What is Memorial Day??

Memorial Day is not a day for the living.  Well, not the living veterans and current service members anyway.  Memorial Day is a day to pay tribute to our brothers and sisters in arms who have given the ultimate sacrifice so that we may continue to have all our wonderful freedoms.  Memorial Day is a day to think about the family members left behind of our fallen comrades – mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons, daughters.  Memorial Day is a day to lay flowers on graves of those who have given their lives in the service of our great country and to pray for their families left behind.  Memorial Day is a somber day, a day of thought and prayer, listening to the haunting sounds of "Taps" being played by a lone bugler.  Memorial Day is a day to remember.

While I appreciate those who thanked me for my service today, today was not my day.  My day is Veterans Day in November.  Veterans Day is when you thank the living Veterans – those who have served and those who are still serving.  Of course, it is appropriate to thank a veteran or a service member any day, but that is not the point of this post.  The point of this post is to educate about the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day.

Nice laid-back weekend

Thursday was a really easy day at work – we showed up for formation, did building clean-ups, and did any shop work we needed to do.  I didn’t have anything to do, so I headed home.  We got Ryan’s new Harley today as the dealership got the loan check from the bank.  So we went and did the final paperwork and everything and even got 2 free t-shirts (one for each of us)!  Ryan sure loves his new bike.  After he rode it by himself for a bit, he took me out for a while and we put about 50 or so miles on it.  It sure is a lot more comfy for both Ryan and me as the seat is much bigger.  Ryan picked Robert up from Child Time and took him for a bit of a ride on the bike before coming home.

Friday Ryan brought Robert to Child Time, and during the day I got A LOT of stitching done and that was nice.  I also got started on laundry – getting caught up with all our blankets and towels that have been piling up.  Ryan and I went out on the bike and got lunch at a new restaurant (well, new to us anyway) and it’s definitely a do-again place.  Good food, reasonably priced, and friendly service.  

Saturday was more laundry and lots more stitching.  Robert and I started the day off with a mile run – we were going to go farther, but his feet were hurting as his shoes have gotten too small again.  After we were done with our run, we went to the Legion for breakfast – Ryan was there helping cook.  In the afternoon we made a trip to Target to get new shoes for Robert – he’s in size 2 now.  I made meatloaf, mashed taters, corn, and jalapeno cornbread for dinner and that was really good.

This morning was early church and it was a good service and the choir anthem went well.  After church, we headed back to Country House, the restaurant we ate at on Friday, for breakfast.  Another good experience!  Then we spent another relaxing afternoon at home.  I napped for a little over an hour and then stitched more.  Ryan and Robert went to the cemetery for 6 to help put flags on the vets’ graves, but they were almost done when they got there because some Legion members had been told 5:30 and some (Ryan) had been told 6.  Robert did get to put a few flags, though.  When they were done, I met them at Cold Stone for ice cream and then home to finish watching the NASCAR race that we had Tivo’ed and I got more stitching done.  I stitched about 11 hours the past three days, so that’s nice.

Today’s high:  84
Current:  72

Another week in my life

Friday last week I had a good workout at PT – ran 3 1/4 miles during our time at the track!  Then at work, we had a rehearsal in the morning for a couple of upcoming gigs and then a little bit of time in supply before heading to my hour and half of yoga.  After yoga was done, I headed home to change and get Ryan and we headed back to the commissary for the case lot sale.  We got a TON of food to last us through the summer and lots of great deals.

Saturday was Armed Forces Day and our small ceremonial band played at a ceremony in Tucson.  We had formation at 0730 for the 1000 ceremony.  I got a bit of stitching done in the van on the way there and back, and the ceremony went well.  I had a few hours at home with my guys before heading back in to work for a troop return ceremony in the evening.  It’s always nice playing for Soldiers returning home from deployment.

Sunday was church and it was a good service.  The choir anthem went really well.  After church, we headed out to post and had lunch at Burger King and then got a few things at the commissary that we didn’t get on Friday.  We spent the afternoon watching the NASCAR race we had recorded Saturday night.

Monday began a pretty easy week, other than our Comprehensive Soldier Fitness training Monday afternoon.  UGH.  I wish we had done two straight days and been done with it instead of 4 Monday afternoons.  Monday evening was our Bradley Childbirth class.

Tuesday morning after pregnancy education class (topic was breastfeeding this week!!), Ryan and I headed to Robert’s school his his end-of-year award assembly.  Robert received recognition for meeting his Accelerated Reader goals for the quarter and Perfect Attendance for the quarter.  He also came home with a certificate for Good Attendance for the year (missed 2 days of school because he was sick).  Ryan and I headed out to post for about 1045 as supply was expecting a delivery around 11.  Well, he finally showed up about 1245, so we spent a couple of hours hanging out and chatting with my commander.  After the delivery came, we went to Burger King for lunch again and then went and checked out the Arts and Crafts center since we’d never been there before.  Then we went to the Harley store and Ryan picked out the bike he wanted and I got the loan finalized for it – nothing like giving your husband a new Harley for his 40th Birthday, and a few months early at that.

This morning I brought Robert to school for his last day as a 1st grader before heading to work for a few hours.  Most of the band is TDY right now, so there’s not a whole lot going on this week.  I spent the morning in my supply shop but didn’t really do anything.  Ryan picked me up around lunchtime (he had the van this morning so he could run some errands) and then we spent the afternoon running other errands – signing our lease for another year for the house, bringing something to be framed, etc.  We stopped by the Harley store in the late afternoon and got to see Ryan’s new bike and then we went and got Robert and went back to the Harley store so he could see it as well.  We’ll get to bring it home tomorrow when they get the check from our bank.  We had a quick dinner as Ryan had Legion meeting and I had choir practice.  Robert came with me to choir.  We only have a few Sundays of singing left before our summer break, so it was a pretty short rehearsal.  That was nice.

Time for bed now.

Today’s high:  89
Current:  73

Done!!

I got about 10 hours of much-needed sleep last night and I felt a lot better this morning!  After formation, I came home as I had realized that I didn’t have my work keys.  Then I spent pretty much the rest of the day at my desk finishing up the online courses I’ve been working on.  It took me all morning (2 hours) to finish the last module’s quiz and the exam for course 4.  That wasn’t a good sign, but after lunch (during which I stitched), I was able to finish up course number 5 and print out all my certificates of completion.  Yay!!  I’m done with those courses!  After I finished the course, I headed home since it was the end of the day anyway.  Ryan had a chiropractor appointment, so we went to that and then we picked Robert up from Child Time.  Once home, I headed out on a 2.46 mile run and Ryan made chicken cordon bleu for dinner.  It was just about ready when I got back from my run, so that was nice.  After dinner, we just relaxed and had a nice evening.  I crocheted for a little bit, but I was too tired to do much.

Today’s high:  68 (normal is 84 – we’re a bit under normal right now)
Current:  59

Catching up . . . again. Ugh!

Growing a baby is hard work and I’ve been tired in the evenings, so I’ve been going to bed earlier – like by 9:30 almost every night.  That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.  Now to try and remember what I’ve done for the past week and a half.

Last week was a pretty normal week at work.  Monday morning I had a training class for one of my roles in supply and then lunch was at Golden Corral for a hail and farewell.  Our GC here is now giving 50% off to military in uniform (and 10% to active duty when not in uniform) so that made my lunch really cheap.  The rest of the week in supply was spent doing (or trying to do) online training courses for another role I’ll be filling.  We had one Brass Band rehearsal – lots of new people in the group, so we just went through a few tunes.  Wednesday morning was our summer safety briefing for 2 hours and then I headed to Tucson with Ryan again for an appointment for him.  We went on Tuesday for an appointment for me – both baby and mommy are doing well!  Baby is starting to be more active, and now that he’s growing bigger, I can feel him moving around a lot more.  Friday morning I was back to PT finally and ran 2.78 miles during our time on the track and then I went to yoga from 1130-1300.  It about kicked my butt today, but it definitely was a good workout!

Saturday we all slept in in the morning and then in the afternoon the guys dropped me off at a baby shower for KH, one of our newer Soldiers in the unit.  I was one of the co-hosts for it, so I got there early to help get the food and stuff ready.  We had about a dozen or so people there and it was a ton of fun.  Sunday was early church – I sang in the choir and Ryan read the lessons.  After church we went to post and had breakfast at Burger King and then went to the barber shop at the bowling alley to get Robert a haircut.  The rest of the day was spent relaxing and watching the NASCAR race.

This week has been pretty slow.  I’ve been working on my online courses for supply the whole week.  As of today, I have almost 4 out of 5 courses done and hopefully I can finish them up tomorrow.  They’re really frustrating because of the Army system I have to go through to do them – it’s either REALLY slow, doesn’t load at all, or times out just as I’m about to finish a module.  And of course, the modules don’t save your progress, so I have to go through the whole thing again.  Hopefully tomorrow the system cooperates better.  

Today’s high:  75
Current:  70 (and SUPER windy.  again.)

Warror Dash & Relay for Life recaps, and the rest of my life

Warrior Dash was last Saturday – 3.4 miles and 12 obstacles.  It was a ton of fun and Ryan did it, too, despite his back.  We ended up walking the majority of the course because of his back, but he finished it.  WE finished it.  Together.  We crossed the finish line hand in hand!  The obstacles included walls and barbed wire (over the walls, under the barbed wire), tires and cars to climb over, balance beams, a stream to walk/run through (lengthwise, not across), a wall to go down using ropes, cargo net to climb up and over, pile of hay bales to go up and over, about a 10 foot wall to climb up (with ropes to help) and down, a horizontal cargo net to traverse, a "spider web" made up of bungee cord-like ropes, fire to jump over, and the mud pit – about a 20-25 foot long mud pit that was knee deep for most of it.  Our official finishing time was 1:05:07.  After we had finished, we got our picture taken together with our medals and then headed to the water trucks to be hosed off.  The water wasn’t so bad, but it was windy out so it made us a little chilly.  It was an awesome experience, and one that we’ll definitely do again and hopefully without the added difficulty of a bad back.

Relay for Life was this past Friday and Saturday here in town.  All three of us were on the team Cancerbusters; our team captain is a fellow choir member.  We went to the park in time for Opening Ceremonies and then after the Opening Ceremonies and Survivor Lap (Robert never realized that kids could get cancer, and he was a bit sad seeing the kids walking the survivor lap), Ryan and Robert walked from 7-8.  Ryan walked pretty much all of the hour, but Robert only walked about half of it.  Then we headed home for Ryan to take his pain meds and get Robert to bed.  I slept for a few hours before getting up and heading back to the park for my hour.  I ran most of the time – ran for 10 minutes and then walked for 2 for a total of 4.69 miles in an hour.  

And now for the rest of my life.  Ryan’s back got us 2 more trips to the ER the first week he hurt it and the 3rd time they transferred him to a hospital in Tucson for an MRI.  He had the MRI Saturday night when he got there, and then he spent Easter Sunday and that whole week until Thursday in the hospital with pain meds and nothing else.  Robert and I went to visit him on Easter – Easter dinner was from the drive thru of McDonalds, and then on Monday and Wednesday and then Thursday he was discharged and we took him home.  My awesome First Sergeant pretty much gave me that week off.  By Tuesday when I went to work (Monday was a comp day), I was so tired and stressed .  Top figured out that I hadn’t been taking care of myself in being strong for my guys and he sent me home to take care of me.  After getting Robert to school each day, I ran, napped, and stitched/crocheted, as well as getting laundry and some other stuff done.  It was some much-needed time off, especially with the late nights of getting back from Tucson from visiting Ryan.

This past week was back to work and finally doing stuff in supply.  I worked on some online courses I needed to do, making lists of things to buy now that we finally have a budget, etc.  Tuesday we were in Tucson for my ultrasound appointment!!  It’s always exciting seeing our little peanut – our little boy peanut!!  We got lunch at Waffle House after we were done with the ultrasound and stopping a few other places.  Friday I was able to get to yoga class again, and that was a good thing.  I’ve missed it the past few weeks.

So there. . .  now I’m pretty much caught up again.  The question is, can we keep it that way?

Today’s high:  86
Current:  66