OEF 2009 » Lady Jess

It’s a Good Day!

OEF 2009 5 Responses »

Jan 142010

It’s been a slow week around here. I can’t game because my computer is a jerk. I haven’t talked to Hunny since Sunday. It’s wet, it’s gray, it’s raining, blah blah blah. But yesterday evening during American Idol, I checked my bank balance. And I almost had a party!

You see, right after Christmas, Hunny reenlisted in the Army. And being that he’s deployed, he got a decent bonus, in a tax free lump sum. And that was enough to secure two very important things.

First and foremost…the first 1/3 of this baby! To be purchased when we settle in at our new duty station. To be absolutely SURE the money isn’t touched, I’ll be transferring it to my Mom’s bank acct in PA, and she’ll be putting it in a savings account that I can not touch. Our bank account is at the same bank, so I’ll continue putting money into her acct from mine to put in savings. When the time comes, she makes a deposit to our account and we FINALLY get Hunny his dream bike.

The second most important item…is in production. My first ever, gaming computer. An Alienware laptop. Built for power and speed, I shouldn’t outgrow this one for years to come. Hopefully I wear it out rather than outgrow it.

Mine will have purple lighting, not red. And include the following goodies…

Alienware M17x

Intel Core2 Quad Q9000 2.0GHz (6MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
6GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1066MHz
1GB Dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M – SLI Enabled
500GB 7,200RPM (xMB Cache) Hard Drive

I just have one wish. That I could tell Hunny right now. Unfortunately…it’ll have to wait until he’s back in communication. But…

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

There’s No Crying In Baseball!

In The Army, OEF 2009, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?! 2 Responses »

Jan 032010

So today we got…news. The phone rang at 7am, which already scared the bejeezus out of me. I answered it half awake, and heard Hunny on the other end. He so scarcely uses the phone, this alone made me panic more, figuring if he was actually calling someone had to have MADE him use the phone, and if that was the case he HAD to have a hole in him somewhere. Oh look! It’s a conclusion! I must jump to it! In my defense, when his first words are “I just got back, and have some news” I was at least partly justified in my leaping.

It turns out the news was he got new orders. He reports to Drill Sgt school this September. About a month and a half after he FINALLY gets home from this deployment. So, first off they are STEALING my reunion time. But that’s not all. He recently reenlisted, and chose to stay here and not move for another tour. I was comfortable with that. I had depended on it. I was an idiot. So, right, school in September, during or after which we’ll be assigned to a new duty station for two years while he trains new recruits. Now, I’m supposed to be used to this. I, little miss Hooah am supposed to calmly and rationally accept this sudden change with grace, and dignity, and all that jazz right? HA! Oh no, I ranted, and wailed, I may have even flailed.

nocrying Do you know what happened the last time he came back from a deployment? He was home for ONE month before he went to another school, which was only a month before we were to move from Alaska to here. It was Welcome Home! Goodbye! Welcome Back! Off we go! that was the most stressful 3 months of my life. And now he tells me it’s going to happen again. Man, did I react badly. In my defense, it was morning, I hadn’t had coffee yet, and my sanity was still in the living room. But that poor guy. Thank GOD he got online later, I felt awful reacting that way.

I had found my suck it upness by then. I reminded myself “There’s No Crying in Baseball”, I’ve told the kids. I’ve accepted that between now and redeployment I have ALOT of work to get done around here. Oh and the best part? We only know he’s going to school…we don’t know WHERE we are getting assigned after. It could be Ft Benning in Georgia, Ft Jackson in South Carolina, or Ft Lostin TheWoods Leonard Wood in Misery Missouri.

Fun times abound!

Welcome 2010!

Holidaze, OEF 2009 No Responses »

Jan 012010

2009 is finally over. Swept under the carpet like crumbs you’re too lazy to sweep into a dustpan. I don’t remember alot of big shining moments really. Alot of it was spent in anticipation of "The Deployment", and dealing with the training and preparation that comes with that.

There was the Briefing From Hell, in which I learned that I’m totally doing deployments wrong.

There was my major epiphany that relieved alot of my stress.

And my Minor Epiphany, in which I stopped faking it.

There were adorable pictures.

There was FEAR but…

Then there was HOPE.

There was pride.

There was Self Acceptance.

And there was Silliness.

With 2010, there is only one thing that matters. THIS is the year my husband comes home. It may still be months away. But 2009, even before he left, started as the year he was going to leave. It was a cloud over our heads that remained there all year, and just got steadily darker. Now, it’s slowly getting lighter, and fading a way. One day at a time.

That’s all I needed for a Happy New Year. That, and a new computer.

Happy New Year

OEF 2009 No Responses »

Dec 312009

Saying goodbye to 2009 is something I have been looking forward to for 5 and a half months now. Moreso than any other holiday.

Most of you know, my husband deployed to Afghanistan this summer. It has been a long, hard road getting to this point. The truck broke down, the kids got sick, I got my first migraine. The first couple months there was no communication available outside of letters. No phones, no internet. Nothing. That finally changed around September I think. Even then, it was only a couple times a month that I was lucky enough to hear from him for a few minutes.

The last month has been the best by far. They were having a break in the action so he was online mostly daily. That's ended.

2009 is the year he left.

2010 is the year he comes home.

And the dog, who got into the food yesterday in the 10 minutes I was out of the house yesterday is sick today. Fun.

Happy New Year Everyone. May it be fun, and safe, and may 2010 be awesome.

You’ll Put Your Eye Out!!

Holidaze, OEF 2009, Silly No Responses »

Dec 292009

Around a week ago, I was talking to Hunny and the following conversation ensued.

Jess: i wanted to send ya stuff over there but thats just more ya gotta pack to bring home

Hunny: true

Jess: besides this way i have til R&R to get you some "toys"

Hunny: ohhhh like a redrider bb gun?

Jess: you'll put your eye out!

Hunny: ohhhh mom

Well, as most people know, I'm a bit of a smartass. So I hopped on over to Amazon and ordered exactly that. It should have been delivered Christmas Eve, however UPS decided that it was going to be delivered somewhere else. I don't know HOW, considering my house number and our NAME is right there on the house. But it was delivered up the street, to someone who'd been away. When they came home they found the box, and she brought it here yesterday. The box had been torn open, likely by the local teenagers looking for a free ride. Luckily the contents were still inside.

One 1938 model, Red Ryder BB Gun.

I couldn't wait til R&R to show him. So I showed him on webcam today and he got a big laugh out of it. Which is of course what I was aiming for. It makes me happy. Besides, he'll have plenty to smile about while he's here on R&R. I thought it was a better thing to give him a giggle over there.