Tick Tock

Time… time… time. We just never seem to have enough of it. Sometimes it goes so slow and then the next thing you know – 3 hours has past and all I have accomplished is one load of laundry and a batch of cookies (pre-made dough, of course!).

Today flew by… I’m not kidding. It was 8:30 am – then it was 8:30 pm. First I had to start a load of laundry. Then we started making our August calendar! Making a calendar each month for the girls to “x” off has been fun for them. Not only fun making the calendar, but fun marking it off also. It gives them a bit more depth perception… how many more days until the next calendar and now finally, how many more days until daddy comes home!!! Making the calendar today was bitter sweet. I almost want to continue making them with the girls each month – just because they have fun doing it.

Next I threw the laundry in the dryer.  After we cleaned up the calendar mess, it was time to dance to the music. They absolutely love to plug the video camera into the television and watch themselves. So, I watched them and caught up on the newspaper and mail. Then it was time for lunch. After we ate, time to bake cookies. We spent the remainder of the day picking up toys, vacuuming and organizing the girls clothes in their drawers. Then it was already dinner time, bath time and bedtime. Fly away day…

America, we love you…

When we are in the car the only radio station we listen to is WGTS. The girls know the latest and greatest of the Contemporary Christian music. They can sing any praise and worship song that pops on, including the radio station theme music, “WGT….S, 91 point 9″. Lately there has been a new interlude, if you will, that the station plays between songs. It is a patriotic diddy. Without hesitation both girls chime in as it starts up, “America, we love you… the Red, White and Blu—uue”. Today Pig Will sang it, paused and stated, “mom, I love that song, but it makes me sad.” Me, “why does it make you sad?”, Pig Will, “it reminds me of daddy and I really miss him.”

This is my heart wrenching. What a sweet little girl.

We went to dinner at a neighbor’s house tonight. When she called to invite us on Thursday she said, “I noticed that your husband’s car was all cleaned up, he must be coming home soon!” Funny.  We had a nice dinner and my kids enjoyed playing with her four kids. She also noticed the day my husband left. I had only met her a few months before and mentioned that he was Navy – at the time we did not know that he would be called up for duty. She rang the doorbell and said, “I noticed you put a yellow ribbon on your mailbox, did your husband deploy?” and handed me a loaf of banana bread. I’ve got some good neighbors!

Earlier today the girls and I went to the local Party store. I wanted to get some stakes for the big sign we made. Not only did I buy those, but found some pre-made yard and house signs… It might be overdone… but we are one proud (and excited!!!) family!

House keeping

I’ve been frantically organizing my life, making check list after check list, cleaning and stressing, imagining homecoming day. This past week has blazed by like none of the others have. Tomorrow is the weekend again, then we only have 5 more days until the month that my husband comes home in. So many things have happened since January 21st. We had birthday’s, our anniversary, other holiday’s, hair mishaps, preschool graduation…

I am ready. I am ready to see my husband… to hear his voice without static or airplanes flying over head. I am ready to smell him, hear him laugh and see him play with his girls. Today I can finally say that I am ready for him to walk through the door and see his house. I maybe had let a few things slide recently – crayon on the walls and carpet of the basement playroom, just to name one. Today I scrubbed like no woman has ever scrubbed. I took joy in cleaning because I want the house to be welcoming to my hard working man. I want him to come home and relax – not worry about what needs to be done next to the kitchen… or the fact that there is still a huge hole in the office from water damage that happened right before he left.

Today would not have been possible if it weren’t for the amazing friendship that I have with my dear friend TT. She calls me every day to check in and make sure that I am doing okay. Today she told me to drop the kids off for a few hours so that I could get some things done. Without her willingness to take my kids off my hands – I couldn’t have accomplished what I did today. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted and I felt my shoulders drop (seriously). My shoulders are so used to being scrunched up that when I took a deep breath and they fell, I was sincerely shocked.

So, tomorrow we continue to prepare. More signs to make, more cleaning, more check lists… but hey, it is all worth it… I get the best prize in the end.

Christmas in July

As we were on our nightly stroll, Rusty and I in the lead with the girls in tow, the girls chattered about this and that. They were chomping on raisins and laughing about something that only someone under 6 could understand. We passed by the only other people out tonight, an elderly couple admiring their flower bed. I turned to greet them just as Pig Me Too states matter-of-factly (and not too loud,  but just loud enough)… “look, there’s Santa!” I had to turn my head away so they wouldn’t see me laughing. I couldn’t bear to look their direction again. I just pretended I didn’t hear her and kept walking, fast. My smirk did not leave my face for the remainder of the walk. The man had a gray and white beard and mustache… and a pony-tail… and was bald on top!

Now I am worn out. I’ve spent the last two days acting like my husband will show up any minute. Yesterday I scrubbed the kitchen and bathrooms, made signs with the girls, vacuumed and mowed the back yard. Yep, my gracious neighbor has been mowing it since my husband left – however, he has missed a few weeks since he was building a new fence between our yards. I told the girls to find something quiet to do and not to open the doors. I didn’t want them watching TV because Pig Will gets in the zone and then Pig Me Too might get into trouble. This way I had them together. I mowed quickly and came back inside to them sitting on the couch together. I asked Pig Will what they did the whole time I was outside and she replied, “read books to each other quietly, mom. You told us to do something quiet.” (This is my jaw on the floor. Since when do they listen?)

My muscles hurt this morning in places that I did not know that I had muscles…. but that did not stop me. Super Mom jumped into action. This time, plopping the girls down in front of a long movie upstairs, I ventured down into the dungeon… aka, the playroom. When I had asked the girls to clean up the last few days, I was too tired to check to make sure they did a nice job. Their definition of cleaning is “let’s see how much stuff we can cram under the toy chest, couch, chair and end table”. So, I swiped my hand under each piece of furniture and piled all the toys in the middle of the room. One by one, I found the proper place for them. When I finally finished, it was time for Mr. Clean magic erasers… that crayon has been on the walls way too long. Last I grabbed the old pack of half-dried out wipes from Pig Me Too’s dresser and tried to rub out some stains in the carpet. Then I forbid them from playing downstairs the rest of the day. They put the tent in Pig Will’s room and played house before dinner.

Now I’m off to have a huge bowl of ice cream and catch up on some Days of our Lives… sometimes it is nice to escape to Salem.

Amazing…

I just clicked on my blog to type a new post and my mind went completely blank. Why? I glanced over at my ticker and noticed that it no longer says “months and days” it just says DAYS!!! 28, to be exact. I cannot believe it. I’ve got so much to do.

The girls and I have been working on sign designs (yes, the first stage before actually making them – so we don’t mess up.), they have been so cute. I think Pig Will might be an artist – she has some great ideas and draws them nicely. Pig Me Too usually tells me her ideas and then scribbles on the paper.

Next we have the house. Today I’ve managed to throw out an entire trash bag of paper. It was piled up so high next to the computer… I think each time I got mail that I just needed to save for later, a magazine or something I printed to read… it just sat there. I glanced through most of it and then tossed it. My husband would be so proud! He loves to throw things away. After we were married, we had our first of many moves just 4 months into marriage. Since we weren’t packing (made possible by the Navy), we packed it all. When we arrived down in Flordia for flight school, we had more boxes than room in the apartment. One by one we opened each one – and things went into piles… “throw away”, “give away”, “take to another room”. My husband loves to shred too. Bank statements, receipts, anything with our name on it…

So, I’m not the neatest person in the world… but I’m working on it… thank goodness I’m married to Mr. Clean! I can’t wait for him to be home. The girls talk about it every day. “When daddy gets home, we will…. (fill in the blank)” and they are talking about being his buddy for the plane ride to Italy… of course Pig Will has made it clear to little sis that SHE is his buddy, enough said. Pig Me Too is happy to settle for second best as her buddy, mom…. just little ‘ole me.

Speaking of Italy, I did finally book a Rome hotel… but we are still trying to figure out what to do after we leave our Villa in Tuscany. Do we want to go North and have to bring clothes for cooler weather? Or should be head South to the Amalfi coast and get a taste of Italian beach living? If we go North we could go as far as Switzerland. Decisions, decisions!

Some good news! I am happy to report that our good friends down the road have officially adopted their little boy from Russia! You can read about their journey on her blog, Russia or Bust!  Congrats friends!! We are so excited for you and can’t wait to meet the little guy!

That is all I have to report for now. If anyone finds the magic cleaning wand, send it my way…

Homefront on the horizon…

In just a few days we will be down to only five weeks left! I can’t believe that we started with 221 days and we are down to 34 today. There is so much to do to get ready. I don’t want the days to slow down… but I need to make myself work faster. I need to organize things, clean things… make signs…

Today Pig Will turned to me and said out of nowhere, “Mommy, we only have to make one more calendar… and we only have to “x” off half of it before daddy comes home!” She is too smart! Both children are begging me each day to make the “Welcome Home” signs for them to hold at the airport. I took Sticker Project Paper and printed some images on it. We will cut them out and, instant stickers on the sign! I did a google image search for “welcome home”, “I love you”, “American Eagle” and “flag ribbon” and came up with some great pictures for stickers. I also bought window decal paper for the printer. It is transparent film and is re-usable. Should be interesting.

In other news, my dad has scheduled his surgery. So please be praying for him and my mom… that the surgeons will successfully remove all cancer and dad will be in remission.

We are still planning our Italy trip. I took way too long of a break from it. After finding a Villa in Tuscany for nights 3 through 9, I had had enough of the internet. We still need a hotel for nights 1 and 2 in Rome, if anyone has suggestions! Next I will be searching out a plan for the Amalfi Coast for nights 10 through 15…

Simply Joy

The ice cream truck drives by our house almost every day from Memorial Day until Labor Day. Every time the girls hear the truck’s magical music (and yes, you can hear it all the way down in the basement with loud music and playing going on!) they coming screaming upstairs that they would like to buy some. I had to give them a lesson in the reality of the cost for these things. A box of 6 for $4.00 or two from the truck for $4.00… which is better? When they gave the right answer, a wave of sadness hit Pig Will. She asked if we wouldn’t ever buy from the truck. I replied that it would be a special treat every once in awhile if they had done their chores for the week on their chart.

I don’t know what makes the ice cream so much more special when it comes from the musical truck… but I can remember those days from my childhood hearing an ice cream truck…. and precious moments like these you just can’t pass up!

I’ve been playing around with Photoshop Elements… fun!

Precious July

We’ve made it to another month. The girls and I made our July calendar today (a day late because we were at Grammy and Grampy’s this weekend). They love making their calendar… not just because that means another month closer to daddy coming home… but because they get to plaster as many stickers as possible in each square. Really it is a contest of who can cram the most stickers in a square the fastest. Pig Will usually wins in hopes of getting extra stickers. We only have to make one more calendar to “x” off the days, although I think the girls want to continue this tradition forever because they enjoy it.

June is over. With the end of June also came some news. We found out that my dad has prostate cancer. He will discuss treatment options with his doctor on Thursday. My dad is such a strong man. Not only in his faith – his love for the Lord, but for his family and his joy in helping others. I’m reminded of the way my dad signs his letters, “Count it ALL Joy!”

from the Bible:
James 1: 2-4
Testing of Your Faith

2Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

My dad seems to put a smile on even the saddest face he meets. Always lighting the room with a smile and telling others to keep their chin up. Even on Sunday at church with people coming up to him and asking about the cancer – he put on a smile and told him his plan for the week.

Carry on Bob… Count it ALL Joy!