Pardon my absence.

I've been practicing being domestic. :) Monkey is home on leave so I've been trying my hand at doing this wife thing and cooking for him. Last night I made fish and brown rice, and today I am trying my hand at pumpkin cheese cake. The fish was ok. It tasted really good but was a little over done. I think I just need practice. That and a stove top that sits flat. The drip trays on the stove top in the new apt are the wrong size so the burners don't sit flat, making it pretty hard to cook anything evenly. I keep meaning to go to the office and ask them to replace them. 

The cheesecake seems to taste ok, but I'm not sure about the consistency. It has to finish chilling before I know for sure. I didn't use the right kind of pan because we only had little shallow cake pans. Well, anyway, this was the practice one. I'll be making three more, I'm sure by then I'll have it figured out. I will be going and getting a the right kind of pan before continuing with the others. 

Well, there you have it. I'm cooking stuff. haha. Go domestic Ducky!

Since I'm so Forgetfull...

The past 32 hours have been super fun. Spent about 24 hours on watch, six hours sleeping and the rest of the time helping with maintenance. Oh! I got to eat somewhere in there. Had to stand by for a buddy who had to run the PRT a little late.

Beth's Cafe this weekend was awesome! I highly recommend it. The omelet we ordered was called the Southwestern Exposure. Very good. On top of being huge. It was 16 bucks i think for the massive 12 egg version. Filled with Chile, sour cream and salsa. It was fantastic. Hard to eat at first though, the heat slowed me down a lot. You can order a 6 egg version of it if you want to. Fantastic.

So yes, my leave period got "extended". Really what that means is more that it has returned to its original length and its not that i forgot to mention it - it is in fact that I did not notice it. We have been so busy that i honestly did not realize i was signing for the original dates again. So... not so much forgetting as failing to notice on account of the fact that the past 4 weeks at work i have spent running around like a chicken with it's head cut off.

Duty this Sunday! Oh boy that has been a wild ride. The navy (or at least my command) is phenomenally skilled at changing its mind and not making a point to inform personnel promptly. I mean... see above paragraph. Up until two days ago all i knew for sure was that we were shifting births. I didn't have any confirmation on rather or not the duty section rotation was changing. If i forgot to mention this, it was for a whopping 5 hours between me finding out for sure and informing. They do not give us very straight forward answers sometimes.

As it turns out.. they were switching the duty sections around and my crew would be excluded from the rotation. This was great because it meant that i would have Sunday off. Well that all changed yesterday when my chief called down to the boat to have someone inform me that even though we were out of rotation, i was to stand-in for someone on the other crew who has mono and is out. This was after i let everyone know that i would have Sunday off and we would be able to attend. I immediately called my chief back and pleaded to him to have someone else stand by because i had made plans. He was kind enough to oblige me and gave my Sea-Dad duty that day instead. He was not happy. Sorry there Sea-Diddy.

And finally... though i would argue that the two other accusations are in fact not (entirely) my fault. Yes... I did forget to blog. Shame on Monkey... But here it is.

Love you Ducky!

There is more that has transpired though... The other crew needs three Nav-ETs (that's my rate) to go underway with them because they are short handed. They are needed for the whole patrol. They wanted a NavSup, a LanTech and a NavWatch. It so happens that of all the third classes in my division i am the ONLY one who is qualified both NavWatch and LanTech. That is in fact lucky for me. There are three other third classes in my division who have all been there longer than me and I am qualified in-rate watches further than any of them. Because of this i have the least to work on so I am NOT a likely candidate for the underway. I should be getting off-crew but this is not for sure yet.

Everyone cross your fingers for me and hope that i get to stay on land please! Prayers needed.

Thursday 5 - now with A Marine's Wife

I haven't been doing these for a while. Just been too busy busy. I keep meaning to have Monkey fill in one of these but he's also been a busy bee.

Thursday five has moved on over to Flip Flops and Combat Boots. You can fill yours in and link up over there.

Excited

Joyful

Thankful

Happy

Pumped

 

I am Excited that Monkey does not have duty this weekend and we get to start moving into the new place a few days earlier!

 

I am Joyful that it is almost Christmas. Though, I haven't wrapped one present or listened to one Christmas song. Yet.

I am Thankful that I *knock on wood* haven't gotten the gross head/chest cold that has been going around.

 

I am Happy that I get to work on a fun project at work that involves paint and fabric. My fingers are currently stained gold, and it makes me so happy. :)

I am absolutely Pumped that Monkey got his extra week of leave back!!!! Three whole weeks with my honey and I only have to work 6 of them – and in little three day spurts. Awesome possum!

Things my husband forgot to do.

1. Blog: I haven't been blogging because I've been waiting for him to make a [mostly] promised post. But, he has been busy/tired/playing WoW. (Yes, I thought he quit too.) So, I guess I will continue on my blogging way.

2. Tell me that he does not in fact have duty on the day of my family Christmas party, and in fact does not have duty this weekend at all: I've been stressing out about it for weeks... how does he forget to tell me this little nugget of info? Since I thought he was going to be gone, I kind of planned to spend much of the weekend gluing rhinestones onto my Salsa costume. Sorry honey.

It will be nice to get a head start on the packing and moving though.

3. Tell me that his leave was un-shortened: They originally had almost three weeks of leave. Then I was told that it would only be two. So, I removed that time off request from my calendar at work. He informed me last night that it would be three weeks and that he doesn't even remember when that happened. Luckily my boss is super awesome with all my many many time off changes due to good ol' Navy predictability, that he let me have the days back no problem. Thank you boss.

In other news:

Monkey and my cat are now on the same special diet. For the last year or so, Monkey has tried to maintain a more or less gluten free diet since we figured out that he seems to be sensitive to it. Recently, I read an article about cats and how the grains in most cat foods are not actually good for them and can cause all kinds of digestive problems. My cat has had symptoms similar to what they described from the day we got her. So, I have started her on a new grain free/gluten free cat food. Hope it helps her. It's sure helped Monkey. :D

And just for fun:

Last weekend Monkey and his buddy decided to float on over to Seattle to attempt to consume 5lbs of omelet and hash brown! After about a half an hour, they declared the endeavor a tie. 

That's three pounds of Omelet on top of two pounds of hashbrowns!

I think that is actually quite impressive!

What are the odds?

OK, I'm just going to whine for a second. Yes I realize that it could be worse, he could be deployed. But since he's not, I would have liked to have taken advantage of that since next year he likely will be gone. I am grateful that he is here, just that circumstances are disappointing. And I know, he's not the only one, every one in this duty section are stuck with the same crappy schedule. I guess I'm still learning about what I should and should not get my hopes up about.

What are the odds that he would end up with duty on every single holiday event (except one).

He had duty on Thanksgiving. (And had to work the next day) He had duty for his holiday party. He has duty for my family christmas get together, he has duty this weekend for a holiday party we were supposed to go to and if he didn't have leave, he would have had duty on New Years Eve. Which would have been doubly bad, because besides the fact that it's new years eve, it's also the night of my salsa performance.

Ok, I'm done. Not another word about that. (umm, probably)

It will be so great when he finally has leave and we can move into the new place and just be "us" for a while.

And speaking of the new place...

In happier news, we got the keys to the new place this weekend! (Though several hours later than expected - that's all I'll say about that. ) We spent Saturday night there on an air mattress with some hot cocoa and a fire log watching a movie on my very old laptop. Before hand we went shopping for food and some kitchen stuff but it took us so long that by the time we got back we were too pooped and not really hungry any more. So we didn't even eat dinner.

We spent Sunday getting more stuff for the kitchen. It is ridiculous how much stuff you need for a minimally functioning kitchen. Then we picked up a shower curtain and bath mat for the master bathroom. It's super cute now. The first night we had to use the guest bath to shower because we forgot to get a shower curtain and the guest bath has sliding shower doors. I actually like that shower better.

I like them!!! Especially the bowls.

For those who have a vested interest in our kitchen decor, we decided to do black and white and teal. (Dark Turquoise/Peacock blue green-ish) Here are the plates we picked out. The decision went something like this. While at Safeway "Oh look honey, I like the plates here on this end cap", "I like them too. Let's get them." So now we have these plates and bowls. To be filled in with Teal plates, also. These plates specifically.

We still need a couch and we still need lamps and nightstands, and a microwave. Yes, I totally thought there was a microwave there. There is not. We will be needing one of those!

Like I said, i am totally excited for him to finally get on leave so we can finish moving in! When we have places to sit, we will have people over. I ate every meal sitting on the counter. Which is actually quite spacious. Unlike the "walk-in" closets. *scowl* Because we're on the top level our closets get cut off with the roof line and are NOT anywhere as big as the model we were shown. They could have at least warned us. That was part of the reason we chose this place. We needed closet space. It's a darned good thing there is a second little closet in the 'changing area'. Big bummer there. And the living room doesn't work very well because the fireplace is raised so high that you can't put the TV above it. Which forces us to put the TV on the main wall and eat up all the living space with the couch. Other than that we LOVE the place. Just a couple unexpected things. Oh well, live and learn. I love the kitchen and I usually could care less about kitchens.

Elfing around.

I think i only posted once last week. Perhaps I will do better this week. Perhaps not. I already know it may potentially be a disappointing week. He kind of ended up on the worst possible duty rotation. It just happens that he had duty on Thanksgiving. So he was stuck up in WA on the boat all day. Then had to work the following day. Which meant of our potential 4 days together, we got two - and some change. Bummer. But then, come to find out he'll also have duty this Friday. This Friday is his command holiday party. I was really looking forward to it. I got the day off work and everything. The biggest reason this makes me so mad is because they don't even own the boat right now. They are in refit assist. Come on, just one night? Please guys? 

Also, it's getting down to the wire and he still hasn't been able to put in his request for leave. Which would start the day AFTER my family Christmas get together. URG! He has duty that weekend too so if he makes it, he'll have to drive down, go to the gathering, then drive all the way back up in one day. Not very fun. None of my extended family have met him yet. I especially want him to meet my uncle. I knew he was in the navy, but I didn't know he was also on subs. And even taught at the base Monkey is on. Cool, right?

Somewhere in all this we have to find a day that both of us can get into the apartment on the same day to sign the lease and start moving stuff so we can get moved before Christmas. 

Ok, well... besides all that, here is something much more FUN!!!

This weekend we helped out selling Jelly at "America's largest Christmas bazzaar". My ballet teacher also has another business selling super nummy home-made jams and jellies. I volunteered to help and got Monkey to help out too. He happily obliged, even though he would have to dress like an elf. :D For several hours, in public. hehe. I'm all for dressing up in silly costumes, but Monkey was such as trooper, doing this for me. Love him! 

Mrs. Claus was there too, but she was taking the picture!

Caught mid snacking!

That's better!

Too cool for elf school!

Why do i keep hearing jingling every where i go?

Elfy love!

Goofy elves!

Fancy Monkey

This weekend ended up being a little more expensive that we anticipated. But, it was for a good cause.

Lately, Monkey has decided that he wants to start dressing with a little more style. I think this is something that guys do at this age. And I am all for it! I've wanted to dress him up for so long! We went to the mall to get him a pair of "stylish shoes" he's had his eyes on for a few days, and came back with the shoes, correctly fitting jean, a new button up shirt, nice belt, and a suit! A suit ladies and gents! He looks SO handsome in it. I just melted when he put the jacket on in the store. He was going to just get the jacket but the pants were on sale and I figured he might as well have the set just in case he actually needs full on suit one day. So I bought the pants for him. We even had them hemmed so they were the right length.

It was all on sale, plus coupons so we got everything for less than half price.

New jacket, shirt he already owned, new jeans (that fit really well), new shoes (actually a half boot!). There's a new belt in there too but you can't see it under his shirt. I took a normal picture too, but he's just so cute when he's being goofy so I posted this one instead. :)

I also got the shopping bug and picked up a new pair of boots (half price) and a sweater dress for work (also on sale). I stopped there. I had to put it all in a bag or I wouldn't stop. :) And on a side note, Monkey is also an excellent shopping buddy. To start, if I tell him I have a budget or I don't want to spend too much, he reminds me of that when I get a little too excited. I do appreciate that. But also, he actually helps! He doesn't follow me around like a lost puppy whining one minute only to disappear in the tool department the next. No, he actually helps. I ask him what he thinks and he has an opinion. If he see's something he thinks would look cute on me, he points it out. I love it! And he'll even offer... OFFER... to hold my purse so I can try stuff on. LOVE HIM!

We were feeling fancy when we got home so I sweet talked my mom into taking us out to dinner so we could go out and dress up with out having to spend any more money. Thank you Mom and Dad. :D

No luck at Goodwill for furniture but we found a bunch of other stuff that we will go back for once we are in the apartment and know exactly what spaces we have to fill.

Tid-bits

I haven't had enough for a full post in few days, so here's just some tid-bits of what's been going on.

- We got the apartment! Yea! I'm so excited to have a place that is just ours. I'm also excited to decorate it! However, we have no furniture, or dishes, or well... anything. Except, a bed and a TV and entertainment center. (Thank you Pop!) I think tonight, our budget date night will be treasure hunting at goodwill for paintable furniture and possibly funky dishes. Maybe we'll find some decor things too, like mirrors or art. Curtains? Lamps? Who knows - adventure I say!

- A little bad news, Monkey has duty on Thanksgiving and wont be able to come home. He will be home the next day though so at least I get a few extra hours with him that weekend. I really wanted to take him down to meet the rest of my family that he hasn't met yet, though. I guess we'll try again for Christmas.

- His car has decided that it wants to be difficult. The check engine light as been coming off and on, and it's been having problems starting up. We had to push-start it last weekend, and yesterday he couldn't get it started at all. It sounds like he got it working today so he can make it home tonight. *fingers crossed* Ever since he picked it up from deployed parking it's been acting up and seems to be getting progressively worse. He has some leads as to what it might be. We're hoping that it ends up being the not expensive one. :/

Things are back to "normal" right now. He's coming down for the weekend. I'll see him tonight! Yay! Can not wait to squeeze him and kiss him!

A day I thought I'd never see.

The sky is falling! Hell hath frozen over! A pig just flew by! Ladies and gentlemen hold on to your hats you are not going to believe what just happened!!! My husband, the die-hard defender of the game, has just QUIT WORLD OF WARCRAFT!!! Quit playing, canceled his account, all done!

From the day I met him, I never ever thought this would happen. EVER! I mean, I'm not going to complain too much. From day one, I have been competing for attention with this game. But I will miss so diligently trying to distract him while he's in the middle of some big raid or boss or whatever. ;)

Anyway, i won't go into detail as to the reasons, he can share if he feels so inclined. But i just wanted to share the monumentous turn of events!!!

Look, there goes another flying pig!

Exciting Things

Just a quick little post. Couple things that make me happy. 

1. In the last few weeks I have gone from 12 to 50 followers! Wow! That's awesome! Thank you all for reading and commenting. You are all terrific! :D

2. Apartment Update: We have picked an apartment and have started the application process. We're just having a hard time finding time for Monkey to get his paperwork back. It's harder because we only have two days to get all the paperwork in but he's up in WA for the rest of the week. But the apartment is super cute! Two bedroom, two bath, walk-in closets in both rooms plus an extra little closet in the master which works out perfectly for Monkey's stuff since he only needs clothes her for the weekends. Beautiful kitchen, with stainless appliances and nice cabinets. And a window in the kitchen! For some reason i just really love a window in the kitchen and that is so hard to find in an apartment. 

Anyway, I have to get back to work, but I just wanted to share those things. Also, while I'm sad that Monkey has gone back up to WA, I'm sooooo happy that i got most of a week with him and that we have our evening web cam sessions back.

Good to be back!

***This is a post from Monkey! He has been underway so many of you have not seen him post before. He actually posts here frequently so you can look forward to more from him in the next few months while he's still on dry land. Enjoy. (p.s. I am "Ducky" below) ***

The blog has gained a lot of followers since I was adventuring. Good job Ducky! I don't really know where to begin, or what to say. Blogging is best when events are fresh in your head. There aren't really too many, i have vented almost everything.

I like all the random submarine questions I get. Some of them are silly to me know though, i think that a couple years ago I would have asked the same ones. Maybe not all of them...

Most exciting thing now -and it's very exciting- is our apartment. We finally get our own place, wish i would be there more often. The thought of it drove me crazy underway. Kept thinking about how nice it would be.

Got to spend most of the last week with Ducky. It was excellent. She had to work though. I spent much of my time catching up on sleep and scouring everything west of PDX for the perfect desk. Which by the way doesn't exist.

Apparently my geeky needs are a little too extreme for modern furniture. I mean... is a place to put six computer screens too much to ask? Am I reaching for the stars here? Eventually i found one that will work for now. I am sitting in my "throne" presently. Right not its just 4 screens - But it does feel rather like I could control an Imperial Star Destroyer from here. It is a nice feeling!

Anyhoozle... Ducky did a very nice job of covering important high-lights during the patrol. I haz the feesh [Fish].... they feel good. Thanks to Ducky for keeping up on emails while i was away, they brightened my day, just imagining her speaking the words.

I also feel a sudden urge to buy a digeridoo.

I feel special

I am a day late in posting this because Monkey's home and I've been, of course, spending all my free time with him!

Yesterday, the awesome Kate over at Livin' Our Love Song posted a feature about me/our blog for her "WonderWoman Wednesday" series! Thank you Kate! It makes me feel special that someone else thinks my blog is cool enough to share with all of her bloggie friends. I also follow her blog and it's one of my favorites. So, go ahead, go check out her WonderWoman Wednesday post and the rest of her blog.

(Semi) Wordless Wednesday

(click on the image to see the whole thing. Don't forget to use the back button to get back to the post.)

Best blog hit from Google to date! That's a hit from Chile, from a Google search for "love being in my underwear at home". Interesting and amusing. :D

In case you're curious, the post they hit on was this one. A funny little story from Monkey about locking himself out of his barracks room.

Homecoming adventures.

In case you missed my last post. Monkey's home!

On my way to retrieving my husband I had a few adventures of my own.

Adventure one: Getting on base

Usually when i get on base I just drive up, show my ID, have the same conversation about why I don't have stickers yet and get a temporary pass. I've never had a problem. Turns out this is because I've always been there on a weekend. Since I was there when pass and ID was open i had to go in and get a full pass even. Wondering how all the people who don't have a military ID who were going on the dependent's cruise were going to get on base, i grab my number sit down and wait. When i got to the counter I was very prepared. I had all my documents that were noted on the bulletin board all ready to go for the lady at the counter. I "knew" from experience that she was going to have an issue with the fact that my car registration is still in my old last name. I can't change it easily because the bank still owns the title. Last time monkey went to get me stickers we had the same situation and they gave me a month pass no problem so i figured a few days would be no biggie. I was wrong. We went in circles about it for about 10 minutes. Her telling me that if i had my marriage license she could get me stickers. Me telling her that we tired that before and were told that we still couldn't. Apparently they changed the rules. I didn't know this so i didn't think to bring it. But, hubs has it. But i can't get to it because he's on the boat, that I am here to go on a cruise on and it's still in the ocean. Circles circles circles, finally after 20 or so minutes she gave me a pass on the premise that I come back the next day with the marriage certificate. Which I did. In the end it worked out because now i have stickers, but, geesh. Hadn't bargained for that run around.

Adventure two: Help?

Mmm, yeah... I am now officially "that girl" that did that. We had one last chance to hit the bathroom before the hour and half bus ride to the 'undisclosed location'. Went into the stall, did my business and unlocked the door to exit the stall. Pushed the door... it didn't open. Pulled the door... it didn't open. Jiggled the door... it didn't open. Tried the lock... it didn't open. In my head I thought to myself, "I can't believe I'm about to do this". As I yell, "Help, I'm STUCK!!" I hear the other ladies giggling as the door finally pops open. Luckily i knew one of the other girls so I made a point to laugh it off. But yeah, I'm that girl, that got stuck in the bathroom. haha

Adventure three: temporary homelessness. 

Since they changed the date at the last minute I wasn't able to get a room on base for all 4 nights I was going to be there. Well, first off, i counted wrong so I might have had two at one place but by the time I realized my error there were no more rooms available. I wanted to stay on base because it's much much cheaper than staying off base and because I wanted to be close so I could have as much time as possible with Monkey in the mornings after he got back knowing he would still have to go into work. It eventually worked out. One of the other boat wives was super great and offered to let me stay at their place the night before the cruise, and the third night i ended up staying off base but managed to snag what seemed like the last hotel room in the city under $100. And kind of by accident, and I didn't get it until a few hours before i checked in. Since my checkout was early friday morning and i had no place to go, i got up with Monkey early and was planning on just crashing in his barracks till he got back and we could figure something out. Well a few hours later i got a phone call from him informing me that if they did a random room inspection i would be escorted out by security. ( I think that would have been funny actually) He had no internet so i called a number i had happened to write down the week before. Turns out it was the main number for a whole chain of hotels and they were able to get me into the last room in a nearby hotel for $80 instead of the regular $120. I still had to wait till 3 so i drove to the mall and window shopped. I was very very good. i didn't buy anything. Which was hard because all the cute winter clothes are out! I knew i would be in trouble if I did. Last time he left me unattended at that mall i came back with more bags than I could carry. :) So, i walked around, had lunch at Red Robin by myself and finally checked in and waited for monkey to get off work.

Adventure four: Flashlight camping in a hotel

Saturday night we stayed at the Navy Lodge on base. There was a scheduled power outage on that block of the base so when i checked in there were no lights. I was escorted down the dark hallway to my room and given a flashlight "just in case". The room was bright enough from the window and the power was supposed to be back on any time. Then it wasn't. I was getting cold, and bored. I really wanted to shower but there was not light in the shower. I couldn't get on the internet or watch TV. Eventually it started to get dark. Flashlight required. Monkey had come to the hotel eventually and I had to lead him to the room with the light from my cell phone. We got tired of sitting in the dark so we went out to eat hoping the power would come back on. It hadn't so we went to see a movie but the one we wanted to see didn't start for another hour and a half. So, we went to Bestbuy and fell in love with some Bose speakers. We called again and the power had finally come back on so we stopped by the mini next and got a DVD from the Red Box and had a cuddle movie. That was nice.

So that was my weekend. Now he's home (in portland) for a few days. :) Time for him to catch up with family and friends. Unfortunately I can't really miss any more dance classes so I don't get to see him until late tonight, but it's still awesome to come home to him in our bed. *happy sigh*

The post we've all been waitijg for!

Monkey's home!!!!!!!!!!

Well, he's back on dry land and back on base which is where i am too. I'm sitting in his barracks on my ipod. I wanted to take a picture of us last night and just post that but they wouldn't let me have a camera on the dependents cruise. (which is foder for another post) and by the time we got back to the hotel we weren't really thinking about taking pictures.

I dont have a hotel for tonight which is why i'm hanging out in his barracks all day. I'll try the lodge for the fourth time again a little later. Either way i have nowhere to be until 3 when i could check in anywhere anyway.

Gonna try and get back to sleep. It's only about 6:30. Then i'll find something to occupy my day. Perhaps a much needed pedicure.

I will write more about the ruleunion and dependents cruise later when i have a full sized keyboard. Until then, yay! Monkey's back!!!

Button Fix

My button is apparently on the fritz. I promise it was working at one point. If you've tried and it didn't work, here you go. Hopefully I did it right.

<div align="center"><a href="http://monkeysnavy.blogspot.com/" title="A Monkey in the Navy"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHY6J_RWWLcDK664iu7PbV-dmfaTzvj6ZMKEKHWonxgG07G63G7UFMrJ8ade_PuUlgMU75aGeb1TOH3RvWOaahp2HycWmIlkLWmkE5e76VMQLNZE72SDwme6Fm-8Hq18qboYyNgL2Vorgk/s144/Button_MonkeyBlog.png" alt="A Monkey in the Navy" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Blog Award

Last week I was given two blog awards! I've been so busy i haven't had time to post about them. Here's the first one.

To accept the Versatile Blogger Award the rules are:



{1}: Thank and link back to who gave you the award.
Thank you Liv Kit @ Simply Sunshine and Daisys



{2}: Share 7 things about yourself.
(In no particular order or preference)

1. I live three lives - Full time sailors wife,  graphic designer during the day, and dancer at night (Which dance depends on which night of the week it is). 
2. Mac-n-cheese it probably my favorite food.
3. I suck at spelling
4. I love my husband more than anything I can imagine.
5. I have fat kitty with a curly half tail.
6. I have one older sister who makes adorable children.
7. I love my in-laws. :) All of them.

{3}: Pass it along to 7 blogs you've recently discovered and enjoy!
Home is Where the Heart is
Livin' our love song
Life as a sailors girl
Two Southerners
Pink Champaign, Combat Boots and MRE's
Army Dogs
Hooyah from the Homefront


{4}: Leave the recipients a note, telling them about the award.
Doin' that as we speak. Err.. read/write.

Happy Halloween from the Conga Club

I am so far behind in my posts. I have two awards to accept and write and tag, and lots of stuff to do so this will be pretty short and sweet.

Here are some pics from last night out Salsa dancing at the Conga Club. (In slide show form because it's way faster than uploading individual pictures)

I love salsa dancing because it's something i can do to get out when hubs is gone. Everybody knows everybody and unlike regular night clubs, there are actually social dance rules, so the guys respect you and you can just have fun without worrying about fending off creepers and drunks. Plus, I don't have to drink to have a good time. Salsa = good clean fun. :D

'Course, it still would be much more fun if Monkey was there. I actually get a little bummed out when i get all dolled up to go out for stuff and he's not there to enjoy it. I try to take lots of pics so he can see what he missed. ;)

Been doin' this...

I should have saved this for wordless Wednesday, but...

Pretty much spend my days doin' this... *sigh*

MilSpouse Friday Fill-in

IT"S FRIDAY EVERYBODY!!!

And that means it is time again for the MilSpouse Friday Fill-in over at Wife of a Sailor.
Head on over to Army Dogs this week to link up to the Mispouse roundup!

1. What’s the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?
   When I was going to college I had to take the MAX lightrail to school everyday. One day there was a problem on the line and the max was stopping half way to where I needed to get off. I was going to be late for work. The woman next to me was nice enough to not only let me borrow her cell phone to call work, she gave me a ride to my station so I could get to my car and be on time.
   
2. If you are having a hard time going to sleep, what do you do to help yourself?
   I'm not very good at getting myself to sleep when I can't. Sometimes I'll just lay there and play games on my ipod touch. Staring at the tiny screen in the dark makes my eyes get tired. Sometimes that's enough. Or, if I can't sleep because my mind won't shut off, I'll get up and write down whatever is on my mind so I don't have to worry about remembering it anymore.
   
   
3. Name something that makes you wish you were a kid again.
   Finding out that I have a touch of ADD. I wish i could go back and study a little harder, and spend a little more time on my homework. Also, i just miss not having so much drama and responsibility. My job was to go learn stuff and run around. That sounds fun.
   
   
4. What is something you never believed until you experienced it?
   I always thought that love songs were exaggerated. I didn't ever think that real love would be that powerful. Until I found it. Now all those love songs, almost seem inadequate in expressing how I feel!
   
   
   
5. What can’t you say “no” to?
   Albertson's cookies! Oh, and Redvines. Or, Caramel. Or... yeah... i like sweets.
   

Thursday 5

Hey! It's time for Thursday 5 with Mrs. Gambizzle!

But first, a picture from last Saturday night at the grand opening of the Conga Club. This was after a couple hours of dancing, it a very hot building. It was really fun, I'm going back this weekend for the costume party. As soon as I figure out a costume. I was planning on having my sailor back so I wasn't planning on doing anything festive. But, since I just found out that I won't, I'm now in a scramble to pull something together.

Anyway, here you go. Wish they had some of me actually dancing, but oh well.

Me and one of the guys from Salsa Con Coco.

Now back to the Thursday 5.

Giggly

Snuggly

Thankful

Excited

GLEE!

Got a little Giggly at practice last night. We joked that our dance partner ship was like a really bad codependent relationship. "Give me some space", "Don't push me"... :)

Wishin' I was gettin' all Snuggly with my man... was supposed to be, but... well, you all know how that goes some times. *I'm lookin at you Navy* :(

I am thankful that my blood work from yesterdays doc visit came back and only said I was vitamin D deficient and not anemic. I chalk that up to living the Pacific NW.

I am excited to dress up for Halloween this year, even if it's because my Monkey isn't home. I haven't done anything for Halloween for the last three years. I LOVE dressing up. That's why i love ballet. You are never too old to wear a tutu. At least, in the "appropriate" setting.

I got a bit of glee in my not so awesome week from a pretty really nice little gift I received.

Happy Thursday, one more to go!

Monkey Mail - FISH!

I have been waiting every so patiently to be able to make this post. He got his fish! Go Monkey! I'm so so proud of him. He has been working his tail off to get this done. Staying on the hot-runners list every single week he was on the boat. His goal was to do it on his first underway and he has. :D

I have been promised pictures. I will post them whenever the Navy gives him back to me.

Hopefully thing will be at least a little bit less stressful for him for the rest of this trip. He's been so stressed out and not getting much sleep. I hate it when he runs off of caffeine all the time.

Anyway, here's a bit from his email:

"Tuesday, 26-OCT-10, 1441

GREAT NEWS! I passed my board yesterday! I was super stressed out, but at about 1400 (2pm) I was running around gathering the board and stuff. I had roughly 35lbs of goodies for the board. MUAHAHA! The captain even came in and stole some while i was simulating my firefighting skills. I got an FFE (fire-fighter's ensemble), SCBA, routed a fire hose, and would have (if it were a real fire) been fighting it in just over 1/3 the required time. Not too shabby especially considering - i have never put an FFE on before. ROFLCOPTERS! (I tried to google ROFLCOPTERS, and couldn't find anything that explained it well. It's WoW geek stuff, haha)

I had four people on my board vis the normal three. It was about an hour and a half. Got three look-ups. One of which i wanted to slap myself for because i knew that i had known the answer at one point and i kind of knew what it was but i couldn't say it. The second was a history question and the third was to list the systems that the chill-water system cools. I could only remember two things it cooled at the time.

I turned my look-ups in and got all my board members to sign my card, then the Doc and CoB. The yeomen have it now so it can be routed to the XO and Captain. I should be getting pinned tonight. (Which was yesterday!)

Anyways Mrs. Beautiful!!! I love you and miss you so much!

Next couple days is gonna be crazy. Have a ship-wide examination, a day full of drills. Which i determined due to scheduling - I am gonna be on watch for. Which sucks cause of rigging.

Love you!"

Read more about being qualified submarines here.

Wordless Wednesday

Monkey Mail - "OMFG"

:( Poor Monkey! Just got an email from him. It was about two sentences. The subject was "omfg... hell"!

 "This SUCKS!

SSM inventory = biggest bone-job on the boat. and I have my board tomorrow. Haven't had time to study because the SSM thing takes priority so im sneaking it in where i can. Dont have much time.

Wish i could write more, no time.
LOVE YOU SO MUCH!"

It's a huge bummer that he's not getting time to study for his board. He's been working so so hard on getting there, and wanted to kick butt on it. But, he's not getting to give it the time it deserves. :( 

Well, good luck Hon! Sending kick-ass vibes your way!

For all our hubs' whoz iz cunductin' they maintenance, yo.

I happened across this video this morning on the Navy facebook page. It made me giggle and I wanted to share. Enjoy!

30 days of me: Day 5

Your Favorite Quote

I'm going to give you two. The first I found in a greeting card once, and it always makes me smile.

I wish I had it to show you the cute picture on the front.

"It wouldn't be boring if cows could go soaring on beautiful butterfly wings.
And maybe they'd do it, if we could see to it, to simply imagine such things."

The second one, I'll have to paraphrase. I can't remember exactly how it goes. It's a proverb. It has actually greatly reduced the amount of stress in my life. Goes something like this:

There is no need for worrying about a problem.
If there is something you can do about it, then there is no need to worry.
If you can't do anything about it, then there is no point in worrying. 

Basically, what that means to me is that, if you can do something about it, do it! Be proactive and do something. If there is nothing you can do, then there is nothing you can do. Take a deep breath and ride it out. Worrying isn't going to help, it's just going to stress you out. It has really gotten me through some tough times. I've learned to stop and ask myself, "Can I do anything about this?" If yes, then I figure out how to do it. If it's out of my control and I can't figure out how to fix it, I just step back and let what will be, be.

Apartment hunting and salsa

This has been my second weekend of apartment hunting. All by myself. Last weekend was pretty depressing. I started at all the "affordable" place. They were all either, smelly, scary, or ugly. I was feeling pretty defeated by the time I got home. This weekend. I went to the places that were at the higher end of our budget. WAY better. Just $50 in rent makes a huge difference. Well, also about 5 miles further from Portland. I have to resign myself to the fact that I will not be able to live in the area that I want unless I want to live in a stinky ugly place. The places that I like are juuuuust out of our price range. So further towards Beaverton I went. And the places were much much nicer for almost the same price. My favorite one we would only be able to do if we somehow got in on deal. 

I'm trying not to fall in love with any one place because I still have to take Monkey around to the top few and let him help decide. 

Then I came home and ate a huge slice of pizza dripping with orange grease, followed with a much to large bowl of ice cream. Hey at least I chose vanilla instead of moose tracks. But it's ok. Because I'll burn it off at the new salsa club I'm going to tonight! Yay! 

Typically, I never go out dancing on Saturday nights. I'm usually so danced-out by the end of the week I could care less. Plus, the dancing starts so late that by the time I'm supposed to leave I'm getting sleepy. Also, I hate driving a parking downtown, and I hate going places alone.... blah blah excuses excuses.

But, there is a brand spankin' new salsa club opening tonight. Not just a club that has a salsa night. A salsa club! Brand new floors, largest floor in Portland, two levels (only one if for dancin), VIP lounge.. There are a couple other places around but one is super divey and the other is always too full and there are tables at the edge of the floor and it's just not my favorite place. I'm really excited about checking out this new place. The doors open at 8 so if I leave at 7:30 that's super early and I won't be so tired. The only downside is that the cover is $13. It's because there is a live band but still. I think it's $10 on a regular night. Most expensive place, i think. Anyway, I'm excited. I gotta go figure out what I'm going to wear.

MilSpouse Friday Fill-in

It's FRIDAY! That means it's time for MilSpouse friday fill-in, hosted over at Wife of a Sailor.

This weeks questions and answers:

1. Are you a night owl or an early bird?
   If I had to choose I would say night owl. I CAN NOT get up in the mornings to save my life! I'm not cranky or one of those people who need their morning coffee in order to be personable, I just can't wake up. Once I get my feet out from under the covers and on the floor, I'm fine. But getting there is usually pretty agonizing. :)
2. What makes you jealous?
   Currently, I can't think of anything. But I can tell you that back in the day when I was first taking dance lessons (Monkey was my instructor), before we were admitting that we liked each other, I would get so jealous when he would dance with other female students at practice parties. Especially when he looked like he was enjoying it. It was stupid, but darn it... i wanted to be his favorite student! haha. I guess I was after all. ;)
3. Have you started Christmas/holiday shopping yet? When will you finish? (There’s only 63 days left!)
   Have not officially started yet. But, I have a few ideas and have started scouting some things out.
4. What would you have a personal chef make you tonight?
   If you've been reading this blog for very long you'll have read the post where I don't really care about food. Kinda, meh... I'm a bonafied picky eater and rarely eat veggies. A kick-a$$ bowl of Mac-n-cheese would do just fine right now! Mmm mmmm.
5. Where was your first kiss?
   My first kiss or our first kiss? I would love to tell you about our first kiss, but there may be a debate over exactly when/where that was, so since he's not here to confirm or deny, I'll go with my first kiss. I just realized I don't remember my first kiss. I know his name was Noah, I was... a sophomore in high school I think. Maybe a freshman. I remember it was awkward and I didn't really like it. And he had to correct me and tell me to turn my head so our noses didn't squish together. But I don't remember where I was. Until i went to write this I was completely thinking it was with someone else. Guess it wasn't very memorable. Sorry, Noah. :/ But then, I remember he wasn't very upset when I broke up with him that summer.

Monkey Mail - Priorities

SO nice to be getting emails "regularly" again. And by that I mean every few days. But, that's waaaayyyy better than being two weeks apart! 

He's getting closer and closer to his fish! That is, if they give him enough time to study. :/ 

Here's pieces of his last email:

"Hey beautiful

Counting down the days, getting closer, and I have more and more to do plus the ship has a big “test” so-to-speak right before we pull in. I am trying to juggle between my collateral duty and my studying… and its sucks already. This thing is not going to be easy and it’s taking away from my study time for my board which worries me. My board is in two days now and I just spent 6 hours working on this cataloging business and I’m maybe 20% done. It has to be done as soon as possible because it is a turn over item with the boat. Meaning that we cannot hand the boat to the other crew until this is done.

I keep telling myself to just “be amazing” and kick the ass off of everything in front of me. WABAM!!!

Haven’t slept yet, started taking the caffeine pills again (I hate it when he does this) because with all this [stuff] I don’t have time for much sleep. I am going to finish some look ups for my last check out, take a quick shower and get a couple hours of sleep before going on watch again. I have the mid-watch this time which sucks because I have a bunch of mid-night routines to do.

Okay --- now that I have vented my frustrations about the situation…. I am going to go continue my ass whoopin’ of all this stuff. By frustrations I mean the boat stuff. Also I just (30 seconds ago, as Doc walked passed) discovered that my board has actually NOT been scheduled yet… this is either good or bad and I can’t decide which. Anyhoozle…

Love you, miss you!"

Thursday 5

It's that time again. Thursday 5 with Mrs. Gambizzle. I skipped last week, but here we go with this weeks 5. It's been a heck of a week so I might have to get creative.

Happy
Giddy
Joy
Glee
Thankful

 

I'm Happy that except for last night, I've been sleeping ok.
I'm Giddy that salsa costumes have been ordered along with two shiny new pairs of dance shoes!
I get Joy from my kitty being extra snuggly as the weather gets colder and papa (Monkey) is gone longer. 
Glee: umm... I get to get back on pointe this weekend. It's been a little while. It's going to hurt but I really miss it. 
I am Thankful that this underway is on the downhill side. I am totally jonesin' for some Monkey!!!

30 days of me: Day 4

My Favorite Book

I hate telling people that I don't really read. Like it makes me look less intellectual or something.

But really, i just can't sit still that long. I don't watch much TV either, for the same reason. I usually only read for entertainment on plane rides and car trips, when I'm confined. That being said, the last fiction book that I've finished was in Jr. High. I keep starting books. I have about three in process right now that I take on planes and road trips. (Wicked, Don Quixote, and Sex Drugs and Cocoa Puffs) But I can't really give an answer to this question. It just depends on what kind of mood I'm in as to what I like to read. And since the last book I finished, other than Dave Ramsey's - Financial Freedom, was the extent of the Redwall series as it was about 12 years ago...umm... I'm going to say... the Thesaurus. Because while I may not read much, I like to write, and my Thesaurus is well loved.

Wordless Wednesday

I miss dancing with hubs.

The not so glamorous life of a salsa dancer.

Ok, so for all my new friends, in case you didn't know, amongst other things, I am a salsa dancer. I dance in a local salsa dance company called Salsa ConCoco. (The picture to the left is me but not from the dance company. It's from a competition. But you get the idea, just imagine more people and a different, cooler costume.)
When you think company salsa dancer, you might think: sexy costumes, spray tans, fringe, sparkles, fake eyelashes, a little bit of glitz and glamor, spins, smiles, fun...

Cut to last nights rehearsal. We are working on a new stunt. It's supposed to be really cool and slick. Right now... it's not. Right now, it kind of resembles, well, me... stomach first on my partners back, writhing around trying to stay on said partners back which two other people spin me in a circle while my poor partner has to hold up my dead weight with his back, and then I slide off the side and hit a super star pose to celebrate not dying. Over and over. Today, my left arm is tired, sore, pink, and swollen. Super sexy. :)

I'm sharing this, first, because my arm has been bugging me all day. But also, because I am amused at the thought of the above described sight. When we're all dressed up, yes, we are all sparkles and fringe and fake eyelashes. But then there's the hours of sweating, and falling, and grunting, and flailing, and general not so sexiness-ness. haha

I feel sometimes like i have this alter ego. Like Fight Club, but...Salsa Club. Haha. I go to work and sit at my desk and do my work. Then leave, like everyone else. But unlike everyone else I go to a studio, put on some 3 and a half inch high heels and get spun and flung and sweaty and bruised. Then the next day i go back to work, and sit at my desk, and do my work. No glitter, no sparkles, just a swollen arm and picture of the costume I have to wear in two months taped to my monitor to remind me that I really don't need that three o'clock snack.

I wish i could do it all the time. But, costumes are expensive, so I must work to pay for my habit.

Just for fun, here's a little video of me and hubs dancing last newyears after the performance. So i've already changed back to normal person clothes. Nothing spectacular. But I really love dancing with him. After all, that's how we met. :)
(Sorry, It's so dark, YouTube does that)

Monkey Mail - Getting Closer

So he's getting even closer to his fish. Only two signatures left! He promises pictures. 

I'm skipping the part of the email where he talks about getting himself in trouble. I'll let him tell that one since I still don't know the whole story. 

Here's portions of his email. The parts in brackets are my edits for various reasons.

"Hey mrs beautiful! Miss you. I have kinda been a rack monster recently, stopped staying up all the time because i dont like standing watch tired. Makes you unalert. Even if you are caffeinated to high heaven (Thats further from under water).

I have two signatures left on my card. Im working on lookups for one of them and the other is a test that involves running around and acting like there is a fire... I think anyways. They take pictues when we get pinned. But if we are doing the dependant's cruise i might see about getting pinned after we pick you up. I'm not sure that will work though. Especially being a Nav type, just cause we have so much [stuff] to do while piloting. If not though, you will have pictures at least.

Also - i figured out that if i say the word "missile" in an email, it triggers radio to have to read it. [yyyeahhh... story for this later]

I HAD THE FUNNIEST MOMENT LAST NIGHT! We were working on an [_______] ([Sailor M] and I). Its just a little electronic position sensor that is really like... the embodiment of over-engineering. Anyhoozle, we got to talking about something... and [Sailor M] who recently got his fish had the audacity to call me a nub. This cracks me up because once i get my fish, I am senior to him by qualifications. [..."Funniest Moment" story for later...]

There isn't really much going on. Cant wait to see you. Our schedule is gonna be weird when we get back. 

Anyways. Gonna get back to it. Love you honey!"

Monkey Mail::Finally!

Oh my goodness! FINALLY! It's been just shy of two weeks since I'd heart anything from him last. I didn't even realize it until I checked the date of his last email. I guess i was being more patient than i thought. But it was really driving me crazy, I really wanted to know what was going on. To just read his words and imagine his voice in my head. And I wanted to know if he'd gotten his fish yet! He hasn't. But he's very very close. I received three emails from him a little bit ago. I'll put pieces of them below. I think there was at least one other but it didn't make it through. He talked about it in another email, which is how I know it's missing. 

Here are pieces of two of the emails.

"Hey sweety. This will be delayed getting to you. But its the 9th of october, about 6 am right now. Not much to say really, its kind of the same thing over and over and over again. Still working on quals...  Have just 12 signatures left.

Looking forward to our plans when i get back. Im the sound silencing PO for refit assist which i found out afterward is a pretty sweet gig. I didnt know that when i volunteered though.

About to start clean-up. We had field day today then had to do after watch clean up not half an hour after. Swept for half an hour and came up with.... not much.
__________________

My beautiful Ducky

12OCT10 - 10:14AM

Grrrr I miss you so freakin much! 5 signatures away now. Kinda chillin'.

We are out of energy drinks from the rec committee. hehehe. I have some... they are gold now. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Keep my phone on me more often now because it’s got your pictures on it. [Sailor E] keeps trying to get my board scheduled early cause that’s what happened to him.

I’m waiting for taco Tuesday before I go to sleep, I shouldn’t eat before I sleep but Taco Tuesdays are AMAMAMAZING. I don’t care what anyone says.

Think I mentioned before that I nailed a pretty sweet gig for refit. I can’t see what my sent emails were because of our email system. like... I don’t have a "sent" box.  So I don’t know what I have updated you on all the time.

So many things to qualify --- BCEF still... then all the other Quartermaster/ Conventional Navigation stuff. This honestly doesn’t make much sense to me. You know how I like to work in patterns and rhythms. When I find the reason and the system I can do so much with it. But Rules of the Road are like.... a ton of random rules with no discernible pattern. It’s annoying."