Random Stuff

Things have been pretty crazy around our house lately. Most of the weekend we spent working on putting up a chain link fence in the backyard. Dad came over Friday evening and he and Matt finished digging and putting up the poles. Mom and Dad came over Saturday morning and we got it finished (pictures to come). I worked Saturday night. Sunday we stayed home and did home work.

It tough sometimes to find a balance between pissing people off because we have our own things to do and finding time to mingle. Matt's first class is almost over and he has had a ton of homework to get done and tests so we skipped my Reester's birthday party and stayed home and studied and did homework.

The spring semester schedule came out the other day. Now when I try to figure out what I'm going to take, I also have to keep in mind when Matt will be in school, if I'll ever see him, and who will take care of the pups if we are both at class all evening. So mainly, I've been trying to clear my head lately and not stress out.

Last night, I went to a visitation. A very good friend of mine that died when he were in high school's dad died. I met up with some of my old school buddies and went with them. After the visitation, we all went and grabbed a beer together. It's always great to see my old buddies. They are the kind of people that no matter how long we go without seeing each other, it's like we haven't skipped a beat.

I woke up in a good mood today probably because I got to hang with my buddies last night. I got to work and logged into Facebook and saw the creep that I hate more than anyone in the whole world is now on Facebook. It's a sore subject and I'm really not in the mood to talk about it today. Some of you already know and if you don't and want to go here. Facebook is also recommending I become his friend. Umm, F you Facebook and F you creep.

It's weird how the littlest things can trip my trigger sometimes. But, I'm not going to let this ruin my day. Moving on......

We are going to go camping this weekend. This will most likely be our last camping excursion this year and I'm super pumped. We are going with mom and dad. Mom and I are each going to make a big ole pot of soup. The pups are all going to go with us. This will be Miss Princess's first camping trip but I'm positive she will love it. The place where we are camping is pretty close to home which is always nice in case we need to run home for something.

Hope you all have a great week!

Vacation Recap and whatnot

I owe you all a vacation recap. Ya'll know I'm not much of a weekend blogger and things have been crazy for us.

Our vacation started on August 24th at 4:00 p.m. One of our friends that Matt was stationed with at Ft. Lewis started his terminal leave a few days before and drove from the Seattle area to the middle of nowhere Illinois to spend a week with us. Matt left work a little early and when I got home, our friend "B" was there. It was great to see him. Tuesday evening we went to the VFW and drank a few there.

Matt and B when they were in WA.

Wednesday Matt and B went and did boy stuff during the day and I stayed home and did homework. :( Let me backtrack a bit, school started for us this same week so we both had to keep up with our school work while trying to party like rock stars be on vacation. Wednesday evening, Matt had school so me and B took a nap on the couch. Um that sounds weird. On separate couches of course.

Thursday evening we partied like rock stars went to the local watering hole and had a few drinks. And then partied like rock stars relaxed on the deck until the wee hours of the morning.

Friday morning I didn't feel so well. We left around noon to go to Southern Missouri. We went there to visit the family of a friend of Matt and B's that died in Iraq. His name was Rickey. We went there around the end of June too and I wrote about that here.

Friday evening we went out to eat with Rickey's family and went to a very nice Chinese restaurant. The Chinese places around here are shit compared to this place. It was seriously so good and I wasn't afraid that I was eating cat. After we went out to eat we went back to their house and talked and told stories.

We stayed at Rickey's sister's house. Their family was not going to let us get a hotel and told us she had plenty of room for us. It's still hard for me to believe how nice of people they are.

Saturday we went over to his parent's house and had breakfast. His mom made chocolate gravy for breakfast. I had never had it or even heard of it. It was good but I couldn't eat that much of it. It's basically like a runny chocolate pudding that you dip a biscuit in. (So much for my diet).

After breakfast we went 4 wheeler riding with Rickey's dad and sister. It hadn't rained there in like 60 some days so it was extremely dusty but we had a great time. Matt and I rode Rickey's 4 wheeler which was nice. (His parents refuse to sell any of his toys.) Oh and we saw some cotton fields, which I thought was neat.

After the 4 wheeler ride we looked like a bunch of dirt kids and had to go take a shower. Then we went back to Rickey's parents house and they had a party and invited all their family over. They are all such great people and have the biggest hearts ever. His dad made like 70 pounds of chicken wings. They had the best coleslaw I've ever had and a spaghetti salad. I ate way too much.

We did a little drinking at the family function as did some of Rickey's cousins. Before we headed back to his sisters, his mom had some late night munchies with us and we talked and cried and laughed.

It was hard to say good-bye again Sunday morning. Rickey's parents both told us again that they were so glad that we came to visit and that it meant the world to them.

Sunday evening when we got home, we loaded up the camper and the dogs and went camping. We camped Sunday and Monday night in a small campground close to our house. The boys loved it. Matt had school Monday evening and I had school Tuesday morning.

Tuesday I did 6 loads of laundry. Wednesday we came back to work and B continued on his "roadtrip across the country".

Sorry for the lack of pictures, I suck at taking pictures.

All in all, vacation was great!

A guest blog from Mimi

Today's guest post is from the lovely Mimi @ Living in France. Check her blog out. She literally has me laughing out loud at every one of her posts. Thanks again Mimi!

-----------------


Hi Everyone!!
I'm so excited to be posting for Steph today!
Can you believe the little brat is actually on vacation? Wait. You don't know what vacation is? Neither do I!
I certainly haven't had one in the last eight years or so.
Not that I'm counting.
I have a vague memory as to what a vacation is...it seems like it was something that I did with my husband about once a year...? And maybe we went somewhere that isn't like the place that we live? We also relaxed a lot?
I don't know. Eight years is a long time.
Not that I'm counting.
Wait.
It's coming back to me now.
We did, indeed, have vacation! You know...once upon a time.
And now that I think about it, it was before two different things happened to me.
The first thing?
I had babies.
Second?
I got old.
Eight years ago, I was young. Eight long years.
Not that I'm counting.
You may wonder why a person who has kids can't go on vacation.
It's simple really. You can go on a vacation. You can go to all kinds of neat places. Have lots of fun.
But at the end of the day, if you've had to referee a fight between the kids, wipe a poopy butt, or utter the words, "If you make that sound one more time I'm gonna 'fill in the blank with whatever it is you wanna threaten em with at that moment,' then you really haven't been on a vacation.
Think about it. A poopy butt is a poopy butt no matter if you are at home or at Disneyland. Even though Disneyland is pretty fun. At least as I recall. I haven't been on vacation in eight years.
Not that I'm counting.
And when you find yourself telling your child, "You are so ungrateful. My parents never took me to 'fill in the blank with whatever place they really want to go to at this moment.' I think you're just spoiled. Back when I was a kid, we didn't have 'fill in the blank with whatever crap you didn't have when you were a kid.'"
Well, you know what it means when you find yourself spewing that stuff. That's when you know you're old.
And that it's time for a vacation.
Because you haven't had one in eight years.
Not that I'm counting.

Thanks, Steph, for having me! Hope you have a great vacation!!
I haven't had one in eight years!
Not that I'm counting.

Blast from the past.

Today I was listening to a song that I used to play with my cousin's band. His band would let me play a song with them at most of their gigs. Playing with them was one of the most awesome things I've done. I would get such an adrenaline rush right before and during the song. These pictures are all from 2005ish. Enjoy!

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.

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 Recap

This past weekend we went to the fairground for a concert. The concert started at 2 pm. It was so hot and the sun was beating down but it actually felt nice, to me. We brought the camper to the concert even though we live less than half a mile away. My brother and his girlfriend stayed in his camper and we had several other friends show up.

The concert was awesome. There weren't very many people at the concert (as in less than 200) so it was easy to get a good view of the stage. We went to do three things: watch Back Porch Mary, drink some beer, and get a Back Porch Mary t-shirt, as they are not available online. We succeeded in all three.



I'm not sure if any of you have ever heard of or listened to Back Porch Mary. I did a "What's on my iPod?" and featured them here. They put on an amazing show and are one of the few REAL bands of musicians I have had the pleasure of seeing lately. I was even more impressed with their performance this time, than the first time I saw them.



The last band to play that night was Jason Boland in the Stragglers. My husband really digs them. They are good but maybe a little slow for my taste. I would have rather seen them earlier in the day.

All in all, it was a great time and I'm hoping this concert happens again next year.

Sunday morning we woke up in the camper and were sweating our asses off. The air conditioner had broke and it was the hottest day of the year, thus far. We were probably still legally intoxicated had to abandon ship and go home. We went back and got the camper once we had recovered from the insane amount of alcohol we had drank the day before heat exhaustion.

No worries, we got a new AC last night for a hundred bucks and my dad is putting it in tomorrow night. While we were at Wal-Mart, we also picked up one of these:

I anticipate doing a lot of this, this summer:

Hope you all had a great week!

What a weekend!

When I got home Friday from work, little Vinnie had escaped from his pen in the garage and had made himself comfortable in the house. But how can I be mad at this face?

Friday evening we got some stuff done around the house. I finally took all my plants outside and was able to put the furniture back to how we like it. We also fixed little Vinnie's pen so that the little turd can't get out.

I also got some homework done. I can't wait for this semester to be over. I still have 3 test to take, a homework assignment to do, and an assignment to turn in. There is a good possibility that I will get A's in all of my classes so I most likely won't be saying good-bye to my 4.0.

Saturday we had a wedding. We probably stayed out longer than we should have and after dark is a little fuzzy. We had a great time and got to see some of our good friends.

Yesterday we watched the Cardinal's win and did a lot of this:

And today it's back to the grind. Hope you all had a great weekend!

Party Bus!

This past weekend, my husband and I went on our first party bus trip. They are basically old school buses with the seats turned sideways with stripper poles and a stereo system. The idea is to get in the bus with your 30 closest friends and hit up as many bars as you can.

The reason for the celebration was that it was one of our good friend's 30th birthday. I have mentioned before that Matt and I have been friends since the 90's so we pretty much have the same friends. The friend whose birthday it was is also Matt's best friend's brother.

About half of everyone on the bus was a good friend of ours. People that we've been friends with forever. People that we invite to our festivities. People that came to our wedding. It was great to be able hang out with so many of our good friends at once.

It was mostly a bus full of guys with Pantera and System of Down playing. It reminded me of the old days, when none of had responsibilities or kids or mortgages.

We made it to 6 bars and road tripped in the country for awhile. At the end of the night the bus dropped us off at my parent's house. Kinda like when I was little and got off the bus there, except I was drunk and carrying a beer in my hand.

My good friend Al, myself, and the hubs.

Post #99

My next post will be my 100th post. I will be doing a Q & A post. So feel free to ask away. I will wait until Friday to do it.

Thank you for all your kind words and support on my last blog. I appreciate it. And do not regret sharing any of that with you all. Sometimes it feels good just to let it all out.

Matt and I went to Schuetzenfest 2009 on Saturday night. If you aren't from around here it is a German festival that involves drinking beer out of tin buckets, live bands, (even some polka bands), and shooting guns. They used to have shotgun shooting but now it is BB gun shooting. Something about booze and guns not mixing.

Our house is probably about 100 yards from the fairgrounds where this is held. We walked home. This was our first walk home from the fairgrounds. We walked through a bumpy ass field. Next time we will be taking the long way around, as to avoid tripping over the bumps. But it is nice to know that it is a manageable walk.

Yesterday I had one of my good friends bridal showers. I'm not a big fan of any kind of shower but it was a descent time. Good sandwiches and lots of fruit. She lives about 5 hours away but is getting married here, so it was nice to see her.

I have school tonight. I'm trying to stay positive but I'm getting slightly discouraged. I still have to take 5 classes that have nothing to do with my major. My major is Business. Then I want to do something more along the lines of Accounting. I just don't understand why I have to take a music or art class. I do play guitar but I doubt if knowing a few Zeppelin and Black Sabbath riffs will help me out much in a music class.

Anyways, I hope everyone has a good week!!!

To go

I did go out Saturday night.

I did have a very good time.

I did miss my husband like crazy.

I didn't cry.

I did drink entirely too much.

I did get to see a bunch of friends that I haven't seen in awhile.

I did make an ass out of myself at least once.

I don't care about that.

I did behave myself for the most part.

I did dance.

I did feel like garbage all day yesterday.

I didn't spend more than $15 at the bar.

All my friends did buy me shots.

I am glad I only have one birthday each year.

To go or not to go?

I was planning on going out tonight with a few friends and celebrating my birthday. (My birthday was on the 16th, same day as my grandma's visitation, so needless to say it was a sucky day.) The problem is sometimes I don't even really know how or want to have fun without my husband. I have missed him terribly since the minute I left him last.

When I go out and drink, he is all I think about and it just makes me sad. It always seems as if everyone around me has someone, except me. I don't go out often but when I do I always feel bad about it. Matt doesn't care if I go out, as long as I behave and I do.

I'm going to take a nap. Ahhh.... naps :) my favorite part of the weekend. Then I have to go to the shit job and then I guess I'll decide what I am going to do.

Repost

I wrote this for school and posted it a couple months ago. I wanted to re-post for my new blogger friends that are also military wives. Here's to you and me!


This is an essay I wrote for school. It is supposed to be an extended definition essay. I wrote about what a military wife is. Here it is. Let me know what you think.


The Military Wife of Today

There have been many groups of women throughout the history of America that have helped to make this nation the land of the free and the home of the brave. Perhaps, the most overlooked group of influential women throughout the history of our nation has been military wives. As long as there has been military in our country there have been military wives. The military wife of today may have conveniences that make her role easier than ever before however, this does not make her life any more desirable. A military wife must be strong, patient, understanding, and loyal to her husband and her country. She will stop at nothing to make sure her husband is as comfortable and as happy as possible, even when he is thousands of miles away.

In the military, it is not the service member’s choice where they will be stationed or even if they will stay at that duty station throughout their career. A military wife will pack up all she owns to move to a place far away from her friends and family to be with her husband and will possibly do this several times. She will give up everything she knows to spend time with him. Or she will stay at home and wait for him if that is what they believe is best. She will patiently look forward to his return and never question her reasons for entering into such a marriage. Either way, she will do it whatever is best for her family’s future and do it with a smile. She understands that he has to do what he his told and she will never complain about it.

A military wife will deal with her husband’s deployment as a strong brave woman. She will stand next to him, smile, and take pictures with him on the day he leaves. She will never have felt as proud of him than on that day. She will soon fall apart and pick her self up again, repeatedly. A military wife will put her own needs aside to make sure that the package she is sending him makes it to the post office “today”. She will send a package on every birthday, holiday, and two or three between. She will become a professional at packing the comforts of home into an 11-inch by 8.5-inch by 5.5-inch box. She could also pack a bowling ball into the same box if her husband asked her to. The clerk at the post office becomes a friend rather than a stranger due her constantly picking up boxes and dropping off packages.

During deployment a military wife will also check her e-mail between ten and a hundred times a day, just to see if her husband has had time to send her a short message. He usually works between twelve and fifteen hours a day, in a desert and she understands when he doesn’t have time, but she continuously checks anyways. She will sleep with her phone by her side her every night. When a twelve-digit number is calling her phone at four in the morning she does not hesitate to answer because she knows it is her husband calling. She doesn’t get upset when after five minutes on the phone with him the call is disconnected. It can happen repeatedly and she is just happy to have heard his voice and know that he is alive and well.

While he is away a military wife will not hesitate to take over all shared responsibilities. She will mother, cook, clean, do the accounting, and take care of the cars, the lawn, and the pets. Also, she may possibly be working non-stop to help them with their future. She will stay very busy during the day and cry herself to sleep occasionally at night due to the pain missing him has caused. She will worry about him and patiently wait for him until he returns. A military wife will be proud that she can handle everything on her own while he fights for the country they both love.

Not all women are capable of dealing with everything that is involved with being a military wife. The women that can’t live the military life find out shortly after entering into it. Those who can, will do anything it takes to make their marriage stronger than they had ever dreamed of. They will ignore the things others will say such as, “How do you do it” or “My husband went to Europe once on business.” They know that standing behind their husband and his love for his country is their number one priority. A military wife would not change anything about her life except to have the man she loves home more often.

Something I found

Matt and I decided to put some of our stuff into storage until he is done with the army and we get our own place. For the last couple weeks, whenever I get a night off (which has been 3 nights) I have been going through my boxes of junk and throwing stuff away. I literally have enough decorations to fill three houses. Some of it I know I will never use again so I have been throwing it away.

I was going through my cedar chest on Tuesday night and found all sorts of things I have not seen in forever. I found a photo album with lots of OLD pictures from high school. Some were with Dawn. I remembered then what a great friend she always was to me and how I enjoyed the times we spent together.

The best thing I came across was a paper I wrote about 9 years ago when I went to school at Carbondale. The assignment was to write about someone who had made a significant impact in your life. I chose to write about a friend of mine who had passed away a few months earlier, Matt Mader. I remembered awhile back that I had wrote this and even looked for it but I didn't find it until Tuesday night. I read it and re-read it and had tears in my eyes. I have never forgot about Mader and I have never forgotten how much it hurt when he died. I had, however, forgotten some of the specifics of his characteristics and ability to always make his friends feel good.

I will never misplace this paper again. It seemed like it was wrote so eloquently. Now I can barely even spell eloquently without spell check. I remember spending a lot of time on this paper and being very satisfied with the end result.

My class next semester is Comp I and I am hoping that I will be able to write like I used to be able to. I think maybe it is more about finding something that I am passionate to write about rather than just writing about things that don't mean anything to me.

I love you Mader!!! I always have and I always will!!!