Emergency Preparedness

For the last two years I have been hearing of CRAZY storms that are hitting the Eastern Coast. Lots of snow, power outages and craziness. And while the pretty new reporter is telling me that there are people with out power and will not have power for days I find myself thinking...What if this was my family? What would we do? How would we stay warn? What would we eat?

And you want to know my answer? Um... I don't know.

And so this leads me to believe that I should have a plan. I should figure out what we need, and get it together. And the planner in me tells me that I should have a spreadsheet and probably a checklist.

So while I may not have those answers today... I am putting it on my November goals. By November 30th I will have a plan. And a spreadsheet!

Love,
L

5 Reasons Why My Life is Just a Little Crazy

 Life is just nuts here!! So should any one be feeling neglected, don't worry! You aren't the only one. I think the only people not neglected in my life right now are bald. (AKA my adoring husband and adorable son) Sorry =)

5) I talk on a phone 8+ hours a day. And while I love it, I have no desire to talk to anyone after work. (Not counting husbands)

4) As soon as I wake up until I lay my little head in bed, I am moving or doing something.

3) If I am not doing something like cleaning, or playing, or getting crap done I will soon have a noisy and or fussy baby to attend to. This is especially true should my phone ring. You can bet your bottom dollar I am not going to get thru that phone call with out something happening and having to hang up.

2) If I happen to find myself with 5 minutes of spare time, it is probably not going to be spent catching up with someone. It will probably be spent shaving my legs because I don't have time to do that on a regular basis.

1) Speaking of, oh man is it hard to shower these days. One day, I will be able to actually take a bath again let alone shower with out peeking out to make sure the little guy is still where I left him. Hello life with a little rolly polly bald man. (P.S. I am talking about my son, not some weird guy!)

And Bonus: We have no real friends here (or not many people we consider good friends) and no family. So for the most part is it all J and I all the time. This means no breaks, no time out, not getting away from the regular craziness of grown up life. And that is working for now. I am not complaining, just stating the facts! =)

I love my crazy life.
L

What Work Ups Have Taught Me

While J was only gone for about 3 weeks life got a little crazy there. Between the lack of sleep, crazy work schedules, and crazy daycare schedule I thought I was losing my marbles. And so I think what I've learned is that not only do I need to have a plan, but I need to have a back up plan. And then possibly a back up for my back up plan. I need to be a bit more organized, and stay on top of things a little bit better.

Firstly we need to find consistant daycare. And sadly this may mean that we have to go with a more expensive day care center as opposed to in home care. We really loved our first provider and haven't been thrilled with our second one. We are still contemplating if we would like to just find someone new or go to the center.

Secondly, we need to find back up care. (Actually before that, I need to get my hourly paperwork back from our current provider!) Possibly a friend who stays at home? I bet they would do it, I just have to ask. Maybe I will butter them up with some fall treats...

Thirdly I need to stay on track. Regardless of if it is finances, or the weekly shopping, or just keeping up on housework. A little planning goes a long way.

Anyone have any advice for surviving deployment? I know J is leaving again in a month or two so I need to be prepared!! Like any good boy scout!

Love,
 L

Our fabulous life...

I've posted a lot lately about how hard things are or have been. But as I sit here on Sunday morning, taking the ferry back home, sipping my coffee an listening to Air1 I realize how blessed I am.
I have a husband who I love so much that I miss him no matter how long he is gone. A week, a month, or a year. I have an amazing family that I hate to leave. And it's not just my family or j's family it is both. How blessed am I?
And how blessed am I to have a baby who is so happy that I am freaked out because he cried for over an hour (teething...) Crying is unusual is our house.
The only thing that I can attribute all these amazing things to is God. I truly believe he does not give us more than we can handle. And turning to Him in the good as well as the bad is what keeps me together.

I am so blessed,
L

Teething...

Oh the joys. Yesterday we found H's first tooth popping thru. And even with shots and traveling he was a happy camper. Today? Holy crab cake. No joke, cried for an hour and a half straight. Nothing helped. And he is refusing Tylenol. He doesn't want to chew because it hurts or eat or suck. And to get him Tylenol (which is the only thing that give him relief) I have to stick the dropper in the back of his mouth and he gags, coughs, cries big giant tears, and screams. So fun for everyone.

Anyone have any teething tips? Or something he will chew on? So far his best teether toy is my finger. And that doesn't work for long.

Hopefully this will be over as fast as it came on.

L

The Boy Scouts were right...

You should always be prepared. And sadly, I have not  been prepared these last few days.

Being a "sometimes single" working mom with a baby in day care is driving me a bit bananas. I took for granted how easy it was to schedule when you had someone playing backup. If J had to work late, no big deal because I could pick up the baby. Or if I had to work early, J could take the baby in to daycare. Not so much now. When there is a mandatory 5:45 meeting, guess who is emailing their boss saying that daycare doesn't open that early? And when daycare lets you know that they have to close early to do a state (or military) mandated class? Guess who is talking to their boss about switching shifts. {It's me, in case you didn't get that}

I hate being a "problem child" at work. I like to have all of my ducks in a row, show up on time, do a great job, and leave everyone thinking about rainbows and unicorns. And even more than being a problem child, I hate being a flake. I hate having to tell my boss, oh so thanks for changing my schedule this week, but my daycare is actually closing early one day NEXT week. (That would have been nice to know this morning when she said Wednesday!!)

In my job, there are a lot of probing questions that you ask to make sure you are getting the right product for the customer. I guess I am going to have to start implementing those techniques into my everyday life. Great...next thing you know, I will be using my phone voice when I talk to people. "It will be just a moment while I am looking into this.... Please bear with me...I do appologize..."

I need to channel my inner boy scout. I need to prepare for the worst, and hope for the best. I need to get a little bit better at this single mom thing. It is way harder than I ever realized. It makes me with that I was home and had close family and friends to pick up the slack (which reminds me, this is the kind of friend I want to be for people, someone they can count on and someone they can call when they are in a bind).

The one good thing about this week so far? Apparently I do a good enough job to be cross trained in other departments. So on top of a little bit of personal life stress, I am adding a little bit of work stress and learning something new. I feel like I am just learning to juggle...and I went straight from juggling balls to juggling knives.

Thank God for coffee,
L

One is the loneliest number..

So J has been gone about a week and so far so good. Until this weekend. Being alone is...lonely! I've tried to keep busy, but it just isn't the same.

The week was fine. I have been so busy that by 9pm I am dropping into bed exhausted. I haven't had time to relax, let alone be alone with my thoughts. Then came the weekend. Saturday was busy. House cleaning, Costco, Target, donating baby clothes, cleaning some more. Then today we were up early, at church, grocery shopped, and just sat around. And it gave me time to let my guard down. And I really miss my husband.

I am thankful that this will be over before we know it. I am trying to spend my time wisely and keep busy.  So here I am trying to focus on the positive:

I've balanced my checkbook
I've donated those baby clothes (and still have more to go through!)
I've spent some time with friends
and I have worked a ton.

I'm just going to keep trucking on.

Love,
L

Status: Outcast

Do you ever feel like you are on the outside looking in? I have to say, this is not a normal feeling for me. But in the last two days on two separate occasions I have felt a little outcast-ish.

Yesterday, I got a text from a friend up here saying to come by their car wash and help support one of the organizations up here. I was out and about so I decided to stop by (and was secretly hoping that they would kill the spider that is living in my side mirror). I waited in line for about 15 minutes to get my car washed. And the friend that invited me sat and talked to the person behind me for about 10 of those minutes, then comes up to my car and waves and walks on by. I also knew about 3 other people there washing cars (mostly J's friends) and only 1 talked to me. Hmm... guess they really are J's friends and not mine.

Then today, I check my facebook and my dad's girlfriend posted "I'm Engaged!!!" And this is really cool news and I am terribly excited for them (I am assuming that she means engaged to my dad). But when I talked to my dad on Friday, he certainly didn't mention getting engaged. Uh... not going to lie but I am a little disappointed that I found out via FB. Can I also say that I found out that my dad had some skin cancer removed from my brother over a month after it happened. Um....Just because I live 12 hours away does not mean I'm not part of the family!!!

Ugh... There is a part of me that wishes that things were different. But I'm not quite sure how to change it.

Feeling frustrated,
L

A big ol' case of want-itis

I hate when this happens. I feel like I want everything. And it all cost's big time cash that I just don't have.

I have an itch to redecorate my house. Revamp my wardrobe, plus shoes (ditto to hubby's wardrobe!). Buy a sweet new SUV and get rid of my very basic sedan. Plus an iPad. A new dining table and chairs. My list goes on and on and on.

But, like most everyone else, I can't just go out and buy whatever I have a hankering for. And to be honest, even if I could I would probably regret it later. (Buyers remorse anyone?)

Maybe I should write down a wish list and start working on checking it all off...

Is there anything you've been wanting?

Love,
L