed. I went to choir practice, and then we had a make-up ward picinic with a couple of people from church that couldn't make it the day before--trying to fellowship with some new kids in the ward whose parents are just separating. I got there in a really bad mood, no reason behind it, but got over it soon, because I love socializing.

Today I will be taking the kids back to their dad since they had a random day off. On the way I will visit a few friends--and see if there are anymore roadside vendors selling $2 rose plants in Tyler: the Rose capital of Texas. Mike will be at home working on his 40 hour training course so that he can leave on Sunday for Ft. Benning, GA. He will stay there for a week, the ship to Iraq. The anticipation is the worst part of it--anticipating a paycheck, that is. Two months of having "a job" and not getting paid is tense. We eexpect it to be worth the wait, but we keep getting further and further behind, so getting money doesn't seem like it will do anything but keep us floating. I'll be singing a different tune, of course, after our first full paycheck, but who knows when that will be.

My monitor went out on my computer, so I am using Mike's. (I get the flatscreen for myself next week so I am okay for now.) He is anxious to get his work started for the morning. Have a great day.

Brighter

Someday soon we will get paid. Mike has his official orders. His date was pushed back a week--again. But this time it is in official writing. He will be training for a week in GA beginning the 29th of April. He will leave for Iraq from there. We really needed that extra time, though Mike wishes he could just go and be done with it. He is tired of the anticipation and the stress of preparation.

We have an awesome home teacher who served in Iraq through the national guard. He has done all sorts of things to help us in our planning and prep. It is all a little overwhelming, but it is great to know where the whelming begins.

Mike had a really cool experience last night. A friend of his is a drum rep in Houston but was sponsoring a drum clinic at one of the music stores here in town being taught by Billy Cobam, a world renowned drummer. Mike was late for the clinic because he had forgotten about it as dinner was coming out of the oven, but he went to dinner with Billy and his friend the rep afterwards. Billy lives in Switzerland most of the time. Mike mentioned that we were going to be meeting in Europe midway through his tour in Iraq. Billy suggested we stay at his house and gave Mike his home phone and email. Pretty cool.

Mike has a tendency to bump into people like that. While he was working at the music store just before we got married, he had developed a great rapport with Don Henly who would often come in to the store and ask for Mike. He would just hang out and talk sometimes.

It is funny the things I have discovered about my husband--bits and pieces at a time. For example, as I was cutting his hair one time, I was singing: "I turned the radio on/ I turned the radio up, and this woman was singing my son/ lovers in love and the other runs away/lover is crying 'cause the other won't stay..." and he's singing with me. And he knows every word. I had to stop what I was doing.
"Why do you know the words to a Lisa Loeb song?"
"She's a sweet girl."
"Okay?"
"Well I did some studio work for her when I was in high school."
Apparently he was on the call list for Sony studios when they needed a drummer. It is fun getting to know the man. He has all sorts of surprises.

In other news, Isaac's bike got stolen from school yesterday. The officer gave us hope that it would be recovered. He asked us if we wanted to file a police report. I said, "A rorice rerort?" No, I didn't, I just put that in there for Dove. Anyway, if it doesn't turn up by Friday, I will file an official report.

Time to do what I haven't done since February--pick up Isaac from school.

Distant light

Mike is out for the moment at a repair shop who can tell him how to fix my washing machine. It was working beautifully for a while. He replaced the belt on it. Now it is full of a load of my whites in their dirty water and totally stuck. It won't spin or drain. It just growls at me.

I have our home teachers coming in a few hours, I need to make dinner, and I need to clean up my disaster of a living room and hallway, which is all about laundry at present. It is so frustrating to not have what you need to do what you need to do. Hopefully, Mike will get his first paycheck in the next week or two. I could buy the whole Washer/dryer set in one paycheck, except that we owe some people money, and have a bunch of traffic violations to take care of. I am wanted in the state of Oklahoma for failure to appear, and because I applied for my TX driver's license name change they did the check on it and are going to revoke my driving privilege in the next couple of days here if I don't get it payed.

Still, I know there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

I told my store manager at Bed Bath and Beyond yesterday that my last day of work would be my kids' last day at school because I was going to hang out with them for the summer--but I will be hanging out with you too! I am really looking forward to seeing you all again. The three people who were there when I made my announcement looked physically wounded when I told them. I really do like my job. Rosie said I totally ruined her day--like three times. I told her that if there were more hours in a day, I would work there just for the fun of it (and the continued discount, I suppose). She said I should stop with the sarcasm. I explained that I wasn't really being sarcastic. I hadn't had time to hate my job, or working in general, since I hadn't done it for 13 years. I really do like being with people. But this was never something I intended to be a career. Sure, I could fast track it with my management education background, but then I would have to work more than 20 hours a week, and not from 7-1 Monday through Friday. People complain about my "sweet schedule."

Look at all that I wrote. I must be avoiding what I really need to do. Better get to it. Keep moving forward and the light will grow brighter.

The world is upside down

Happy Easter!!!

We are doing our Saturday celebrating. All the kids are here. They have been through their baskets but we have not had our egg hunt. I really do not want to go outside because ITS SNOWING. IN TEXAS!! This is a Carson City easter--not a Texas easter. Did the world flip its axis while I was sleeping? It was 85 degrees two days ago. It has been spring for over a month.

The kids and I watched an eleven year old video of easter at Kim and Lee Joe's when they were still in the single wide. Amber and Kelsey is all there was. Emylie was in a carrier car seat and Isaac was two. He quite stubbornly refused to put the easter eggs in the basket. Instead, he proclaimed "Ball!" and threw the eggs into the air. Good reason to go with plastic. That was the year Amber's basket broke because she had so many eggs in it.

*Flash to Present*
Mike is supposed to leave on the fifteenth for his one-week orientation in Ft. Bragg, NC. He may have to wait until the 29th if his passport doesn't come through on time. He had to go to Houston this past week to get it expedited. It is going to be a busy week if he ends up being able to go next Sunday according to schedule.

Tuesday was Mikes Birthday. We went to Parma's Italian Resturant where he has fallen in love with the Chicken Cody. The alfredo sauce is fabulous. It is just a little mom and pop shop, hole in the wall. Then we went to Golf Galaxy and bought him a couple of shirts. He went to work out and we had cheesecake when he got back.

Tuesday was also Andrew's birthday, but he was with his dad. The kids had no school on Friday so we picked them up on Thursday.We celebrated it yesterday. We went to Downtown Dallas and saw and I.M. Pei fountain court, which it was too cold to enjoy, though Claire ran through the nearly waterless sidewalk when the timed fountains gushed all over her. We had to go back to the car and change her so she didn't get hypothermia. It was also very windy. The we went through a little asian art collection. Then we rode the Trolley for about 30 minutes.

Then we came home and had Jell-O cake--raspberry Jell-O poured into the white cake and chilled to set with chocolate pudding on top. I think I need to go get some. Because I am much more like my mom than I am like Devanie, I overlooked candles and ended up lighting 7 cinamon tealights for Andrew to blow out. Then we watched Harry Potter, by which time it was late, so most of us--the adults, anyway--were asleep by the time it was over.

Now it is time for an egg hunt--probably an indoor one.

I changed my setting so you can posts comments again.