Saturday, July 31, 2010

Leaving It All Behind

Retirement:  withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from active working life.  This is a definition from the dictionary of the event I am about to journey into, come November.  What this definition doesn't cover is the absolute fear at the very thought of undertaking this particular endeavor. 

As of December 01, 2010 I will no longer be a Chief in the United States Navy.  I will be a civilian, ugh.  I will no longer have a guarnteed paycheck, insurance, dental or medical coverage.  I will receive a retirement check - this will cover my mortgage, with a bit left over.  After 20 years I am going to have to start anew.  Beginning with, my resume.

Wish me luck!

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

What A Week!

It's amazing how so much can happen in one week.

Let me start from the 21st; this was my oldest daughters birthday.  I had this awesome day planned, we were going to go to a spa for a mother/daughter day.....  yeah, that didn't quite work out.  After we got through runningin the morning my daughter showed me her hands, they had a strange rash on them (palm side). After looking her all over I discovered the rash covered her entire body; shoulders, hands and lower back were the worse for wear.  Took her to the doc and she was diagnosed with Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease. Mind you this is the one I had to take in the week before for strep throat.  Happy Sweet 16th Birthday!

That was the start of the fiasco week.  After picking up some meds I took her home and spent about 3 hours getting her settled.  Well, during that 3 hour timeframe someon decided to help themselves to the lawn mower and weed eater that was sitting in my garage.  I had left the garage door open (like I have so many times before), but, dang it, I WAS HOME!  To make matters worse, they weren't even mine.  A friend had loaned them to me because my mower bit the dust.  So now I have to not only buy a brand new mower and weed eater, but I still don't have one of my own.  Police report was filed and insurance called, but my deductible is $500 so it is pretty much useless for me to claim it.

My work week went along normal parameters; busy, hectic and stress filled.  That isn't a big deal, used to those type of work days!  Some come around to today, today is my duty day.  In the military, when you stand duty, it is normally a 24 hour evolution.  My duty is no different.  One small thing about today, its my birthday! Yep, standing duty on my birthday.  There is one small, shining point though, this will be the last time I have to stand duty for the military!!!!  I am officially of the watchbill because I retire in November!

I am hoping this upcoming week will be a bit less; eventful!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

La La La

I can't believe we are already halfway through the semester.  I have my final due in this class and another 6-8 page paper due for my other class.  I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed but I know I will forge forward and get done what needs to get done.

On a brighter note, I am having a blast with all my girls.  Its been great just being able to hang out with them.  I only get my two oldest twice a year and we always try and make the best of it.  This year my oldest has her learners permit, so I have been letting her take the wheel.  She has to have 45 hours of drive time before she can get her drivers license, it has been interesting.  I now know what I put my father through when I was learning to drive; sorry dad!

This week I also learned that when you live in New Orleans and its the wettest time of the year, it is a very bad idea to let the lawn mowing fo for two weeks.  I spent 2 1/2 hours on the front portion of my yard; it normally only takes me an hour.  My lawn mower kept cutting out and I actually ran out of the plastic string for my weed eater.... ridiculous.  So, weekly lawn mowing is in order - check, check!!

I am currently finishing up some homework, doing laundry and chillaxin' with the kiddos.  Tomorrow is the beginning of a new work week, yay!  Hope everyone had a great weekend, see you in seminar.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

One of Those Weeks

Have you ever had one of "those" weeks.  You know the kind where you anything and everything can and will go wrong.  Murphy must have been working overtime for me; as you can see by the timing of my post. 

Having all my girls with me is amazing, but it definately takes some adustment and fine tuning.  Between my oldest daughter going to the doctor for strep throat and dehydration, my youngest throwing a 102 fever for two days, school work, and work.... I have been knee deep in chaos.

La sigh.....

Monday, July 5, 2010

4th of July

My 4th weekend started by going to the airport to pick up a friend that was in from Sicily.  She is a Master At Arms K9 and will be heading to Kuwait in a month after some stateside training.  She was supposed to fly in at 8:50 pm, then 9:30 pm, then 10:00 pm... She finally made it at 10:45 pm; yay for mechanical difficulties.

On Sunday we went over to a friends house for yummy food, pool time and good friends.  Our crew (which consisted of me, Darby, Chloe, Sadie and Steph) left around 4 pm.  We headed out on the hour and a half trip up to Gulfport, MS.  It was then when I found out my TomTom is bent on sabotage!  It took me out to the boonies instead of the civilized Hampton Inn.  So then it took another 30 minutes to figure out where we really needed to be. 

After checking in to the hotel we met up with a couple of other military members who were about to be shipped out for a stint in Kuwait and Afghanistan.  Our new found friend Derek bought fireworks so we all went down to the beach.  It was actually pretty amazing; when we got there people were lighting fireworks up and down the beach.  Fireworks were going off as far as the eye could see, it was great.