The movers will be rolling into town in about 15 hours... to get all our crap to ship to us! WOOHOO i never thought i'd see this day!!! i have been at my mother in-laws house ALL DAY re-packing all the crap that was left at her house... WOW. first of all, i have SOOOOOOO MANY CLOTHES I FORGOT ABOUT! i am soo close to being finished, and then i get to go back and forth to my storage unit to get everything up there!
I attempted to steal my in-law's ping pong table for Rye... but apparently they got rid of it.. i know Rye, you're probably saying out loud "WHAT?!" in your Riley Tantrum kind of way :) but i tried. tomorrow will be such a long day... but i will be SO relieved when it is over... cause then all my stuff with be on it's way to Hawaii to meet me at my apartment to unpack it and then RYE WILL BE HOME!!! ya... take a moment and scream a little for me. we're getting close.
on a separate note... Deezul Oliver Gardiner turns 1 year old tomorrow! happy birthday to my little man. i really love that guy so much! he's the best part of this deployment! so tomorrow think for at least a minute "HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEEEEEEEE" cause i will!
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Happy Easter (a few days late)
Well, we meet again... it's been an AMAZING journey these past few days... seeing MOST of my family, and so many amazing friends. it's been a blast from the past, people i haven't seen or spoken to in YEARS just popping back in left and right. which could be a while other blog post (don't worry, i'll spare ya). my mother in law asked me, on my 4 hour drive with her down to their house today... if i wish i still lived in Utah. Part of me says yes, i MISS the amazing people, and being surrounded by people of similar beliefs and standards... but ultimately my answer is no. I know that i am EXACTLY where i am supposed to be, living this crazy military life... being me, for EVERYONE else to see. plus only coming to utah once a year or so... makes everyone APPRECIATE your visits that much more.
i was able to see Jaxon and Bo this week! i LOVE my amazing nephews soo soo soooo much! i will post pictures when i get back home to Hawaii. it was so nice to just spend time with Michelle, Bobby and the boys. i needed that.
i was also able to chill with my brother Paul today for a bit, more pictures to come with that as well... but we had a lot of fun.
Lauren and i played TONS of harry potter. and i am please to announce that last night we defeated lord Voldemort. on harry potter 5... ya, go ahead and be a little jealous!!! we then started LEGO Harry Potter (which i will be buying.) we had lots of totino's pizza, and jones soda YUMMMM we ate at magleby's for breakfast, and cafe rio for dinner. and i got to see my good friend Megan's new baby girl SOOOOO adorable!!! she really was soo dang cute! and Lauren and I had a late night chit chat session with Xandra (who is beyond amazing) and it was SUCH an awesome conversation!!!
Lauren and I had a 2 hour piano session at her parent's house... just sitting and singing (like the good ol' days) we were a bit rusty, and hadn't sat and sang in FAR too long... but maybe i'll get brave and post videos (yup... i have video footage!)
So i missed Lauren's graduation by like an hour.. lame i know! but i got to her Grad lunch, and then we got to head out and go to the women's expo (i got my teeth whitened... am i supposed to admit that? anywho, TOTALLY worth the $50)
Saturday was Lauren's birthday, we headed out to see "Water for Elephants" REALLY need to finish that book now! i wanted so badly to finish before i saw the movie.. OOPS. then i headed to Lehi to do Ali's hair and make up for MORP (girls choice dance) and gave Lalo some time with her awesome husband.
Sunday started out AMAZING i was woken up at 5 am by the sweetest voice saying "happy Easter babe, i love you!" now don't go pinning a red A on me... it was actually that husband of mine :) i hadn't heard from him in a while and it was so nice to hear his voice, i really am so in love with that boy! i went to church with Lauren and Dal... and kept expecting to hear from at least ONE member of my family, to wish me happy easter and since i was within 50 MILES invite me over for SOME SORT of dinner or celebration. i had HEARD a rumor that i would NOT be invited to a family gathering... however i never actually believed this rumor to be 100% true. because in order for THAT to be true, one person would have to be so completely filled with HATE... and obviously missed the lesson in church that teaches what the atonement is ALL about, as well as WHYYYY Jesus actually died for us. and ANOTHER person... would have to ultimately choose the side of hate, and darkness, and go against flesh/blood/family.
i normally don't "air my dirty laundry" on my blog (ya, if you think what i already post about is dirty laundry... you should see what i DON'T post) however i have not been able to REALLY vent to Riley about this, which is what i REALLY need. so i suppose my blog will have to suffice. There is someone i am related to in no way at all (other than a marriage)... this person is the meanest most emotional and verbally abusive person to MULTIPLE people in this world that i love more than almost anything. let's call this person "Bitter". so bitter will say the most horrible things to ANYONE, just to prove Bitter is the better person. things like how lazy and useless someone is, and how this person would kill the family pet (just to assert their authority) Bitter has PICKED UP my little brother and removed him from a car, and on more than a few occasions yelled at me for things that a NORMAL person would handle like an adult... not slamming dishes and fridge doors and STOMPING up stairs.
now i dealt with most of Bitter's crap, knowing it was a temporary situation for me, and that i could just count down the days.... however, when i see my LITTLE SISTER who is still a teenager (and quite a fragile one at that) being bullied day after day (and a few may say she's being dramatic... SHE'S 16... OF COURSE SHE'S DRAMATIC!!!) BUT watching this emotional and verbal abuse happen on a DAILY OR WEEKLY basis was too much. Bitter on the rare occasion would go WAAAAY out of their way to do something nice, and make you think they were such a NICE person... but 80% of the time... it was a different story. so after a few months of WITNESSING this bullcrap, i attempted to call and give them a piece of my mind, however the phone call was not answered... so i sent a strongly worded text instead. did i go a bit overboard... YUP... do i regret sending the text... never for a second. i will NEVER apologize for standing up for my siblings or family. never ever EVER. my siblings ALL know that no matter what, i will be behind them 150% AS IT SHOULD BE!!! now instead of handing the situation like an ADULT bitter passed off the problem to their spouse... as usual i can just envision the yelling that happened about "how dare YOUR RELATIVE speak to me like that."
anyway, the story goes. i was informed i was NEVER again welcome in BITTER'S house again... this was WELL over a year ago. all because i stood up to a bully who still has a hold and reign over those i love. i have forgiven what was said to me... it does me NO good to hang on to such anger and hate. that is the LAST thing i need in this life. so i was surprised and SADDENED to hear that this "active" member in the church is still holding on to such hate... i wonder what their bishop would think about that... there are ALOT of people that i don't get along with... however we are ALWAYS polite to each other. what upsets me EVEN more than the hate that this person still holds against me is that the person that gave me life... the very breath i am breathing... did not stand up for her own daughter when it came time to have Easter dinner... instead i was forced to burden my best friend's husband's FAMILY to take me into their home for a holiday CENTERED around our Savior. i dropped it the last few days, because i was giving the benefit of the doubt thinking that MAYBE they didn't really do anything, and assumed that i had plans (this would mean my inside source was incorrect on what i heard originally) however upon hearing whom else was invited to this dinner... i am disappointed. i don't know all that much about parenting.. but i have never once heard of a parent, making it publicly known that they do not care for their child. because guess what... i had to EXPLAIN to EVERYONE on Easter (that was ALOT of people.. and ALOT of whom KNOW the parties involved) why my family lives less than 20 minutes away, and i was NOT invited to spend the holiday with them... seeing as i live across the globe. that right there negates anything that was said in the last year to make me think that i was loved in any way. it does NOT matter if you tell me you love me on the phone, and you call once a month to "catch up" and it does NOT matter if i STOOD UP TO YOUR BULLY FOR THE SAKE OF MY SISTER. YOU HAVE AN OBLIGATION AS A PARENT. to not act like a child. no matter how you feel your child is acting. i will never in my entire life forget that on the ONE holiday i was in the area... when my husband was away in Afghanistan... you chose the side of hate... and showed your Daughter that you do not care about her.
that's what i learned this Easter. It's just Rye and I. So i guess it's a good thing that i am a tough girl.
i was able to see Jaxon and Bo this week! i LOVE my amazing nephews soo soo soooo much! i will post pictures when i get back home to Hawaii. it was so nice to just spend time with Michelle, Bobby and the boys. i needed that.
i was also able to chill with my brother Paul today for a bit, more pictures to come with that as well... but we had a lot of fun.
Lauren and i played TONS of harry potter. and i am please to announce that last night we defeated lord Voldemort. on harry potter 5... ya, go ahead and be a little jealous!!! we then started LEGO Harry Potter (which i will be buying.) we had lots of totino's pizza, and jones soda YUMMMM we ate at magleby's for breakfast, and cafe rio for dinner. and i got to see my good friend Megan's new baby girl SOOOOO adorable!!! she really was soo dang cute! and Lauren and I had a late night chit chat session with Xandra (who is beyond amazing) and it was SUCH an awesome conversation!!!
Lauren and I had a 2 hour piano session at her parent's house... just sitting and singing (like the good ol' days) we were a bit rusty, and hadn't sat and sang in FAR too long... but maybe i'll get brave and post videos (yup... i have video footage!)
So i missed Lauren's graduation by like an hour.. lame i know! but i got to her Grad lunch, and then we got to head out and go to the women's expo (i got my teeth whitened... am i supposed to admit that? anywho, TOTALLY worth the $50)
Saturday was Lauren's birthday, we headed out to see "Water for Elephants" REALLY need to finish that book now! i wanted so badly to finish before i saw the movie.. OOPS. then i headed to Lehi to do Ali's hair and make up for MORP (girls choice dance) and gave Lalo some time with her awesome husband.
Sunday started out AMAZING i was woken up at 5 am by the sweetest voice saying "happy Easter babe, i love you!" now don't go pinning a red A on me... it was actually that husband of mine :) i hadn't heard from him in a while and it was so nice to hear his voice, i really am so in love with that boy! i went to church with Lauren and Dal... and kept expecting to hear from at least ONE member of my family, to wish me happy easter and since i was within 50 MILES invite me over for SOME SORT of dinner or celebration. i had HEARD a rumor that i would NOT be invited to a family gathering... however i never actually believed this rumor to be 100% true. because in order for THAT to be true, one person would have to be so completely filled with HATE... and obviously missed the lesson in church that teaches what the atonement is ALL about, as well as WHYYYY Jesus actually died for us. and ANOTHER person... would have to ultimately choose the side of hate, and darkness, and go against flesh/blood/family.
i normally don't "air my dirty laundry" on my blog (ya, if you think what i already post about is dirty laundry... you should see what i DON'T post) however i have not been able to REALLY vent to Riley about this, which is what i REALLY need. so i suppose my blog will have to suffice. There is someone i am related to in no way at all (other than a marriage)... this person is the meanest most emotional and verbally abusive person to MULTIPLE people in this world that i love more than almost anything. let's call this person "Bitter". so bitter will say the most horrible things to ANYONE, just to prove Bitter is the better person. things like how lazy and useless someone is, and how this person would kill the family pet (just to assert their authority) Bitter has PICKED UP my little brother and removed him from a car, and on more than a few occasions yelled at me for things that a NORMAL person would handle like an adult... not slamming dishes and fridge doors and STOMPING up stairs.
now i dealt with most of Bitter's crap, knowing it was a temporary situation for me, and that i could just count down the days.... however, when i see my LITTLE SISTER who is still a teenager (and quite a fragile one at that) being bullied day after day (and a few may say she's being dramatic... SHE'S 16... OF COURSE SHE'S DRAMATIC!!!) BUT watching this emotional and verbal abuse happen on a DAILY OR WEEKLY basis was too much. Bitter on the rare occasion would go WAAAAY out of their way to do something nice, and make you think they were such a NICE person... but 80% of the time... it was a different story. so after a few months of WITNESSING this bullcrap, i attempted to call and give them a piece of my mind, however the phone call was not answered... so i sent a strongly worded text instead. did i go a bit overboard... YUP... do i regret sending the text... never for a second. i will NEVER apologize for standing up for my siblings or family. never ever EVER. my siblings ALL know that no matter what, i will be behind them 150% AS IT SHOULD BE!!! now instead of handing the situation like an ADULT bitter passed off the problem to their spouse... as usual i can just envision the yelling that happened about "how dare YOUR RELATIVE speak to me like that."
anyway, the story goes. i was informed i was NEVER again welcome in BITTER'S house again... this was WELL over a year ago. all because i stood up to a bully who still has a hold and reign over those i love. i have forgiven what was said to me... it does me NO good to hang on to such anger and hate. that is the LAST thing i need in this life. so i was surprised and SADDENED to hear that this "active" member in the church is still holding on to such hate... i wonder what their bishop would think about that... there are ALOT of people that i don't get along with... however we are ALWAYS polite to each other. what upsets me EVEN more than the hate that this person still holds against me is that the person that gave me life... the very breath i am breathing... did not stand up for her own daughter when it came time to have Easter dinner... instead i was forced to burden my best friend's husband's FAMILY to take me into their home for a holiday CENTERED around our Savior. i dropped it the last few days, because i was giving the benefit of the doubt thinking that MAYBE they didn't really do anything, and assumed that i had plans (this would mean my inside source was incorrect on what i heard originally) however upon hearing whom else was invited to this dinner... i am disappointed. i don't know all that much about parenting.. but i have never once heard of a parent, making it publicly known that they do not care for their child. because guess what... i had to EXPLAIN to EVERYONE on Easter (that was ALOT of people.. and ALOT of whom KNOW the parties involved) why my family lives less than 20 minutes away, and i was NOT invited to spend the holiday with them... seeing as i live across the globe. that right there negates anything that was said in the last year to make me think that i was loved in any way. it does NOT matter if you tell me you love me on the phone, and you call once a month to "catch up" and it does NOT matter if i STOOD UP TO YOUR BULLY FOR THE SAKE OF MY SISTER. YOU HAVE AN OBLIGATION AS A PARENT. to not act like a child. no matter how you feel your child is acting. i will never in my entire life forget that on the ONE holiday i was in the area... when my husband was away in Afghanistan... you chose the side of hate... and showed your Daughter that you do not care about her.
that's what i learned this Easter. It's just Rye and I. So i guess it's a good thing that i am a tough girl.
Friday, April 22, 2011
I MADE IT!!!
I am safe and sound in Utah. sitting around with my best friend (well i WAS, she's currently at the temple with her husband) but it's like things are just as they always have been... like we NEVER moved apart! She graduated this morning.. and i missed the graduation by mere minutes... but i'm here now, and will be here for her birthday (YAY!!!!) we're gonna binge on jones, and totino's and play harry potter on the wii, and band hero, and donkey kong (Dal is implementing a new tradition here! i welcome the addition!) and we're gonna go see "Water for Elephants" and "the Conspirator" and get mini spa day's and it's going to be the best birthday EVER!
i REALLY needed to come... i didn't realize how much i needed this. i have only been in utah for 4-5 hours, have only seen a small handful of people i know, yet i just FEEL the spirit... ya know. like they are all such AMAZING people, and i just want to be like them when i grow up. everyone is always so nice and genuine and just amazing! gosh ok i'm done spilling my guts...
Easter is this weekend. i think we should all remember the reasons BEHIND the holiday. and strive to be more like the Man who died on the Cross for you and I both. i feel no anger or resentment to anyone. some people are so full of hate, they poison the good spirit of what is around them. it strains families, and ruins relationships(big and small) let go of the anger, because i would like to say you are only hurting yourself, but you're not, you are NOT hurting the person your anger is directed at though... you are killing the people closest to you, that if you cared about them, you wouldn't think twice about their well being.
I am so blessed to be in Utah this Easter weekend, i will for SURE have to make time to walk around the temple, i am so grateful to be able to stay at Lauren's house with her and Dal. they are SUCH amazing people. i love my life. i really do.
i REALLY needed to come... i didn't realize how much i needed this. i have only been in utah for 4-5 hours, have only seen a small handful of people i know, yet i just FEEL the spirit... ya know. like they are all such AMAZING people, and i just want to be like them when i grow up. everyone is always so nice and genuine and just amazing! gosh ok i'm done spilling my guts...
Easter is this weekend. i think we should all remember the reasons BEHIND the holiday. and strive to be more like the Man who died on the Cross for you and I both. i feel no anger or resentment to anyone. some people are so full of hate, they poison the good spirit of what is around them. it strains families, and ruins relationships(big and small) let go of the anger, because i would like to say you are only hurting yourself, but you're not, you are NOT hurting the person your anger is directed at though... you are killing the people closest to you, that if you cared about them, you wouldn't think twice about their well being.
I am so blessed to be in Utah this Easter weekend, i will for SURE have to make time to walk around the temple, i am so grateful to be able to stay at Lauren's house with her and Dal. they are SUCH amazing people. i love my life. i really do.
Labels:
Deployment,
Holding Down The Fort,
K-Bay,
Marine Corps,
Travel,
USMC
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Be More like the Man, you were made to be
Before i begin, let me just start out by saying, i have not eaten ANYTHING in almost 24 hours, and i am eating the most AMAZING chicken salad sandwich... and i just realized (due to my husband and father in law, that i am able to pick out certain spices in things now.. this sandwich has a pretty good hint of ginger, and it's working for it! i also got a big Cinnamon roll :) don't judge me! So after my awfully horrid day on monday, i started my journey to Utah... more like my ATTEMPTED journey. as most of you know, i'm flying Space-A for military... pretty much i can hop on a military flight with open seats... for FREE! but it's not reliable, and you pretty much end up in places you don't need to be. I started tracking flights and trying to get on one tuesday morning... i was NOT able to catch a flight until this morning at 7:40 i'm not going to explain all of what happened this week. pretty much all the flights i was trying to catch were canceled at the last minute.
i got TO the airport at about midnight... the airforce guys at the gate decided it would be an AWESOME time to be total and complete douchers... so we had to leave Lena on a mystery bench in the dark while Trudy took me to the terminal. She then took Lena home to sleep and came back to keep me company. when i DIDN'T get on the 2 am flight, we decided to head to denny's for some food... i honestly think i ate 3 bites of my sandwich.. i get REALLY nervous before traveling... and my appetite goes away.. and i have to pee like every 30 minutes (ask Trud it was RIDICULOUS!) i think she may have made it a game as to how long i could wait to go AGAIN!
So the flight i ended up getting ON was bound for Phoenix, however there were ZERO military flights out of phoenix, so i was forced to purchase a ticket the rest of the way to Utah... which i'm ok with cause it only ended up being $100.. I KNOW RIGHT!!! so i gave Kat all my info for her to book it for me while i was mid air, not knowing what time i would land we got the 6 am flight... well after 90 minutes sitting on the tarmac in a MASSIVE air force plane with NO AC... they finally cracked the doors open until whatever issue we were having was resolved. while waiting, all the airforce guys working the flight kept asking if i was military (my hair is in french braid pig-tails... not quite the military look... whatever) i explained i was a spouse... all asked the same question "oh awesome, what does your husband do" to which i reply as proud as can be, "oh he's Marine Corps Infantry" and then i just watched as their jaws DROPPED and they immediately had some self esteem issues :) they then wanted to know why my "awesome" husband was allowing me to travel so far all by myself... wow... don't EVEN start with me... i mentioned he's been in afghan for __ months... lets just say i got the red carpet treatment after that.. HAHA. so the flight was FREEZING cause the plane had ZERO insulation and obviously when you are in the clouds... it's effing cold... so i FROZE... i watched 127 hours (totally started crying!) and i only have one hour left on inception (never seen it, and haven't let anyone ruin it for me yet :) )
We arrived in Phoenix around 7 local time, just as the sun was setting... man it's been so long since i've seen a desert sunset! AND A CACTUS!!! ya, i wanted to break out my camera!!! SO HERE I AM 12 hours before my flight... the USO is now closed, so i can't hang out in there (as was my original plan) i can't go to the terminal or check my massive bag until 4 am.. so i went on a search through the food court for an outlet...i found one, and then realized i was almost sick from lack of food and sleep... so i went in search of food... and here i am... only.....6 hours till i can check in and 8 hours till i fly out... yup, time is passing!
ok random tangent but i was thinking about this on my earlier flight... I feel like sleep is such an intimate thing, and i don't like doing it in the presence of other people... now i know what you are thinking... Sav, it's you we are talking about here.. you fall asleep in the car, at the movies, at dinner, and even standing up... OK BUT THIS IS SOOOO DIFFERENT!!! so here i am, laying down across my designated 4 seats to sleep on the freezing flight.... and i wake up and like 4 of the air force guys i can TELL have watched me sleep (not non-stop... but i could tell they had "observed" me) and it creeped me out... like i had been violated... i mean, i'm a kicker, and a talker (OH BOY AM I A TALKER) i don't know how to explain it... i just don't like it... it's one of the reasons i wouldn't choose to be one of the many honolulu bums on the park benches and side walks.. i don't want people watching me sleep! so now i am going to try and stay away even longers.... haha ya i'm tired, i just typed the word "longers" and i'm totally keepin it there! since monday night... i have logged 7 hours of sleep... and not all at once... i have 90 minutes in the last 24 hours.. so i doubt i'll stay awake, and people will probably end up watching me, and judging me... UGH is it tomorrow yet?! i'm ready to be in Utah.
Have i mentioned lately how much i DON'T LIKE traveling alone... i've only flown with Rye once, but it made it so much more fun! ok, i'm done now... my computer is almost dead... again... efff
i got TO the airport at about midnight... the airforce guys at the gate decided it would be an AWESOME time to be total and complete douchers... so we had to leave Lena on a mystery bench in the dark while Trudy took me to the terminal. She then took Lena home to sleep and came back to keep me company. when i DIDN'T get on the 2 am flight, we decided to head to denny's for some food... i honestly think i ate 3 bites of my sandwich.. i get REALLY nervous before traveling... and my appetite goes away.. and i have to pee like every 30 minutes (ask Trud it was RIDICULOUS!) i think she may have made it a game as to how long i could wait to go AGAIN!
So the flight i ended up getting ON was bound for Phoenix, however there were ZERO military flights out of phoenix, so i was forced to purchase a ticket the rest of the way to Utah... which i'm ok with cause it only ended up being $100.. I KNOW RIGHT!!! so i gave Kat all my info for her to book it for me while i was mid air, not knowing what time i would land we got the 6 am flight... well after 90 minutes sitting on the tarmac in a MASSIVE air force plane with NO AC... they finally cracked the doors open until whatever issue we were having was resolved. while waiting, all the airforce guys working the flight kept asking if i was military (my hair is in french braid pig-tails... not quite the military look... whatever) i explained i was a spouse... all asked the same question "oh awesome, what does your husband do" to which i reply as proud as can be, "oh he's Marine Corps Infantry" and then i just watched as their jaws DROPPED and they immediately had some self esteem issues :) they then wanted to know why my "awesome" husband was allowing me to travel so far all by myself... wow... don't EVEN start with me... i mentioned he's been in afghan for __ months... lets just say i got the red carpet treatment after that.. HAHA. so the flight was FREEZING cause the plane had ZERO insulation and obviously when you are in the clouds... it's effing cold... so i FROZE... i watched 127 hours (totally started crying!) and i only have one hour left on inception (never seen it, and haven't let anyone ruin it for me yet :) )
We arrived in Phoenix around 7 local time, just as the sun was setting... man it's been so long since i've seen a desert sunset! AND A CACTUS!!! ya, i wanted to break out my camera!!! SO HERE I AM 12 hours before my flight... the USO is now closed, so i can't hang out in there (as was my original plan) i can't go to the terminal or check my massive bag until 4 am.. so i went on a search through the food court for an outlet...i found one, and then realized i was almost sick from lack of food and sleep... so i went in search of food... and here i am... only.....6 hours till i can check in and 8 hours till i fly out... yup, time is passing!
ok random tangent but i was thinking about this on my earlier flight... I feel like sleep is such an intimate thing, and i don't like doing it in the presence of other people... now i know what you are thinking... Sav, it's you we are talking about here.. you fall asleep in the car, at the movies, at dinner, and even standing up... OK BUT THIS IS SOOOO DIFFERENT!!! so here i am, laying down across my designated 4 seats to sleep on the freezing flight.... and i wake up and like 4 of the air force guys i can TELL have watched me sleep (not non-stop... but i could tell they had "observed" me) and it creeped me out... like i had been violated... i mean, i'm a kicker, and a talker (OH BOY AM I A TALKER) i don't know how to explain it... i just don't like it... it's one of the reasons i wouldn't choose to be one of the many honolulu bums on the park benches and side walks.. i don't want people watching me sleep! so now i am going to try and stay away even longers.... haha ya i'm tired, i just typed the word "longers" and i'm totally keepin it there! since monday night... i have logged 7 hours of sleep... and not all at once... i have 90 minutes in the last 24 hours.. so i doubt i'll stay awake, and people will probably end up watching me, and judging me... UGH is it tomorrow yet?! i'm ready to be in Utah.
Have i mentioned lately how much i DON'T LIKE traveling alone... i've only flown with Rye once, but it made it so much more fun! ok, i'm done now... my computer is almost dead... again... efff
Labels:
Deployment,
Holding Down The Fort,
K-Bay,
Marine Corps,
Travel,
USMC
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Stranded.
where is the most convenient place to be stranded? on a tropical island? at home? both of those things sound lovely, however i am NOT feeling awesome about being STUCK on this island! i have not left since i arrived last May, and i HAVE to get to Utah, and it seems to be the most difficult time of year to get off this island. the last 5 flights i've tried to catch have canceled last minute... ya... things could be worse.. i COULD be flying to Moses Lake wa, where there is ZERO chance of getting to Utah from there... but i am still irritated. it's 7 and at midnight, i'll be heading back to the air force base to try and get on a flight. i have been praying (yes actually praying, not just hoping and calling it a prayer) that i will get there in time, that i will feel the inspiration from the spirit to get me on the right flights.
Yesterday my good friend Sam came and got Deezul, so when i got home last night (after the flight being canceled) it felt REALLY strange to NOT have Dee waiting for me as i opened the door... we got Deezul the day before we moved in here. so there has not been a single day, that he has not been here when i walked in. it was a little hard. Trudy looked at me and had to ask if i was ok and going to make it. i got a little teary, but thats about it. :) we crashed on my new couch (oh my gosh it's AWESOME) and since we'd been so sleep deprived at this point from trying to get all my crap done and trying to get me on a flight, we slept through SIX alarms that were supposed to wake us up so i could catch a flight this morning... ya... i am hoping that was divine intervention saying i wasn't supposed to be on that flight!
So pretty much, i HATE traveling, more than almost anything. i'm ready for this trip to be over, so i can be home and preparing for Riley's return back to me. i have ALOT to get done. i want everything to be PERFECT for his return (but this is me we are talking about SOMETHING always goes wrong) the apartment is coming together, and when i get back i'll have to get ready for the arrival of all of our stuff from storage! WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO i am so excited for that!!!
I have been in contact with one of the guys in Riley's team's Mom, she is so super sweet. and i look forward to meeting her VERY SOON for our homecoming. i'm sitting here in the dark living room, listening to Mumford & Son's... SO AMAZING, i want more than anything for Rye to call me, it's been a LONG week, and i just want to hear his voice. but i probably won't for a while... SO BUCK UP SAV, and get over it. he'll be home soon... things could be far worse... i just need to quit complaining... haha ok, i'm done. i'll update soon with my adventures in Utah (if i ever freakin get there!!!)
Yesterday my good friend Sam came and got Deezul, so when i got home last night (after the flight being canceled) it felt REALLY strange to NOT have Dee waiting for me as i opened the door... we got Deezul the day before we moved in here. so there has not been a single day, that he has not been here when i walked in. it was a little hard. Trudy looked at me and had to ask if i was ok and going to make it. i got a little teary, but thats about it. :) we crashed on my new couch (oh my gosh it's AWESOME) and since we'd been so sleep deprived at this point from trying to get all my crap done and trying to get me on a flight, we slept through SIX alarms that were supposed to wake us up so i could catch a flight this morning... ya... i am hoping that was divine intervention saying i wasn't supposed to be on that flight!
So pretty much, i HATE traveling, more than almost anything. i'm ready for this trip to be over, so i can be home and preparing for Riley's return back to me. i have ALOT to get done. i want everything to be PERFECT for his return (but this is me we are talking about SOMETHING always goes wrong) the apartment is coming together, and when i get back i'll have to get ready for the arrival of all of our stuff from storage! WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO i am so excited for that!!!
I have been in contact with one of the guys in Riley's team's Mom, she is so super sweet. and i look forward to meeting her VERY SOON for our homecoming. i'm sitting here in the dark living room, listening to Mumford & Son's... SO AMAZING, i want more than anything for Rye to call me, it's been a LONG week, and i just want to hear his voice. but i probably won't for a while... SO BUCK UP SAV, and get over it. he'll be home soon... things could be far worse... i just need to quit complaining... haha ok, i'm done. i'll update soon with my adventures in Utah (if i ever freakin get there!!!)
Labels:
Deployment,
Holding Down The Fort,
K-Bay,
Marine Corps,
The House,
Travel,
USMC
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Oh Geez (kinda long.. but entertaining)
Ok, so we are winding down on the deployment.... now when I say that, it's not like "Oh your husband is coming home soon and you're counting down the days... that means it must be SOON".... well for most of the normal world... it's not, but to me... a wife who has been without her better half for about half a year now... it seems unreal that we are getting close to the end. i've been CRAZY busy trying to get the apartment perfect for when Rye gets home. As most of you know i've done ALOT of painting... we now have SIX different colors in our house... i promise it looks good! however i am keeping the rest of the apartment a secret until Rye gets home, so you will all have to wait until then to see my masterpiece.
So on to my story! My bestfriend of YEARS Lauren is graduating this friday, and I (being an awesome friend) will be there! it has been almost exactly a year since i arrived on this island and i have not left the island since arriving. Since my husband is military i am able to fly for free on what they call Space A... sounds pretty insanely awesome right... well don't go getting too jealous on me, it's turned into a nightmare... i have about 72 hours to make it all the way to Utah, i was planning on catching a flight this morning... (it would have left right about now) however around midnight, they decided to make that flight disappear (cause they are the military, and they can do that) there is now ONE flight off the island and to the states... landing in southern california... only problem is... the ONLY base that flies to the base i NEED is in Washington... and i called that base, and EVEN if i somehow find a flight from a SoCal base up to Washington...they have ZERO flights between now and when i need to be in Utah. so i can either attempt to somehow find a way to get to the base in Vegas, have my in-laws pick me up, and then have Lauren meet me in st george... OR i can try and find a one way ticket from Cali to Utah... at this point, i am about ready to sit down and CRY!!!!!!
Don't go calling me a baby just yet... ALL this happened at the end of the day i had yesterday (i laid down to take a nap around 2 and woke up at 5 cause i'm stressing about flying)
So like i mentioned earlier i've been on island for almost a year. and the military STILL has not shipped our household goods to us. ya, everything from our house and life (pre-military) has been sitting in BOXES, in a storage unit for almost 2 years now. i arrived here with one suitcase, and have pretty much had to start from scratch... dealing with crappy "aloha" furniture... these are the most uncomfortable pieces of furniture you can imagine, yet since i've had to deal with them for almost a year, i don't even notice that the FULL sized mattress is covered in plastic. or when you sit on the couch, you get a bamboo stick right where it isn't so pleasant... or welcome. This to me, is part of being a GOOD military wife, being able to adapt... and do so with a good attitude. all my friends here have heard me say for the last year "OOH OOOH I HAVE THAT! AND IT'S REALLY NICE....... but it's in storage" i am SICK of bragging about crap that i don't even have access to!!!!
every time i go into the office to get this done, they send me back and forth between a few buildings and tell me i don't have what i need to get it done. or they WON'T move it cause he's deployed, OR that they won't move it cause it's in a storage unit.... seriously, it's bull crap. so THIS is my adventure... if you are NOT military, i will do my best to explain what's going on (in Sav terms of course)
Definitions before we start
TMO- this is the crappy place where crappy Marines DON'T help you get your stuff sent here. they find them most unpleasant Marine and stick him at the front desk.. so the first thing you see when moving to a new place, is an unfriendly face.
IPAC- this is actually probably worse than TMO... this is a place where they keep EVERY piece of paperwork you need... you bring them a list of what you need.... they give you SOME of it, and tell you that they gave you everything needed from the list.
FRO- this is the Family Readiness Officer... to the spouse of a deployed Marine, she is like Santa, or Dumbledore... or Oprah... you tell her what you want/need... she makes it happen.
Friday
alright, so i am thinking to myself, "Sav, you're going to be in Utah, you should see if you can get your crap boxed up and shipped to you while you are there" then i thought BACK "psh, TMO can't get their heads out of their butts to help me do this... lost cause." i mentioned this internal conversation to my good friend Trudy, who informed me that SHE also had troubles with TMO 6 months before, and was fully willing to throw a total FIT on my behalf (awesome friend right!!!) we head over to IPAC to grab the papers we KNOW TMO is going to ask us for. i hand the idiot at IPAC my paper and say "I need all of these... EVERYTHING on that list" he comes back with a stack, hands it to me, says i have all the right "orders" i ask him "Are you sure? i don't have to go to the 3rd deck to get anything else?" he answers confidently "NOPE, you got it all here, you are 100% set and ready to go" now it's about 2 pm... both of these offices don't open till like 9, then they close at 11 until 1 for lunch (yup... 2 hours) they come back to work and are off work by 4... so they are not really "customer friendly" hours. we head over to TMO, walk in, the place is CROUDED. The guy at the front desk was surprisingly helpful and SUPER nice. I told him my situation, that i was flying out first thing the next week and NEEDED it all done immediately. he let me know he could get it ALL done on monday, but he was absolutely SLAMMED at the moment, took my form i filled out, informed me it was now all on this website and i needed to get that done over the weekend, and on monday he'd push it all through for me...thank goodness! easier than i imagined... right?
Sunday
I have been super busy all weekend but hurry and get on the website to get this crap done. this website is not compatable with.... are you ready for this? ok.... Mac (any mac's) firefox, internet explorer 6 or 7 on windows vista, or windows xp... not compatable at ALL on windows 7... ugh, shoot me NOW! so i download the right version of internet explorer, but because my computer is windows 7 (i'm sorry that i have the up to date technology!!!!!!) i cannot access the link i need! after 3 hours of trying, i fall asleep while talking to Rye(it was only 9:30... and YES, he gave me plenty of crap about that.. but if you feel the need, go ahead and lay on some more!)
Monday
i wake up at 5:30, and get back on the website by 6... Trudy was planning on heading over around 9-ish so i had 3 hours to finish the forms on this website. however i encountered the SAME issuses... ugh so i call a few people, have them try... still NOTHING. at this point i really am almost to tears, beyond frustrated, and worried now more than before that i will NOT be able to get this all done. Trudy arrives with proper caffeine for me...( i have not had ANY caffeine and VERY little carbonation since Rye left... but the closer to the end of deployment, the more crap i have to get done, and a low carb monster just gets me GOIN!!!) i tell Trudy about this bullcrap website that TMO is forcing me to endure, she agrees (total bullcrap) and says we are going straight over there instead of wasting time on a stupid website that isn't helpful. So we walk inside, and there is the most unpleasant looking man at the counter (i say man, but he was probably a year or two younger than me... although his receding hairline and extra poundage made him look older. i Tell (let's call him Stephen... which may or may not be all or part of his name) "i was in here on Friday, the guy at the counter told me to come back today, you guys could squeeze me in, cause i'm flying to Utah tomorrow and i need to get this all done NOW"
-Stephen"Who told you that??"
me- "i don't know, the guy that was up here on friday" (i then proceeded to give him a rundown play by play of fridays conversation.)
-Stephen "ya, that won't happen... who was it? what skin color was he?"
me- "i don't know... white" Trudy shakes her head no at the same time stupid Stephen does
Stephen "i'm the only white guy that works here" as there are 4 or 5 other white guys walking around WORKING.... at this point i just want to scream
"well then i don't know i'm not a fricken racist, all i know is he was pretty good looking (much more than you!) he was taller than you, more helpful than you, and a heck of a lot nicer than you too!" but i didn't say that... i did repeat that rant later on to our FRO... but not when it really counted.
Stephen then tells me that not ONLY am i missing another form from IPAC(go figure) but that he then calls me a retard for not figuring out his stupid website. (yes he actually called me a retard... i replied back with "did you just call me a retard" and he shot back "well the system isn't the problem" wow buddy) informs me that he cannot get anyone to "counsel" me until Friday, and then it'll take another 2-3 weeks for them to pick my crap up. at this point i'm getting pissed... because mr. apparently not white on friday told me he could get my crap picked up in the 2 weeks i'd be in Utah. and they could help me schedule that ON THAT DAY!!! at this point it's 10:45... so Stephen is now trying to get rid of us (so he can go stuff his face for 2 hours) he tells me i need to get the form from IPAC and then bring it back "you can bring it back here at 1300... that's 1 o'clock" wow.... doucher, thanks for clarifying. and THEN they can make an appointment for me... but since i'll be out of town, i will need to contact my husband, and have him fill out the legal forms to give someone else power of attorney to get "counseled" for us... and THEN since it'll be so delayed, he'll have to get his mom power of attorney as well to be there when they get our crap... yes, let me just ring Afghan and ask for my husband.
We walk out and i am FUMING. as we're pulling out, Stephen is taking off his cami blouse and getting in his car for an early lunch. we rush over to ipac hoping to get there before they close for their 11:30-1 lunch (not QUITE as ridiculous) we walk in i hand them the paper, and not very nicely demand "i just need number 6 on that list.. you idiots gave me everything ELSE on friday" he takes one look at it and tells me that i have to get that on 3rd deck... i snatch my paper up, and on my way out the doors i'm mumbling (pretty loudly) "i fricken asked you idiots if i needed to go to 3rd deck and you said no, fricken HATE MY LIFE!" yup... guys were staring. now i could type for EVER on what went on up on the 3rd deck... pretty much, alot of guys standing around playing on their phones, trying as hard as they could to NOT be helpful... 45 minutes later i had what i needed and we got the crap out of there!
Furious at this point i storm into our FRO's office. and begin to rant about how i've been here over 11 months and STILL have a plastic covered mattress... and i fricken hate deployments, and IPAC AND TMO SUCK... i think i may have threatened the lives of some of the not so helpful people. she let me rant for about 5 minutes (as her and Trudy laughed at my description of the way things went down... hey, we all know that i'm always looking for the story or "adventure" in everything) She calmly tells me that shooting the people in ipac is NOT ok... only cause she is needing their cooperation on something currently as well (HAHA) she picks up the phone and calls IPAC... tells them whats up, and pretty much that i'm important and they don't want to piss me off anymore.... (ok so she didn't say that... EXACTLY) Gets off the phone and informs me that i am to report in at 13:30 and they will get me taken care of BEFORE i leave for Utah. she tells me who i am going to see and Trudy tells me that is mr. not white but good looking from friday THANK GOODNESS! SOMEONE WHO SEEMED WILLING TO HELP ME.our FRO tells me to call her if they DON'T help me, and she'll raise a little hell for me (liking this woman more and more)
after a small child crisis (i forgot i offered to watch Sam's girls for a few hours.. so i had to find somewhere to stash them for a while, so i could go to this appointment) (yup... i used the words Stash and Children in the same sentence... go ahead and judge me) we get back to stupid TMO and get to sit and wait (which i'm ok with because i was told they would squeeze me in) we saw LOTS of interesting things during our wait. but the ONLY thing worth reporting is that a CPL who was obviously infantry, and OBVIOUSLY had some unresolved anger issues (possibly resulting from dealing with the guys at TMO the WEEK before he deploys... just a thought. well stupid Stephen (who is lower ranking than this CPL) asks if he needs help... (at this point the CPL has been sitting across from us WAITING for like 20 minutes... and this is the first anyone has said to him he snaps back with (oh and anywhere i use a word that doesn't sound so bad,... like freakin... it's actually the F-word. i know.. classy right?!) "did you freakin look at your roster?!"
Stephen- "excuse me?"
CPL angry- "your freakin roster! DID YOU EVEN FREAKIN LOOK AT IT?!" gets up walks over to the sign in sheet and starts hitting each line with his finger... while SCREAMING at stupid Stephen "RIGHT FREAKIN HERE, RANK E-4 NAME CPL ____ TIME 1352 REASON POV... DID YOU FREAKIN LOOK AT THAT AT ALL! WHY HAVE ONE IF YOU AREN'T GOING TO EVEN LOOK AT IT! YOU FREAKIN RETARD"
Stephen- "oh.....ummmmm.... well then... have you been helped yet?"
CPL Angry- "DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'VE BEEN HELPED?! I'VE BEEN SITTING HERE FOR 20 MINUTES, MY APPOINTMENT WAS NOW 10 MINUTES AGO, WHICH I WAS 10 MINUTES EARLY TO. NOOO I HAVEN'T BEEN FREAKIN HELPED"
it. was. beautiful.... while YES this CPL had some anger issues, and he may have been a bit extreme... Stephen TOTALLY deserved it... as he has successfully screwed everyone i know over when it comes to TMO. So that was pretty much my day... i got my TMO figured out (thus far at least!) hopefully all goes smoothly when i get to Utah (IF I EVER GET THERE!) i am sure i will have some awesome adventures to blog about during my trip home, and i can't wait to fill you all in... and hopefully i'll be able to do so while unpacking all of my stuff that should hopefully be here a few weeks after i return... WOO HOO!!!!
if you have stuck with me through this whole post.. i hope you have been thoroughly entertained... it was a day of LOTS of anger, and surprisingly no tears... though i expected the type you get when you are so angry and don't know HOW to express that! :)
So on to my story! My bestfriend of YEARS Lauren is graduating this friday, and I (being an awesome friend) will be there! it has been almost exactly a year since i arrived on this island and i have not left the island since arriving. Since my husband is military i am able to fly for free on what they call Space A... sounds pretty insanely awesome right... well don't go getting too jealous on me, it's turned into a nightmare... i have about 72 hours to make it all the way to Utah, i was planning on catching a flight this morning... (it would have left right about now) however around midnight, they decided to make that flight disappear (cause they are the military, and they can do that) there is now ONE flight off the island and to the states... landing in southern california... only problem is... the ONLY base that flies to the base i NEED is in Washington... and i called that base, and EVEN if i somehow find a flight from a SoCal base up to Washington...they have ZERO flights between now and when i need to be in Utah. so i can either attempt to somehow find a way to get to the base in Vegas, have my in-laws pick me up, and then have Lauren meet me in st george... OR i can try and find a one way ticket from Cali to Utah... at this point, i am about ready to sit down and CRY!!!!!!
Don't go calling me a baby just yet... ALL this happened at the end of the day i had yesterday (i laid down to take a nap around 2 and woke up at 5 cause i'm stressing about flying)
So like i mentioned earlier i've been on island for almost a year. and the military STILL has not shipped our household goods to us. ya, everything from our house and life (pre-military) has been sitting in BOXES, in a storage unit for almost 2 years now. i arrived here with one suitcase, and have pretty much had to start from scratch... dealing with crappy "aloha" furniture... these are the most uncomfortable pieces of furniture you can imagine, yet since i've had to deal with them for almost a year, i don't even notice that the FULL sized mattress is covered in plastic. or when you sit on the couch, you get a bamboo stick right where it isn't so pleasant... or welcome. This to me, is part of being a GOOD military wife, being able to adapt... and do so with a good attitude. all my friends here have heard me say for the last year "OOH OOOH I HAVE THAT! AND IT'S REALLY NICE....... but it's in storage" i am SICK of bragging about crap that i don't even have access to!!!!
every time i go into the office to get this done, they send me back and forth between a few buildings and tell me i don't have what i need to get it done. or they WON'T move it cause he's deployed, OR that they won't move it cause it's in a storage unit.... seriously, it's bull crap. so THIS is my adventure... if you are NOT military, i will do my best to explain what's going on (in Sav terms of course)
Definitions before we start
TMO- this is the crappy place where crappy Marines DON'T help you get your stuff sent here. they find them most unpleasant Marine and stick him at the front desk.. so the first thing you see when moving to a new place, is an unfriendly face.
IPAC- this is actually probably worse than TMO... this is a place where they keep EVERY piece of paperwork you need... you bring them a list of what you need.... they give you SOME of it, and tell you that they gave you everything needed from the list.
FRO- this is the Family Readiness Officer... to the spouse of a deployed Marine, she is like Santa, or Dumbledore... or Oprah... you tell her what you want/need... she makes it happen.
Friday
alright, so i am thinking to myself, "Sav, you're going to be in Utah, you should see if you can get your crap boxed up and shipped to you while you are there" then i thought BACK "psh, TMO can't get their heads out of their butts to help me do this... lost cause." i mentioned this internal conversation to my good friend Trudy, who informed me that SHE also had troubles with TMO 6 months before, and was fully willing to throw a total FIT on my behalf (awesome friend right!!!) we head over to IPAC to grab the papers we KNOW TMO is going to ask us for. i hand the idiot at IPAC my paper and say "I need all of these... EVERYTHING on that list" he comes back with a stack, hands it to me, says i have all the right "orders" i ask him "Are you sure? i don't have to go to the 3rd deck to get anything else?" he answers confidently "NOPE, you got it all here, you are 100% set and ready to go" now it's about 2 pm... both of these offices don't open till like 9, then they close at 11 until 1 for lunch (yup... 2 hours) they come back to work and are off work by 4... so they are not really "customer friendly" hours. we head over to TMO, walk in, the place is CROUDED. The guy at the front desk was surprisingly helpful and SUPER nice. I told him my situation, that i was flying out first thing the next week and NEEDED it all done immediately. he let me know he could get it ALL done on monday, but he was absolutely SLAMMED at the moment, took my form i filled out, informed me it was now all on this website and i needed to get that done over the weekend, and on monday he'd push it all through for me...thank goodness! easier than i imagined... right?
Sunday
I have been super busy all weekend but hurry and get on the website to get this crap done. this website is not compatable with.... are you ready for this? ok.... Mac (any mac's) firefox, internet explorer 6 or 7 on windows vista, or windows xp... not compatable at ALL on windows 7... ugh, shoot me NOW! so i download the right version of internet explorer, but because my computer is windows 7 (i'm sorry that i have the up to date technology!!!!!!) i cannot access the link i need! after 3 hours of trying, i fall asleep while talking to Rye(it was only 9:30... and YES, he gave me plenty of crap about that.. but if you feel the need, go ahead and lay on some more!)
Monday
i wake up at 5:30, and get back on the website by 6... Trudy was planning on heading over around 9-ish so i had 3 hours to finish the forms on this website. however i encountered the SAME issuses... ugh so i call a few people, have them try... still NOTHING. at this point i really am almost to tears, beyond frustrated, and worried now more than before that i will NOT be able to get this all done. Trudy arrives with proper caffeine for me...( i have not had ANY caffeine and VERY little carbonation since Rye left... but the closer to the end of deployment, the more crap i have to get done, and a low carb monster just gets me GOIN!!!) i tell Trudy about this bullcrap website that TMO is forcing me to endure, she agrees (total bullcrap) and says we are going straight over there instead of wasting time on a stupid website that isn't helpful. So we walk inside, and there is the most unpleasant looking man at the counter (i say man, but he was probably a year or two younger than me... although his receding hairline and extra poundage made him look older. i Tell (let's call him Stephen... which may or may not be all or part of his name) "i was in here on Friday, the guy at the counter told me to come back today, you guys could squeeze me in, cause i'm flying to Utah tomorrow and i need to get this all done NOW"
-Stephen"Who told you that??"
me- "i don't know, the guy that was up here on friday" (i then proceeded to give him a rundown play by play of fridays conversation.)
-Stephen "ya, that won't happen... who was it? what skin color was he?"
me- "i don't know... white" Trudy shakes her head no at the same time stupid Stephen does
Stephen "i'm the only white guy that works here" as there are 4 or 5 other white guys walking around WORKING.... at this point i just want to scream
"well then i don't know i'm not a fricken racist, all i know is he was pretty good looking (much more than you!) he was taller than you, more helpful than you, and a heck of a lot nicer than you too!" but i didn't say that... i did repeat that rant later on to our FRO... but not when it really counted.
Stephen then tells me that not ONLY am i missing another form from IPAC(go figure) but that he then calls me a retard for not figuring out his stupid website. (yes he actually called me a retard... i replied back with "did you just call me a retard" and he shot back "well the system isn't the problem" wow buddy) informs me that he cannot get anyone to "counsel" me until Friday, and then it'll take another 2-3 weeks for them to pick my crap up. at this point i'm getting pissed... because mr. apparently not white on friday told me he could get my crap picked up in the 2 weeks i'd be in Utah. and they could help me schedule that ON THAT DAY!!! at this point it's 10:45... so Stephen is now trying to get rid of us (so he can go stuff his face for 2 hours) he tells me i need to get the form from IPAC and then bring it back "you can bring it back here at 1300... that's 1 o'clock" wow.... doucher, thanks for clarifying. and THEN they can make an appointment for me... but since i'll be out of town, i will need to contact my husband, and have him fill out the legal forms to give someone else power of attorney to get "counseled" for us... and THEN since it'll be so delayed, he'll have to get his mom power of attorney as well to be there when they get our crap... yes, let me just ring Afghan and ask for my husband.
We walk out and i am FUMING. as we're pulling out, Stephen is taking off his cami blouse and getting in his car for an early lunch. we rush over to ipac hoping to get there before they close for their 11:30-1 lunch (not QUITE as ridiculous) we walk in i hand them the paper, and not very nicely demand "i just need number 6 on that list.. you idiots gave me everything ELSE on friday" he takes one look at it and tells me that i have to get that on 3rd deck... i snatch my paper up, and on my way out the doors i'm mumbling (pretty loudly) "i fricken asked you idiots if i needed to go to 3rd deck and you said no, fricken HATE MY LIFE!" yup... guys were staring. now i could type for EVER on what went on up on the 3rd deck... pretty much, alot of guys standing around playing on their phones, trying as hard as they could to NOT be helpful... 45 minutes later i had what i needed and we got the crap out of there!
Furious at this point i storm into our FRO's office. and begin to rant about how i've been here over 11 months and STILL have a plastic covered mattress... and i fricken hate deployments, and IPAC AND TMO SUCK... i think i may have threatened the lives of some of the not so helpful people. she let me rant for about 5 minutes (as her and Trudy laughed at my description of the way things went down... hey, we all know that i'm always looking for the story or "adventure" in everything) She calmly tells me that shooting the people in ipac is NOT ok... only cause she is needing their cooperation on something currently as well (HAHA) she picks up the phone and calls IPAC... tells them whats up, and pretty much that i'm important and they don't want to piss me off anymore.... (ok so she didn't say that... EXACTLY) Gets off the phone and informs me that i am to report in at 13:30 and they will get me taken care of BEFORE i leave for Utah. she tells me who i am going to see and Trudy tells me that is mr. not white but good looking from friday THANK GOODNESS! SOMEONE WHO SEEMED WILLING TO HELP ME.our FRO tells me to call her if they DON'T help me, and she'll raise a little hell for me (liking this woman more and more)
after a small child crisis (i forgot i offered to watch Sam's girls for a few hours.. so i had to find somewhere to stash them for a while, so i could go to this appointment) (yup... i used the words Stash and Children in the same sentence... go ahead and judge me) we get back to stupid TMO and get to sit and wait (which i'm ok with because i was told they would squeeze me in) we saw LOTS of interesting things during our wait. but the ONLY thing worth reporting is that a CPL who was obviously infantry, and OBVIOUSLY had some unresolved anger issues (possibly resulting from dealing with the guys at TMO the WEEK before he deploys... just a thought. well stupid Stephen (who is lower ranking than this CPL) asks if he needs help... (at this point the CPL has been sitting across from us WAITING for like 20 minutes... and this is the first anyone has said to him he snaps back with (oh and anywhere i use a word that doesn't sound so bad,... like freakin... it's actually the F-word. i know.. classy right?!) "did you freakin look at your roster?!"
Stephen- "excuse me?"
CPL angry- "your freakin roster! DID YOU EVEN FREAKIN LOOK AT IT?!" gets up walks over to the sign in sheet and starts hitting each line with his finger... while SCREAMING at stupid Stephen "RIGHT FREAKIN HERE, RANK E-4 NAME CPL ____ TIME 1352 REASON POV... DID YOU FREAKIN LOOK AT THAT AT ALL! WHY HAVE ONE IF YOU AREN'T GOING TO EVEN LOOK AT IT! YOU FREAKIN RETARD"
Stephen- "oh.....ummmmm.... well then... have you been helped yet?"
CPL Angry- "DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'VE BEEN HELPED?! I'VE BEEN SITTING HERE FOR 20 MINUTES, MY APPOINTMENT WAS NOW 10 MINUTES AGO, WHICH I WAS 10 MINUTES EARLY TO. NOOO I HAVEN'T BEEN FREAKIN HELPED"
it. was. beautiful.... while YES this CPL had some anger issues, and he may have been a bit extreme... Stephen TOTALLY deserved it... as he has successfully screwed everyone i know over when it comes to TMO. So that was pretty much my day... i got my TMO figured out (thus far at least!) hopefully all goes smoothly when i get to Utah (IF I EVER GET THERE!) i am sure i will have some awesome adventures to blog about during my trip home, and i can't wait to fill you all in... and hopefully i'll be able to do so while unpacking all of my stuff that should hopefully be here a few weeks after i return... WOO HOO!!!!
if you have stuck with me through this whole post.. i hope you have been thoroughly entertained... it was a day of LOTS of anger, and surprisingly no tears... though i expected the type you get when you are so angry and don't know HOW to express that! :)
Labels:
Deployment,
Holding Down The Fort,
K-Bay,
Marine Corps,
Travel,
USMC
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Birth Order and Love
Does my birth order REALLY effect my love life? normally i would tell you all that horoscopes and fortunes are CRAP, and WHEN they are correct they are dealing with forces that we shouldn't mess with in the first place... "inspired by the devil" as i've been told. however this isn't really "VOODOO" per-se it's just psychology there is an article on Yahoo today talking about the oldest middle and youngest sibblings and how that effects their relationships... i am a middle child.. 2nd oldest of 5.. i am the middle girl. and my sister was always such a dominate figure that there was NO room for more than 1 "oldest" sibbling types... here is what they say about the 3 categories...
If you’re a youngest child...
You’re all about fun. The most outgoing of all in the birth order spectrum, youngest children live to have a good time (it may be because your parents were more laid-back by the time you came along). On a typical first date you’ll have your date laughing so hard that water shoots out his or her nose. In fact, “most famous comedians are youngest children,” says Dr. Leman. A partial list of famous examples: Jon Stewart, Jim Carrey, Ellen DeGeneres, Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy. And forget ho-hum plans like dinner and a movie; you love to do the unexpected, often on the spur of the moment. You’re the type to take someone to a party only to whisper, “Let’s get out of here” two minutes later... and then convince your date to take a road trip to Atlantic City or Vegas for the weekend.
Your love challenge: “Babies are the least financially dependable,” warns Dr. Leman (it comes from being, well, taken care of all your life). That means your date may be stuck picking up the tab when your credit card is maxed out. Also, some youngest children — not you, of course! — use that last-born charm and charisma to be a bit, ahem, manipulative, says Dr. Leman. That breed of baby will leave a date and sneak off to hit golf balls with pals or something similar, leaving the other person wondering what happened.
Best match: Either the oldest child (they serve as a good counterbalance in a parent-child sort of way) or middle child (they value friendships, so they totally understand why you love being the life of the party).
ok, so like i said, i am a middle child. As Rye already knows, i am REALLY bad about expressing my feelings (just the negative ones) until i burst and EVERYTHING from the past __ months comes exploding and anyone with ANYTHING to do with it had better beware! and that bit about middles hating conflict... with me that is ABSOLUTELY true... now according to this... i should have married a YOUNGEST child.... well.. about that.... I TOTALLY DID!
Rye is all about the "fun" and "now" i don't see him as the type leaving me in the middle to go play golf though.... anyway i found this all pretty interesting... the reasoning DOES make sense. and all of this was too long to put in a status update on facebook so i thought i'd put it here and talk about it a little.
If you’re an oldest child...
It’s no coincidence that most U.S. Presidents were first-borns, because this is the sign of natural leaders. You’re a take-charge person, so not the type to drive friends and romantic partners crazy asking questions like, “I dunno where we should eat; where do you want to go?” Instead, you’ll make sure you have reservations — and land a prime table, too. And anyone lucky enough to pair up with you won’t spend weeknights wondering whether he or she has Saturday night plans, because “oldest kids are planners,” says Dr. Leman. You’re also old-fashioned (in a good way). You always come through on anniversaries and Valentine’s Day.
Your love challenge: Being more spontaneous. First-borns aren’t the “seize the day” sort (you’re not one to text your sweetie to suggest meeting at this fun café you just walked past). Likewise, “you hate surprises,” Dr. Leman warns. Pity the fool who springs meeting the parents on you or when you thought it was just the two of you going out tonight!
Best match: The youngest child. “It’s a case of opposites attracting,” says Dr. Leman. “You help the last-born be more organized, and the last-born helps you lighten up.”
It’s no coincidence that most U.S. Presidents were first-borns, because this is the sign of natural leaders. You’re a take-charge person, so not the type to drive friends and romantic partners crazy asking questions like, “I dunno where we should eat; where do you want to go?” Instead, you’ll make sure you have reservations — and land a prime table, too. And anyone lucky enough to pair up with you won’t spend weeknights wondering whether he or she has Saturday night plans, because “oldest kids are planners,” says Dr. Leman. You’re also old-fashioned (in a good way). You always come through on anniversaries and Valentine’s Day.
Your love challenge: Being more spontaneous. First-borns aren’t the “seize the day” sort (you’re not one to text your sweetie to suggest meeting at this fun café you just walked past). Likewise, “you hate surprises,” Dr. Leman warns. Pity the fool who springs meeting the parents on you or when you thought it was just the two of you going out tonight!
Best match: The youngest child. “It’s a case of opposites attracting,” says Dr. Leman. “You help the last-born be more organized, and the last-born helps you lighten up.”
If you’re a middle child...
Contrary to their reputation as insecure messes (example: Jan Brady), middle kids actually make stable and loyal partners. “One thing you’re not is spoiled,” Dr. Leman says. You probably grew up feeling like you got less attention than your siblings, and that drives you to work for every perk — including a happy relationship. Also in the “positives” category: You’re “a compromiser and negotiator,” Dr. Leman notes, so you’ll give your partner plenty of say in everything from how quickly your relationship progresses to where you go on vacation together. And your romance should be free of daily petty squabbles (middles hate conflict); instead, you try to put others at ease.
Your love challenge: Opening up. Have you ever been told you’re hard to read? “Middle children can be very secretive,” says Dr. Leman. “They got hammered by the first-born and swindled by the baby, so they keep their cards close to their chests.” You’re also not the best communicator when you’re upset. But if you learn to speak up instead of holding your anger in, you’ll have a more harmonious relationship.
Best match: Youngest child. “Middles aren’t as threatened by last-borns as they are by exacting first-borns,” says Dr. Leman, so the odds are good for open communication.
Contrary to their reputation as insecure messes (example: Jan Brady), middle kids actually make stable and loyal partners. “One thing you’re not is spoiled,” Dr. Leman says. You probably grew up feeling like you got less attention than your siblings, and that drives you to work for every perk — including a happy relationship. Also in the “positives” category: You’re “a compromiser and negotiator,” Dr. Leman notes, so you’ll give your partner plenty of say in everything from how quickly your relationship progresses to where you go on vacation together. And your romance should be free of daily petty squabbles (middles hate conflict); instead, you try to put others at ease.
Your love challenge: Opening up. Have you ever been told you’re hard to read? “Middle children can be very secretive,” says Dr. Leman. “They got hammered by the first-born and swindled by the baby, so they keep their cards close to their chests.” You’re also not the best communicator when you’re upset. But if you learn to speak up instead of holding your anger in, you’ll have a more harmonious relationship.
Best match: Youngest child. “Middles aren’t as threatened by last-borns as they are by exacting first-borns,” says Dr. Leman, so the odds are good for open communication.
If you’re a youngest child...
You’re all about fun. The most outgoing of all in the birth order spectrum, youngest children live to have a good time (it may be because your parents were more laid-back by the time you came along). On a typical first date you’ll have your date laughing so hard that water shoots out his or her nose. In fact, “most famous comedians are youngest children,” says Dr. Leman. A partial list of famous examples: Jon Stewart, Jim Carrey, Ellen DeGeneres, Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy. And forget ho-hum plans like dinner and a movie; you love to do the unexpected, often on the spur of the moment. You’re the type to take someone to a party only to whisper, “Let’s get out of here” two minutes later... and then convince your date to take a road trip to Atlantic City or Vegas for the weekend.
Your love challenge: “Babies are the least financially dependable,” warns Dr. Leman (it comes from being, well, taken care of all your life). That means your date may be stuck picking up the tab when your credit card is maxed out. Also, some youngest children — not you, of course! — use that last-born charm and charisma to be a bit, ahem, manipulative, says Dr. Leman. That breed of baby will leave a date and sneak off to hit golf balls with pals or something similar, leaving the other person wondering what happened.
Best match: Either the oldest child (they serve as a good counterbalance in a parent-child sort of way) or middle child (they value friendships, so they totally understand why you love being the life of the party).
ok, so like i said, i am a middle child. As Rye already knows, i am REALLY bad about expressing my feelings (just the negative ones) until i burst and EVERYTHING from the past __ months comes exploding and anyone with ANYTHING to do with it had better beware! and that bit about middles hating conflict... with me that is ABSOLUTELY true... now according to this... i should have married a YOUNGEST child.... well.. about that.... I TOTALLY DID!
Rye is all about the "fun" and "now" i don't see him as the type leaving me in the middle to go play golf though.... anyway i found this all pretty interesting... the reasoning DOES make sense. and all of this was too long to put in a status update on facebook so i thought i'd put it here and talk about it a little.
Labels:
Deployment,
Holding Down The Fort
Sunday, April 10, 2011
How Does She Know?!
A few years ago everyone was RAVING about this disney musical that was in theaters.. Enchanted. i never saw it in theaters.. and secretly made fun of my friends who admitted to singing the songs for WEEKS after seeing it. once the movie hit DVD i didn't see the harm in attempting to watch it. i convinced Riley that everyone said it was soo funny (i hadn't heard that at all actually... however when it comes to getting a husband to watch something like disney... or Glee... a little white lie isn't the worst thing... it's just a push towards something you know they'll love anyway... they just need to know OTHER guys like it too) we rented it and popped it in with his mom while his dad was away at a training. his mom thought it was alright... Riley LOVED it... he'd be in the shower and i would hear (quite loudly i might add) "awww-aww -ahhhhh"
ya i totally just put a clip up... i wanted you to know what sound i just attempted to type... ANYWAY, he's pretty good at that noise... and it puts him in a good mood to do so :) He also LOVES the song "how does she know" and yes he'll sing it to me, very sweetly... but usually at awkward times.. if i'm in the mood to watch OR listen to enchanted, he won't usually complain. this is my man who did NOT grow up in a Disney house (like i did!) he has seen Aladin, but only because of Robin Williams (i believe) he's NEVER seen Hercules, or MOST other disney movies... i figured i had hit a fluke with Enchanted and was NOT going to press my luck... and yes, i loaded a few of the songs from the soundtrack on his ipod before he left, so it can make his day so much better when he needs it.
HOWEVER, as most ANYONE that knows me, knows that i have this obsession with the movie princess and the frog... it makes me laugh SOOO hard, i totally CRIED when i first saw it... and still tear up a little now. While Rye was at SOI and i was driving every weekend, he was on restriction one weekend... so we pretty much sat in my car the WHOLE weekend. we bought a power converter for my cig-hole thingy and watched movies in the backseat on my laptop the princess and the frog was released earlier that week and Of COURSE i bought it... (the blu-ray + DVD + digital copy edition) so i convinced Rye of the awesomeness of this movie and that we should watch it. well he got bored about 5 minutes in said something like "Sav.... this is REALLY lame..." and then decided making out was so much more fun. every time i quoted that movie or begged to watch it, he would tell me how confused he was as to WHY i liked this movie so much... ya at that moment i KNEW he would never enjoy this movie even a smidgen of as much as i did. so i gave up... HOWEVER he then left for a month for training in Cali way back in August. he had a day off and was chillin in the single marines lounge place... and apparently they played the princess and the frog MORE than once.. and he watched it all the way through (i think more than once) he called me and let me know he kind of liked it a little more... YES!!! success!!! let's just say, he's become a fan now... and i couldn't be happier...
i was thinking about this today as i watched "Tangled" for the first time EVER today. i am curious as to whether Rye will like it... i think he might! plus he does like Mandy Moore... but it is still not quite as epic as Princess and the Frog, OR Enchanted... maybe i need to see it a few more times before it gets added to that list of epicness. here is one of my favorite parts from Tangled.
i think i might download the soundtrack, ya i'm going to go do that... the point of this post is to express that i really enjoyed this movie, and we'll have to see if Rye will enjoy it... but until then, here is the song of the day
i had a few possibilities... however with this deployment getting ever closer to the end, i'm a sucker for a sappy song :) so from the amazing movie, Enchanted.... here we have So Close
ya i totally just put a clip up... i wanted you to know what sound i just attempted to type... ANYWAY, he's pretty good at that noise... and it puts him in a good mood to do so :) He also LOVES the song "how does she know" and yes he'll sing it to me, very sweetly... but usually at awkward times.. if i'm in the mood to watch OR listen to enchanted, he won't usually complain. this is my man who did NOT grow up in a Disney house (like i did!) he has seen Aladin, but only because of Robin Williams (i believe) he's NEVER seen Hercules, or MOST other disney movies... i figured i had hit a fluke with Enchanted and was NOT going to press my luck... and yes, i loaded a few of the songs from the soundtrack on his ipod before he left, so it can make his day so much better when he needs it.
HOWEVER, as most ANYONE that knows me, knows that i have this obsession with the movie princess and the frog... it makes me laugh SOOO hard, i totally CRIED when i first saw it... and still tear up a little now. While Rye was at SOI and i was driving every weekend, he was on restriction one weekend... so we pretty much sat in my car the WHOLE weekend. we bought a power converter for my cig-hole thingy and watched movies in the backseat on my laptop the princess and the frog was released earlier that week and Of COURSE i bought it... (the blu-ray + DVD + digital copy edition) so i convinced Rye of the awesomeness of this movie and that we should watch it. well he got bored about 5 minutes in said something like "Sav.... this is REALLY lame..." and then decided making out was so much more fun. every time i quoted that movie or begged to watch it, he would tell me how confused he was as to WHY i liked this movie so much... ya at that moment i KNEW he would never enjoy this movie even a smidgen of as much as i did. so i gave up... HOWEVER he then left for a month for training in Cali way back in August. he had a day off and was chillin in the single marines lounge place... and apparently they played the princess and the frog MORE than once.. and he watched it all the way through (i think more than once) he called me and let me know he kind of liked it a little more... YES!!! success!!! let's just say, he's become a fan now... and i couldn't be happier...
i was thinking about this today as i watched "Tangled" for the first time EVER today. i am curious as to whether Rye will like it... i think he might! plus he does like Mandy Moore... but it is still not quite as epic as Princess and the Frog, OR Enchanted... maybe i need to see it a few more times before it gets added to that list of epicness. here is one of my favorite parts from Tangled.
i think i might download the soundtrack, ya i'm going to go do that... the point of this post is to express that i really enjoyed this movie, and we'll have to see if Rye will enjoy it... but until then, here is the song of the day
i had a few possibilities... however with this deployment getting ever closer to the end, i'm a sucker for a sappy song :) so from the amazing movie, Enchanted.... here we have So Close
You're in my arms
And all the world is calm
The music playing on for only two
So close together
And when I'm with you
So close to feeling alive
A life goes by
Romantic dreams must die
So I bid mine goodbye and never knew
So close was waiting, waiting here with you
And now forever I know
All that I want is to hold you
So close
So close to reaching that famous happy ending
Almost believing this one's not pretend
And now you're beside me and look how far we've come
So far, we are, so close
How could I face the faceless days
If I should lose you now?
We're so close
To reaching that famous happy ending
Almost believing this one's not pretend
Let's go on dreaming for we know we are
So close
So close
And still so far
And all the world is calm
The music playing on for only two
So close together
And when I'm with you
So close to feeling alive
A life goes by
Romantic dreams must die
So I bid mine goodbye and never knew
So close was waiting, waiting here with you
And now forever I know
All that I want is to hold you
So close
So close to reaching that famous happy ending
Almost believing this one's not pretend
And now you're beside me and look how far we've come
So far, we are, so close
How could I face the faceless days
If I should lose you now?
We're so close
To reaching that famous happy ending
Almost believing this one's not pretend
Let's go on dreaming for we know we are
So close
So close
And still so far
Labels:
Deployment,
Holding Down The Fort,
K-Bay,
Marine Corps,
SOI,
USMC
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
look who's been busy!
The answer would be ME! i've realized that this deployment is always getting one day closer to being over, i have a list a MILE long of things i need to get done before Rye gets back. i've gotten the proper motivation to actually get things DONE! i have put a FEW pictures on facebook, but let's fill all my faithful blog stalkers in!
this bad boy i found at the salvation army for under $10, it took one can of kyrlon spray paint, and a little elbow grease, then i added a few bits of paper and VIOLA!
and here we have my AWESOME paint job, if you blow this up, you'll see all my horrible mistakes on the top. and as Riley put it, he's worried he'll come home to a retarded rainbow... HOWEVER... i quite like the colors i've been choosing, i think they are pretty "Gardiner-esque" i just picked out the color for the guest room... it's pretty awesome... i'm a little worried about how it will turn out but i have faith in my overall goal for that room. ya, i spent all of conference weekend listening on my T.V. and painting
after i finished painting the living room i had still had the Sunday session of conference left, so i started on this little project... i found this window thingy for $10 at Reuse Hawaii, which may become a favorite store! after one can of kyrlon spray paint, and some hinge thingy's installed on the back it's turning out almost like i had envisioned!
oh and in the picture above you'll see in the corner THESE things
these are just the 2 small testers, i am making more, i wanted to see how they would turn out! and so far i am in LOVE!!! i'm making a bigger on that will actually end up being a hanging lamp :) we'll see how that turns out.
and now that the wind storms are finally over, i was able to re-hang the jars.. only TWO were shattered due to wind, i collected the sand to weigh them down in the bottom and i LOVE how they look in the dark!
so there you go, i still have more projects left, and ONE more paint color to pick out... the most important one... our bedroom... i'm thinking a REALLY light pastel, i don't want anything too bright... haha like the rest of the apartment. i think everything is starting to reflect US, yet i am REALLY worried that Riley is going to get home and HATE it... so cross your fingers that doesn't happen... only __ weeks left of this deployment and i am SO ready for Cute Bum to be home!
 |
| before! |
 |
| all sanded and prepped for painting! |
 |
| TADA!!!!!!!!! |
and now that the wind storms are finally over, i was able to re-hang the jars.. only TWO were shattered due to wind, i collected the sand to weigh them down in the bottom and i LOVE how they look in the dark!
Labels:
Deployment,
Holding Down The Fort,
K-Bay,
Marine Corps,
The House,
USMC
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