Wednesday...I think

I've been having the hardest time keeping my days straight. It IS Wednesday, right?

I noticed two days ago Rufus had a nasty infection on his foot so I called and made an appointment with Dr Taylor in Morehead City. She ended up taking off a toe and lancing the infection. Poor Roo Roo. He's on a course of antibiotics which have to be injected (by me) into a superworm with a needle and then fed to him. Oh joy. Have you ever tried to get a superworm to hold still so you could stab it with a needle? I felt so bad :(
It's 75 degrees here today. I have the AC on and the windows open. I want my cold February back!! It's still winter - what is the problem? This must be global warming. :P I'm attaching a picture of snow outside Daphne's (best friend from home) house in Ohio as a reminder to the North Carolinian winter-weather Gods who obviously have forsaken me.
I was laying in bed last night around 11:30 and all of a sudden I heard a knocking. I wasnt sure what it was so I muted my TV and sure enough, it sounded like it was coming from the door. Right as it finished my phone started ringing. I didn't answer it, now thinking my life was about to end. It goes to voicemail and I hear, "Hey, it's me - I guess you're not home...." It was Bob. Obviously not Bob knocking at the door but by this time I've forgotten the knocking.
What do you mean 'I guess you're not home'?! It's almost MIDNIGHT. If I call the house at midnight and you don't answer I'm going to be saying, "WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU!?" Not, "Oh...I guess you're not home".
Crazy Bob.

Home sweet home

Going to Faith's house tonight for dinner & a movie..and a Biology test (thanks Faith).

Friday

The first week of this deployment is almost over already. Only 51-some weeks left (har har). Yesterday was a difficult day for me. I felt like I didn't want to eat, sleep, move, etc. Faith told me to get the heck out of the house so I went over to Emily's to help her with homework and take her some of the puppy chow I made. Stayed for a couple of hours but still had to come home to a dark empty house.
I looked at my 'donut of misery' yesterday just out of curiosity. 1% down, 99% to go on this deployment - LOL!
Today I'm thinking about taking the dogs to the dog park at 1. They're getting restless and a few of the girls on Cherry Point Underground are going to meet there. Woohoo :)
Speaking of dogs: Yesterday Tucker got up on the couch with me and snuggled with his duckie that Daddy bought him.

How sweet is his face? :)

Tuesday

It's snowing!!!

I woke up this morning to an email from Bob :) He's made it to Al Asad safely. He said the food on the way over wasn't so great (goat meat and 'a strange cheese') and he wasn't able to get me anything from Amsterdam, which is disappointing. But he's there and this year can finally start!
I got my care package kit in the mail today so I'm going to start putting the first one together. I probably won't go out to send it because Lord knows people can't drive in snow around here. I also got the calender I ordered for him which I'm attaching a picture of. Still in transit are a bunch of prints I ordered from my last photo sesh with Whitney to hang in the house.
Last night I went to Faith's for Chinese food & a movie. We had a really good time, she's such a nice person. Tomorrow I'm going to go on base to get our taxes done and go to Jennifer's for the day. Then I *think* this weekend I'm going to a movie with Faith & Buffy - Faith said Bride Wars is playing and I want to see it.
I find it interesting and possibly ironic that Bob got to Iraq the day our new president was sworn into office. It will be very interesting to see the direction Obama takes our troops currently overseas.

The day is only half over so you may hear from me again :)

Love you, Ski!

Monday

Well day 2 had better not be a foreshadow of how the rest of this year is going to be or I want out right now! I slept horribly last night (but I slept with my kitty, which was nice) after I finally went to bed around 1:30 am. I tossed and turned and finally got up at 9 am. I showered, ate a bagel (this blog post is interesting, isnt it?) and got dressed to go over to Emily's. She has a few books I wanted to borrow and read. I get in my car and what do you know - it's completely dead. No clicking, the interior lights don't come on, and it doesn't even try to turn over. I call Baldree's and by the grace of God they were open today. They sent somebody out a couple of hours later to look at the car and what do you know. It starts right up. I drove it into the shop and found out that the alterator is charging the battery but the battery isn't able to hold a charge. It was a five year old battery, so I suppose it was time for a new one. They replaced it and I was on my way :). While I was waiting for the battery to arrive Sheli happened to stop by the shop to say 'hi'. That was nice, I haven't talked to her in a few days.
I haven't shed a tear and I've cleared the first hurdle of this deployment!
I did end up getting the books from Emily so I have plenty to read!
Last night, Faith, one of the other wives called me. Her husband went to Al Asad on the advanced party last Sunday. We ended up talking for FOUR HOURS! Tonight I'm going to her house for chinese food and a movie :O) I'm so excited to have found some great girls to get through this year with me. We're all going through the same thing and it's already taken a huge weight off my mind knowing I'm not alone.
The animals miss their 'D-A-D-D-Y' already. Tucker has started foraging in the litter box. He's not a troublemaker at all unless Daddy's gone. The cats know somethings going on too - Munga slept in a ball next to me ALL night which is very unusual - he's pretty nocturnal. Today when I got up to feed 'the herd' he followed me around to the tanks and cage just staring up at me. I feel bad for them because they don't understand. We know what's going on (as much as we hate it) but babies and animals don't understand and the confusion makes me so sad.
I miss you already, Bob but you are pissing me off from afar. How has every other wife gotten a call or email from their husband and mine is the only one who hasn't picked up the phone? I thought we agreed you'd email me when you got there? I've had 8 people today say "HE CALLED!" and then ask me if mine has. Nope. I'm just venting - I know you'll get ahold of me when you're up to it. I know you're safe and that's all that matters.

*kisses*

The Quilt (Sunday)

Last night I received a beautiful quilt that was made by a small group of women. I'd like to send a thank you note but our Family Readiness Officer doesn't have any information on who donated it.

Sunday

Day 1 of this deployment!

Last night Bob & I went up to 'the lot' at about 8:30 pm. There were 30 boxes of pizza and tons of other snacks and goodies (thanks, Susan!) At 9 they had a roll call (with over 300 people) and formation. Bob walked me to the car shortly after and gave me a big hug. I told him I loved him very very much and that I'd talk to him soon. He hugged me back, gave me a quick kiss, and that was it! I didn't cry at all (despite what I thought) and I'm really proud of myself for that. For me it's easier to just shut the emotion off all together than to be really distraught. Bob knows this. And I think it was easier on both of us to just make it short and sweet. I know that man loves me - and once I hear from him in a couple of days I'm sure I won't be able to get him to leave me alone :P.
When I got home Emily was waiting for me in the driveway. We went to Walmart and about 10:30 and each bought a giant bar of chocolate (and I got some shredded cheese for a pizza...odd purchase). We picked up some Sparks (energy drink + beer) and then ran through McDonalds. In the drive thru, Emily said, "Shlee - I haven't even been gone 2 hours and you're already at McDonalds!" ..sounded just like Bob :P.
We came home and watched Comedy Central until about 3:30 in the morning and then headed to bed. I told Emily to sleep on my side of the bed but said I wanted my pillows (I dont like Bobs, lol) and when I picked up my pillows a piece of paper fell out that said, "I love you!! - Bob". Well right away my chin started to quiver of course and I said, "DAMN YOU BOB!" It was really easy to laugh it off though because I realized that he just wanted me to know he loved me before I went to sleep. That was a good feeling.
A couple hours later I woke up to Munga sniffing around at my head..I could almost hear him say, "You are not my daddy, why are you here?" and when he walked over to Emily to sniff her I heard, "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!?" He didn't mind for too long and ended up in the 'bat cave' (under the down comforter) sleeping against my legs.
I woke up at 6 am not able to get back to sleep so I came out to play some Pogo for awhile while Emily is still asleep.
Today I think I'll probably rearrange my bedroom (for real this time) and get it all cleaned up. I cleaned the house yesterday so not much to do there! I'll go to Blockbuster and pick up a movie too, I think. Tommorow I need to go to Sprint and cancel Bob's cell phone contract and I was 'thinking' about going to Jacksonville to shop at Lane Bryant with the gift card Aunt Celia sent me for Christmas. Don't want to do all my errands in one day though, lol.
Bob 'may or may not' be stopping over in the Neatherlands during his flight so I hope to get a postcard! Can't wait to talk to him when he lands in Kuwait.

Love you, Ski!

Saturday

Today is the day! Bob is out getting his haircut and running a few errands and I'll be dropping him off later tonight. I'm sad to say goodbye but excited to finally get this deployment started. It still doesn't feel real.
The dogs definitely know something is going on. Every time I start to sniffle Tucker comes running over putting his head in my lap. That's nice, I'll admit - lol.
Emily is supposed to come over tonight to hang out for awhile after Bob is gone. I'm looking forward to that - I don't know how I feel about being alone 'indefinitely' starting tonight. I guess we'll see.
My mom may be coming down for a visit sometime at the end of this month. That would be great :) I miss her.

I think I'm going to rearrange my bedroom and clean up a bit more. Tick tock, tick tock!

Thursday

It's a beautiful day today. The weatherman had me excited and thinking it was going to be freezing cold but no. It's in the 60's and the sun is shining. I guess I can't complain though - at least it's not August (yet).
I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long. Things have been pretty hectic around here. Bob is leaving late Saturday night for a 12 month deployment to Iraq. It really hit me last night when we went to bed how weird it's going to be with him gone. We've known for the last year that he was going but somehow it didn't seem real until last night. The bond Robert & I have is a strange one, that's for sure. It's going to be hard living separate lives for an entire year. Luckily, I have a great group of supportive internet ladies, all of whom are going/have gone/will go through the same thing.
Other than this deployment there hasn't been much going on. I'm expecting visits from my mom & Daphne this year so that will be great. I'm also hoping Sam will come out from California when her hubby leaves this summer.
Whitney came down to take some more pictures this past week. They came out great (of course). I'm attaching a couple :)