What we have been doing

Well, we have been trying to keep busy here and by all appearances, have been succeeding. The kids went back to school on Monday and I have been so busy this week. There was so much that Dan didn't get around to doing and with his abrupt departure just didn't get to do so that To Do list fell to me. I didn't feel like dragging the kids along on those kind of errands so I waited u//ntil the kids went back to tackle THE LIST. (I will explain the // marks at the end of the post just look to see how many there are and that one I just used doesn't count.)

So I am back. I took a quick 15 minute break to go cower in the basement for our tornado watch. That was fun. Our satellite TV was out but another deployed wife friend that I had just been talking to on the phone called me to say,"We're supposed to be taking cover, just so you know." She even called me when the watch expired, that was so cool. I think I just heard a siren too, that would be a first, for any of the places we have lived. And this is the third place we have lived that gets tornadoes.

Anyway, back to our crazy week, which the above fits so perfectly. Dan didn't get all his legal stuff taken care of, so I have been doing that, almost done. I signed up the kids for a child care program the Army has for deployed spouses for free. It is so awesome. A Friday night a month, for four hours and two Saturdays a month for eight hours. That required me to go to three separate locations and a few hours worth of waiting but I think it is worth it. I am not sure// but with all the paperwork I signed Innie might be promised to enlist when he turns eighteen. I am a little nervous for the first one this Satu//rday. Bug has to go to a younger one than the other two so he will be by himself for the whole day, at least until he turns 5 this summer. And I have never had them in day care before if you don't count the hour or so they go to the Y. But it doesn't matter, they are still going so Momma can keep her sanity.

With all the running around this week came another first. I put Bug into the after care at preschool for three hours. So he was there for six hours. He was mad at me when I picked him up because he didn't want to leave. So I guess he'll be fine at the other care. The woman who does the after care found out from him that his Daddy// was deployed. He even said the country correctly and everything. So she asked him what he did there. I think expecting him to say, "He flies Helicopters." A lot of guys here do. Dan doesn't. We've never explained his job really// to the kids because a.) its too complicated for kid speak b.) we just didn't and c.) he ended u//p not even doing the job he is trained for over there. So when she told me his answer I had a good laugh. "What does your Daddy do there?" Bug,"He saves the world."

Another thing I have been keeping busy with is some weird deployment nesting phase. I have been cleaning and organizing the house like a pregnant woman possessed. My bedroom perfect, that cabinet in my room that Dan hung with push pins? Rehung with screws in the studs, thank you very much. I even dusted. Me. Kids rooms, done. All those little things they ferret away and hide like little squirrels preparing for winter taken care of. I even started on my pictures. My pictures are now all organized chronologically or in the case of our Studio pics in an album all in sleeves dated and within easy reach. I even put Dan's missions pictures in a tu//pperware drawer ready for him to organize when he gets home. The garage, I can park the car in it now, and I do. And my manic energy isn't gone or wasted, so far I have hit the gym or worked out four times this week. One day I went hiking instead of going to the gym. I am a little sore though.

I am pushing myself into bed by 10:30 so I can start to get on a normal sleep pattern. My hardest thing with Dan gone is going to bed by myself. I stay in the basement watching TV until I just fall asleep or realize how bad I am going to hate life tomorrow unless I go to bed now and it could be 1am.

So wish me luck for this Saturday, as of right now I have no idea what I am going to do with eight hours to myself. I think I'll try to hit the temple. Its so crazy, eight hours.

One last thing, I wanted to share my pain of this new computer by inserting those // every time you saw one of those was every time I accidentally touched the mouse pad with one of my thumbs and it caused the cursor to move somewhere else in the post. So I would have to stop and search for where the mysterious cursor had gone and fix all the typing I had continued to do and move it back down and start again. And I am getting much better and keeping my hands up than I used to. So much so that my elbows hurt now. I like having a laptop but that mouse pad, which I never use by the way, it slowly driving me crazy.

I think the post is long enough now, to find out how many of you truly love me to read the whole thing.