The good, the bad and the ugly

I'm going to see if I can stick with that order. Something tells me that as I write more, more good, bad or ugly may come to mind. So bear with me and my possible all-over-the-placeness. (yes, I'm creating my own words for this blog. Is that really a new thing for me?)

Good. adj. 1. being positive or desirable in nature; not bad or poor
*We have orders, and we got a coast. Good for about half our friends and family.
*We'll be leaving Okinawa soon. How soon? See below. I'm still debating if that's bad or ugly.
*No more DoDDea schools. We have had some wonderful (AMAZING) teachers but the schools are so other than desirable 95% of the time.
* It's a type of unit he's been to before so we know the hours, routines and have an idea of the schedule.
*I'll be in Okinawa long enough to finish the class I picked up yesterday Almost wish I would have enrolled in one or two more classes now. Nah!

Bad. adj. 1. wrong; acting against the law; not good
The bad is all about perspective. Some of these things are good for some, bad for others.
*Location. Not our first choice and bad for about half our friends and family.
*The timing is wrong and SLOW very slow. We're down to one car, paying month to month insurance. Paying for both a Stateside cell phone and a local one. We can opt out of the contract for the one here but I want it still and we're stuck paying for the one in the states (that won't work here) whether we use it or not.
*To add to the timing issue, the time frame we're given, the boys may run into some issues with transferring schools before the early withdrawal date here. We might not end up at our final destination until after the school year has ended there. DoDDea runs through June and if I remember correctly stateside schools (on either coast) wrap up in May.
*It's a type of unit he's been to before so we know the hours, routines and have an idea of the schedule.


Ugly. adj. 2. disagreeable; unpleasant; objectionable (definition 2 works best for this blog)
*The timing. Clearly it's all wrong. Derrick made a phone call to see about getting the dates pushed earlier and was told no for two reasons. 1. He extended on Okinawa until May so we can't leave until closer to that date. 2. his new unit is currently in Afghanistan.There's one possible loop hole but it requires a lot of time, efforts, and talking to all the right people and still the possibility of being shot down, and while Derrick doesn't officially have a job here anymore, they're still keeping him pretty busy.
*Yes. I did just say Afghanistan. With everything he's been through and the teasing of a non-deployable unit so he can recover, they send him to an artillery unit, ARTILLERY? Yeah, those good ole days of never seeing him because he's in the field training, doing deployment work ups or is simply deployed. If it's anything like his first 4 years, we're in for some serious adjustments and plenty more quality mom and kids time. Because 40 months of deployment just isn't enough... (sorry, unnecessary sarcasm).
*I'm going to hop to a good(ish). At least they'll just be returning from Afghanistan. Derrick won't deploy again until their dwell time is complete. I'm guessing another 6-9 months before they'd go again.


I think that's it for right now. I'm sure I'll have more to add to the good, the bad and the ugly but for now I think I'm done. So the gist of it all is, we'll be heading back to the States within the next 3-4 months and Derrick will be returning to an artillery unit.

Anyone still scratching their heads? Clearly there have been some changes from the original plan. I'll save that for another blog.
To our friends in Okinawa, you're stuck with us a little longer. (We wanted to leave within the next 3-4 weeks).
To our friends and family in the states, we'll start making our rounds once we get settled, most likely starting from the east and heading west. ;)

Have I left you all in enough suspense?
Love ya'll. :)

Bursting that bubble

My blogs here have changed a little with the new year. They're coming fewer and farther between, not so much because I'm writing less but because the nature of what I'm writing. Over the past few weeks there have been some changes and they've caused me to be a bit selective in what I publish publicly. So for now, what you'll find here are my funny moments and random or everyday encounters. The blogs where I really open up about what I'm feeling and such, those are now reserved for my private blog.

Enough with the explaining, time for the funny stuff. :)

For a few years now Derrick has told the kids there is no Santa Claus. That he doesn't think it's fair that some magical fat man who plays with elves and rides around on flying reindeer gets credit for all the gifts that really came from a years worth of hard work. Ironically the more Derrick jokes about it, the more they don't believe him. 

Knowing this about him, I shouldn't have been surprised when I heard what I did last night.

Yesterday when Brandon came in from school he told me that he woke up around midnight the night before just long enough for his tooth to fall out. He bagged it and tucked it under his pillow, I guess. He didn't specify.

Last night after the boys were in bed I was talking to Derrick about the alarm situation for the morning. I asked him if he'd be sure to swap out the tooth for some money before he left. He said he already took care of it.

"How did you do that? Brandon just went to bed."

"This afternoon. I told him you know the tooth fairy doesn't exist, right? Yeah, so give me your tooth." Then he handed him a dollar.

I was beside myself. I couldn't believe this just happened, so nonchalantly at that. I laughed, it was all I could think to do.

That's when Derrick reminded me that Brandon is eleven, and a boy at that. As if gender has anything to do with this. But I suppose he is getting old enough to realize something fishy about a fairy giving him money for teeth. It doesn't help that Duane Johnson (a.k.a. the Rock) is prancing around in a pink tutu and fairy wings on TV promoting his new movie.

I know kids grow up and they grow out of fairies but it's bittersweet. Just means that I've got one more that's grown up too much. How can I keep Luke little just a little longer. If eleven is the (un)magical age then I've only got 2 more years of magic left.

My first blog of 2010

And it's simply because I'm grinning from ear to ear after watching a clip from the Colbert Report and I have nobody to share the smile with. By default, YOU win!

I just love Colbert. He always cracks me up. This was just one more of his moments. I really liked the song before, but he makes it awesome. That and his suit and hoodie combo, made it all perfect. :)

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