New Friends

Last week, I told you that Matt and I were going south to the hometown of a fallen hero and friend from his unit. His friend, Dave, from Philly got to our house Wednesday afternoon. We grilled out Wednesday night and caught up with him.

Thursday morning, we left and headed south. (And by south, I mean "the south".) We got there around 1 ish. We went to the cemetery and found Rickey's grave. It was really nice, for a grave. He had a black lab for years and even had the dog's picture tattooed on him. There was a black lab statue on his grave, a big lighted American flag, and a picture of him hunting with his dog.

We decided to find a local watering hole and have a drink. We found one. It was the biggest dump I've ever been too. And I'm not even stretching the truth. But that's a whole other story. There was a picture of Rickey in the bar.

Matt had been to his house before and after a bit of searching we found his house. Matt and Dave went up to the door and his dad came to the door. Looked just like him, except older. His dad invited us in and we sat around and talked for awhile.

When his mom got home, they called up Rickey's brother, sister, and a couple aunts and told them to meet us at the local restaurant. Before we went to eat, his dad showed us all of Rickey's toys and his own toys. They haven't sold any of Rickey's toys. His mom and dad drove us around town and showed us all the places Rickey hung out and the veteran's memorial in town, where there is a bench with his name on it.

After our tour of the little town, we went to eat with them. Everyone ordered a pepper steak sandwich so we all did too. Let me just say, I'm not cut out for life in the south. This was the biggest sandwich I've ever seen. His sister said just to dig right in. His parents refused to let us pay for ours, let alone theirs.

When we were leaving they told us how much they appreciated us coming and that no one else from the Army had ever been to see them. His mom said that her birthday was Saturday and that we were the best thing she could have asked for. We thanked them for there hospitality. It was true southern hospitality. I never really knew what that meant before. But I do now.

Friday, when we got home we ordered some flowers to be sent to his mom for her birthday. She has since emailed us and thanked us for the flowers and again for coming and told us how much it meant to her. They want us to come back down and stay for at least a weekend.

We plan on going back again sometime before the summer is over. I couldn't imagine meeting any nicer people than Rickey's family and I don't believe that we will ever lose touch with them.

Button and a Fabulous Giveaway!

Last week Mrs. Gambizzle at Life as a Sailor's Girl made me this awesome button. I always wanted a button and she was generous enough to spend her time making me one. Thanks again!

So, grab my button and let me know and I'll grab yours.


<center><a href="www.imwatchingairplanes.blogspot.com"><img border="0" src="http://i750.photobucket.com/albums/xx142/MrsGambizzle/Buttons/Airplanesbtn.png" /></a></center>

I hope I did that right. I'm semi-button challenged.


She is also doing a giveaway for a free blog make-over. I do love my layout now but sometimes change is good. I really want to win. If you want to help me stop by here and tell her I sent you. If you don't follow her already, you are missing out. She has the cutest pups and as I already mentioned, she is super generous.

It's my Friday

That's right. Today is my Friday. Matt and I are both taking off work tomorrow and Friday. A friend of Matt's from his unit at Ft. Lewis is coming to town. He's no longer in the Army and is from Philly. He's driving 12-14 hours to come here and then tomorrow, the three of us are driving 4 hours to southern Missouri to the hometown of another guy from their unit.

The guy from Missouri, Rickey, was killed in Iraq at the age of 21. I know Matt misses him and I'm not sure how he feels about not being about to go to his funeral or never visiting his grave but I'm glad we are going.

Rickey and Matt drove from Seattle to Missouri once together and Matt met his parents. They hung out a lot before they were deployed. I met Rickey a few times when I would go to out to visit Matt. He was a heck of a guy. He was funny and caring and someone that everyone wanted to be around. He's was one of those people that was friends with everyone.

I'll be working Friday night at the bar, camping Saturday, and most likely laying in the pool on Sunday so, I hope you all have a great weekend.

Weekend = Busy + Hot

Friday it was ridiculously hot. After work I went grocery shopping and whatnot. Matt mowed the yard. There was a high school state finals rodeo across the street from our house at the fairgrounds. We planned on going to the rodeo all week, just because it's just across the street and it's something to do and Matt really wanted a corndog. It started at 7. We sat in the house for awhile and finally worked up the courage/stupidity to go.

So we went to the rodeo, and had to do nothing more than sit to work up a sweat. The rodeo sucked. It took place Thursday, Friday, Saturday morning, and Saturday evening. Each time they did EVERY event. We were there for two hours and saw more roping events than I care to mention, some steer wrestling, and some pole-bending. Each event had at least 20 people in it, so it took forever. We did see the rodeo clown have a bunch of kids take one shoe off, go to the other end of the arena, roll around in the dirt, and then go find their show. That was probably the best part. Oh and Matt got his corndog.

Which brings me to something I want your opinion on. I love animals. I'm not involved with an activist groups or anything like that, although I don't have a problem with anyone that is. I do eat meat. But, I just think it's cruel to rope baby calves, twist a steers neck until it falls over, and to throw a goat to the ground that is tied up and can't even run. What a shitty life it must be to be a goat that gets thrown around in rodeos every weekend. What do you think?

After, I was traumatized we left the rodeo, we had a few friends over to drink some beer in the yard. Then it started raining and we moved to the garage. It was a great time!

Saturday we took care of the pool. We got three tractor scoops of dirt and one of sand, leveled the ground out, and put the pool back up. We did all of this by 3. It was hot. Real hot. And it was muddy from the night before. Whatever, it's done now and it's level. Then Saturday evening, we went to mom and dad's for dinner for my birthday and Father's Day.

Yesterday, I worked at the VFW from noon to six. Matt and I went in early to clean the floors in the bar. I told the boss about two weeks ago we were going to do this. We got there at like 11. Matt left and took the mats behind the bar to the carwash. I was sweeping the floor when I heard someone yelling in the back room but I couldn't hear what they were saying. By the time I got there, I heard them yell, "Anyone here." I walked around the corner and it was the biggest cop I've seen in my life. He was all, "What are you doing here." And I was like, "Sweeping the floor." I told him that we opened in 15 minutes (at this point). He said, "Come outside with me." (all dickhead like). I went outside with him and across the parking lot was the manager. The cop asked her if she knew me and she said yes (thank god).

Apparently, someone idiot tried breaking in there last week. When she got there to count the money and whatnot, she noticed both doors were unlocked and she freaked out. She thought my car was just some drunk's car from the night before. Since I haven't worked there that long, she didn't know my car. She knows it now and she knows Matt's truck. So, hopefully I won't be getting the cops called on me there anymore.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Pool

When we put the pool up a couple weeks ago, it was a tad not level. (Apparently, unlevel is not a word? It should be.) Over the last couple weeks, it settled more and more and became even more unlevel. Then it rained like hell everyday for a week or so, which made it even worse.

Last night, I was going to clean the pool out. When I got in it, I noticed that the ladder wasn't touching the ground. Sometimes I don't have the most common sense and I couldn't figure out why. I was using the vacuum thing on it and scooping leaves out with the net. Matt came home and I told him about the ladder. He told me that it was because two of the poles on the high end weren't touching the ground. Fuck

So after a bunch of what if's and we could's and we are idiots, we decided to drain the pool. This morning it was half empty or half full, depending on how you want to look at it.

I've already figured out where we can get some dirt tomorrow. So tomorrow we are going to get a truck load of dirt, try to level out the area where the pool goes, and fill it back up. I don't even care how much the water bill is. It's worth it.

I'm sure it will be like 105 degrees tomorrow when we are doing all this.

I linked up with Mimi @ Living In France for F Bomb Friday today. :)

It's my Birthday...

This is what sucks about being a grown-up. Yes it is my birthday and guess where I am. Work. Stuck in my cube. For 8 long hours. I should have took the day off.

I hate when my birthday is smack dab in the middle of the week. I haven't got pumped about it this year. I'm 29.

Matt is taking me out to eat tonight and the pups promised they would be good all day and night. Besides that it's just another day. We might build a fire in the yard and have some friends over Friday night. And Saturday night we are going to my parents for dinner.

I'm just glad to have Matt home with me. I don't need much else.

Awards!

Over the last month or so I have received a couple of new awards. I apologize if someone gave me one and I'm missing it here. My mental notes are not always 100% reliable.

This first one comes from Katie at the Adventures of Katie and Josh. I love Katie's blog. If you don't follow her you should definitely go check it out.


For this one I am to simply pass it along to seven other beautiful blogs.

So in no particular order:

1. Whitney @ Everything Happens for a Reason
2. Nicole @ Flip Flops and Combat Boots
3. Mrs S. @ The Adventures of Mr. Superman and Mrs. S.
4. Ines @ The Few, The Proud, The Wife
5. Kate @ Sometimes Life is Messy
6. L.C. @ Faith & Deployments
7. Jessica @ Learning As We Go

This award also came from Katie.

The rule for this one is to pass it along to at least five other blogs and explain why.

1. Missy @ Everything But the Kitchen Sink because I think she fell off the face of the blogosphere and I miss her.
2. Rose @ Desert Rose Moments also because she has disappeared and I miss her.
3. Mrs.B @ FromOurPlaceToYours because she once called me "young" and "inspiring".
4. Random Musings of My Life because she is one of the most generous, thoughtful bloggers I follow.
5. Shayla @ Sunshine and Sprinkles because she always leaves comments that make me smile.


I received this award from Inis at The Few, The Proud, The Wife and from L.C. at Faith & Deployments.
For this one, I am supposed to share 7 things about myself.

1. I am in love with our pool.
2. I'm not really a "people person".
3. I'm loving my online class.
4. I don't care about using commas correctly or at all in my blog.
5. Word verification annoys me.
6. My eyes are blue but the right one is about 1/3 green.
7. Our camper might be the best investment we've made.

And the pass it along to 15 other blogs. Yeah, I'm too lazy for 15. How about 5?

1. Jessie @ What You Wish For
2. Jordan @ Southern Hospitality
3. Frugalista @ Frugalista Getting Married
4. A Lady in Waiting @ A True Long Distance Relationship
5. Alicia @ The "D" Word

Thank you all for the awards!

Hope everyone had a great weekend and has a great week!

Our boys

First of all, Ozzy is better. His stomach issues are all better. He was such a good boy with his medicine. We wrapped the pill in a piece of lunch meat and he gobbled it down every time.


The boys are going to the groomer today at 2:30. My mom drops them off along with her dog. Vinnie has to go get his 3 month shots at 4:30 and I have to go grocery shopping before I head home. Somehow, I have to pick up Vinnie from the groomer, take him to the vet, meet up with Matt who will have picked up Ozzy from the groomer, and then he will take them home so I can go grocery shopping. I can't imagine running a real kids around all the time. I don't know how you moms do it.

Vinnie has turned into a real brat. He's demolished two rugs, almost chewed through my computer cord, and ate one sandal. Our deck is not fenced in. The fenced in area is to the side of the deck. He has no problem jumping off the deck through the four inch gap in the boards. Matt had to put boards around the bottom of the fence because the little stinker manages to sneak out underneath it. The puppy is absolutely fearless. If Matt or I is outside the fence, he will escape and then run through mud puddles. One morning I had to chase him around with a towel on my head and a swim suit cover-up on (it was the first thing I could find). I'm sure it was quite the sight.

I have taught him how to fetch. That keeps him entertained for hours. I don't ever remember Ozzy being as crazy as Vinnie is. But how could you be mad at this face........

Poor Little Fella

This weekend was drill weekend. Here's the thing, do I miss my husband when he is gone? Yes. Do I sit around and whine about it? No. Do I make the most of the time while he is gone? Yes. Do I somewhat enjoy a little alone time? You bet I do. Next month he has to go to Wisconsin for some kind of training for two weeks.

I got a ton of stuff done this weekend. Laundry, vacuuming, deep cleaning the kitchen and bathrooms, napping, working on my tan, pulling weeds, watering my bushes and plants, playing with the pups.

Speaking of pups, Ozzy had diarrhea this weekend. It started Saturday and I made sure that he was eating and drinking so he wouldn't get dehydrated. He was still active all weekend and didn't act sick. Without going into too many details, I'll tell you that by last night I was beginning to be concerned.

This morning I took him to the vet. He has an inflamed colon, which I guess is quite common in little dogs. I got horse sized pills I have to give him and a syringe full of liquid for a couple days. I'm hoping if I tell him the pills are snacks that he will eat them but I probably won't get that lucky. Poor little fella. I hope it stops soon.

Hope you all have a good week!

Long weekends wear me out!

Over the weekend we went camping. It was supposed to just be Matt and I, my brother and his girlfriend, and my parents. When we got there to set up Thursday night, mom informed me that some of their friends would be there. No biggie. I wasn't in the position to say who could come and who couldn't.

We both worked Friday and went out there after work. Dinner was good and we had a few beers. The pups loved it. They ran like crazy the whole time we were there.

Saturday we went home because Matt had some stuff to do. Mom, my sister, and I laid out in the pool for about 2 hours. When we were done I took a shower and then looked at my legs and thought to myself, what the !#@$!@#. My legs were burnt. Bad. Saturday evening we went back to the campground and I was miserable. The pups were still having a good ole time though.

We had not really planned on staying Sunday but Mom and Dad decided to and so did my brother. Sunday when I woke up, I was sunburnt fried, dehydrated, slightly hungover, and ready to go home. Not to mention, it was unbearably hot. Matt wanted to stay so I told him to bring me and the pups home. I slept on the couch most of the day/night with the pups.

My legs are better now. They didn't peel or anything. Probably because I put a ton of lotion on them. Oh well, now I'm set to tan the rest of the summer.

This weekend is drill weekend. Sometimes I enjoy the alone time. He'll only be a text message or phone call away so I don't get too worked up about it.

And my summer class starts next week. Thankfully, it's just an online class so hopefully it won't be too bad.

Hope you are all having a good week!