Deployment Is Hell.

It's been one month and one day since my last entry and I must say....I have nothing GOOD to say.

Steve is finally up at Ft. Lewis, Washington.   He and the rest of his troops are in the OLD WWII barracks.   You can see through the walls.    And I'm NOT talking about windows.

It's a good thing that I asked our sweet doctor for "emergency" antibiotic for Steve.  Yes, he is sick right now/again.   He'd have to be much sicker before he got ANY kind of treatment right now.

This past month and one day has been the most miserable month of my life; and that's saying a lot if you count me going through cancer and my moms death.    


No hyperbole folks.   This past month has been non-stop horrible.

24/7 stress.   Non-stop.   NON-STOP.   I'm not kidding.    

Still (this is the 2nd week), the military does not recognize me as Steve's dependent, so I have no medical coverage.   None.   I'm pretending that I don't need my medicine.

As of today, I had to call my JAG lawyer on Bank of America.   If I tried to explain the past 5 months of THIS story, I'd go postal and need the medicine that I don't have and am pretending that I don't need.

Someone needs to "cap" Bank of America.

All of the families (not just Steve and I) were supposed to be paid DAYS ago.   I don't know about anyone else, but we're well over $750 overdrawn.   Just another reminder that we STILL have to buy things for him to deploy; the Army DOES NOT supply it all.   

And I'm pretending that we don't owe more than what he's getting in over the next month.   I'm Scarlett on Tara, getting ready for a picnic with the Tarlton twins.   "Well fiddle-dee-dee! I just couldn't eat another bite!"   "Why Brent!  I do declare you're a scoundrel!  *giggle*"   

WHAT-THE-BLEEP-EVER.

Steve did not get ANY Leave time.   THAT was beyond wonderful.   

I got to SEE him most every night...when he'd get home around 8 PM, grab a quick bite, and fall asleep in the chair.  Then get to mumble "Bye" around 4 AM when he had to leave again.

The only time he got to come home in the DAYLIGHT HOURS was when he had some kind of doctors appointment.   We usually were able to squeeze other  necessary appointments in-between on those days...like filing taxes, chasing down records to PROVE that I was still who I was the last time he was deployed,  threatening Bank of America, you know, LITTLE things like that.

And SO many other daily/hourly irritants....that I just will spare you the grizzly details.   

So boys and girls, friends and family, you can believe this or not...but once he actually gets in country, in Iraq....things will be better.    

Because EVERY SPOUSE KNOWS that pre-deployment and deployment is hell.   The rest is a cake walk.

I'll post again when something changes.   Positive, I hope.

Until then, pray for Steve's physical well being above all else right now.  The Lord has filled his plate this deployment...and it's so much more than just "soldiering".  

We need FAITHFUL PRAYER WARRIORS with a prophetic-edge for him.

If you don't know what that means, then chances are...I will need to post specific things for folks to pray for.

If you do understand....nothing else needs to be said.

Sorry dear ones, this is a different deployment, and prayer needs to be spot-on for the days to come.   

Hope that it's not another month before I post!

Hugs and Hellfire,
Patti            

They're Coming To Take Me Away,,,,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iDl2zwF8TM

Seriously!  

I'm beginning to see the reflection of that rabid rabbit when I look in my mirror.   

  

Not to mention what I see when I look in my fridge...

The song/video IS our latest update for now.   We both are residents of Crazyville, USA; population 2.   Sa-lute!

As far as I know right now, there's no new news to post (at least that I can share without being prosecuted) until we get closer to March 4th.

Until then, or until I can regain some sense of sanity, enjoy the song again...

...and my furry little bunny fiend, errr, I mean friend.

Love and Straight-jackets,

Patti 

 

Update On Steve 2-11-11

There's nothing AT ALL exciting to report, but I will.

It's boring.  

Don't believe me?   

Okay.   Here's what he's been doing, in his own words, as of this morning:

                                                     

                                       Herding Cats

                                       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk7yqlTMvp8    

  

"Not only am I herding cats...

  

         

Dug, from "UP":

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrAIGLkSMls                                                         

...I am also chasing squirrels! 'Squirrel?  Squirrel?' "

In-between herding cats and chasing squirrels, he has been teaching courses to the troops; all the way from Privates to Full Bird Colonels.   (Here's a blank for your own musings on that one________________.)

And as of this morning, he just finished a 36 hour "day" out in below zero temps, doing hand's-on training/qualifying of troops in the field.   

On the ground.   

Literally.    

These are the days when I am most proud of him being an old fart, with young kids, and LEADING BY EXAMPLE.   

Of course once he finally gets back to his warm room on Post, he gets his "Ranger Candy", warms up, and it's off to Zzzzz Land.


Well, there you are!   All caught up.   You know what I know.  Fun, isn't it?

While I'm here I might as well REMIND everybody to

--PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZE--

make sure that IF you are going to be at Steve's ceremony on March 4th---TO  

R S V P    ASAP!!   

YOU MUST DO THIS!   

Call the number listed if you need more info.

Alrighty then!   Finished yelling at you.

As we get closer to the Ceremony date, HOPEFULLY we will have more information to give out.

But just remember....just because I tell you one day that it's "this"....don't expect it to stay that way.

Welcome to my world where everyday is Earthquake Day and walking on that day's liquefaction is normal.  


Love and Laters,
Patti

PS... for those of you who have tried to leave a comment below but couldn't, I asked my best friend, who is a Head Librarian (take a bow, 'Lou') about this; she tried it & was able to "get in/on" through all of the choices with no "hoops".

Personally, I think it's the Magical Marian the Librarian touch, but I can get in/on always with the last choice, for some reason.  

Try again.  And if that fails...set up a Gmail account in order to send your comments. 

It's free, so make up a fresh nom de plume for the occasion! 





     

Departure Ceremony For Iraq

Although I have had this flyer for two days now, I haven't posted it yet because I wanted to transfer it from a PDF file to a jpg of giff...OR SOMETHING EASY to navigate through on my blog.

Yeah, well, we're talking about ME working on this; thus the delay.   *eye roll*

And....HERE WE ARE!


TAH-DAHHHH!!!!!  

Pretty cool, huh?!

I didn't want to put "Just the facts, mam." on here, when they did such a great job on the COLOR and design of the flyer.

Besides, we need to enjoy the colors of life when they come by; be embraced by them and receive from them.
  

Information and description comes at us everyday in BLACK AND WHITE;  it's "the norm" and that's why we can look right at it and then forget it within 5 seconds.   

"Hey, when is Steve's Departure Ceremony?  Do you remember?  I bet I looked at that info a thousand times but I can't remember it."   

I know that I do that.   

In our busy, cram-it-in lives, it's easy to do.

I'm hoping that catching the imagery will help a bit.  

So this is my latest update.   I do know a bit more right now, but it's not nailed down enough yet, so I won't post that for a few more days.   

If anyone wants to come to this "official" Good-bye Ceremony, PLEASE RSVP the contact person on the flyer.   They need to know how many to prepare for.

Also, please feel free to send the link to my blog out to others who, for whatever reason, I have not gotten their email address.

See Y'all On The Next Blog!

Patti 

Well, It's Deployment Time Again

As some of you already know, my husband, Steve--also known as "Grizz", or "Bear" to many of you-- has gotten the "official call" for deployment to Iraq.  
 

"Going to __?____."    This is something that he and I deal with on a DAILY basis.   

For over a year now it has been, "I'm going to Afghanistan.  I'm not going to Afghanistan.  I'm going to Iraq.  I'm not going to Iraq.   I'm going to Afghanistan.  I'm not going..."   You get the idea.

This LAST round of Going/Not Going, he was told that although his Troop was going, the other 1st Sgt. would be going, but not him.   (You'd need a Program to follow WHY this was so.  I'm not going there.  I've lost my mind once in the midst of THAT ONE; not doing it again.)

 

Okay.   We both had settled into him NOT going anywhere but back to a full-time Teacher/Trainer position as 1st Sgt. to train-up those who would still be going to...wherever.   

Good deal!  We were happy about that, because working for the Indiana DOC is poverty-pay.   And I'm not kidding.

Plus, Steve had different "heads" trying to get him onto their "team".   Sometimes being excellent at more than a dozen things isn't a good thing.   But at least it meant that he would be going back full-time Guard MUCH earlier than expected.   

Or so we thought.    

First mistake:    thinking  l o g i c a l l y.   

LOGICAL THINKING ABOUT ANYTHING MILITARY....

...IS ALWAYS WRONG.    

A  L  W  A  Y  S.       NO exceptions.

 

But we bit anyway.   Annnnnnnd we got bit back.   

Immediately.  

We were out running a few errands and Steve was stuck to his Blackberry, as usual, taking care of 1st Sgt. biz.   THIS particular call was a call BEGGING him to PLEASE come a week early to help Teach a particular course.   

This being a no-brainer...his answer was "Yes, I'll be there.  Just get the Orders cut ASAP!"

All-righty then!  WE were happy.   WE were pleased to know that we would SOON be on Army pay and not DOC pay, as well as being back to FULL coverage on medical.  WE made plans.

WE were WRONG!

THE VERY NEXT MORNING...The Call CAME.   

($#*%!!!!!)

Oh friends...the story is not over.    The NEXT day...he was told that he was NOT going.   I don't have to make up stories...because...

...THIS IS OUR LIFE!!!

I'm not at liberty to tell you why he was told that (it involves another dear soldier who also was in the midst of being jerked around.)

THEN...(Ah-hah!  I can see that you're getting the hang of this.  You KNOW what's next, don't you?)

...THE NEXT DAY...he was told that the "other situation" had been taken care of and he WAS GOING TO IRAQ.   

OKIE-DOKIE...       

And people wonder WHY they don't hear from me for months/years at a time.   I'm usually locked away in a padded room somewhere.

So.   Where are we TODAY?   Getting ready for him to deploy at break-neck speed.   

 

Everyone else in the Brigade has been preparing since last Fall.   They have had TIME to work on the adjustments and to jump through the inevitable hoops that ALL military families have to jump through for every deployment.

WE get to do our adjustment and hoops at light speed.   If there's something faster than that, someone tell me, and I'll adjust my terminology; because, Lord knows that "light speed" still doesn't quite tell it like it is.

We've arrived at semi-acceptance--or--semi-denial, depending on how we feel at any given nanosecond.   

I realize that he's actually going this time.  (Number Four, for those who have kept count with us.)   

But I just cannot wrap my head around the time-line right now.   

Just can't.

Like I've told my best friend, "Until I see the freaking Orders in MY HAND...it's not real."

 

It's always the preparation and "Good-bye" that's the worse.   I can do the space-time separation standing on my head, whistling "Dixie", plucking a banjo, and playing castanets with my toes.   But, that's me.

So for everyone who might be all worried about me being "alone"...don't.   

I LOVE my Alone Time.   

Yes, I will miss my honey.   And if I lose sleep, it'll be from being in prayer for him but NOT from worrying about him. (More on this subject in other postings.) 

And THIS TIME, THIS deployment, I actually have an entire neighborhood who will be taking care of me.   

WOW.   This is a first.   A GOOD first.

Steve does have his Training and Deployment Schedule, and as soon as I can get him to actually write it down for me, I'll post it here for everyone.   

Likewise, when I get a physical mailing address in Iraq for him, I'll post that as well.  Because I am sure that you will want to send him goodies, won't you?

Well alrighty then!  You are up to speed with what's happening with The Deployment.

As I know more, I'll post it.   Also, for all of you ex-military folk, I'll post details about Steve's duties/command.   

Right now all I know is what he's told me, "I'll be herding cats."

THAT just about says it all.

From My Padded Room,

Patti

PS--I'm still waiting for those Orders... 

 

It's Been Almost A Year...and THIS IS ALL THE FURTHER I AM?!?

"I keep waiting for you to write your book(s)", says my beloved Grizz to me one day as I am trying to explain to him the way that I move within  MY creative process.      

So I continue to paint a picture for him as to why I can't just sit down and slam something out.  Or why, when I wrote for newspapers in Arizona, it use to take me hours just to get one column finished.    

His eyes glaze over.....

He says that he understands but then confirms to me that he really doesn't "get" the creative process.  "Why don't you keep little notebooks with you and around the house and car like you did in Arizona?   That will help, won't it?"   (His understanding means that he loves me, believes in me, and will just continue to wait.)




My eyes glaze over...

Thankfully, I have been confirmed over and over again by other writers, that what I do in the way of how I craft my columns and stories...IS NORMAL.   

NORRRRR-MAAAAL...    NOR-MAL.  NORMAL.  

 

Excuse me.   I've been told that the overuse of exclamation marks makes one sound ANGRY.   Especially those of or with Italian heritage.   Seriously.     

YA THINK?!?  

Okay.   So not only does my husband not "get it", but neither do most people.    

I secretly think that is how Critics are born.   They are "word and grammar smart" but don't get "how" it's done; therefore they're critical.   

 

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I began this blog almost a year ago.   And yes, this is all the further I have gotten.   
 
Lord knows that I wanted to write more than I have, but I don't juggle life in my particular fast lane very well while trying to get my thoughts out and down in an intelligible form while rocketing through life at a thousand miles an hour with my hair on fire!   Somehow I'm not good at that.  

(Excuse that exclamation mark up there.   I'm not angry.   Just exasperated.)

So here we are.  (I'm just assuming that there's someone else here besides my dogs.)   

Ready to launch into a new year of blogging.   And yes, I realize that the first month of the year is almost over. (Please feel free to refresh yourself with what I said a paragraph or so before.)

I already know that this year is going to be a WILD RIDE.   

And there will be many exclamation marks!!!! 

I'm ready to go.   Are you?

Putting More Giddy-Up In My Giddy-Up-Go,

Patti 

   

 

We're The House On The Corner -- Part One: We're Blessed?

It wasn't the house of our dreams.   It wasn't even the house that we really, liked.   

It was one of the last houses that we looked at because the owners of the house, that we thought that we were getting, had messed up the sale big time.   And it was the house that we HAD to take because we were running out of time and money, and we needed something soon!


SOMETIMES YOU TAKE WHAT YOU CAN GET AND HOPE FOR THE BEST.   

At the time, we had NO idea what the Lord had planned for this...blessed mess on the corner.


It was the least ugly of all of the HUD/repo houses that we had looked at.   And boy, had we seen some...winners.      

Not all of the rooms of this last house, had been painted in LOUD, Primary colors, like most of the other houses we had looked at.   Not all.   Just one.   

It was neon turquoise with a FuNkY, psychedelic border around the top of the walls, that I swear, you could see shining out the windows at night.


I refuse to discuss the Pepto Bismol PINK master bedroom with the matching? yellow master bath, or for that matter, the open loft area just outside of the master bedroom, that was painted the most delicate shade of pink with matching fru-fru border.   I guess it was to gently guide the eye into the awaiting horror of The Great Pepto Abysmal bedroom.  


The downstairs and the rest of the house was still the original flat white walls, now dingy and scuffed, from several somebody's who lived there previously.  The fake Pergo floor was WELL worn, as was the carpet that used to be steel blue but was now a dirty, stained, light gray , and all of it complemented the dingy, scuffed walls, and the no-appliance kitchen.


Oh, and let's not forget the fabulous "handcrafted" stairway handrail...made out of two slapped together 2 x 4's and HAMMERED into the stairwell.  Well, it just took our breath away.   

Seriously.    I think I lost consciousness.


The outside of the house was just as...blah.   Of course it was late April, and the light gray house with sun-worn black shutters, was nestled in a rather large receding snow bank, outlined by an icy blue, late winter sky, making the total picture rather depressing.   


EYES THAT CAN SEE PAST THE OBVIOUS.   
YEP.   THAT'S WHAT WAS NEEDED NOW.
 
EYES OF VISION AND HEARTS FULL OF HOPE.

"Ehh, I guess we'll bid on it and see what happens."    Were there EVER such words of faith spoken before?   Yeah, well...


When you bid on a repo house, you never know who you're bidding against, or IF there even IS somebody else bidding.   
So we prayed, wrote out our bid, and waited.   And waited.  And waited some more.   And found out in about two weeks that we had won the bid!   


Yea!   The incredibly homely house on the corner was ours!   ALL ours!   

From the ratty downstairs with empty kitchen, up the "handcrafted"-HAMMERED-in handrail,  to the girlie-pink family room, and from the turquoise, Reefer Madness bedroom, to the Pepto Pink master bedroom....the house was ours...and the bank'$.   


THE HOUSE ON THE CORNER NEEDED US AS MUCH AS WE NEEDED IT.


AND LITTLE DID WE KNOW...THAT SO DID THE NEIGHBORHOOD.

(I hope to post Part Two within a couple of weeks.  You KNOW how I am...)