last day

I joked to Yago yesterday that today was my last day of "summer vacation" because I start working half days tomorrow. I tried on my new ABU pants this morning and they seem to fit okay. I was worried because when they came in last year they tight. Maybe it'll keep me from buying my two bags of Fritos in the afternoon... it became my habit last year.

I also looked at the new PFT requirements, it's going to kick my butt. They changed how they score: the run is 60%, body composition 20%, push-ups 10%, and sit-ups 10%. The age groups don't go in five year increments anymore either: under 30, 30-39, 40-49, etc. That stinks. Also, to max out push-ups I have to do 46. Last year I maxed out at 30 and it about killed me! 46? What girl can do 46 push-ups? I haven't met her. Ever. I'll try timing my run on Saturday but it'll be less than stellar, I've never been very quick.

Boot camp is going great, I wish I knew someone around here that could go with me. Chas is bringing in a camera crew in a couple of weeks to film us. Eww. Who wants to see me at 0600 sweaty with no makeup and unwashed hair? Yago doesn't even want to see that!

Tonight Yago and I are sitting down for our annual budget review. Isn't that funny? He cracks me up. Of course our fiscal year is that same at the military fiscal year. He really is funny.

two thumbs up

That's what I give the movie Eragon for nap quality. Man, that's a great movie to fall asleep to. Schmitty's tried a couple of times to watch it with me but I can't resist the sleepy feeling. Luckily a couple of neighborhood kids stopped by as I was slipping away...

Schmitty's friend from last year was supposed to spend the night tonight but it hasn't worked out. The kid called a couple of weeks ago and asked if he could spend the night, I said I'd pick him up from school on the 25th. Never heard anything from the mother and when I tried to call his new school they didn't have classes today. All the phone numbers I could find have been disconnected so I guess that's that.

We had parent-teacher conferences today, they went well. I took the kids to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, I always forget how expensive it is. Almost $40 including the tip for one adult and two kids, and I ate an appetizer with water to drink. (Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps) I wanted to eat something that wouldn't be too bad for me or my diet.

I start working next week, from about 1030 - 1430. We'll see how that goes, it's hard to believe the new fiscal year is already starting.

I need to get started on the pizza for tonight. I'm making arugula, prosciutto and artichoke pizza (pepperoni for the boys).

my butt

I got my butt kicked at bootcamp this morning. I'm liking it though. It's more interesting than getting on the treadmill downstairs but not as economically sound. At the end of today's session we were told the goal was for everyone to finish the six-week session. Usually there are one or two dropouts. I was thinking, "There's no way Yago would let me drop out after plunking down the money." Not that I want to but it still amused me to think about coming home and telling Yago that I didn't feel like going anymore.

Schmitty's having a tough time with the retainer. It's making his teeth hurt but after just two days you can see a dramatic difference in his gap. He's really not happy with it though. I feel bad for him but it's hard to be sympathetic when he's so darn grumpy! I think I managed to cheer him up this morning.

library

Today Ralphie and I took a trip to the library, actually libraries. I was looking for a book that was recommended at boot camp this morning.

Leaving the base library I was surprised to hear a guy yelling on his cell phone outside. I thought I was going to hear a juicy argument but after a couple of seconds I quickly ascertained he was talking about Kanye and Taylor (and Beyonce). Too funny. This guy was either a contractor or gov't civilian and my age or older. He was dressed in Dockers and a dress shirt yelling about how Kanye had a point. (oh, and he was white) "How can Beyonce win Best Video of the Year and Taylor Swift win Female Video of the Year? It doesn't make any sense!" Too too funny, but I think I already said that.

poor guy

My poor, poor, little guy had two teeth pulled yesterday. They weren't decayed or anything, they were taken out so his adult teeth would come in straighter and not crowd his existing adult teeth.

Yesterday afternoon I felt awful for him. My stomach was seriously in knots on the way home. Just looking at his face. He wasn't crying but I wished he'd cry, it was sadder to see trying to hold it together. He dripped blood on his white uniform shirt after he saturated his gauze.

I'm not sure what's going on lately but I feel like I'm going a little stir-crazy. I want to volunteer here and there but it's too hard with Ralphie. I need to find a mommy and me class or something. Unfortunately, it'll pass soon because I'll begin working in about three weeks. That'll probably satiate my need to go out and do something.

inadvertent farm

We have a small crop growing in our backyard, accidentally. We have a compost bin that we put all our food trash in, not including meat, out by our fence. A few weeks ago we noticed some sprouts from discarded seeds. We waited to see what all it was, it could have been almost anything.

We identified roma tomatoes but still didn't know what the other plants were. Today I discovered several melons! Some of them are quite large and many of them grew through the fence in our neighbor's yard!

yay!

We've had three poops on the potty in two days! Amazing to me, inane to my friends without children...

why

Why am I listening to Hannity? Ick. Because I'm too lazy to get up and turn off the radio.

I'm disappointed in the lack of momentum on h/c. What is all the nonsense people are talking about? I'm really (really) not understanding the fear and opposition. How is the argument that the free market works even made with a straight face? It's all very discouraging.

And? Sam didn't watch the presidential address at school. I thought the school had more sense than that. I thought we'd get more sense than that when we decided to send him to an independent school and not a catholic school.

new home

It's nearly 4:00 am and I just finished cleaning a bunch of dog poo. She barked to wake me to take her out to pee but apparently only after she soiled the rug. Did I mention she puked in my car this morning?

sorry snoop, i'm not pimpin'

So I got a tweet for an opportunity to win a free 6-wk session of bootcamp worth $175. I'm planning on signing up for it anyway and when I saw I could win it for free I was definitely interested. Then I saw what you have to do. You have to make the most "noise" on facebook and twitter. I considered for a moment. It seemed a little nebulous. What counts as noise? I don't have a lot of Twitter or FB followers, does it go by how many people you reach or how many times you post nonsense? Or a combination?

When I read on I found out it's not even making noise for the bootcamp, I have to make noise for omaha coupons. (which I suppose I'm inadvertently doing now) That's just a little too lame. Even for me.

early awkward

So Schmitty will be hitting his awkward stage early! He's getting glasses and a retainer! He also has to have a couple of teeth pulled next week. The tooth extractions are just to ensure his adult teeth come in properly...

I think I'm going to the library tomorrow for dog training and potty training books. (not a dog potty training book) The Frog has been driving me and the kids crazy. I can't take much more... I was ready to call The Humane Society yesterday. Really.

I had something interesting to write about earlier but it's escaped me... Sorry.

no in-between

I went to the portal training at Schmitty's school yesterday. I kind of hate doing stuff there. I was the only one who brought a kid, I guess everyone else has nannies or sitters. It was Ralphie and me, I spent a lot of the time trying to get him to stop jingling my keys.

All the other mothers are about 110 lbs, perfect blond hair, and golden tans. It's disgusting really. They all sat together catching up on god knows what. I sat in the back so I could make a quick exit if Ralphie got too rambunctious. Two women sat behind me speaking what I assume was Hindi.

We went to the picnic after school for bbq beef sandwiches and chips. We sat with a couple other boys from Schmitty's class. The mother finished her sandwich and then asked if I'd mind watching her purse while she talked to someone else. Really? sigh

school's in

We had a busy weekend, well a busy Saturday at least. We got up early for the airshow and then had some neighbors over in the evening. I'm not very good at entertaining because I'm too self-conscious. Yago came home early from the base and cleaned the house, bought the food, got the beer cold so everything was taken care of by the time I got home. He's cool like that.

Neighbors A and Neighbors B came over and met each other, it went really well. So well that I was hungover Sunday, that wasn't great. I made pomegranate martinis...

Today was Schmitty's first day of fourth grade... The teacher mailed the parents questionares a couple of weeks ago, she also had questionnares for the kids to fill out this morning. That's one curious teacher. She had the kids prioritize their favorite subjects, Schmitty flew through it. He was on number eight when I pointed out he hadn't marked recess yet. "Oops."

what was i thinking

I'm dreading this weekend. We overbooked ourselves. Maybe I'm making too much of it. But still, I can't wait for it to be over.

20/20

Hindsight... I just connected with someone from high school on FB. We weren't great friends, I don't remember ever hanging out with her but whatever. (Yago has more friends than I do, I'm not about to turn down a solicitation.)

Anyway, this "friend" has a bunch of pictures from high school posted. Again, she's partying with people I knew but never hung out with. ...Mostly because they wouldn't give me the time of day. After looking at those pictures I'm wondering what I found so darn intimidating about those people. Seriously. It's ridiculous. I remember them all being cool and good-looking but that is not evidenced in the photos.

And Schmitty, give me a break will ya? I took him for an annual physical yesterday to find out he can't see out of his right eye. (He's blinder than a Cyclops with an eye patch.) Now I have an appt with an optometrist tomorrow. Today was the dentist and she recommended an orthodontist and possible tooth extraction. So next week an appt with the orthodontist and the following week back to the dentist. It's a full time job with him lately! (Not to mention a paycheck! Glasses and braces?)

thank you

I would like to thank Herman Melville for helping me go to bed early every night, not like that Wally Lamb bastard. Wally kept me up for hours wanting to know more.

I quit reading Moby Dick quite a while ago when he started explaining ad nauseam all the different types of whales, insisting they were fish not mammals. I couldn't take anymore and picked up a couple of different books instead. Now I'm back to Moby Dick and finding it more difficult than ever to continue. The sentences go on forever, to the point that I get bored trying to figure out what he's referring to anymore. I'll finish it but probably not before 2011. (I started it in 2008.)

i'm learning lots

Holy crap!!! Hannity just told me there's a VA Death Book!!! Shit!! I'm a vet, I had no idea I was about to be euthanized!! Page 21 says I have to sign saying my life's not worth living. I think he also just called me old.

my mind can't take it

Sean Hannity is mocking Obama for referencing the Bible. What??? After Bush? Really? Of course now he's bringing up Reverend Wright. ???? This is all because Obama said the right was bearing false witness... He just said the Senate is dropping the "death panel" from the bill; thereby admitting there were death panels! Arghhh!!! I can't take it!

passing by

After the tour Jess and I had a conversation about momentarily wishing we were back in the AF. There was a point in the Senior Scout tour that made us want to jump back in to our flight suits and fly a mission. What they're doing now sounds like so much fun.

FB kind of does the same thing for me sometimes. Everyone moves on but it makes me nostalgic for days when we all hung out in DOT and spoofed for sodas. There were people in the squadron that really made work fun. So many people that I wish I'd gotten to know better too. In some ways it feels like a lifetime ago.

event

I went to the much-discussed reunion. It turned out so much better than I thought it would I can't even express. The only thing that didn't turn out well was my daycare plan, but I digress.

I was nervous about seeing everyone but it was a very friendly atmosphere. It was nice to see people that I hadn't seen in ten years. We toured the RJ and Senior Scout then had a burger burn at the squadron. We sat around and caught up on who got married and how many kids we had. Ted has three boys? Wow.

Then we went to the Det. Det? There wasn't a Det when I was there. That was where we did the dedication and it was SOOO good. I can't overstate how good it was. Tyler got up and talked about Shane, his voice cracked a bit. Hearing Tyler talk about Shane while looking at Tony, Ted, and Scott sitting in front of me was hard because I knew that Shane would have been sitting with them. He introduced Ted and that was very touching also.

I didn't take any pictures, I knew I wouldn't be allowed to take it anywhere. That's disappointing but I'm extremely happy I went.

Oh. And I got to hang out with Jessica. She got to meet Yago and the kids, that's always fun.