Nathan is officially on his way out of Afghanistan today!!
He will fly to Manas AFB in Kyrgyzstan and hopefully leave by Sunday, I know soldiers who have spent almost a week waiting to get a flight out of Manas, it's a notorious quagmeyer.
He called me this morning before boarding his flight and gave me the "current" flight schedule. His plane should be landing at Pope AFB late late late Sunday evening, technically Monday morning :)
For those of you who are not familiar, Pope Air Force Base is an extension of Ft. Bragg.
I'm trying my best to contain my excitement/nervousness. I've spoken with our Rear Detachment contact here at Bragg (ah the perks of being an FRG leader for the unit) who said the landing time can only be guaranteed up to 8 hours out.
Now I just have to resist the urge to call every 8 hours.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Consider the bathroom RENOVATED!
When this deployment started I made two promises to myself.
Promise #1 Get healthy.
Promise #2 Get the house beautiful and organized.
So far so good, I've managed to stick to my diet (for the most part) and have finally tackled several medical issues I've been slacking on. The list of home improvements I started in December have nearly all been completed as well as a few surprises for Nathan.
The end result? I've lost 40lbs to date and feel better than I have in a very long time. Also, my house has become something I can be proud of and I know Nathan will be too.
I intended on waiting to post blogs about certain areas in the house that have undergone drastic changes because Nathan occasionally gets a chance to view the blog and I want to surprise him.
Here are a few bits though...
The Master Bathroom.
When Nathan left it had bare walls and no character. I decided it needed to have a more adult vibe while also being relaxing enough that I can utilize our gigantic tub to take some much needed bubbles bathes. I started with the painting over the tub. I got it for 39.99 at Kirklands, I'm not a big fan of poppies or anything but I liked the colors and I love flowers. I would love to have roses everywhere but so often rose paintings look cheezie to me, like they should be hanging in a hotel hallway or the waiting room of a dentist office.
Next, the shower, I wanted to drape it with fabric to make it look less sterile. My sister Sarah had done something similar with a shower years ago and I wanted to mimic it. I got like 10 yards of fabric from the 5.99 per yard rack at Joannes which was WAY too much fabric. Making a cornice board sounded like a lot of work (kudos to Sarah for doing that on her own) and I stink at mounting stuff to walls so I opted for an adjustable shower curtain rod. I just draped the fabric over it to create the *look* of a cornice board. Plus I could use the rod to hang a curtain. I didn't have to drill a single nail :)
After that it was just little odds and ends I've picked up over time.
Before and Afters!!
MASTER BATH BEFORE...
.... And AFTER!
(over the tub)
A special thanks to my favorite stores and their awesome prices for making this possible
-Hobby Lobby
-Joannes
-Kirklands
-Marshalls
Promise #1 Get healthy.
Promise #2 Get the house beautiful and organized.
So far so good, I've managed to stick to my diet (for the most part) and have finally tackled several medical issues I've been slacking on. The list of home improvements I started in December have nearly all been completed as well as a few surprises for Nathan.
The end result? I've lost 40lbs to date and feel better than I have in a very long time. Also, my house has become something I can be proud of and I know Nathan will be too.
I intended on waiting to post blogs about certain areas in the house that have undergone drastic changes because Nathan occasionally gets a chance to view the blog and I want to surprise him.
Here are a few bits though...
The Master Bathroom.
When Nathan left it had bare walls and no character. I decided it needed to have a more adult vibe while also being relaxing enough that I can utilize our gigantic tub to take some much needed bubbles bathes. I started with the painting over the tub. I got it for 39.99 at Kirklands, I'm not a big fan of poppies or anything but I liked the colors and I love flowers. I would love to have roses everywhere but so often rose paintings look cheezie to me, like they should be hanging in a hotel hallway or the waiting room of a dentist office.
Next, the shower, I wanted to drape it with fabric to make it look less sterile. My sister Sarah had done something similar with a shower years ago and I wanted to mimic it. I got like 10 yards of fabric from the 5.99 per yard rack at Joannes which was WAY too much fabric. Making a cornice board sounded like a lot of work (kudos to Sarah for doing that on her own) and I stink at mounting stuff to walls so I opted for an adjustable shower curtain rod. I just draped the fabric over it to create the *look* of a cornice board. Plus I could use the rod to hang a curtain. I didn't have to drill a single nail :)
After that it was just little odds and ends I've picked up over time.
Before and Afters!!
MASTER BATH BEFORE...
.... And AFTER!
(over the tub)
A special thanks to my favorite stores and their awesome prices for making this possible
-Hobby Lobby
-Joannes
-Kirklands
-Marshalls
Monday, July 6, 2009
Odds and Ends
Nathan emailed Saturday afternoon with a flight schedule.
I was on cloud nine all day knowing that around 10pm Saturday evening I would be watching him walk off of a plane. All day was spent playing scenes through my head of how it would play out.
Nathan emailed Sunday afternoon with a flight schedule....
He was bumped off his C17 and is now back on a commercial flight with a three day layover in God knows where. All day was spent playing scenes (now at Fayetteville airport) through my head of how it would play out.
I don't think my fragile psyche can take much more.
This entire deployment I have been running around from one thing to the next dreaming of some time to just relax.
Now I find that the "time to relax" has fallen on my last week alone.
I have absolutely nothing planned this entire week and it's going to be the longest week of my life...
In other news....
A few months ago I was in my FRSA's (FRG "Advisor") office and accidently knocked over my tea. It had a lid on but that did not prevent it from splattering tea all over a beige canvas bag she had sitting on the floor. It was a bag she had received for her position as FRSA so it had the unit logo on it. Very cute.
A few days later we were working at an event together and she handed me the stained bag saying I could have it.
"Um.... thanks?" I said, trying my hardest NOT to sound sarcastic.
I mean really? How am I suppossed to interpret that?
Women. *deep sigh*
I tried everything to get the tea stains out but no luck. I was also dissapointed that I could not seem to fit all of my FRG related materials into it so what use could I put to?
I found myself at the fabric store in an attempt to tear the bag apart and use new fabric to make it what I wanted it to be.
I quickly realized I had reached my crafty limits.
I wandered over to the sewing machines and started asking around for help or advice.
One girl tried her best to talk fabric with me but I was so lost. I noticed in her cart was a cute handmade bag and I asked what kind of fabric it was made of.
"oh that? I made that" she tells me.
I looked her in the eye, dead serious, and asked "How much do you charge?"
From there everything happened so quickly. She told me all about her sewing business and what she could offer me as far as a bag. We went back and forth over what I wanted and then we were off to pick out my fabric. To top it all off SHE'S AN ARMY WIFE! How perfect is this?!
Last week I picked up my new FRG handbag. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!
I can fit all of 3-ring binders and she put pockets all over the place for pens, cards, notepads, a metal clip for my keys, even a small case for my glasses! It has a magnetic closure on top (love that!) and she spent a lot time hunting down our unit logo and configuring her machine so that she could embroider it onto the bag.
My hope is that the other wives will spot it and want one for themselves. I would love nothing more than to bring this wonderful girl more business.
How cute is this?!
Maybe before we move I can comission her to make me a cute diaper bag too?
I was on cloud nine all day knowing that around 10pm Saturday evening I would be watching him walk off of a plane. All day was spent playing scenes through my head of how it would play out.
Nathan emailed Sunday afternoon with a flight schedule....
He was bumped off his C17 and is now back on a commercial flight with a three day layover in God knows where. All day was spent playing scenes (now at Fayetteville airport) through my head of how it would play out.
I don't think my fragile psyche can take much more.
This entire deployment I have been running around from one thing to the next dreaming of some time to just relax.
Now I find that the "time to relax" has fallen on my last week alone.
I have absolutely nothing planned this entire week and it's going to be the longest week of my life...
In other news....
A few months ago I was in my FRSA's (FRG "Advisor") office and accidently knocked over my tea. It had a lid on but that did not prevent it from splattering tea all over a beige canvas bag she had sitting on the floor. It was a bag she had received for her position as FRSA so it had the unit logo on it. Very cute.
A few days later we were working at an event together and she handed me the stained bag saying I could have it.
"Um.... thanks?" I said, trying my hardest NOT to sound sarcastic.
I mean really? How am I suppossed to interpret that?
Women. *deep sigh*
I tried everything to get the tea stains out but no luck. I was also dissapointed that I could not seem to fit all of my FRG related materials into it so what use could I put to?
I found myself at the fabric store in an attempt to tear the bag apart and use new fabric to make it what I wanted it to be.
I quickly realized I had reached my crafty limits.
I wandered over to the sewing machines and started asking around for help or advice.
One girl tried her best to talk fabric with me but I was so lost. I noticed in her cart was a cute handmade bag and I asked what kind of fabric it was made of.
"oh that? I made that" she tells me.
I looked her in the eye, dead serious, and asked "How much do you charge?"
From there everything happened so quickly. She told me all about her sewing business and what she could offer me as far as a bag. We went back and forth over what I wanted and then we were off to pick out my fabric. To top it all off SHE'S AN ARMY WIFE! How perfect is this?!
Last week I picked up my new FRG handbag. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!
I can fit all of 3-ring binders and she put pockets all over the place for pens, cards, notepads, a metal clip for my keys, even a small case for my glasses! It has a magnetic closure on top (love that!) and she spent a lot time hunting down our unit logo and configuring her machine so that she could embroider it onto the bag.
My hope is that the other wives will spot it and want one for themselves. I would love nothing more than to bring this wonderful girl more business.
How cute is this?!
Maybe before we move I can comission her to make me a cute diaper bag too?
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
An Update..... FINALLY!
Okaaay
I get it.
It has been awhile.
I have learned that time seems to stop moving at a certain point during deployment. Every day is just a day fading into another, over and over and over again.
Very boring stuff. Nothing you'd want to read blogs about. Looking back however, I have been up to lots of little projects in an effort to stay busy.
In no particular order here is a brief synopsis of April, May and June...
April brought my birthday. This was a very difficult for me. Luckily I received some very thoughtful and time consuming gifts to distract me.
ROSES!
Any of you who know me are familiar with my love affair for roses and here are the new additions to our house
The first from my mother-in-law
"Spring Fever" will bloom dozens of tiny white and pink miniature roses.
From my mother
"Elegant Lady"
and also from my mom
"Mardi Gras"
I was inspired by my new rose bushes and decided to attack the yard with some serious late (very late) Spring landscaping. The grass had long since died and been overtaken by weeds and bare spots long before we arrived here. I started there and purchased soil testing kits, a lawn aerator, lots of grass seed and lots of chemicals.
My parents with their fully organic lawn and garden would be so ashamed.
I purchased two more rose bushes I've been wanting for years and started with the side yard. Here are the results so far...
"Black Magic" I purchased for myself LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!
BEFORE
AFTER
I'm still having trouble with the grass in the side yard but I have to wait until fall seeding to work on it.
I created a little pad of mulch around two oak trees in the side yard and planted my Elegant Lady and Mardi Gras bushes there. I call it "rose island"
Now to the front of the house
BEFORE
drum role please.... dumdudmdudmdudmdudmdudmdudmdudmdudmdudmd
AND AFTER
*TADA*
That concludes my adventures in landscaping. I cannot even begin to describe to you what our water bill looks like these days.
Other events over May and June include killing a snake.
I pulled into the driveway one evening after work and this little bugger takes a strike at my foot. I was wearing my trusty Dansko clogs thankfully and though I yipped and jumped around like a sissy in my driveway I was secretly hoping the damn thing had chipped a fang on my hard leather clogs.
Once I finished my "that scared the crap out of me" dance in the driveway I walked into the garage, grabbed a shovel, and cut the head off.
I was quite proud of myself.
Until I took my trusty camera, snapped a photo of its markings and starting looking around the internet.
..... and the verdict is........
A completely harmless milk snake.
If anything this little guy was probably doing me some favors and taking care of any field mice in the surrounding woods.
I still feel pretty guilty about the whole thing. I don't mind non-poisonous snakes at all, they don't bother me.
You have to admit though, this guy had some pretty scary markings. I took one look at him and instantly I remembered a little tune that went something like... red on black get back jack, red on yellow lucky fellow...??
I'm not sure how it goes but this one had all those colors so it had to be bad right?
Here was the photo I took
For future reference the rhyme actually goes "red touch yellow, kill a fellow - red touch black, venom lack"
HEY! I was pretty close to that!
June brought with it my first cake commission here at Ft. Bragg. A fellow Army wife in my FRG was about to order a cake for her husbands promotion party when she heard I made cakes. I showed her a few photos and she told me what she wanted to order, it sounded pretty simple so I agreed to do it.
Her husband is with the Army Engineers here at Bragg so I had to cut out a perfect red, engineers castle logo. It was a 14'' round cake that weighed in at over 20lbs and I only charged a dollar a slice because I was so terrified it would not taste or look good.
It looked good in the end, simple but good. My piping skills still leave A LOT to be desired. As far as taste, her husband requested a lemon cake with raspberry filling which was a first for me. Apparently it turned out great, I never tasted it myself (I know, I know, big no no) but I did bring a second tier I had made, just in case the worst happened, to my work and it was devoured.
People are still talking about how good it was so I'm pretty excited.
Here is the result, I added red, white and blue chocolate stars to bring in some more color.
So there you have it. The past two and half months I have been incognito but now things are really picking up.
Nathan could possibly be bumped up onto an earlier chalk that might leave as early as Wednesday next week! I'm trying to keep my excitement to a minimum but I've already gone out and purchased my "homecoming" outfit.
To date it has been over 22 weeks since I've last seen Nathan.
These last days are turning out to be the most difficult, I just want to sleep the whole day away, perhaps because time seems to pass by faster that way.
If he does end up on this earlier flight he will be flying into green ramp on a C17 so I may be able to coax another waiting wife to trade photo duties with each other. Although taking photos may be the last thing on my mind by that time.
I get it.
It has been awhile.
I have learned that time seems to stop moving at a certain point during deployment. Every day is just a day fading into another, over and over and over again.
Very boring stuff. Nothing you'd want to read blogs about. Looking back however, I have been up to lots of little projects in an effort to stay busy.
In no particular order here is a brief synopsis of April, May and June...
April brought my birthday. This was a very difficult for me. Luckily I received some very thoughtful and time consuming gifts to distract me.
ROSES!
Any of you who know me are familiar with my love affair for roses and here are the new additions to our house
The first from my mother-in-law
"Spring Fever" will bloom dozens of tiny white and pink miniature roses.
From my mother
"Elegant Lady"
and also from my mom
"Mardi Gras"
I was inspired by my new rose bushes and decided to attack the yard with some serious late (very late) Spring landscaping. The grass had long since died and been overtaken by weeds and bare spots long before we arrived here. I started there and purchased soil testing kits, a lawn aerator, lots of grass seed and lots of chemicals.
My parents with their fully organic lawn and garden would be so ashamed.
I purchased two more rose bushes I've been wanting for years and started with the side yard. Here are the results so far...
"Black Magic" I purchased for myself LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!
BEFORE
AFTER
I'm still having trouble with the grass in the side yard but I have to wait until fall seeding to work on it.
I created a little pad of mulch around two oak trees in the side yard and planted my Elegant Lady and Mardi Gras bushes there. I call it "rose island"
Now to the front of the house
BEFORE
drum role please.... dumdudmdudmdudmdudmdudmdudmdudmdudmdudmd
AND AFTER
*TADA*
That concludes my adventures in landscaping. I cannot even begin to describe to you what our water bill looks like these days.
Other events over May and June include killing a snake.
I pulled into the driveway one evening after work and this little bugger takes a strike at my foot. I was wearing my trusty Dansko clogs thankfully and though I yipped and jumped around like a sissy in my driveway I was secretly hoping the damn thing had chipped a fang on my hard leather clogs.
Once I finished my "that scared the crap out of me" dance in the driveway I walked into the garage, grabbed a shovel, and cut the head off.
I was quite proud of myself.
Until I took my trusty camera, snapped a photo of its markings and starting looking around the internet.
..... and the verdict is........
A completely harmless milk snake.
If anything this little guy was probably doing me some favors and taking care of any field mice in the surrounding woods.
I still feel pretty guilty about the whole thing. I don't mind non-poisonous snakes at all, they don't bother me.
You have to admit though, this guy had some pretty scary markings. I took one look at him and instantly I remembered a little tune that went something like... red on black get back jack, red on yellow lucky fellow...??
I'm not sure how it goes but this one had all those colors so it had to be bad right?
Here was the photo I took
For future reference the rhyme actually goes "red touch yellow, kill a fellow - red touch black, venom lack"
HEY! I was pretty close to that!
June brought with it my first cake commission here at Ft. Bragg. A fellow Army wife in my FRG was about to order a cake for her husbands promotion party when she heard I made cakes. I showed her a few photos and she told me what she wanted to order, it sounded pretty simple so I agreed to do it.
Her husband is with the Army Engineers here at Bragg so I had to cut out a perfect red, engineers castle logo. It was a 14'' round cake that weighed in at over 20lbs and I only charged a dollar a slice because I was so terrified it would not taste or look good.
It looked good in the end, simple but good. My piping skills still leave A LOT to be desired. As far as taste, her husband requested a lemon cake with raspberry filling which was a first for me. Apparently it turned out great, I never tasted it myself (I know, I know, big no no) but I did bring a second tier I had made, just in case the worst happened, to my work and it was devoured.
People are still talking about how good it was so I'm pretty excited.
Here is the result, I added red, white and blue chocolate stars to bring in some more color.
So there you have it. The past two and half months I have been incognito but now things are really picking up.
Nathan could possibly be bumped up onto an earlier chalk that might leave as early as Wednesday next week! I'm trying to keep my excitement to a minimum but I've already gone out and purchased my "homecoming" outfit.
To date it has been over 22 weeks since I've last seen Nathan.
These last days are turning out to be the most difficult, I just want to sleep the whole day away, perhaps because time seems to pass by faster that way.
If he does end up on this earlier flight he will be flying into green ramp on a C17 so I may be able to coax another waiting wife to trade photo duties with each other. Although taking photos may be the last thing on my mind by that time.
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