TOO Much of a Good Thing

So, hero came home on R&R at the end of February. I pined for the day he would come home, I longed to be in his arms again, I craved marital intimacy (and I am not just speaking of Oreo's here). This Sunday it has been two weeks since I drove like a maniac hurriedly to the airport to pick him up.  

I love the company of my best friend, I miss him horribly when he is away from the home. YET being with each other almost all day, every day for nearly two weeks might be TOO much of a good thing. For instance, yesterday we had some time to kill while the munchkin was at school. We found ourselves at the mall in search of a watch band for his watch. When we dropped the watch off at a watch repair kiosk I continued on down the mall to one of my favorite book stores, Deseret Books. Hero tagged along nicely for the first thirty seconds and then once he realized I was actually going to *gasp* shop, he started huffing and puffing like our three-year-old daughter (and he wonders where SHE gets that from). In THAT instant I wanted to send him back to work, not back to Afghanistan, just back to his normal 0700 - 1700 job. 

I know once he leaves I will be a blubbering idiot for the first few days, and as the final few months drag on I will miss him and want him home with me. Just not all day, every day.....I really do love that guy.

Moments 4, 5, & 6

Moment #4:  Despite my constant reminders that, "We only put stickers on paper" she has the ability to express her free agency...a free agency that sometimes gets her in hot water.

Moment #5:  When she tells me that she is mad and going to tell her daddy on me, the knowledge that her father and I present a united front...despite the miles that separate us, I am not doing this alone.

Moment #6:  The quiet opening of my bedroom door in the morning, the heavy breathing of a little girl battling a cold and allergies, the jostling of the bed as she climbs up via the cedar chest, the THUMP of her diving onto me, embracing me in a hug and saying, "Mommy I wakey now!"

An idea that grew out of control....

As many of you know, my hero recently left on a 15 month deployment. He starts his journey at Ft. Polk in Louisiana to do combat skills training. Due to Army (he is Air Force, but will be working for the Army for the next year) regulations he will get the opportunity to return home for about a week before shipping out to his final destination in Afghanistan.

To help mark the days I decided to make Miss M a paper chain that she can remove a link each day. The bulk of the chain is red, white, blue, and yellow. However, on the guesstimated dates of his return home in July and then again for mid-tour R&R I placed a green link. I can move the green links as needed.

The chain quickly grew to such great lengths that there is NO WHERE in my home to hang the entire length without cutting across doorways and stairways. So I draped the tail end across the bay window in my dining room and put the rest into a laundry basket on top of the nearest kitchen cupboard.

Each morning we remove a link...each morning we are one day closer to having him home.....

Military Child Syndrome

Military families go through this phenomena called "Military Child Syndrome"...no not really but that is what I am calling it. It can be similar to the "you know you are a redneck if..." jokes.

Today Miss M exhibited the classic "Military Child" trait. I needed to go pick up prescription refills at the clinic on base. As I was getting Miss M out of the car seat, a young female airman was waiting for me to finish so that she could get in her car. When Miss M noticed the airman in her uniform, she exclaimed, "Daddy!"



Trait number one of the "Military Child Syndrome" is assuming all male members of the armed forces in uniform is daddy. Today Miss M proved that you don't necessarily have to be a male in uniform to be confused as "daddy".

Gone two out of the next three years???!!!

I am blogging this because writing about it helps me grasp my fingers around it and squeeze....

Friday night we were driving home from a wedding reception in Bountiful. As is quite the norm our conversation turned to Hero's military career and the fact that he will be leaving for a year next spring/summer. I knew that was coming, it is a fact of life that I have just accepted. In fact he really should be winding up a one year remote tour in Greenland this July. However, this career broadening program has enabled our family to stay complete for two precious years. Not to say that we are incomplete when he is gone, but there is a huge hole when he is away. I knew a remote was coming, it is just a fact of the life of a military wife. You accept it, handle it, live through it, and move on.

Let me give my non-military friends a little back ground. When military personnel decides who will serve a remote tour and when they have set a criteria they try to follow, (As with all things in the military there are waivers to get around the criteria.) they first "rack and stack" the personnel by their particular rank and career field. Then they decide how far back they go for a previous "short tour" return date. A military member gets short tour credit once a deployment or remote tour has reached 6 months and one day. Hero has been in the Air Force since July 1998, and by the grace of God has yet to serve a short tour. He came close the last time he was deployed, if his journey home from Iraq last time he was deployed would have taken a few more days he would have gotten a short tour credit. So since he has not served a short tour yet, his return date is the date of his enlistment, July 1998. When he looked at the short tour information as we were preparing to move from Alaska they were looking at Captains with a return date of 2000 or older, and since they couldn't fill the all the slots with those available they were even sending those with a return date of 2003. That is why he was originally supposed to go to Greenland.

Now this career broadening program is an AWESOME thing for his career. However, since he was "hot" for a remote before, he is "scorching" now. We KNOW with great certainty that he will be leaving for a one year remote tour spring/summer 2010, and we have also been told not to be surprised if it is to the sandbox. (I think Hero is privately hoping for Afghanistan because he has already done Kuwait and Iraq, I am still holding out for Greenland.)

Okay, now back to our conversation Friday night. Hero informs me that I shouldn't be surprised if he is gone two of the three next years. Imagine my shock! I had accepted one, but two??!!! (I know it could be much worse, but I don't even allow myself to go there.) Once I picked my jaw up off my lap and brushed away the tears that were starting to form, I asked Hero to explain. His theory....he is smoking hot for a remote tour as a Captain. Sometime during that year he is gone or shortly after he returns he should be putting on Major(yippee!!). In his career field, Majors are in even more demand for remote tours. Right now they are sending Majors that have a return date of 2003 or earlier and already have one (or none) short tour credit, and are having a hard time filling those slots. Hero speculates that by the time he returns the situation will be even worse. He thinks this will happen; he will return in spring/summer of 2011. We will move on to our next duty station. Because he will be "untouchable" for six months after he returns from his short tour he won't leave again immediately. (Remember my friends I did mention that there is a waiver for EVERYTHING in the military. While Hero swears he has not heard of them sending anyone back on a short tour before those six months were up, I will believe it when I see it.) However, he feels strongly that shortly after those six months are up he will be sent yet again on a year long short tour. Sigh

Guess we'll just cross that bridge when we get there....but since that seed has been planted in my mind I can't seem to shake it.

Husbands!

Hero has decided that he needs to lose 5 to 10 pounds. He has also decided that the way to do this is to do PT five days a week instead of three. Because of this he has a night time ritual of packing his PT bag before he goes to bed. Tonight we had an interesting conversation.

Hero: Have you done any laundry this week? (As he trips over the mounding laundry basket that I asked him to carry down the two flights of stairs three days ago.)

Mama: No. All the laundry was done by your mom before she left on Tuesday. Why?

Hero: No reason. (As he is rummaging through his sock drawer obviously looking for something. Then proceeds to trip over that basket, again.)

Mama: You are obviously looking for something, how can I help you?

Hero: It's okay. I bet that basket is all the laundry and is waiting for me.

Mama: Yes, how much do you think that basket weighs? (I ask this to see if he will catch a hint)

Hero: More than you should be carrying right now. But don't worry about it. (He says this as he begins to dig through the basket for a suitable pair of running socks, sniffing as he goes. Ewww)

So where is that basket almost three hours later you ask? Still waiting by the bed. That is where it will probably stay until I can lift it.

Home Repairs (continued)

A few months ago I mentioned that we had a few minor home repairs we want to do to our house before we put it up for sale in 2011.

We painted just about all of the interior walls and baseboards before we moved in; the only ones we didn't paint are the bathroom and bedroom in the basement. Once the weather warms up we plan on taking all the doors off the frames and painting them as well. Hero replaced the locks on the exterior doors. In November, Hero replaced the kitchen sink faucet and installed the remote control for the garbage disposal. In recent weeks Hero has begun to replace light fixtures. He replaced the light fixture on the back patio with a motion sensored light, the two lights on the garage with motion sensored lights. He is working on the front porch light, but he needs to get some wood to finish that one because the sensor light doesn't fit properly against the house. (I'll get pictures of the front outside lights when he is done with that.)

Then this weekend he replaced the light above my kitchen sink and the light in my kitchen. I wish I had taken a picture of the light in the kitchen before he took it down. It was just your standard fluorescent light, only we broke the cover when we painted. The light cover cracked when we took it down to paint and then someone stepped on it, making it impossible to hang back up.

This is the ceiling after Hero took the old fluorescent light down. He had to patch the two screw holes that held it in place and then paint because the new light is slightly smaller.

Side view of my new kitchen light. I am not usually into the modern look, but when we saw this light we knew we had to have it. Now this light has set the tone for the rest of the lights....

The new light as I stand under it.

The old light above the kitchen sink. All we really needed to so was by a new shade for it. The glass shade that was original to it was another fatality of our painting adventure. We decided to change it out because we felt that if we replace all the other fixtures for the brushed nickel look and left this one undone, it would look just like that; undone.

My handy man

The new light above the kitchen sink.

Next month we hope to begin changing all the rest of the lights....Hero says they are easy to change out. We would like to put a ceiling fan in our room and possibly the family room, then there is the chandalier to replace in the dining room. The more expensive lights like those may take us a few months to change.

Once the lights are all changed the next big project is to order shutters and have them installed.

Snowblowing

Remember that snow storm I complained about a few days ago? Well we got well over a foot of snow that day.

When Hero got home he used our snow blower to clear the snow off our driveway, sidewalks, and the street in front of our house. We have a corner lot, so we have a lot of sidewalk to do. He had to do the street in front of our house because the snow plow came by when he was changing out of his uniform, but he had parked the truck on the street.

Miss M wants all of her daddy's attention when he gets home. She was screaming for him while he was outside, so I bundled her up and we went out to watch daddy. Daddy's personal cheering section so to speak.

While Hero used the snow blower I cleared off the front porch. Just doing the front porch made me grateful that we bought a used snow blower in Alaska and brought it with us, this snow was super wet, thus being super heavy. The cement under the snow was super slick because it was raining just before it snowed so all the wet pavement became a sheet of ice under the snow. Miss M and I were slipping all over the place.

So like her Hero...her father....

There is a story about Hero that his mom and grandma love to tell. When he was about two years old he got a hold of a box of doughnuts and proceeded to eat them. Ever since then he has had a love affair with doughnuts. Hero has a philosophy about doughnuts; "I have never met a dough nut I did not like. Even the ones with sprinkles and nuts, it is not their fault someone put them on the doughnut."

It appears this love for doughnuts runs in the family.....

Playing Catch Up

I have been such a slacker-blogger lately, just doing the bare essentials. Here are some pictures from January up to recent, in no particular order.

Miss M and Hero on Hero's birthday enjoying the gift she and mommy picked out for him. I invited his parents over for dinner. Hero loves my fried chicken and all the fixin's, but doesn't get it very often. He was spoiled that night, fried chicken with all the fixin's and his mom brought him his favorite dessert, cheese cake. After opening his gifts, Hero proclaimed, "Nothing says lovin' like money and candy." Hero is so easy to please.

Miss M playing with Hero's uniform hat. She so loves her daddy!

"Look what I did!" Miss M after Hero taught her to write on herself with a pen. Thanks daddy...NOT!

I like to make muffins for breakfast, they are quick, easy, and my family likes them. Hero left the container they were in open, and Miss M found them.

Caught red-handed

She was eating just the tops off and then putting them back....what a booger! At least she likes the best part.On this day I made the HUGE mistake of putting the pudding on her plate with her lunch. Even though it was a lunch she LOVES; ravioli and peaches....she still went for the chocolate first. Can't really blame her, life is short, eat the chocolate first!
Miss M's Nana gave her this rocker when we were home for Thanksgiving. This was Nana's when she was a little girl. Miss M loves to sit on it and watch movies.

Miss M has never been a picky eater. She loves ANYTHING with cheese on it. We recently discovered the joys of bagels and cream cheese for breakfast. Of course she eats the cheese off first.

In this picture I told her to, "Smile for Nana!"

Miss M loves to put together puzzles, and if it sings/talks back to her all the better. Add the fact that it is a magnet and you have a combination made in heaven just for her! She loves this toy.

I Broke Miss M

Today I "broke" Miss M. Okay, not literally, but it was a rough morning nonetheless. The morning started out great. Then Miss M decided that she DID NOT want to go "bye-bye", she enforced her views on the issue by using her favorite word repeatedly, "no."

While holding her right hand I was helping her walk down the five steps from the main level into the family room so that we could leave through the garage. I was probably half way down the steps when she, standing on the top decided she wasn't going to walk anymore. You know that famous toddler trick that leads to you holding on to the hand of a dangling child. She started crying, but it wasn't any different from her normal protest cry. I put her in the car seat and then return to the family room to get Emma as our first errand was to drop her off at the groomers.

Miss M fussed off and on all the way to the groomers, Emma whined, it wasn't a pleasant trip. I still did not think Miss M was hurt, just mad that mommy was making her go when she'd rather stay home and antagonize the cat. However, when I went to get her out of the car seat at the groomers she let out a blood curdling scream. This was when I noticed that her right arm was limp at her side. Something was horribly wrong with my baby!

Quickly I got Emma checked into the groomers and left to make the trek through the nasty winter weather to get Miss M to the clinic on base. All the while she is crying because she hurts, I am crying because I don't know how to make it better, and am going over and over the morning's events to try to figure it out. She has done that dangling toddler trick numerous times because we make her hold a hand when in parking lots, what was so different this time. Finally I decide that the elevation change between us due to the steps must have been enough to dislocate something. I KNEW that her arm wasn't broken because her bones are still so pliable that it would have taken major force to break the bones.

After what seems like forever we finally make it to the clinic. My cell phone only has enough power for one call. I call Hero, I barely got the words, "Something is wrong with Miss M's arm" out before I broke down in sobs. He asked where I was, I told him the clinic on base, he assured me that he would be there in a minute. I gingerly take Miss M out of her car seat and take her inside, praying the whole way that I won't slip in the ice and slush and that they will see her and not refer me off base. Our base only has a clinic, even though there is access to radiology and a lab, they can not handle traumas.

Once I explained the situation to the receptionist she told me that I should have taken Miss M to the ER because they can not do casting. I explain to her that I know her arm is not broken, but that she needs to be seen because something is obviously wrong. She tells me that she doesn't have an appointment until 3pm, but will see if they can "squeeze" her in. The receptionist disappears into the clinic, but quickly returns to tell me that they will squeeze us in as soon as they can. Miss M and I take a seat in the lobby, shortly thereafter my HERO arrives. Just the sight of him strengthens me.

About 15 minutes later a med tech comes out to look at Miss M's arm. She thinks that Miss M may have "Nursemaid's Arm", basically a dislocated elbow. Apparently this happens to A LOT of toddlers. She sends us to the radiology department for x-rays and then tells us when we get back to check back in to the desk so that they take us back to be seen.

We gather up all our gear; my purse, Miss M's diaper bag, water, Hero's hat and gloves, and jackets all around. Once in the radiology department it is time to hurry up and wait again. Finally, Miss M is called back. Hero takes her. He used to be an x-ray technician before he became a Logistics Readiness Officer, so we knew he would be able to hold Miss M in the positions they needed. I sat in the waiting room listening to my precious baby SCREAM in pain, tears running down my cheek.

Miss M's first x-ray

Back to the clinic we trek, only this time we are quickly taken to the back. While they are taking Miss M's vitals we notice that her elbow isn't as swollen as it was and slowly she is starting to use that arm again. By the time the doctor joined us Miss M was lifting my purse with that arm and was her happy self again. The x-rays showed no fracture, just as I thought. Doctor explained that he likes to get films on these cases before he starts manipulating the arm to insure there are no fractures, makes perfect sense to us. The three of us concurred that when Hero was manipulating her arm to get it into position for the x-rays he reduced the dislocated joint.

Now Miss M is back to her happy self and there are no signs of her traumatic morning. I broke her, her daddy fixed her. This experience gave me a glimpse of the pain Heavenly Father must feel when we are hurting. Children are our greatest treasure, our greatest pleasure, and our greatest educator.

My husband, My plumbing hero.....

We have this list of minor fixes, well some not so minor, that we would like to make to our house in the next 2 and half years before we sell it(hopefully it will sell). Things like replace all the brass lighting fixtures with brushed nickel, replace all the brass door knobs, and do the finishing work on the bathroom and bedroom in the basement.

Earlier this month Hero did what I believe may have been the most important repair to me. The old kitchen faucet was worn out and the sprayer didn't work. After thirty minutes spent scratching our heads in the plumbing department, we finally decided on a rather GORGEOUS faucet, well gorgeous in my eyes.



Since my new faucet is a sprayer in itself we knew we would be left with a hole to fill in the sink. Hero thought about getting a faucet with a soap dispenser. In my toes I KNEW I would NEVER use it, so I finally spoke up and showed him what I really wanted to fill the hole with.



That my friends is a remote control for the garbage disposal. I know some of you are shaking your heads and wondering what this world is coming to. You see, I am of the Ricketts stock. We are beautiful people, but we ALL suffer from short-arm-itis.



Short-arm-itis coupled with the fact that the switch for my disposal was literally in another world in relation to the sink made this remote a necessity. Even if I am leaning up again the dishwasher I had to strain to reach the switch, and forget even trying if the dishwasher was open! Now all I have to do is push the button on my sink and "wala" rufage be gone!

Tagged

I suppose since I read Katie's blog and she said anyone who was reading it was tagged.....

Okay fourth folder, fourth picture on my computer is...

From left to right is Hero my hubby, Joe Verstraten, Matt Miller This was taken October 28, 2007 after they went Caribou hunting on the North Slope in Alaska. Joe and Miller got Caribou, Hero not so lucky. According to the laws where they hunted you have to be at least five miles from the road before you can shoot. Hero said it was a "death march" back to the truck. Since Joe has three girls the others tried to convince him to paint the nose of his Caribou red and tell them it was Rudolph. Now it is your turn...if you are reading this...you need to find the place where you keep your pictures on your computer, we want to see the fourth picture in the fourth folder. Tell us all about it.   Lynn

Happy Anniversary Baby!

Wow! Can you believe that it was eight years ago today that we stood before our family and heavenly Father and exchanged our wedding vows? I asked you last night if it seemed like yesterday or forever, then asked if it was a good or bad forever. For me it seems like I have known you for all of time. There must be some truth in your mom's theory that we knew each other in the spirit world.

To see the picture a bit larger, just click on it.