I'm back

Hey....so it's been a while since I posted.

I was going to post pictures a while back of some fun things that I've been up to, but the truth is, I couldn't be bothered.  I spend so much time sending and recieving e-mails for the FRG, and then my phone pinging away with Facebook, that I just wanted a break from technology.

This month has been a good month.  I've spend a lot of time down in South Carolina doing fun things with my sister-in-law before she moves. And I've been keeping busy around home too. Mikey is still playing t-ball and loving it, and Mia is still....well, Mia.

So, today I had a Deployed Spouses Support Group Meeting.  There are just a few of us from the Battalion who meet up once or twice a month just to chat and let off steam.  I'm not big into religion - I have my beliefs and faith, but it's a personal thing, but the Chaplains wife who leads the group is such a wonderful person and really helps me see things in a better light which is so good for me.

As a military wife you see so many wives who break down and can't cope with deployments.  They whine and whine and whine, and honestly its the most irritating thing ever.  So it makes you feel that if you do vent and let it out, that you are weak and whiny.  Like, I get so rediculously cranky with my kids and sometimes I feel like the meanest Mom in the world.  But with this support group I can not only let it out, but I know that the other Mom's feel rediculously cranky too, and have the same fears as I do.  It's really refreshing actually.

It's not just me who feels guilty because I'm so used to deployments that they don't make me an emotional wreck anymore.  I'm not the only cranky person who sometimes worry that my kids don't love me because I'm so cranky. I'm not the only one who feels overwhelmed because there is so much to do that I can't even find time to do laundry and other housework.

I really wish that every military wife had this same kind of support, and that they had the guts to take advantage of it.

Clone me please!!

So, sometimes I have weeks on end where I have nothing special going on and the only reason I have to leave the house is to buy groceries.  It gets lonely sometimes, but usually I'm pretty happy.  And then when I do have things that I am invited to, or come up, they all happen at once.

For example.  This weekend is the Sprint Cup and Nationwide races at Darlington.  I had originally planned to take the kids to one of the races with my sister-in-law who lives at the neighboring town.  But I'm not Supermom, I'm already exhausted, Mikey has three t-ball games starting at 6:40pm this week.  It's just unreasonable to ask too much from the kids by keeping them up late.  Anyway, I had planned on keeping Mikey off school Friday so that we could go to Florence and watch the parade of haulers which is apparently pretty fun.

But Mikey has a T-Ball game Thursday night and I think he should learn that if he joins a team, he needs to be there for them. Friday morning I've been invited to a Mother's Day breakfast at my neighbors house which sounds amazing - who wouldn't want waffles, fresh picked strawberries, and champagne??? But, as an FRG Leader I have to be at a Change of Command Ceremony Friday morning and I can't be at two places at once.

My SIL is also moving and asked me to come down to help her on Saturday morning with a garage sale and to mow her yard.  I was planning to go there Thursday night, but that can't happen.   I also can't take the dog and a lawnmower down as well as luggage and things that I want to sell too.  It means I also can't be home to take Mikey to get his baseball team pictures taken on Saturday morning.

Do you think it's really mean that he won't be in his first team picture?   I think I will just get his picture taken at Walmart or something instead. 

Oh well, I'm sure I'll have fun, and while I'm waiting for my clone to appear, I'll use this time to learn how not to feel guilty.

Rollercoaster....

Since Tuesday I've had the best of times, and plenty of "moments".

Let's rewind back to Thursday.  The battalion held a self-defense class for spouses.  It was taught by two Green Berets who specialise in combatives.  At first it was a little awkward.  We started talking about prevention, followed by emptying out our handbags and figuring out ways of being able to use things as weapons.  Then we moved to beating up the dummies.  Now, it was just wierd.  You feel stupid poking a rubber dummy in the eyes, and trying to stab it with keys.  Although I was impressed to know that the dent I made in the dummy with my keys, would most likely break skin and do serious damage to a person.

Then we started with the kicking and guess what - I'm damn good at kicking!!  I was totally in my element and having so much fun!!  We were partnered up and kicking pads, and just had a blast.  We were working on busting knee caps, and tearing groins. Nice.  We also did hands on stuff - grabbing our partner from behind and trying to take them down, and learning how to stay on your feet and rotate out of an attack from behind.  I had the best partner - we weren't holding back and almost flipping each other.  I'm still covered in bruises and I can imagine she is too.  The last things we did was learning to fall, which I suck at - I almost got whiplash, and we were flipping each other too, but my shoulder wasn't holding up for that. 

I really enjoyed it and hope that we can do more lessons and learn more.  I would do it as a workout several times a week if I had it my way.

Friday was the Royal Wedding which as a Kiwi I felt that I had to watch it.  I didn't intend to wake up at 2am...just a part of deployment insomnia.  Jenn came down to watch the wedding with me which was really nice, and I made delicious scones.  Thank you Archer Farms.  The wedding was beautiful - I loved her dress, I loved that they looked like the kids next door getting married.  Amazing!!  Mia woke up to in time to see them on the balcony and she just thought seeing a real princess was the best thing ever. And of course during the Royal Flyover, Daddy was in the plane.  So seeing Daddy flying over a princess - she was in heaven!!

Later I had an FRG meeting with the command and it turned out that it was a VTC.  Imagine the look on Mia's face seeing Daddy on the TV - he managed to pop in for a few minutes before the meeting started.  She was so happy, and giggly, but a little stunned and speechless too.  But she really was so happy to see and hear him.

Saturday was a hectic morning.  I wanted to hit up some garage sales as I am on a mission to find an outdoor table and a jogging stroller. And I needed stuff to do the gardens, I needed food for a picnic. The picnic was for the Deployed Spouses Support Group.  It was so nice to be outside with the kids, even though Mia was making things a little difficult.  She ended up being covered from head to toe with dirt.

Just before the picnic, Jeremy had called and thats when the kids started to act up really bad. They were being so obnoxious, silly and loud that I couldn't even think straight which upset me so much.  I  haven't really talked to Jeremy much recently and there were so many things I needed to talk with him about.  The dryer is having issues, the dogs made another doggy door in the screen door, the lights in the garage don't work after the power outage during the tornadoes, the microwave light died....just a whole bunch of little things that added together overwhelm me. Needless to say, I had to cut that phonecall short because I couldn't even think straight.

I did manage to get the garden things and spend the afternoon working on that. It looks a lot better, but it's a work in progress.  My neighbor saved me, and made me a wine slushie, and had us over for dinner, and the kids played happily until dark.  It was really nice.

Today we had a few errands to run, and then went to the Dogwood Festival downtown.  It was a lot of fun, although I don't like that there were a lack of portaloos....try getting a 2 year old girl to pee in the bushes before she peed her pants. That was fun...we all had a good time and it was nice just to be out and about.  We swung by The Wine Cafe on the way home and I got a bottle of New Zealand wine, and then went grocery shopping.

I finally have a quiet week so hopefully I can deal with the explosion otherwise known as my house, and then put stuff aside for my SILs garage sale next week.

But most importantly, I need to get some sleep.