A little blurry, sorry!

I’ve been putting off writing. Life has been stressful.

Marty came home.
We went on vacation.
We came back, we celebrated Thanksgiving.
Marty had to go to WLC, and then we celebrated the holidays, which involved going on a short vacation again.
We started to panic because our PCS was coming up. (Okay, maybe I was the only one panicking.)
We started trying to find housing/lodging and plan our move.
We had to pack up our entire house since we chose to do a DITY move.
We had to move, which was the most stressful part of the whole thing!

And now, I have no excuses. Well, other than unpacking, but I can only unpack so much every day, so, like I said, no more excuses not to get back to writing.

Missouri is where we are now, and no, we’re not miserable. We actually got through the move rather unscathed, and we found a really nice rental house out in the middle of nowhere. Marty, Leela the dog, Tumbles the cat, Pumpkin the bunny, and I are all settling into our big country house on 3 acres in the middle of the forest. We love it here and can’t wait till springtime when we can start planting and growing our own vegetables. We might even expand our little zoo by getting a few chickens! What better way to eat organically than to eat home-grown food, eh?

I’m not sure where this blog is going these days. I’m not even sure where this post is going, to be honest. I just know that I want to write again. More. I want to blog-write and write-write. In fact, I’m going to set up my typewriter in the sitting room attached to our master suite (yes, that’s right – be jealous), and I’m hoping that will help me feel inspired to do more writing. And blogging is going back into my weekly schedule, so expect to hear from me more. Even though I’m not sure what you’ll be hearing.

So… that’s all! Happy Valentine’s Day!

I am grateful for good, forgiving friends who are willing to be patient with me and all my flaws! Thank you, guys, for loving me in spite of mistakes and allowing me to be close to you! You know who you are!

I’m thankful for a God who cares about every feeling I have and doesn’t get mad at me for feeling what I feel. He is patiently teaching me that I can choose how those feelings do or do not affect my actions much more often than I thought I could. He is reminding me that even when I feel overwhelmed, he hasn’t left me, and even when I feel devastated, he has good things planned for me. So, I guess I’m also thankful that there’s a truth that is much more powerful than my human feelings.

My husband is someone I’m always thankful for. I’m so proud of him for surviving this deployment, and I’m so happy that it’s almost over and I will get to have him home with me before too long. I’m grateful that he has stuck with me, even when I’ve made it difficult. Not only that, but he’s always willing to look at himself and try to make changes to make himself better. At this rate, he should be literally flawless in another 5 years or so…

Finally, I’m thankful for my sweet kitty cat who, throughout the last few months, has become more sweet than ever. He rarely bites me any more, but he does cuddle me – lots. He’s great company. Did I really want to throw him in the dumpster a few months ago? lol

What are you thankful for this week?

Speaking of fur balls, my cat has gifted me with at least two of those in the last couple weeks. They are just great. Slimy and gross and surrounded by what I can only assume is a cat’s version of stomach acid. Doesn’t that sound nice? Thankfully, his retching has all taken place on the tile floor, not on any furniture or carpeting. And, you will be happy to know, I did not take any pictures to share with you all. Instead, you can just enjoy a cute video of Pumpkin the bunny rabbit!

Pumpkin has continued to amuse me with her antics. She has now discovered that she can jump up onto that bed in the guest room, and it is her new favorite thing to hop up there and bounce around. She just runs back and forth doing binkies sometimes, and it’s great fun to watch.

Tumbles, meanwhile, has grown more and more confident around the bunny. He is no longer running from her. He now chases her all around and chews on her playfully – though sometimes I warn him off when it seems to become too rough. He also explored the inside of Pumpkin’s cage once, and he frequently sticks his head inside for a drink of water when the cage door is open.

I wonder what they’re going to do next! I would like to see Pumpkin start to stick up to Tumbles a little bit more, maybe charge at Tumbles sometimes and make him realize he can’t just do whatever he wants. The more I have to intervene between them, the more Tumbles is going to want to play rough. The good news is, we now have an x pen for Pumpkin! I haven’t set it up yet, but once I do, it will give her a portable play space that Tumbles won’t be able to get into and she won’t be able to get out of, which will enable me to let her out of her cage sometimes without constantly being there to supervise playtime. Hooray!

I didn’t post the Bible Reading Plan for last week, so if you were trying to follow along, well… be comforted by knowing that I’m as behind as you are. Thankfully, this particular Bible Reading Plan has only 25 days of reading per month, so that should make it easy(-ish) to play catch-up.

Anyway, please forgive me for being so behind! I posted the first 7 days of reading already, so here are days 8-21.

• Matthew 4:12-17, Acts 5:1-16, Psalms 8, Genesis 21-23
• Matthew 4:18-25, Acts 5:17-42, Psalms 9, Genesis 24
• Matthew 5:1-12, Acts 6, Psalms 10, Genesis 25-26
• Matthew 5:13-20, Acts 7:1-38, Psalms 11, Genesis 27-28
• Matthew 5:21-32, Acts 7:39-60, Psalms 12, Genesis 29-30
• Matthew 5:33-48, Acts 8:1-25, Psalms 13, Genesis 31
• Matthew 6:1-15, Acts 8:26-40, Psalms 14, Genesis 32-33
• Matthew 6:16-24, Acts 9:1-19, Psalms 15, Genesis 34-35
• Matthew 6:25-34, Acts 9:20-43, Psalms 16, Genesis 36
• Matthew 7:1-14, Acts 10:1-23, Psalms 17, Genesis 37-38
• Matthew 7:15-29, Acts 10:24-48, Psalms 18:1-24, Genesis 39-40
• Matthew 8:1-13, Acts 11:1-18, Psalms 18:25-50, Genesis 41
• Matthew 8:14-22, Acts 11:19-30, Psalms 19, Genesis 42-43
• Matthew 8:23-34, Acts 12, Psalm 20, Genesis 44-45

In Other News

Hubby and I now have bedroom furniture! These pictures are as much for him as they are for you, since he has only seen quickly-taken cellphone pictures. I bought a long dresser with a mirror and a tall chest of drawers from Goodwill, and my friend and Sunday school teacher helped me to get them home – and even helped attach the mirror. Not pictured is the matching headboard which I got Goodwill to throw in with the dresser and mirror. It is sitting in the hall, as I don’t have the screws to try and attach it to our bedframe.

Tumbles: I don’t miss him. I just, you know, wish he was here.
To feed me and stuff. I don’t need him, okay?!

What it is – What it do!

Leave, in the Army, is taking time off from work. Basically, it’s vacation time. You save it up and then spend it, similar to how you save and spend vacation hours at a civilian job.

Block leave is a block of time usually several weeks long when the whole unit takes leave at the same time. Block leave is usually given around holidays such as Christmas and before and after deployments. It’s supposed to be optional (after all, you’re “paying” for those days with your “vacation hours”), but usually soldiers are all but forced to take block leave because, if they don’t, the officers in charge have to come up with work for them to do and people to supervise them.

Pre-Deployment Block Leave

It has been going well for us so far! Hubby and I took a short vacation that included a lot of time in the sun. Two all-day trips to amusement parks and a day and a half at the beach! Hard to decide which part was my favorite! I think Hubby’s favorite was Six Flags Fiesta Texas, and I do have to admit that was quite a fun day. We rode the Poltergeist at least three, maybe four, times. That is my new favorite rollercoaster!

The beach was, of course, lovely. The only downside was getting stung by a jellyfish for the first time. I couldn’t believe how many jellyfish were in the water! I’d never seen anything like it! Sea World was fun, too. The sea lion show was my favorite part of that day.

I was somehow able to make it through the whole trip with very minimal burns. Hubby got to worst of the sun, but he has a nice tan to show for it now. Finally his torso skin color matches the color on his hands and neck! (Silly Army tans are even worse than farmer tans.)

To sum things up, here are some pictures from the trip!