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Category Archives: Tom

We’re cruising again!

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We decided what better way to celebrate Tom coming home from a year deployment than to go on another cruise!! It also happens to fit into our scheduled dream of going on a cruise every two years (the last cruise was October 2005).

This time we are trying the Carnival line—specifically, the Miracle. We had an amazing experience with Holland America, and seriously considered going that route again, but decided to be more adventurous and try something new! We did, however, book a balcony suite again, because it was just SO awesome the first time we couldn’t imagine not having it. The thing I can’t wait to see is the lounge/theatre:

A three-level main show lounge fashioned after the Paris Opera House and “The Phantom of the Opera.” White enamel masks and mini candelabras line the maroon and gold walls, and almost feel magical. Stone figures hold up orange “stained glass” lights atop the entryways.

We leave for our 8-Day Western Caribbean cruise from Fort Lauderdale on March 6, 2008, and our route includes stops in Panama, Costa Rica, and Belize:

Route for our 2008 Carnival Miracle cruise

We haven’t decided what shore excursions we want to do yet, but there are a few we have our eyes on (zip-lining through the rainforest catches my eye!).

We got a good deal for the cruise and will be saving a big chunk of money by driving to Florida instead of flying. I hated to waste the time, but tickets were running around $800—and with the layovers and stops we’d have to make to get there anyway, we figure we’re better off driving. We also have friends in the area who we can visit and/or stay with and/or beg a ride from if we don’t want to leave our car at the port.

We are SOOOOOO excited!

I’ve been a bad, bad blogger.

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Yes, I know I haven’t been writing anything lately. And I feel bad.

But it’s just that the longer I take to catch you up, the more stuff happens, and the harder it is to catch up. A catch-22 if you will.

But I know I have to fill you in with some details (obviously the short versions) until I get more time:

  • The animals are fine.
  • Tom’s visit home was wonderful—although too short—and we had a great time with friends in Florida.
  • I am eating healthy (hate to call it dieting) and have lost almost 25# so far (since Tom left).
  • I am still at my job (although that could be a VERY LONG story).
  • I haven’t been seeing too much of my friends around here.
  • I did have family down to visit, and more coming soon!
  • I had computer/general tech difficulties, which kept me frustrated and offline more than usual (although all is well now).
  • It’s finally cooling down here (68 today, but 85 last week).

I promise to try and write more in the upcoming weeks.

A month of miscellaneous updates.

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Wow, it’s been almost a month since I last posted. Nothing much has been going on…just little things here and there.

Well, I did have some major problems with my new Vista computer, but at that point I really wasn’t loving any computer and was keeping my distance so was not online posting about it. What happened? Let’s just say that little things here and there weren’t working right, so I had to do some system restores, then in trying to get those little things to work right, the solutions caused my system to crash and I had to do three (yes, THREE) full system recoveries (which means taking the computer back to day 1) which meant I lost all installed programs…never fun. It’s back up and working now, but it was a very, VERY, VERY traumatic few days. >:(:'(

I’ve had some good times with our friends… a few drinking and hot tub nights over at Roger and Ursula’s and a night out at a local bar with a co-worker (which made me glad I did not really have to live through the dating scene).

I had my vein surgery just about a month ago and it went very well—he said it could not have gone better. I have to go back shortly for a follow-up to make sure it’s still doing well.

We have had more rain and storms this past month than the whole time we’ve lived here, I think. Poor Maggie… and add the 4th of July sounds to that, and miscellaneous noises in the neighborhood? The poor dog must think she’s going nuts.

My job is…well, it’s still just a job. I am not having any fun and some days it’s just dreadful. There’s a long and involved story but suffice it to say I am SERIOUSLY looking for other employment.

And last but not least, Tom and I continue to chat and talk just about every day. He’s online every morning (my morning) from about 8:30 to noon, and he tries to call once a day. If I am up late some nights (mainly on the weekends) we chat around midnight or 1am as well. Right now, we’re counting down the days until he gets here—we’re finally under one month!! :>>

Birds chirping at 1am?

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So I happen to be up at this crazy hour because Tom was online and we were emailing back and forth. And all the windows are open because it was crazy warm here today and I so far have refused to turn the A/C on (because it gets cool at night). So I am sitting here and the neighborhood is completely quiet…except for a bunch of chirping birds that must think it’s daytime. I have never heard birds like this at night before and it’s honestly freaking me out just a little bit.

Emotional Rollercoaster

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It’s amazing how the little things in life can change your mood.

I opened my email this morning and saw that Tom had written me at 2am. On one hand, I was thrilled that he wrote me :), but on the other hand, I was sad I missed him 🙁 (even though I would not have normally been up at that time).

Then I sat at the computer for awhile—then with a start, I realized I didn’t have my phone with me (!), so I literally ran downstairs—and I had missed TWO calls from Tom. :'( Instantly, my mood went from happy to completely depressed. Since he left, I have had my phone on me, at my side, or within reach EVERY SECOND OF THE DAY. Until this morning. I was just kicking myself. TWO CALLS! I missed TWO CALLS! And the last one I only missed by a minute!!! :'( I got a tear in my eye, I started moping around the house, and I was sad. I had been planning to take a shower and thought “Screw it, I don’t even feel like doing that now.”

And then the phone rang—and it was Tom! :>> OH JOY! And I was happy again, and my mood changed immediately, and everything was right with the world!

This is the stuff that I forgot about that I don’t like…this is what makes the time apart hard to handle. But at least I get to talk to him frequently, and that is a good thing.

Losing my mind…and apparently my keys.

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So Tom and I were running errands before he left, and when he drives, he likes to take my car keys off my ring (effectively cutting the size of the key ring by 75%). So he did this, but they never got put back on. So I get in the car Friday morning to go to work—the day after Tom left—and I don’t have keys. Normally he leaves them on the mat or between the seats, but they weren’t there. I searched the car, his car, his coat pockets, our bedroom, my purse—they were nowhere. Great, I thought, what did he do with the keys?! I knew they weren’t LOST, they were just misplaced somewhere around the house—and I figured I’d ask him whenever he called. (I hated the thought of having to waste time during his first call asking about keys, but what could I do?)

Fast forward to me arriving at work and having to wait for someone to get there to let me in (I’m usually the first one there). While I was waiting, I emptied my purse, sure that the keys were in there. Nope. I let my boss know that my keys were temporarily missing and she didn’t freak out (yay!) and said they’d just make me a new one. I said we could if I hadn’t found them by Monday.

That night when I went home, I put my cell phone in the front pocket of my purse (where I normally keep it, except for lately, since Tom has left) and voila! There were my keys! GRRR! I swore I had looked in every pocket…but at least there they were. So, I was extremely relieved.

Monday morning, I know I had the keys because I was first to work and had to unlock the door. I know I had them mid-morning when the glass people came to replace my windshield (sidenote: yay! we finally have a new windshield after living with the cracked one for five years) because I remember taking my car keys off to give them to the fixit guy. I swear they were on my desk all day. At the end of the day, I told my boss not to worry because I had found my keys.

After that, my memory is hazy.

I know I stopped at the grocery store, but remember only taking in my single car key. I am not sure where the other keys were at that point (but at the time, I wasn’t even thinking about it). And I didn’t think about it again until I got to work and—you guessed it—I didn’t have my keys. They weren’t in the car, under the seats, in my purse…anywhere.

Hoo boy.

I hoped maybe I had left them in the office on my desk, or maybe they had fallen on the floor or something—but they were NOWHERE. So I thought I wouldn’t say anything until I was able to check at home—sure they were in my coat pocket or something. But I searched high and low and they are nowhere. So I’m back to having no keys—and this time, I have NO idea where they are. 🙁

I hate this. How can I not know where they are? How could I lose them between the office and home? 😯

02.07.2007 UPDATE

I found my keys the following morning. I was picking up the office and picked up a bag I had recently brought files home in—and my keys were in there. Not two feet from where I had been sitting the whole night (where I composed this actual post about the missing keys).

An innovative way to chat long-distance!

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Tom and I finally got to talk today for a few minutes (damn old calling cards, it’s like 50 credits a minute or something insane like that) so we burned through two small [leftover from the last deployment] cards and then we emailed quite a bit.

He tried to login to our account to turn on the webcam, but he wasn’t able to with whatever system he was using. However, the neat technological part is that we figured out a neat alternative…he logged into my computer using logmein (which we had setup before he left, which gives him access to my computer). So I turned on my webcam, he opened a blank notepad document, and we chatted back and forth on my desktop!! The lag wasn’t bad on my end, but he said it was horrible on his…so we only did that for maybe 10 minutes. But he did get to see me and Maggie (who was sleeping on my lap at the time).

I missed him! I can’t believe I missed him!

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So I decided that this entire weekend was meant for vegging and getting caught up on my TV shows. Of course, the phone was by my side every minute, just in case Tom got a chance to call from wherever he happens to be. No calls all night…but I wasn’t worrying because he said it could be 3 days or so. So after my shows are done, I mosey on over to the computer to check my email before going to bed—and CRAP!—there was an email from him at 11:14 asking if I was on!! Of course, any other night I would have been right there. 🙁 I emailed back immediately (11:23, only 9 minutes later) but he never responded.

CRAP CRAP @&*^#&*^ CRAP.

But at least I know he’s alive. 🙂

What a spectacularly craptastic day.

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I would honestly have to rank today as one of the worst days, if not THE worst day, of my life so far.

Yes, he’s gone.

And yes, I know there have been bad days in my life, but there is nothing—just NOTHING—like knowing you are saying goodbye to someone for A YEAR. And that someone is your spouse. And knowing they are going to a war zone.

For a year.

A @#*$ year. :'(

So, aside from that alone being enough to rank this as the worst day ever, the weather is horrid—35° and rainy (which, actually, is perfect weather to remain morose all afternoon, so goody for me).

And apparently, I am the most emotional person on earth—no one else I saw dropping off their marines was shedding a tear—or even looked upset or depressed. I, on the other hand, couldn’t even get out of the car because I was so torn up. :'( I guess I am being emotional enough to cover everyone else’s lack of emotion.

Which leads me to the next thing—I feel absolutely horrible (HORRIBLE!) that I couldn’t stay there with Tom. Now, don’t get me wrong—I was ALLOWED to…but I just couldn’t! There is NO WAY ON EARTH I could sit there for four hours with him—in the midst of all those people—and THEN watch the buses leave! Talk about torture!! You might as well just shoot me and get it over with. But I just feel bad, because there were lots of people who WERE staying, and I’m sure Tom would have liked me to stay—although, you gotta love him—he wanted me to do what I was comfortable with. And unfortunately, I just couldn’t stay.

So it was a looooooooooong drive home. In the rain. Crying. And I have to say coming home to an empty house is just about the most depressing thing ever. Of course, Maggie was happy to see me and get out of her crate (and gave me kisses!), but I can’t take anything at face value right now, so I just see her and think about how much Tom loves her and how much he misses her and how I love to see them playing and how he won’t be able to play with her for a year. And just when I think my head hurts so much I can’t possibly cry any more, I start crying again.

It’s going to be a long day.

But like I told mom this morning…today will be horrible, tomorrow will be awful, this weekend will suck, but then it will start getting better! I hope.

Thursday is D-Day

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So the time is drawing near and although logically I know what’s coming Thursday, I still can’t really believe it. I’m not sure when it will finally hit home—when he’s packing the car, when I drop him off, when I get home to an empty house, my first night sleeping alone, the call in the middle of the night when we gets wherever he’s going, the first morning he’s not there when I wake up, the first day I don’t get a call from him at work (we typically talk at least twice a day, if not more often), the first time I have to do something around the house he normally does…okay, I have to stop, because I’m at work and I don’t want to start crying. 😥

This just sucks, period. 😥

Stupid government!

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Stupid $&#!@ government. First they tell us Tom’s leave date has been upped a week, due to leave on January 30. Then they rescind that almost immediately and say, no you will be leaving February 1. Why? You want to $&#!@ know why they added two measly days? Because if they left here on the 30th, they would get to the war zone on the 31st, and then they’d have to pay them FULL DEPLOYMENT PAY for the entire month. And that certainly isn’t going to happen if they have a choice in the matter—god forbid you give your marines a little bonus like that. GRRRRRR.

I lost my lilacs!

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The bad news? I lost my beautiful lilac shower curtain in the master bath.

What, you ask, do I mean by lost? Well, we had both grown weary of the shower curtain sticking to us in the shower. I mean, the shower is a little on the small side…so you can barely move around in there without the curtain attaching itself to you.

So we had been looking at shower doors. And let me tell you what a nightmare THAT was—we have a somewhat odd-sized shower, so trying to find something in-stock (read: not special order = $$$) that was the size, color, and glass type we wanted was next to impossible. Most of the sliders were for typical tub/shower combos and started at like 46″ wide and 65″ tall—too wide and too short for what we had—and most of the pivot doors were too small and the wrong color (probably 98% of the ones in stock were silver and we didn’t want that unless it was our only option).

So last night were were at Lowes for the second time (having also made a trip to Home Depot) and were not having any luck. And just about the time our frustration level was at 100% (read: ready to give up and walk out of the store), we happened to see one standing there that wasn’t on their in-stock brochure!! And it was the size (43″x70″), color (nickel), and glass type (anything but clear) we wanted! What luck! It was a slider (as opposed to a pivot, which was our first choice), but at that point, we weren’t complaining!

And I looooooooove having a handyman hubby, who said he could install it (saving us $120) and then installed it with ease…although he did admit that the caulking was the hardest part and something he needs more practice on! 🙂

New Slider Shower Door

So, I lost my lilacs…but gained a cool new shower door!!

Tom has an official deployment date!

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Tom just emailed me to tell me that he just got the word that he will leave Friday, January 5, 2007. :'(

Due to this being a bit earlier than we had originally anticipated (which was mid-January), we will probably come home to Michigan just a smidge earlier so we can be home for a few days before he has to leave (we’d also like to be here for New Year’s Eve).

Stay tuned for further date information.

Tom’s horrible new work schedule!

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Tom’s work schedule has been horrible! This past week was the beginning of his 7-day work weeks—12 hours a day during the week and six hours on Saturday and Sunday. And what makes it worse? He has to be in by 5am! Which means he gets up around 3:30—3:45am. Which means he either takes a two-hour nap when he gets home OR he stays up and goes to bed around 8:30! On the weekends it means a 3-4 hour nap once he gets home—and then the day is practically gone. It really sucks. REALLY.

Hopefully he only has to do it for a month. I say hopefully because that’s the current schedule—but you all know how the USMC likes to change plans midstream (or just plain change their minds).

One good thing is that I think Tom told me a new guy is starting so that means everyone will get one day off a week…or maybe that’s my wishful spin on things and it’s really everyone will get one day off between now and the end of the time frame (mid-October). Yeah, that’s probably it. One day off between now and then. :'(

WOOHOO! Best news this year!

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Tom just called to say “Do you want some good news?” Um, hell yes… He told me that he is no longer scheduled to go to Iraq for a year! It will now be six months!!! WOO HOO!!!

Long story short, technically you can only stay at a duty station X amount of time, and he would reach that amount of time during that deployment. So, he can’t really go over if he could technically be moved. Of course, it’s not guaranteed he’ll be moving (i.e. we could be forced to move to the west coast, in which case we’d be getting out for sure) but it’s a possibility.

But anyway, I’m not thinking about all the detail right now…I’m just concerned with the fact that it won’t be a year!

News you don’t want to hear.

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Tom has about a 98% chance of heading to Iraq in February.

He just switched jobs on base (something you have to do every X number of years) and now he’s considered deployable again. At first it was “between him and another Captain” but he just called to tell me it’s for sure.

Of course, I say “I will believe it when I see the paperwork” — because the last time he was supposed to get deployed, details changed every other week. But we’re pretty sure it’s really going to happen.

The worst thing? It’s supposed to be for a year this time. Again, I say “I will believe it when I see the paperwork” but I have a sinking feeling already…

Our first bike ride in 5 years!

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So Tom and I both got our bikes in working order (mine took quite a bit more work than his did)…but that’s what you get when you don’t use the bike and let it sit outside or in the garage for five years. The lady at the bike shop was thrilled, though, saying “I don’t get to work on these old bikes that often!” But, the consensus was it was better to fix the better quality/older bike than to buy a cheaper quality/newer bike.

So tonight, it finally stopped raining long enough to go for a bike ride. And… oh my. It sucked!! I mean, it felt great to be riding again, but first the seat was to high. Then it was too low. Then it was okay, but not perfect. And then I remembered that I hated the handlebars because you have to lean way over (even with the seat where it’s supposed to be) and it puts a lot of pressure on your hands/wrists…actually painful! We rode around the neighborhood (probably about two miles) and it was all my hands could take. I hope it’s something that my body adjusts to, otherwise it was a big waste of money getting it fixed… (I remember wanting to switch out the handlebars before, but it was going to be fairly expensive…and since we just spent a bucketful to get it ridable, I don’t want to spend any more on handlebars.)

Stay tuned!

Announcing Captain Hudson!

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Tom’s promotion ceremony was held this morning at approximately 8:10am. They held a full formation (which basically means all the marines in the building have to line up oustide…in formation!), called him to the front, read his pledge or commitment (or whatever it was called—I need to ask him) and then I was called up to help pin on his new rank. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures…I forgot I had the camera in my pocket and we both forgot to ask someone ahead of time to take pictures. Besides, his actual promotion was over in a matter of two minutes—and the entire ceremony (three others were getting promoted as well) was over in a matter of 15 minutes.

After the congratulatory comments afterwards, he got the rest of the day off… we headed straight to the ID center to replace our ID cards (new rank = new cards for both of us) and they have some new system that takes longer now, so we had probably an hour wait. After that, we played hookey the rest of the day and had a blast…

This is the only picture I took of us that day…in the car, waiting for our turn to get new IDs.

Captain Hudson

Yahoo! It’s official!

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Tom just now this very second got the word that he is being promoted to Captain as of May 1, 2006! This has been way too long in coming (it should have been in August) so we’re really excited about it! Now we get to start planning the wetdown!! Tentatively, it will be Saturday, June 3—we wanted to have it some time in May, but one of Tom’s best buds is coming home from Africa the first week of May and has a bunch of weekends planned, so June 3 was the first good weekend so he could be there. Invites will go out soon….

Crazy Busy Weekend

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I’m not sure exactly how many hours we spent at the office, but it was most of Saturday and most of Sunday.

We moved everything into the office and started rearranging furniture (long story short, Sue bought most of the guy’s furniture and decorations so the office was mostly filled, we just had to arrange it like we wanted). Then Sue and I went shopping to look at refrigerators and artwork (we didn’t get anything, but got some ideas). We unpacked files and got computers set up and Tom worked on getting everything networked and protected (a major chore). He also ended up putting together quite a few pieces of furniture (later in the day, Sue and her mom went shopping and came back with chairs and tables). I think we ended up leaving around 8 or so.

Sunday we came back to do more odds and ends, doing whatever we could to get ready to open for business on Monday morning! There was just SO much to do, and every time you thought you could take a break, there was something else to do that you had forgotten about.

The good thing that happened to Tom? Sue gave him $140 for all his work. It was great because he was just doing it to be helpful and wasn’t expecting anything in return.

The good thing that happened to me? Sue gave me my raise—I was stunned. I was expecting something smaller, so $2/hour made me VERY happy. I thanked her for the generous raise and she commented that she was very grateful for the work I do…and that there will certainly be more to do now! (Of course, I still think I’m worth more, but I am thrilled nonetheless.)

Now…are we ready for tomorrow????

Ghost Driver?

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So I get up this morning and am getting ready and I thought I heard machinery of some sort running outside. I just assumed it was workers at the new houses in the area or something similar. I went downstairs and ate breakfast and made my lunch and I could still hear the sound—but I still didn’t think much of it because it seems there are always work trucks in the area. Then, for whatever reason, I thought “You know, it sounds really close” and then, for whatever reason, I went to the garage and opened the door and—a blast of heat rushed past me—my car was running! WHAT THE HELL?!?! Of course I instantly freaked out, because, I mean, how often do you find your car in the garage just running when YOU didn’t start it and you’re the only one home? (It hit me at that moment, as well, as to why I hadn’t been able to find my keys!) I could think of absolutely NO reason why Tom would have left my car running, but you can bet your sweet bippy that I called him mere seconds after I turned the car off and opened the garage door. You will never believe it… his car battery was dead this morning so he had to jump it—and forgot to turn my car off! FORGOT! So my car had been running for probably close to two hours. Hoo boy.

House update and paint pics online!

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We only got around to painting one color this weekend—and I say one color and not one room because it was the downstairs foyer (including the second story part of the foyer) plus the upstairs walls! And honestly, some of it still needs a second coat…but I didn’t want to make Tom do it on his birthday, so it waits.

2005.09.03foyer-02

2005.09.03foyer-03

2005.09.03foyer-04

2005.09.05foyer-05

2005.09.05picwall

And the last edging coat on the second floor was done with a new can of paint…and it’s just a bit off, so I’m thinking a third coat (ugh!) will be necessary. We’ll give it a week or so to see if it ever blends in (you may laugh, but we thought we’d have to do a fourth coat in the dining room, but after two weeks, you couldn’t see the lines anymore). I don’t relish having to do a third coat just because the paint color is a bit off.