The Homecoming

Okay so my husband is officially home! Yeah! He's been home now for about 78 hours and it has been interesting. I guess I'll start with that night...

I was supposed to be at the compound at 0130 and they were going to be arriving shortly there after. Well I know I touched base on the Ombudsman problem... here's where it gets even better... I got my first phone call from her at 0145 standing ten feet away from her in the parking lot! Thank God I was able to find out when the hubby was coming in or I would have been pissed. So in typical military fashion they finally showed up at about 0300. By this time I was tired, my feet hurt from standing and my stress level was through the roof. But when my hubby walked off that bus, it was like Christmas, my birthday, anniversary and pretty much everything good that has ever happened to me rolled up into that moment. Luckily it was pretty much a grab and go, so that was nice. 

So far having him home has been an interesting transition. With a  lot of things we've fallen right back into place with each other. There was none of the awkwardness that I was worried about at all and I think that has a lot to do with the fact that we had really good communication while he was gone. The only snag so far, is that I don't make a grocery list anymore and when we went grocery shopping he got frustrated because  he didn't know what I was doing. Other than that it's been life as normal. Friday afternoon we went shopping and got a new living room couch and had dinner and wine at our friend Andi's house. Saturday we babysat Tarean and did a lot of errands. We also had a small bbq at the house so our close friends could come over and welcome the huby back. OHHH and on Saturday the guy that accused me of cheating called to talk to the hubby which was nice and amusing. He was nice enough to tell all of this to my husband and I won't go over the details, but lets just say he won't ever be calling this house again. Then Sunday we had a nice champagne brunch, did a bit more shopping and went out and shot pool for a bit and then came home and watched tv. All in all it's been a good weekend. The dogs are happy, I'm happy and the hubby's happy. Well tomorrow life goes back to normal. 

Butterflies

It's soon, very, very soon. I have butterflies, I can't think straight and I can't stop moving. Oh is it close. I'm trying to avoid clocks to no avail, the house is clean, and the dogs are brushed. All that's left is a shower, shave, makeup dress. Unfortunately that won't be done until closer to THE TIME. So that gives me about 5 hours of sitting around with the butterflies. Part of me is so so so so excited, another part is nervous, and a very teeny tiny part is kinda sad. It's not a bad sad, just a knowledge that things are going to change, but it is for a good way. I'm nervous about how he's going to be, how the well bedroom gymnastics are going to go, and how we're going to fit. Wow I can't believe the day is finally here. Well wish me luck, I'm going to pinesol the floor a couple more times! 

Planning A Homecoming

The day is almost here and I still can't figure out what to do for a big hoopala for my hubby's homecoming. Don't get me wrong, the house is clean, his bday presents are wrapped, after today Keona will be spayed and Winnie's shots will be up to date, the laundry's done, the reservations for Champagne Brunch are made for a few days after he gets back, but I'm not sure about what to do for the day of. I thought about chapagne or wine, but since we're going to the brunch, that seems kinda impractical. Streamers sounds just too tacky, not to mention I have to clean them up later on. I don't think I'll cook dinner since he said he wanted to go out to eat. He says I don't have to do anything, but that just doesn't seem worth it. Oh well, I'm sure I will figure something to do.

On a fun note, down to counting down on less than a hand and I'm beyond excited to finally get him home. A little anxious, but mostly excited. Looking back the last seven month have flown by, as they dragged on. I've learned a lot about myself during this time, and even more about my marriage and my husband. Only being able to talk has made it so my husband and I have discussed anything and everything. I've also become a stronger person, since I have had to do everything while he was gone. Well it's time to head to the vet. 

Lazy Sunday

So it's kinda weird but a part of  me is kind of going to miss the independence that I've had on this deployment. Don't get me wrong, I love my hubby and am extremely happy for him to come home, it's just that I've gotten used to how things have been. I think this is mostly because on the phone  last night he has already trying to change everything back here and I like how I do a lot of things and I also enjoy doing them myself. I don't know I guess it's just due to pre-homecoming jitters or something. So I'm enjoying my LAST Sunday without the hubby home by relaxing, taking the dog to get spayed and not doing much of anything. Yesterday was nice, I got to take the dogs to the beach and watch Puppet Master on tv. The funny thing about going to the beach is that for living on an island I definitely don't get to the beach very often. I think the last time I went was a month or two ago. Funny how time flies. Well I suppose I better get my day started. 

Truck Repairs

So I'm probably going to put my truck in the shop either today or tomorrow. The guy that hit the pole is getting back today, so hopefully I should be able to get the money from him. It'll be cutting it close for the day that my husband gets home and I may not have it for a day or two after he gets back, but at least it will finally be done. Of course it's going to make things difficult for the last week of getting the dogs to the vet and what not, but I'm sure we'll muddle through it all. On a lighter note, everything else seems to be coming together and I may, for once, have everything completely together. The butterflies in my stomach are a constant reminder of how close everything is getting. I can't wait for that day to get here.

Happy Birthday!!!!

Today is my hubby's 26th birthday. He is officially 26 years old. It sucks though that he isn't home to celebrate it. I have, however, tried to make it as festive as possible. When he called earlier I answered the phone singing Happy Birthday, and he said if I kept singing he was going to hang up on me. Of course I kept singing and he hung up the phone, but no worries he called me right back. I also sent out E-cards and contacted friends to remind them to send out cards. Also I have a champagne brunch planned for when he gets back. It's just another experience of the military life and how to deal with it.

Housekeeping

So having solid tile floor sucks. It's cold, hard, and seems to be constatly dirty. On the same note, it kinda makes me wonder about exactly how much dirt and crap carpeting hides. I wash my floors about once every other day and the water comes back BLACK. That just doesn't seem right. So today is the big go through and clean EVERYTHING day at my house. I have a mild form of OCD (thanks to the hubby), so my house stays pretty clean normally, but this is the toothbrush scrubbing every surface in the house cleaning. Everything's getting placed, dusted, polished, and disinfected. Wish me luck because it's going to be a long day.

Sucky Day

So today I got to run errands, or actually attempt to run errands. I brought the puppies with so that we could go to the park after I got everything done. I was almost to the first place I needed to go and they started puking all over the truck. Woohoo. So I sped down to GCC was told absolutely nothing of importance, other than I wasted my time driving down there, and hightailed it back. Keona managed to somehow projectile vomit down on Winnie and Winnie was drooling so bad she was soaked in it. So my day is pretty much shot. I think I'm going to stay in, finish the laundry, and clean my floors.

Fingers

We're down to counting off of fingers. Yes Fingers! I'm so excited it's unreal. I'm also still busy. I did however get my garden partially done today. About half and then I'm leaving the rest until the husband gets home and making him help me with it. See the problem is there are a lot of rocks in the ground, cement foundation for the house and frankly a lot of digging I don't want to do. The dogs are driving me insane but I've almost got the laundry done. I still have vet appointments, GCC appointment, picking a friend up from the airport and probably dropping him off a day or two later, and the final clean sweeps to do but it's all coming to a close. On a really fun note, the day or two after the hubby gets back, I get my new furniture! I'm so excited! A whole new living room set of my choosing, (with the hubby's approval of course!)! So since it's already a quarter to five, I'm going to wait for this load of laundry to finish, probably swing into a fast food joint to get some dinner, and then grab a book and spend one of the last nights I'll be able to reading without interruption.

Ombudsman/ FRG

So my hubby calls me today and asks me if I have gotten a call recently from the Ombudsman or the woman in charge of the FRG recently. Mind you I have heard nothing from anyone associated with the command except about a month into the deployment, when I got a call to let me know about the Captain's Call. Well apparently the FRG and the Ombudsman made the sign for the guys homecoming the other day. I sure as hell never got a call. Well my husband was kind enough to inform me that only six wives showed up and apparently a bunch of the other guys wives were never notified about it either. So help me God if I don't get a call about the exact date/time/place of my hubby coming home. I will be so pissed if I get a call from him saying hey I'm home where are you. People's heads will ROLL!!!

Close

My hubby's homecoming is so close that the sleepless nights have returned with a vengance. I keep having different versions with the same theme for a nightmare. It all has to do with my fear that something is going to go wrong when he gets home. It probably doesn't help that I haven't heard from him in the last couple of days, so now I'm worried he's mad at me. I'm just so over this and how frustrating it has been. I'm sick of waiting, I'm done being patient, I'm just DONE!!! Add in the fact that before he gets home I have to (take a deep breath...) finish the garden, take the dog to get spayed, pick up a friend from the airport, help put a battery in a car, clean the house, figure out what to cook for the first dinner, clean the truck out, clean the garage, finish all the laundry, wash all the bedding, run around and do all the normal errands, and still find time to breathe. I really didn't think that the hubby coming home would be this nerve wracking.

A Military Wife

I picked this up somewhere... pass it on!!!

I am a military wife.

I love my husband and know that he loves me, but the military comes first and foremeost in our household

I support the President of the United States 100%, even if I don't like some of his ideas, because he is my Commander In Chief too.

I will lie awake in bed long into the night worrying when my husband is deployed.

I will cry at some of the smallest things while he is gone because I miss him.

I refuse to watch the news because it's either a. going to make me mad, or b. worry the hell out of me.

I will always support my husband, no matter where in the world he is.

I will sit by the phone and computer for long hours waiting for that one brief phone call or that one line email, that I will replay over and over again in my head for days or even weeks to come.

I will deal with anything that comes my way with elegance and grace, because that is what is expected of me.

This is my life, and I am proud to say I am a military wife!

Tensions Running High

The past two days have sucked. Everytime my hubby has called we've basically been arguing about stuff. Most of it is stupid stuff and we just got it figured out. A lot of it had to do with the fact that both of our emotions are running extremely high. I'm at the point where I am basically staying at home and trying to get everything just right. I know everyone says that you can't plan the perfect homecoming but I'm going to try my damnedest to make it as close as possible. My hubby on the other hand is still nervous about where he's going to fit in and is wondering about everything (including me) and how things have changed. It doesn't help that now I'm getting a bunch of phonecalls, although by the third or fourth time he calls, (and don't get me wrong I love hearing his voice), but I really don't know that much and we run out of stuff to talk about. I mean seriously, there are only so many rooms in the house and only so many positions in the Kama Sutra ;). I just am worried about how I'm going to react to my husand being in the house everyday, every night, and I know my routine is going to change drastically. I mean how do you get used to living with someone who has been gone for so long. Only military wives have to get used to being with there husbands over and over again. I think civilian wives take their husbands for granted and it's hard not to be jealous of friends who are married back home. It also limits the people you can talk to, because no one, not even my mom, understands the different stresses that we face everyday. My parents keep harrassing me to come home for a visit this whole deployment, and I've tried again and again to explain to them that with Brad gone, I don't just have my day to day stuff going on, I have his too. God help me when we have kids, I may just lose what little is left of my mind. I will say this though, military families are some of the strongest around. HOOYAH!

Change

I was on the phone with my husband last night and he said that I've changed. It got me to start thinking that maybe deployment does change the ones left behind. We get so used to doing, doing, doing and we get our routines and we know that at the end of the day we don't have someone at home that can help us. I have had to become more responsible and self reliant. He also said something that made me think. He told me that he didn't know where he was going to fit in when he got home, and it made me realize that I'm so set in my ways that it's going to be hard to split up the chores again. A lot of changes are coming my way soon, although the date keeps getting pushed to the right, which sucks. So I'm not sure yet how this newest development is going to play out.

Taking Too Long

In the last four days I have spent about 12 hours a day out of my house. It seems that since the hubby has been gone everything takes longer to get done, instead of going quicker. I am so sick of being in my truck and being in stores and being around people that for most of today I am vegging out on my couch. It's days like this that I really miss him and wish he was home. Believe it or not husbands really do help when it comes to running errands. I miss those days when I can just pick up the phone and ask him to pick up something on his way home. With him gone it now means I have to stop what I'm doing and head down there and then I usually run into a few of the other wives, which means I have to stop, talk and next thing I know an hour has passed and I'm still not home. I also went into Home Depot the other day, which was interesting in it's own way. I wanted to find that wallpaper border stuff so my walls wouldn't be so white or get some paint and paint the walls partially. This is where boys come in, because they know how hard it is to do this stuff and if it's even possible. I pretty much just stared at everythig and then decided to just come home and worry about it once the hubby the gets home. Remember utilize your hubby while he's home, because while he's gone you're stuck doing everything by yourself.

The Scared Feeling

Well it's gotten even closer to the homecoming. So now the fear is sinking in that something is going to go wrong. I'm constantly anxious and anytime I try to do something it turns into a comedy show my thoughts are so scattered. Although one thing I have found is if you threaten a guys friends that if you can't find him, you're going to his chief to make him give you the money to fix your truck before your husband gets home, you will get a call at 2230 waking you up and you will get your money. Maybe it's just the closeness to the date but I find myself just wanting to not deal with people. Well I gotta head to the NEX and get some supplies.

Waiting

My day is shot all to hell. I had the grand vision of getting my grocery shopping done, getting to the NEX, helping Andi finish move, pay the guy who's going to fix my truck... I've halfway helped Andi move. Nothing has gone right at all. Gotta love Murphy's Law. I'm so over this deployment and having to do everything myself. I don't know how other wives keep jobs. With everything I have going on in a day, I would never be able to sleep if I worked. Oh and I kinda got another puppy. Welcome to the circus. So hopefully tomorrow will be a little bit better and I will be able to get everything else accomplished.