Here we go again...

[DCJenn]

Re: Here we go again...

What a whirlwind of a weekend!

My parents arrived on Thursday, my brother/SIL/nephew plus cousin/boyfriend arrived Friday, BFF and college roomie arrived on Saturday.

We cleaned up Saturday morning and my dad fixed the falling apart front porch. Andrew (my next-door neighbor) and the band members set up on the porch. The Margarita machine arrived on time and the caterers delivered fifteen minutes out from the start.

Lots of people came. In fact, some people that I'd never met came. In fact at one point I was talking to people that I thought were friends of Rick's from work and he thought they were friends of mine from the 'hood. Turns out they were friends of friends. hilarious.

We had the moon bounce and bubbles for the kids and they all had a GREAT time.

We went through 150 servings of frozen margarita and a lot of juices/water/tea/beer. It was a good time.

Everyone ended up leaving by 10ish and we watched the baseball game.

Sunday was a relaxation day- we ate leftovers poolside and generally just enjoyed the beautiful weather. My parents got to have both of 'their boys' for nearly three days so it was all good for them. and Nikolai and his cousin Jack were inseparable as usual.

I throw one hell of a good party.

Jenn

PS- my cousin took the trolley bus from the hotel to my house and she said that once she got off the bus they could hear the band!

[DCJenn]

Re: Here we go again...

The cold light of day is shining upon us. We have the call schedule and the Ft. Hood travel schedule. (they go up to Ft. Hood once a month- except they didn't go the whole time Rick was in Iraq)

and he's getting excited about getting back to work, which is good. (although today he went to Crunchy School and helped out in the classroom. How funny is that? Guess he's pretty glad he went into medicine and not Nursery School teaching)

His AF colleague's wife is due over Thanksgiving and he's been told he's on-call over New Years (three docs- three holidays, someone is on-call on one of them!) so I hope we can go to my parent's house for Christmas. (which means not having to decorate my house...)

In any case, things are back to normal. We were talking last night about the long term plan and he says that he'll probably stay in the Army for a few years after the payback because it's likely that the promotion to Lt. Col. will require a few more years in. (he'll likely be promoted to Lt. Col. w/in the payback years but will owe more- it's a complicated service agreement at that point. It's not really 'owing' time but it is...)

In any case, that increases the likelihood of at least one additional move. I can't get worked up about that right now though. Someday the DC house will sell and then my financial world will be free and I can think about moving someplace else.

and I sent Rick to the grocery store today...THIS should be interesting.

Jenn

[DCJenn]

Re: Here we go again...

and...

we're back to life as we knew it. We have a new found appreciation for our partnership. It's been great to have him home but he was ready to get back to work.

I can't believe how time has flown by since he's been back. We have a lot of stuff planned from now until the end of the year, too.

Mostly, these past few weeks have been all about re-incorporating each other into the individual lives that we had to forge when he was gone. Neither one of us is willing to forgo the exercise routines we have established so that's taken some coordination. We have also started feeding Nikolai early and having a snack or something to drink with him while he eats and then we've been eating later. It seems to work better for Rick's exercise schedule and it's certainly more pleasant for Nikolai to be fed earlier.

I've also been a lot more tolerant of stuff that used to make me nuts. I definitely got some big picture perspective while Rick was gone. Like, sure, I'd prefer that my exercise bras be washed in the gentle cycle. but eh, they're clean and if they have to be replaced a little sooner, no biggie. I used to be super controlling over stuff like that. I'd much rather have him here doing the laundry than have him gone in a war zone.

Deployment sucks. I can't even begin to explain how much it sucks. An Army physician was killed in Mosul a few weeks back. I don't know what kind of physician she was but it really doesn't matter. They're safe-ER but still it's not like they're hanging out eating bon-bons all day.

We're just going to focus on us- have fun with our family and friends and generally take it easy.

I have made reservations for all of us (my parents, brother/SIL/nephew/fetus, and the Hussey 3) at the military resort in Garmisch, Germany for next September. F it. My parents are already going to be there and it's unbelievably inexpensive for the 9 of us to share a 2 story loft apartment. ($259/night. Yup, you read that right)
I'll get the immediate travel bug out of the way in two weeks in Cleveland at the Springsteen show, and again at Xmas if we can go home. But I need to get that passport stamped! It's been two years. Ridiculous.

Life is too short to get all wrapped up in the silly details.

[DCJenn]

Re: Here we go again...

I'm going away, I'm going away...

First to Cleveland for the Springsteen show and then to Palm Springs for a meeting of the new Federal grantees.

I'm insanely excited. I LOVED my job that required the weekly travel. (at least I loved the travel part, towards the end I didn't like the actual job all that much).

I actually contemplated tossing this career of mine to the wind and becoming a flight attendent because I love travel so much- even to podunk places (in fact, I may like them more than some bigger cities- Small Town USA is a great place to visit.)

In any case, I'm so not prepared. I have mentally packed everything (I can pack like no one's business. Maybe I should do that for a living) I need to go to the store and get stuff like kitty litter and cat food and all of the stuff I know Rick won't remember to get. I'll be lucky if he remembers to scoop the kitty litter.

I think he's looking forward to having time alone w/ the dude. and of course to online poker whenever he feels like it. I'll be interested to hear how they do w/ dinners in the evening and lunch box prep in the am. Oh well, neither will starve to death, I'm sure.

All I know is that I'm staying at the Courtyard which gives me access to the Marriott spa in Palm Desert, a mere 9 miles away from Palm Springs. and I've checked out the Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce site and gotten the layout of the land and figured out where all of the places I want to eat are. (can you tell that I SERIOUSLY love to travel?) I'm so psyched for SoCal sushi I just can't stand it.

So, Bruce on Sunday, SoCal on Monday. Yay!

Jenn

(and we're going home in December so more travel! yay!)

[DCJenn]

Re: Here we go again...

Quick update from the road:

1) My husband has a newfound appreciation for the 7 months of single parenting that I performed.

2) I still love to travel

3) I am amazed that the people who continue to do this thing called "Social Services". People don't always suck.

4) Naps are great.

5) Flexitol heel balm is the greatest stuff ever invented. Leave it to the Aussies.

Later!

[DCJenn]

Re: Here we go again...

November has flown by!

First- my birthday was quite nice. My colleagues gave me some flowers and a card, my husband brought home a dozen red roses and my mom gave me a gift certificate for my hair stylist at home and made the appointment for when I'm there over Christmas.

My job- awesome. Love, love, love everything that is going on. It's been great- it's complicated and probably boring to the rest of the world but getting the grant ramped up and ready to go has been nothing but fun.

My husband- still fabulous. Still skinny. Getting ready to start the study BS for the oral boards since he missed them while in Iraq. Figuring out when he wants to apply for the epilepsy fellowship. (um, can we have a year off from stress, just ONCE?) He loves his job. I love to see him confident in what he does (unlike most of intern year!!!) and his patients love him.

My child- greatest little dude ever. he makes me laugh every day. I miss him when I'm at work but I couldn't do half of what they're able to do for him at Crunchy School. hell, he's running around the house singing songs in French. The school is thinking about expanding to an "Upper School" so he could stay there until high school. That might be the ideal thing for him. We'll see what happens- he is only 3 after all.

That's it! All remains well here and THAT is what I'm thankful for this year.

[DCJenn]

Re: Here we go again...

OK, I know every mother in the world has the cutest kids. and so do I...






I love the second one because it's his typical devious gleam.

Jenn

[DCJenn]

Re: Here we go again...

Well, we all knew it was inevitable- two adults living in the same household are bound to annoy each other eventually. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a way around the actual problem, either.

He stays up late. I'm a night owl by nature but nearly nightly "mommy, I'm thirsty/hot/have to go potty/etc." have taught me that I need to get to bed by 10 so I'm not trashed after the 3am potty duty. Now, in his defense, he does get up often to deal w/ the dude, too. It just seems to bother my sleep more.

He also gets up at the asscrack of dawn.

SO, I tried to explain that his going to bed late, my waking up w/ Nikolai and his waking up early has me totally exhausted more often than not.

Well, I was accused of trying to make him feel guilty. and then I was told that he couldn't be expected to go to bed and "just lay there wide awake". I suggested that he sleep in the upstairs bedroom on those nights he's up late. He dug in and said that our bed is our bed and he wasn't going to not sleep in it. So, I suggested that I sleep upstairs. But I hear Nikolai immediately and he doesn't.

I don't know what the answer is. I wish I could get him to understand that I'm not asking him to go to bed at 8. But I think midnight is reasonable!!!

Not to mention that he's basically sleep deprived and doesn't realize it. and of course that makes him more grouchy and edgy.

AND what is he doing whilst staying up to all hours? Playing online poker. We're still in the heavy-duty denial stage about whether he thinks he's got a problem. Luckily, he's not playing real money tables. I'd kill him.

I do think this is a delayed response from deployment. I think he's staying up to not have to sleep and dream/remember. I'll deal. I'll be tired, but I'll deal.

I'm going to take a nap before yoga.

Jenn

[DCJenn]

Re: Here we go again...

We're still simmering under the surface, because for seven months we each did our own thing in our own way and trust me when I say that neither one of us is all that excited about giving up control.

It's been frustrating but I think we are getting better about talking things through, but there have been some blow-outs, too. (unfortunately, one in front of Nikolai for which we were sternly reprimanded that it's "not nice to yell at each other and never, ever do that again.")

Of course, it doesn't help that I've been fighting off a cold for about a week now.

Jenn

[DCJenn]

Re: Here we go again...

Blah, blah, blah.

I'm tired of Christmas and it isn't even here yet. We did minimal shopping this year. I don't want to spend any more of my money on crap.

Nikolai is getting a holiday train set, clothes and a few books. Rick is getting a shirt and a book on baseball. (My dad and brother are getting the same book). Dad is getting a shirt, an oyster opener and the book. Mom (the only one I splurged on) is getting two sterling oyster forks, an antique oyster plate and two t-shirts for yoga. (the oyster thing- they're raising oyster spat for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation- 5000 baby oysters hanging off the dock) My SIL is getting a robe from A Pea in The Pod. My brother is getting the aforementioned baseball book and a thing from the Doors Exhibit from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. My nephew is getting some wooden trucks (same people who make the trains- made in the USA/non-toxic paints) and both boys are getting shirts from the Rock Hall.

My MIL got a new knife set so I don't have to ever use her horrible knives again, a picture of Nikolai and a dvd of Ozzie and Harriet.

The teachers are getting gift cards to the chi-chi grocery store.

My trainer is getting a gift card to whole foods.

The mail lady, the pool guy and the lawn guy- I have no idea. Maybe I'll make some cranberry nut bread.

Now I have to pack and figure out how to schlep all of the gifts from my MIL to Nikolai to my mothers house so he can open them there. and pack for all three of us.

and of course, Nikolai has a holiday recital w/ crunchy school on Thursday and Rick is going to miss it because he has to go to Ft. Hood that day. So I have to film it for him.

This weekend was a blur- we had the peds party in the middle of nowhere, Texas on Friday night. It was fine. Jeans, boots, etc. Hayride. Watch Nikolai and Rick feed cows. yay. Saturday we went to the Symphony and saw Handel's Messiah. We have season tickets- and when I say season tickets- I mean season tickets in the LAST ROW of the upper balcony. There's no air up there. It was nice. Rick slept through most of the first part. Then yesterday I took Nikolai to see the Symphony do the Children's program- of course including Peter and the Wolf. It was nicely done. One of the local weather guys narrated it.

No one but me seems to notice Nicki the cat being gone. Nikolai mentioned her this morning but other than that? nada. I miss her personality but I don't miss the commitment to the twice a day insulin injections. It's like a load of pressure that I didn't even know I was feeling is GONE. Sad but true.

I think what has my pissy as well is that the yoga studio went to their holiday hours, none of which are possible for me to make. Oh well, I have enough videos to get through I suppose.

I just want to get through this week at work, get the dogs to the kennel and GO.

blah, blah, blah.

[DCJenn]

Re: Here we go again...

It was a fabulous week at my parent's house.

I saw nearly everyone that I wanted to see- notable exception of my BFF from college.

But the best part was that my cousin got engaged! Whoo Hoo. To my former room-mate, no less. Don is an awesome guy even though it took him 10 years to get his act together. His brother is my ex-boyfriends best friend. (the favorite ex-boyfriend from whom I got the cats)

Elizabeth (my cousin) is named after our grandmother and is now wearing our great-grandmother's engagement ring. How awesome is THAT? I'll be the second best chick, after her sister Sarah. Elizabeth said that she's just relieved to be getting married before our other cousin Andrew. Who is 14....

Yay- it was all great. I got to see my BFF and her family last evening. Her kids have the reddest curliest hair. They're really cute.

Anyway- I'm back, I'm exhausted. and I have no food in my house. Rick is at the Alamo Bowl but should be home soon. I hope.

Home- my own bed. Time to reacquaint myself.

[DCJenn]

Re: Here we go again...

Well, 2007 sucked. Seriously sucked.

But it's now 2008 and it's time to focus on the upcoming events and to work on those things that I have some semblence of control over.

so, here are the Major Looming Events of 2008:

Mom's 65th birthday (1/4/08)
New neice or nephew (EDD 6/1/08)
Oral Boards- June 20-22, 2008
My cousin's wedding TBD
Small family reunion- TBD
Trip to Germany September 2008
Mom and Dad's 45th anniversary 12/21/08
My brother's 40th birthday 12/29/08.

Plus all of our birthdays, anniversaries, etc. They're important just not a Major Family Event.

My 'resolutions' for the year are:

1) To try a new fruit or vegetable once a week. So far we've sauteed okra (great flavor, couldn't get past the slime) and had steamed and mashed purple cauliflower (tastes just like white but looks a lot better).

2) To continue to workout at the gym 3 days a week and do bikram yoga 3 days a week. I have thursday as my day off. I also want to walk the dogs as much as possible for them and for me.

3) To keep the caloric intake to 1700 calories a day (average). I can't go lower than that and workout like I do but I still need to lose about 15 pounds (optimally).

4) Rick and I have decided to really emphasize family dining and therefore we will be sitting as a family unit every night with Nikolai and no other distractions. We never have the TV on but would often read the newspaper or look at other mail. So, that's ending. Nikolai is also going to be limited in his 'easy' food options. I got in the habit of giving him mac and cheese or a grilled cheese (etc.) because it was easy. No more. He's going to be given what we are having (unless we eat something super-spicy like the jalepeno cornbread I made last night). As with all behavior change, his poor behaviors have escalated but I told Rick what to expect and it's been working out in the long run.

5) I'm restarting my sending my grandmother's a letter once a month. Jeez- how hard is it to sit for 15 minutes and crank out a card? Not hard at all and they LOVE getting mail.

So, that's it. Nothing too difficult or hard to manage in the overall scheme of things.

Happy 2008. So glad to see you!

[DCJenn]

Re: Here we go again...

The fruit of the week is kumquats. I have to do some research to figure out what one does with kumquats.

I changed the exercise portion of the New Year's resolution to only doing Bikram on the weekends because each class is 90 minutes long. Once I add in showers, etc., I've been not getting to work until close to noon! Not good.

My boss is retiring and his hand-picked successor decided not to apply for his job. One of our departments (the ones who shut me out from auditing their medical records) just got SLAMMED by the state. I was annoyed that I wasn't brought in until the exit. Some of the stuff they were slammed on I had in my files but hey- if you don't ask, you can't find the answers. I really don't want to clean up their mess if I can't make some of the clearly necessary decisions that need to be made on a management level. But, Evil me found it funny.

The new replacement boss should be starting in February so things will be new and different around here. I figure on paper I look pretty much like a fluff position so I may be a target if they want to shake things up. That's fine, I can review med records anywhere.

Rick finally got done with carrying the pager. He wasn't called that much but it's never a 'good' time. Kids seize at wierd hours of the night. He's had some really interesting diagnoses recently and that's always exciting for him. He loves the mystery and finally figuring out what is going on in a kid's head (literally) makes him happy.

Nikolai is hilarious as always. He's on this kick of wanting us to jump up and do whatever it is that he's decided we need to do for him. He's not a happy camper when it comes to the word, "No". Oh well. Sucks to be 3. He's a funny little guy though and he's still VERY daddy focused. I'm guessing that may stick for a while yet. I expect the next deployment will not go as easily for him. (there's always a next deployment. I'm guessing 2009)

We're in the midst of planning my cousin's wedding. I figured out the centerpieces yesterday- I was struck with inspiration at Michael's. I'll post a picture, later. She and her fiance spent a lot of time on the island of Vieques off the coast of Puerto Rico. (they both worked there for a time) and they want to try to bring some of the beach to the wedding since there's no way they can do a destination wedding. (My aunt is insane and started out as a hypochondriac but has since had so many elective surgeries that she's really
f-ed herself up. She's probably in the hospital 3/4 weeks of the month. It's sad. She gets such a sense of self-worth from being sick. CRAZY.)

Tara will be pleased to know that there's a picture of GWB on the wall of my office. I have my Official Countdown Calendar on my desk so the guy I share my office with hung up the picture he has of his son w/ GWB. I will up the ante soon.

Oh well, it's Friday. I'm VERY ready for a weekend without my husband on-call. It's the first one of 2008! We have Building and Grounds day at the co-op tomorrow, then a birthday party and then another party (kid-friendly but a grown-up party). Should be a good time.

Yay! a weekend.

[DCJenn]

Re: Here we go again...

Ok- This is TMI- if there are men here, just walk away, dude.



I'm so tired of having to deal with all of the girly period crap. It's horrible for me. I finally took the bull by the horns and went to the NP for a consultation. She ordered a bunch of labs and a sonogram for me (hey- I'm not pregnant! but my cholesterol is excellent!). The sonogram will be the 25th and I'm hoping to get a gyn exam shortly after that.

The NP is 99% sure that my fibroids which were under control when I took hormones are now totally and completely out of control. She thinks it's impacting my waistline (which fluctuates as much as 3 inches depending on what time of the month it is), my sciatic nerve- she thinks that's what's causing my random numbness down my leg, and it's what's making my periods seven days of complete hell on earth. NO ONE, (not even Republicans) should have to deal with the extreme situations I find myself in. The NP was concerned that I may be anemic from bloodloss, at least temporarily. I may be but eh, what can you do? She was also concerned that I may pass out at some point but I haven't yet so I don't think I will.

I am so hoping that I'll get some kind of treatment, even if it's a hysterectomy. It's not like I'm planning on using the damned thing. and if they take the ovaries, that's fine, too. I'm not using them either. I can do HRT for a while.

What a novelty?! Not spending tons of money on the Heavy size ob tampons and not having to replenish the dark colored undies and not having to munch the 800 mg ibuprofin every 6 hours for 5 straight days. Being able to leave the house and not plan in advance when I'll need to be home to take care of things or to know in advance where all of the bathrooms are whereever I may be?

I remember the day I got my period- it sucked then and it's continued to suck once a month for the past 28 years.

DONE. (I hope)

Jenn

[DCJenn]

Re: Here we go again...

Update on the fruit/veggie of the week:

kumquats- lovely little things, I must say. Oddly enough the skin is sweeter than the insides but all together they are very tasty. Yesterday I took some blueberries and sliced up some kumquats and made a syrup for our pancakes. (meaning of course, the adults in the family- Nikolai has no time for fruit other than melons)

leeks- I've had them a million times but never cooked them. I made a crock pot potato/leek soup and eh, it needed work. It was fine but nothing that I need to make again. I'll try some other recipes to see what is different. This one needed something and I'm not sure what.

I haven't decided what the veggie/fruit of this week will be. I'll go to the chi-chi grocery store and see what jumps out at me.

Other than that, it's a nasty cold and rainy day. Rick is off at the local coffee shop studying and Nikolai is napping. I'm supposed to be washing the floors but I'm rapidly losing inspiration. and the fact that it's raining and the dogs still need to go out is also a compelling reason to not waste my time right now. I have gotten a lot accomplished this weekend though- got a lot of stuff cleaned up and put away which is always a good feeling. I missed my gym appointment today though- we slept until 9:30. (Nikolai wakes up at 7, I take him to the bathroom, let the dogs out, and he plays quietly until he decides that he's hungry and then he wakes us up. It's awesome.)

I'm anxiously awaiting the tax return. We have one more loan out from the infamous HVAC replacement- it's been interest free for the first year so we want to pay that nasty thing off before it turns. Then, I think we'll tackle some bills but we may move getting a new fence up the list, especially since the dogs escaped this morning (again). There I was, in robe and slippers chasing Honey down the street. Petey comes when he's called, Honey doesn't. Maybe if I knew what her name was, she'd come but I don't know. She's stubborn.

Rick's gearing up for Boards. The orals are in Baltimore the 3rd weekend in June. I'll be a single parent every weekend between now and the boards. Oh well, whatever it takes.

Ooops, a dude just woke up. Time for a snack.