Christmas in July

Welcome Santa. I am so glad you have moved into my home, please make yourself comfortable. So, in trying to keep my almost 4 year old perpetually happy, I allowed a 3 foot tall hollow plastic Santa into my house. Here's my story.
Our neighbors are divorcing. Only one of them occupy the home right now, and it is the husband. He obviously dislikes his soon to be ex's selection of Christmas lawn ornaments. I came home 2 days ago from shopping to find several members of Santa's clique arranged on the curb. We had some presents, Santa and Frosty the Snowman also- camped out on my curb. I am not one to take someone else's trash, however it is a common occurence here on post for people to see interesting things on the side of the road and to pick them up- If you dont want something, but it has life left in it- putting it on the curb will find it a new home.
So enters Santa.
Well, it was raining. My daughter is quite the dramatic- she spent a good hour howling at our front window complaining about Santa Claus getting wet. It was getting loud and ridiculous. I asked "R" our neighbor if I he would be bothered by my moving Santa out of the rain. I promised he would be back on the curb in the 6 days following. Santa then became a bench squatter, living on the wooden bench in my front yard. He was out of the rain, and never would enter my house.
As the rain had cleared and two days had passed, Juliet was otherwise occupied- I took the opportunity to move Santa back to the curb. I prayed someone would come pick him up. Not so lucky. 6 hours later, Juliet looks out the window to Santa on the curb.
Santa now lives in my house. I unscrewed the lighting fixture, as he was a plug in and light up item, maybe one day I'll make him her night light. Mind you, we have our own lawn ornaments in our shed, but Santa is rather large- and is now Juliet's best friend.
They are cuddled on the couch under a blanket right now.

Wow- I thought I had a schedule before, but boy was I wrong! It is all in writing- meals, snacks, walks, park visit, bedtime- everything. I cant begin to explain how nice it is to know what to do and when to do it. Both kids were prepared for our walk this morning, and for the park visit. They dont complain when we leave, maybe because they are growing to expect that we will do it again the next day. It's a nice change, I'm glad we started doing this. No walks on weekends though, i'll need a break from time to time!I'm calling St. Louis tomorrow, I need more information. I know Ft. Jackson's website has a packing list and things, I guess I need to prepare mentally for this regardless of desire to.

I had a very productive day. We are establishing a formal schedule. We have always had a routine of sorts- a set bedtime was there, but the rest was kind of wishy washy. Im making notes for the next 3 days of when we do what we do- then I will decide which way to go. We are working a walk and a park visit into every single day- it will keep us out of the house and active, and perhaps keep the television off for longer stretches.I need to get some work done, laundry beckons!

The document has been faxed, I assume I am waiting now for the next move. I saw Charlie and the Choc. factory last night! Hubby, B and I went to Chili's first for dinner, and I laughed all night long! Hubby fell asleep a bit during the movie, but he was very tired- it wasn't because he was bored. Johnny Depp is phenomenal! Loved every bit of that movie.Getting ready to play some poker! G'night!

Usually I cannot complain about Hawaii's weather, but today is the exception to the rule. Cloudy, murky- icky. Not exactly a convertable day here, but one day out of the week of clouds and rain is ok I guess. We have nicknamed our area of the island "Castle Greyskull", think childhood cartoons. It can be sunny everywhere, but there will be a large gaggle of clouds right over our community.
Nothing new to report deployment wise. I started a countdown though, 126 days I believe- unless a miracle happens.
I have been working on sprucing up our website. We had photos taken this past weekend, and I wanted to make sure our family was able to see them. Crummy part of living so far away from family, Grandparents don't get to see Grandbabies.

Sipping coffee as I type I wonder if I should switch to decaf. Waking up at 6am for the last week has made me a permanent grump. It’s our fault at some level, as most children go to sleep at a much later hour than Juliet. Colin is up just at 7, so im not sure one extra hour in the morning would really make much of a difference. Juliet goes to bed at 7, and wakes up at 6- with no naps. Colin goes to sleep at 8 and wakes up at 7 and had one two hour nap. If I am in bed at 10, 9 hours of sleep is nothing to shake a stick at- but remind me of this at 6am when Juliet wakes me up.Time for breakfast!

We had a great outting in Kailua today- I get to try new restaurants each month, it's a nice treat. My husband pointed out that I write using a plethera of dashes- like morse code he jokes. I love english, I just really like dashes- My life is a big run on sentence. We have a welcome letter for Ft. Drum, we are relatively certain we will never see New York. We'll see!Nothing new on me. I have yet to hear if the documents St. Louis requested have been recieved yet. Hopefully will hear something soon, I hate the uncertainty.I drove the 'stang through the tunnel to Kailua today, it was a beautiful day! I think my face may have gotten too much sun.I have someones pampered chef in my car.....I am so sorry I forgot to give it to you!!!

No new news

As of today, nothing new to report. St. Louis folk don't realize Hawaii is on a different time zone though, they called hubby's CO at 5:30am, and me at 5:45...Honest mistake!
I need to go wash dinner dishes but wanted not to leave you hanging, every day that passes is a day closer to my report date- Maybe I should get a countdown ticker?

I don't get many calls on my celphone- But this morning I decided to find my phone to make sure it was fully charged, It was- and I had missed a call. The number was from an area code I was unfamiliar with, so I called it back. I called St. Louis, to the Reserve folks. SSG XXXX answered the phone. She had tried to call me, but hadnt left a message.
SSG---"I wanted to see how you were healing from surgery. When it gets closer to the reporting date, we like to touch base with soldiers to see if anything had changed."SPC Me---"I'm healing well, I don't report unit November; But the appeal had more to do with than just my surgery- it was because of my lacking a Family Care Plan. My husbands unit is trying to reach CW5 XXXX to discuss this, as he is in a unit that travels often, and in November- will be a cause of big problems."SSG---"I spoke with CPT XXXX (Hubby's CO) today, I am waiting for him to send me some documents regarding that, we are going to cover every angle."SPC Me---"Is there anything else you need from me, documents etc- Is there anything I need to do?"SSG---"No, I guess that is it- Have a nice day"
Im waiting to hear from hubby this morning in regards to his CO's conversation with the SSG in St. Louis. This SSG that I spoke with was the lady in charge of making sure all of my documents were in order before going before the appeal board. She was extremely helpful, polite- the first NCO I had spoken with through this entire process with a genuine desire to help me. I'll update again as soon as I hear more.

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Hubby is at the Honolulu airport picking up a new soldier and his family. They have a dog with them, and are all set up to stay at a hotel that allows pets. I thought about today for a long while, wanting to help in all ways possible- remember that we were in their position 2 years ago. Thinking that we have been in Hawaii for 2 years seems crazy- We haven't been here physically for the full 2, We had the Iraq deployment and the move back home; But as far as moving is concerned, we are due to move again in a year. I asked hubby if he thought we had enjoyed being in Hawaii as much as we should- have we done enough, seen enough?
We have orders for Ft. Drum, NY for next year- but it is doubtful that we will ever see the North. If hubby deploys again, the orders disappear.
A gal on our Hawaii message board is from Lecanto- After I posted the Chronicle article, she and I made contact. From Citrus County to Hawaii- They are here with the Marines, we are with the Army- Small world indeed :)

Love our newspaper

http://www.chronicleonline.com/articles/2005/07/09/news/news60.txt

Well, orders have been published- again. They have sent me new orders, amended orders, whatever- 6 times. I report in November, with a end date of a month and 5 days past my ETS date- Guess I'm stop lossed? I don't understand it really. We had all of our ducks in a row- and I guess it just doesn't fit their bill. The idea that hubby needs a family care plan right now is the object of our attention. If the Army even brings up discharging hubby so I can go- and the taxpayers find out- boy they'll be pissed!! Do you know how much money it costs to train a helicopter pilot? Yes, the point has been made- I was not required to have a family care plan when I was discharged- However, the IRR was never in contact with me for the last several years, and had they been- I would have been discharged prior to the callup- for a lack of a fcp. Because I am currently a reservist ( I even get an LES now!! ) and hubby is in a deployable unit, he needs one now just as much as I do. We can't make one. Off to write my congressman…

We have done our first newspaper interview, of many. Nothing has changed. The CW5 in charge of my appeal needs to be contacted by my husbands unit- to discuss what we need to do. No, there is no way we can pull together a family care plan. Two soldiers cannot deploy without a care provider in place, so what are we to do? I am now almost fully healed from my surgery. My orders have been published, extending my service time until 5 days past my ETS with the IRR- so I guess that falls under stop-loss. So, i’ll get Thanksgiving- but not Christmas.To do- Write my Congressman, Call the CW5 myself and hope he’ll talk to me, gather together all of our family letters stating why they cannot meet the fcp requirements.Its July- I report in November.Ive been searching around, and the number of blogs by IRR recalled soldiers is growing! I am learning a lot.

The 4th of July was terrific, Good food- friends- and fireworks! Kid stayed up later than they have in such a long time- today they are so lazy! It's the best! I've been crocheting like mad to finish this blanket- its technically done, but im trying to spruce it up a bit- last minute dash till I mail it off tomorrow. I'm still in my pjs but the house cleaning is going great- Colin is napping and Juliet is almost out on the couch watching Shrek- gotta get back to everything!!

I've been in a lot of pain- Colin poked me in the eye with a finger nail while playing ball and he cut my cornea- I've had 3 days of minimal vision- even today its incredibly blurry- I sure hope tomorrow is much better. We bought a new car today- a 2005 Mustang convertible- It looks sexier with the top off :) Our morning started early, Koa Pancake House for the first time- Then to the PX, then the Class Six- then just for giggles, the Ford dealership, Cutter. We didn't expect to leave there with a car- we traded in the Saturn- we did really well. Long weekend, not sure what's going on- a lot depends on if my eye feels better. Gnight!