Wordless Wednesday

Happy Day

Today my hubs came home from EMV (Enhanced Mohave Viper) training. Almost 5 weeks in the unforgiving California desert. He is none the less for wear..about 14 pounds lighter (I need EMV..forget weight watchers) and reeking like a body that hasn't seen much water in 5 weeks..but looking yum, yum delicious. It's a grim reminder that shortly he will be gone for a long time, to points much less friendly then the California desert..but he is trained, with the best in the Marine Corps and I am comfortable in knowing these last weeks have again prepared him for hell. It is hell for us all but let's be realistic. Those that wear the uniform bear the heaviest burden. You will never see me sporting the bumper sticker, Marine Corps Spouse, the toughest job in the Corps. Although it is cute, it is very far from the truth. After many deployments and hardships on my hubs part, I look at him renewed as my hero..as my husband and as an upright man. I sleep at night knowing he's out there for me, for you, for us. He is many in number and I sleep well. Thank you Greg...for everything. I love you.

Christmas is ON!!!

So today...my son came HOME. I say home because he is finally home. OK, I think some need a back story. My son is a military brat, through and through. Some may say he is a "Global Nomad" having lived on 4 continents before the age of 12 I believe the definition is. It was probably the best thing we ever did for our son. To expose him to different cultures. From the Asian perfection, to the Spanish flair to the extreme poverty of living in West Africa where rich is defined in family values and not superficial things. He has seen a lot in his 18 years. For my long time followers you know my son is a Midshipmen at ASU in ROTC Marine Option. He finished his freshmen first semester (the killer) with a 3.95 and as #1 Ranked Midshipmen, he busted his arse for that, and it was no small feat, trust me. Imagine college with 18 credits along with 0600 PFT every Monday, Wednesday and Friday with 60 motivated Midshipmen all wanting to be the best, and our son was. I can't tell you what a sense of pride that is. While all the other were telling the SNSI (Senior Naval Instructor) they wanted to fly planes, they wanted to be Seals, they wanted fixed wing...my son was saying "I want to be a Marine" ...we are proud. It does help on the rare occassion he gets to come home he gets to train with his dad and the best Grunts in the Marine Corps...Shout out to the Darkside! But he is so self determined and motivated. A son, a sense of pride, that everything he has accomplished that has come hard won. His father and I are so proud. But ok, enough of the mushy stuff our boy is home for Christmas. He went to North Carolina first, he wanted to go to what he thought was home...we moved the day after he graduated high school and he felt like it was his home and he had to go there ... we didn't want him too but we knew he needed too. He stayed with his best friend in High school and his parents, they were awesome to him, he visited friends and went to his old JROTC and he came to the conclusion he wasn't home, that he wanted to be with us. His mom, his dad and his dog. That was were his heart was.....and I hoped that would happen and it did. He is truly a Marine Brat and a future Marine Officer that gets, Home is where the Marine Corps sends you. I am looking at his sweet face right now, feeling so content as he sleeps in our new home, but our home none the less. My Christmas gift wrapped in a 6 foot 2 package with ginger hair and the sweetest face I ever seen. He has more muscle, more confidence and he is just as amazing as the day he was born. Not my baby to the world but to me always my baby...welcome home son, and Merry Christmas. We love you and we have missed you.

30 Days of Me

Someone sent me this on Facebook and I thought I would share. I think it is a cute idea, sorry if it gets old, but I am in!! So I will have a new post day 1 thru 30 and I can't wait to answer all the fun questions.. If you would like to join along please feel free to do so.

30 Days of ME!

Day 1: Your favorite song

Today that song would have to be Pomp and Circumstance because I finally walked at my graduation. OK technically it's a march but it is a song to me, today. It was hot and sticky but I am happy I did it (not graduate but actually go to the commencement)My hubs was the one that wanted me to do it so I caved and I am happy that I did. Also I scored a sweet pair of diamond earrings I have been wanting for about 16 years and he got them for me!! I feel pretty special today, not because of the earrings, but because I have a husband that always supports me and inspires me and a son that is my personal cheerleader every step of the way. I also had tons of encouragement from the milspouse community on twitter and facebook. Thank you for all those, "yes, you can!" words of encouragement when I was about to lose my mind in Math class...you guys rock! I am a lucky woman.

Happy Mothers Day

Today I would like to say "Happy Mother's Day" to all my friends who know what it's like to walk around with your heart on the outside of your body. That precious child or children that from the moment they came into your life have changed you forever. I am about to be an "empty nester" and honestly I am struggling with it a bit. I am aware that they reality of it may or may not be as bad as I imagine but I will undoubtedly find out in several months. I have heard a saying that goes, "teenagers are designed to be such a pain so when they leave you are happy." Well my son missed the memo, and even though he has his teenage moments the other 95%of the time he is a joy and fun to be around.
I would like to also like to recognize all the Gold Star wives and mothers that have sacrificed so much through the loss of their hero, we salute you as well today.

Happy Mothers Day

Pics of Our Fur Babies

I was messing with my camera and got what I thought were a few really good pics of our fur kids. My lab had a tumor behind his eye when he was a pup and it caused some nerve damage when it was removed. We still think he is amazing..


This is Shin Tetsu. We named him after my husbands Japanese Karate Sensi. It was hilarious when we were in West Africa and we called him "Shin" because "chien" in French means dog. Shin is from Madrid, Spain.


This is "Chicks". His full name is "Chickity China the Chinese Chicken" I know right! Of course he is named after the Bare Naked Ladies song that was really popular when we got him. We call him "Chicks" for short. Chicks is from Okinawa, Japan

Thankful Thursday

Sometimes in life things don't actually go your way, and I get that. For those of you that are interested, as I blogged recently our house is under contract. Well recent events have led us to believe that the contract may be voided due to poor preperation on part of the buyers realtor and inaction by the buyer herself. It is a long and complicated story and I really don't want to bother you all with the details but I can tell you by tomorrow we should hopefully have closure on this one way or the other.
So of course this is really stressing me out but I decided to try to focus on the things that are really good in our life, and there is a lot we are happy about. We have a great kid, he's pulling straight A's in his Senior year, he was picked as an outstanding Senior (20 out of about 200 students) and there seems to be no signs of senioritis setting in. We were able to get the whole G.I. Bill fiasco fixed so all of hubs benefits were indeed transferred over and that took a huge weight off our shoulders.
When we initially entered this contract we entertained the initial request of being out of the house by 1 April (today). In order to do that we would have had to sign a 3 month lease at an apartment where we were going to live until PCS time. I think it was smart to wait, and now because of that decision we really have no financial obilgations incurred from the contract if it were to be voided. We did have the inspections but they were all at the buyers expense and we did spend some money correcting some things but those things would have been identified regardless and now if the contract falls through we will have a much better inspection on next go round.
We are really lucky in so many ways so to spend too much time feeling sorry for ourselves is silly I think it would be better to focus on these great things and we have a lot..we are happy, I have a husband that I love more today than I did over 16 years ago when we decided to really do this life together..as a team and we do it well.
Also, before I go..we have a secret to a very happy life..and that is this;
Only one of us gets to be crazy at a time...
Thanks to all that support us everyday and send good thoughts our way. I will surely let you all know how this all turns out..
stay tuned