Song Link-Up Week 10

Since DH is away I thought this song would be the appropriate one to link-up. 

Also I can't stop listening to it.

This is our song. 

"Your Guardian Angel" by The Red Suit Apparatus

To link-up head on over to Amber @ Goodnight Moon

Deployment Calendar Countdown

So I decided to make a deployment calendar countdown, even though its technically a "count-up". 

This is my first crafty project I have done in...in a long time, so bear with me. Also, I'm trying to get all artsy with my camera. I'm such a LOSERRRRR :)

What you will need:

- Scrapooking paper (I got two kinds, solid and patterns)
- scissors
- single-hole punch
-markers
- stickers (lots of 'em!)
- glue
not picture:
- fasteners
- monthly calendars  (I printed mine off of iCal)

I then, sketched out an idea...
a VERY faint idea of what I wanted to make.





Next stage is the cutting, pasting and putting together:

Finally, la pièce de résistance...

the Deployment Calendar Countdown.

Care Package - #1

Today I mailed out DH's first care package. 

DH LOVES candy, so that's what the package mainly consisted of

(plus some other items).

This is DHs care package:

Now you're probably saying to yourself, "hmmm, is she nuts? she can't mail a plastic bag!"

I may be nuts, but I didn't mail a plastic bag :)

Not sure if your exchanges do this, but if you mail your package through our exchange you get 

a $10 gift-certificate! 

What you do is you bring your Spouses goodies in an open box or, like I did, without a box.

They provide the forms, packaging tape and boxes.

When you pay you get back a $10 gift-certificate. 

So basically you pay for shipping about $2-$4 and get back $10!

 Not bad at all. 

In A Sad State Of Mind

*I want to thank all of you for your kind words in the last post. I appreciate them

and the support from all of you. Thank you*

I'm either hysterically crying or numb. I know this is normal. I went through something like this when he was on MSG and we didn't see each other for 6 months, but we had constant communication. This is different. He's at war and I can't stop worrying about him. I know he'll be fine, but still...I worry. I come home to this quiet and empty house and I'm waiting and hoping that I'm in a dream and that I will wake up and he will casually walk in the door as if he's just getting off of work. But I'm not dreaming and this is reality. This is the Marine Corps.

I'm trying to get my mind of things, but its pretty hard when you constantly see Marines in the cammies and think of your Spouse. I'm constantly thinking I see him. 

I go to work and try to keep myself busy, but its also hard when everyone asks you, "how are you holding up?" and all you want to do is cry. I, in return, tell them I'm fine and divert eye contact because I can feel those tears getting ready. I don't want to be that person that breaks-down in front of everyone at work. I refuse to be that person. But I'm not going to sit here and lie to you and tell you I don't. I do, but in the privacy of my own home.

I know this stage will subside, but for now all I really want to do is crawl back into bed and sleep. 

I wont end this blog sad/depressing. So here's something that's cheering me up and hopefully it'll make you all laugh. When DH was on MSG and went to his second post he made a BuildABear for me where he also recorded his voice. So the day DH left I pulled that bear out of the closet and placed it on the bed. Well, Brownie wasn't and still isn't happy about it. She has barked at it, attacked it, hid it under the bed. It is hysterical. She either thinks its replacing her or its her toy. So last night as I was falling asleep I hear her on my bed moving and I see her ears perk up. So I turn on the lights and see that she was trying to get as close to the bear as possible:

The White Buses

There are two types of white buses. There are the happy white buses that bring your spouse home and then there are the sad white buses that take your spouse away. Yesterday I encountered the latter one.
With the nervousness of DH leaving I barely got any rest the night before. I woke up early with the intention of making him breakfast but that all went down the drain when the alarm went off and my mind was elsewhere. I walked around the house making sure he had everything and of course I asked a millions times, "did you take your...?"
DH said goodbye to Brownie who was not herself (I firmly believe that dogs can sense a lot of things), packed up the car and we drove to their farewell-meeting point.
The day in 29 Palms was beautiful. The sun was shining and it wasn't too hot nor too cold.
Watching all the Marines saying their farewells and getting their last minute items ready was incredibly sad for me to watch. I mean, just the night before I had to watch DH put all his gear together and account for all his belongings and it was so surreal, now I was watching everybody. I kept wondering of the wives with small children, with teenagers, even the wives who were going to give birth to their first born while their husband are away. How do they do that? I'm a single spouse, I have nothing on them. Literally, I have no one to care for, except a very playful dog. I admire them. I admire the Spouses who have done this for years. I admire the Spouses that have not given up. I admire you all because you are strong.
When it was time to get on the bus I was afraid of hugging DH. I was afraid of hugging him because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to let him go. But I hugged him and I kissed him and I hugged him again and kissed him again and told him I loved him and to be safe. I stepped back and watched the bus leave, I wanted to run after the bus. Instead the FRO came over to me with a box of tissues. I didn't want to grab one but she insisted. Thank goodness she insisted because the minute I got in my car and closed the door I was DONE!
The worst part was coming home to an empty house. No noise. No Playstation playing. No clothes lying all over the house. No nothing.
I keep telling myself that I can try be as strong as the other Spouses. I can try and be like them. I can only try and hope.

(image credit: Mi Verdad, Tu Verdad, La Verdad)

Road Reflectors & Cars

*Before I blog, thank  you all for all your kind words in the last post*

So, upon our return from our week-long trip to San Francisco/Napa (I will blog about that later) we hit something in the road. At first, we didn't think much of it because we didn't notice nor see anything wrong with my car. Two days later I'm driving my car and my AC wouldn't work, the only thing working was the fan. Since we live in the desert I wasn't leaving the AC to chance and decided to head to Palm Springs (closest Toyota dealer) to see what's up with my Prius. 

Result: What we hit was a road reflector that must've gotten loose and miraculously didn't damage the grill but did do some pretty nice damage to the condenser.

Here's a graphic:

I can only laugh and be thankful that it wasn't anything worse. 

*All images are from AllProducts.com and Auto In The News*

An Apology

I've written this post about a million times and I've erased it a million times because I either wrote the post when I was upset, angry, upset, angry and back to upset. 

I owe a HUGE apology to those I have hurt in the posts I've written. I've hurt people that have been nothing but kind to me and I completely understand why they are mad at me. My intention was not to hurt those people, honestly. My intention was simply to vent and, of course, I didn't think before I went ahead and pressed the "publish post" button. I blog because its my little outlet in life. I blog because if not DH would get annoyed at me for always bringing up the same stuff over and over again (ie: work). I know this isn't enough to get a forgiveness but I am truly and deeply sorry. 

Am I mad because I got caught? No. This is an eye-opener. A reality that I need to be careful of what I write because it WILL have repercussions.

As you can see I went ahead and deleted posts on my blog that have hurt and offended people. I will continue blogging but with one condition: TO THINK BEFORE I BLOG! This is a promise I'm making to those who hurt, DH, you bloggers and myself.

I'm not perfect and I never will be. I can go ahead and list you the imperfect things of myself but then again this is not a post about me. 

I'm sorry.

Check Me Out On The "Homefront United Network"

Head on over to the Homefront United Network (HUN) and read my post on being the "Foreign Wife" (which I posted a few months back on my blog, click here). If you've already read the post head on over anyways to HUN and see what the network is all about. Join it. Like it on Facebook. Follow it on Twitter. It's a great network for ALL MilSpouses.

Song Link-Up #7

I found this song while searching for 

last week's video on youtube and I fell IN LOVE with it instantly. 

"Rescue Me" by You Me At Six Ft/ Chiddy

Don't forget to head on over to Amber @ Goodnight Moon for
this weeks song link-up.

BuildASign

BuildASign is a great company that personalizes anything from

homecoming banners to bumperstickers. 

EasyCanvasPrints is also part of BuildASign and they

convert simple photos into fabulous canvas prints. 

So when I was contact by BuildASign and was given an option

to review a product on either site, I opted for the canvas print.

And got this:

it is now hanging in our bedroom!

And I love it!

How To Boil Crawfish

The answer? I have absolutely NO idea.

Since DH is deploying and his family is here they thought it would be a great, yet special, idea to ship and boil crawfish.

The result? 60 pounds of crawfish!

there was another box exactly like this one 

DH ended up buying the last 80qt boiling pot/fryer at Home Depot the night before and my in-laws had the crawfish shipped from Louisiana overnight.

DH built that wooden panel last minute
so that he could lift the lid up without
burning himself

I did not partake in the eating nor boiling of the crawfish because I don't like seafood or anything from the sea, except clams. I know, I know and I call myself a Spaniard (FYI: Spaniards LOVE seafood, its like their favorite past-time)

My in-laws also brought along some Cajun spices, which we had no luck finding here, too cook the crawfish and vegetables in. Unfortunately, the picture I took of the vegetables was a late one (aka: hours after they were cooked) so, here's an internet picture of what the boiled vegetables looked, sans the corn:

(image credit: We ♥ It)

And here's what the crawfish looked like post-boiling and ready to be eaten: