personal

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Chuck gets home in a little over 48 hours!!! I can’t believe it’s *almost* here! It’s going to be so strange, taking him to a house he’s never seen before, and that’s been all mine. I’m also curious to see how Miss Bean reacts – she has only recently gotten comfortable taking over his spot in the bed!

I did finally unpack his clothes and found space for them in the closet (kinda.) I went to the grocery store and got some of the things I know he likes most – bacon, mozzarella cheese, ground beef, Italian sausage… My grocery bill has effectively doubled…

Our August is going to be very busy as we prepare for guests and moving out – plus I’ll still be working. But I am grateful for a long weekend where it’ll just be the two of us to readjust to life together and catch up beyond the idle chit chat of our e-mail convos.

But first, I need to finish up all my remaining Sex and the City episodes… FAST!!

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Kayak just blew my mind…

There are many things to love and to hate about my “hometown” Washington, DC. One thing to love, apparently, is cheap international flights! Here I am, searching flights to London from Atlanta, and from Rome back to Atlanta, thinking it’s the best I’m going to get since ATL is a major international hub… 

But then on a whim, I plug in IAD… and HOLY COW they are almost half the price! Completely unfair! Maybe, if Chuck gets orders back to the DC area after Fort Benning, we can just do the EuroTrip after we move, and before he starts work 🙂 Flying out of DC sounds much, much gentler on the wallet… Who knew?!

Of course, Lord only knows when we’ll find out where we’ll be that time of year anyway. The planner in me is getting annoyed!

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One thing that’s weird about my Military Life 2.0 (with 1.0 being my childhood as a military brat) is that neighbors are not friendly. I didn’t know my neighbors in my last neighborhood, and I don’t know them in my new one, either.

This is strange to me, because when someone was new in the neighborhood growing up, people always made the effort to say hi, introduce themselves, and bring delicious homemade baked goods to welcome you. My attempts to befriend new neighbors in the last neighborhood were essentially met with “thanks, but no thanks”, and in this neighborhood, I have yet to be acknowledged at all!

Of course, they probably all think I’m a witch or something. Young woman living alone who hangs out with her cat out in the driveway on random balmy evenings. Only seen at night. And now feeding mysterious black cats that are showing up in my yard at odd hours.

I’m pretty excited about that by the way! I love black cats.

Hmmm… maybe I am a witch.

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Bleak, gray day to match a bleak, gray mood! It’s supposed to rain most of the weekend, in fact. That is probably a good thing, since my sunburn is finally starting to peel. It’s been a long week with some late nights, so I have some making up to do with Annie. She’s been so neglected and is letting me know, loud and clear!!

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Things bugging me today

– Young children taking communion at church. It’s a holy sacrament, not snack time! Even though it is pretty delicious…. But seriously. I wasn’t allowed to participate till I understood what it meant!

– Ants invasion of my Raisin Nut Bran. (How gross is it on a scale of 1 to 10 that I ate it anyway?)

– Verizon Wireless. Actually, just Holly Ridge, NC. Every measure I have taken to improve my Internet situation has actually either done nothing, or made it worse, and at a co$t no less. I won’t bore you with details, but I have come to terms with a disconnected existence out here in the boonies… and a very confused bill.

– Health and nutrition studies. I heard eating too much of my beloved tuna means too much mercury in my system. So I mix some turkey sandwiches into my lunches. Turns out deli meats are high in cancer-causing nitrates. Sigh. I need to just eat what I want.

– The fact that I have no washer/dryer. Today is cleaning day and without a way to wash towels and sheets, I feel incomplete. It’s one of those small things I take for granted in daily life 🙂

End rant.

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Any time I speak what I feel, or call someone out, or make a point – however politely – I still end up feeling like a b*tch! Or guilty, at the very least. Or doubtful of my position in the first place. I thought it was supposed to be liberating?!

I guess what is liberating is not caring what people think… But it seems I’m not there yet. I really don’t like to make people feel bad. Or annoyed. Or any kind if negative emotion.

Maybe it’s boredom, but I am seriously on a roll planning my EuroTrip for next spring. The only problem is the more I read and research, the more I want to see and do…! #notime #nomoney #oyvey

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Today is my Friday!

I get a 4-day weekend for the 4th! One of those days is unpaid leave of course, since the Chamber is broke and our contingency plan requires us to take 2 unpaid days off per month, but that’s okay. The weather forecast is beach-perfect 🙂

Otherwise, I’m not sure what I’ll do for 4 days. I’m used to really full and busy Independence Day weekends. Things are pretty quiet here – but I’m not particularly in the mood to be social anyway. I just wish I had functioning internet at home!

Lately I’ve been watching Sex and the City DVDs. I’m on Season 2. I must say, I used to hate that show and everything it was about. I think it was because I couldn’t relate to it. I wasn’t in relationships, wasn’t dating, wasn’t having sex. But now I’m finding it pretty hilarious. And interesting. Parts of it still make me cringe to see how it’s influenced a generation of young women, so I can’t get 100% on board, but it’s good entertainment and has some relateable insight here and there. 

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Worried about my mom these days…. She sounds like she’s crashing. Her voice sounds small and lonely. She is out of money, in pain from untreated dental problems, and eating meals provided by local Catholic charities that serve the homeless – but feels so guilty about it that she’s volunteering and cleaning there (so typical of her!)

She tells me stories of the other homeless people she meets, and even manages to giggle and find humor in some of the situations. I miss her laughter. She even called me “sweetie” and asked about Chuck…

The delusions are still there – I have to remind myself of that – but it’s hard to hear her say “I so wish I had a friend.”

#Hopeless.

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Watched “The Land Before Time” last night…

… and I must say, that movie is kinda deep!! Of course, I was also crying like a baby throughout. The same way I do when I watch any movie from my childhood these days. How are they children’s movies in the first place?! There is some serious material in them! They’re not all fluff and innocence.

I guess it just went over my head back then, and I focused on the cute animals and the happy endings and the fun music.

Seriously though. Dumbo. Cool Runnings. Anne of Green Gables. Bambi. They’re all so much more powerful now! Everyone go watch!