Christmas packages and tutu making

I finally got Joeys package off to him. I wanted to make it special so hopefully he likes it all!!

 First Package

 Candy in the stocking a coffee mug and Starbucks coffee packets. Candy canes and Christmas Peeps, hot coco, gum, Toy Story 3 and Insta Snow 

 I made home made suckers!! They are YUMMY!!!

 Cute bag, right!!

All packed up 

Second Package

 PSP and game, Homemade Chocolate chunk cookies and Muddie Buddies 

 Ready to go!!!!

Now I have to start thinking of my next package!!

In my spare time I made My niece Lilly a tutu for Christmas! They are so easy and soo cute!! 

I made my daughter this Christmas tutu as well...

NAVY FEDERAL ARGGGGGGG

So i got up and all ready today to go Christmas Shopping!! I was super excited. Khloe and I head to Target and shop shop shop. I got SOOOOO much cute stuff on sale and just great deals all around. I had to buy Joeys gift in the electronics area so they rang it up right when I got it. So Khloe is getting super cranky. She is hungry and tired so I decide to go check out finally after no kidding 4 hours of shopping. Khloe is screaming as the cashier is ring things up and so I am hurrying as fast as possible. swipe my card and DECLINED!!! WHAT we just got paid I know there is money in there heck I just bought something we try a few more times finally I ask the lady to hold my stuff while I feed the baby and call the bank. A half hour later things are supposed to be fine. WRONG, still wont work. Call the nicest man back ( I talked to him the first time what are the odds of getting him a second time
?!?) He helps me again says i can get money out of the ATM and it will work so I go back in and WRONG now the effing thing wont give me cash. I finally gave up an hour 1/2 later and headed home with just one thing:( I am so disappointed. I guess everything happens for a reason and I will just have to head on back tomorrow!!! I was pretty lucky to deal with such nice people today though. I am never rude to people if they put me on hold or take a long time helping me.( unless they have wronged me in some way and are rude first) I know how it is to work with people and it can be rough..All the Target people were awesome the electronics guy got me an AWESOME deal and the cashiers were so nice and patient with me and so was Mike at Navy Fed:) it pays off to be nice to people.  Overall today was not that bad. I got out of the house shopped ( I LOVE TO SHOP) even if I didnt bring any of it home. Now off to clean and P90X it up.. maybe ! HA

1. You wear old sweatpants and sweatshirts to bed.

2. You can watch whatever you want on TV without arguing with him first

3. You get up in the middle of the night to check your e-mail.

4. You sleep with your cell phone incase he calls in the middle of the night.

5. You love watching cute love movies because it reminds you of all the cute things he does when he's home.

6. You haven't shaved your legs in weeks.

7. The mailman knows you because you are always out waiting for him to come.

8. You start paying close attention in class when the words "military" or "iraq" are mentioned.


9. You suddenly have an obsession with anything military related.

10. You see someone wearing an army, navy, or usmc shirt and you get this overwhelming urge to talk to them.

11. You make friends with strangers online just because they are in the same situation as you and are the only ones that can truly understand what you are going through.
  
12. You can't decide what to wear when you meet him at the airport because his flight comes in at a ridiculous hour in the morning and you want to look cute, but not too cute, because your cutest outfit you want to save for your first full day together.

13. Your first Christmas together is... apart. .

14. You find yourself checking your e-mail every fifteen minutes.

15. You know all the time differences between where you are and Iraq, Ireland, Kuwait, Italy, Germany, Korea, and every state in the U.S.

16. The highlight of your day is getting a letter that was mailed a month ago.

17. And if you don't get a letter, the highlight of your day is writing him a letter that you know he will be able to read in a month..

18. You realize that HOMECOMING is so much more than a football game.

19. You want to hit any happy couple you see together

20. You get excited about "unknown" phone numbers calling you.

21. You've exhausted every idea a brain could have of what to put in a box.

22. You see a "support our troops" sticker on a car when you are stuck in traffic and you find yourself guessing about who they know that is deployed and thinking about their entire life story.

23. When the clock says 11:11, you find yourself wishing for the same thing every time: a call from your soldier.

24. You get excited when its only 5 months until you see your Soldier instead of 7!

25. You can't stand girls that talk about missing their boyfriends who live a few hours away. You just want to yell "drive and go see them them" because if you had the chance, you would jump on the first plane to go see your soldier no matter how far it is.

26. You don't know what teams are on top for football, basketball, etc.

27. You wouldn't dream of walking out of the house without the cell phone and every number you have is forwarded to that cell.

28. You find yourself randomly crying from just looking at a picture of the two of you together.

29. You find yourself randomly crying and you sometimes have no idea why.

30. You stay on the internet for hours searching for anything and everything about the military.

31. You talk to your friends about him so much that they know his full name, birthday and even his favorite color.

32. You find yourself speaking in acronyms (that no one other than you and he would understand).

 You are reading this and smiling and nodding because you know it's so true 

Thanks for posting this BERNEDETTE

TWO WEEKS DOWN AND COUNTING!!!!!

REALLY TWO FREAKING WEEKS!!!!!

It feels more like 10 weeks, why o why is time going so dang slow. Khloe and I have been keeping busy. We have getting my babes Christmas packages ready and we went home for Thanksgiving. We have got to skype with Joey and that was awesome! It was such a bad connection but I did get to see him so it was really nice. I still have my moments and have a mini breakdown but I pull it together and push through. Thanksgiving was awesome being home but it was so bitter sweet. I really wish Joey was home to spend Khloes first Thanksgiving with us. Christmas will be even harder but once we are through with Christmas its just closer to him coming home to us!!! I am almost done with his Christmas packages so I will be posting pictures soon!!!!

One week down..

Wow its only been a week tomorrow and it already feels like a month. I have tried to keep myself busy. I for the most part have been doing ok. I have a breakdown at least once a day. I miss him terribly and I just want to fast forward to when he is home.

I have talked to him everyday its not for long but its nice to hear from him. I have been really trying to work out all the wedding details and I think its finally starting to come together, now I just have to start with all my projects! Ill be leaving for home in a couple days and that will be nice to see everyone. I also have been trying to work out every night. with a 2 ( almost 3) month old its a lot harder than I thought. Ill be sending out his Christmas care package soon. I wish I had more to say but is all I can think of is I miss him and I would just like this week to end so I can get on with another one...

Christmas Care Package Mailing Deadlines

MILITARY MAILING DEADLINES

USPS News Release: Shipping Out the Holidays to Military Heroes

Express Mail Military Service (EMMS)1/  APO/FPO AE ZIPs 090-092- Dec 18 APO/FPO AE ZIP 093- N/A APO/FPO AE ZIPs 094-098- Dec 18 APO/FPO AA ZIP 340- Dec 18 APO/FPO AP ZIPs 962-966- Dec 18 First-Class Mail Letters and Cards APO/FPO AE ZIPs 090-092- Dec 10 APO/FPO AE ZIP 093- Dec 04 APO/FPO AE ZIPs 094-098- Dec 10 APO/FPO AA ZIP 340- Dec 10 APO/FPO AP ZIPs 962-966- Dec 10 Priority Mail APO/FPO AE ZIPs 090-092- Dec 10 APO/FPO AE ZIP 093- Dec 04 APO/FPO AE ZIPs 094-098- Dec 10 APO/FPO AA ZIP 340- Dec 10 APO/FPO AP ZIPs 962-966- Dec 10 Parcel Airlift Mail (PAL) 2/ APO/FPO AE ZIPs 090-092- Dec 03 APO/FPO AE ZIP 093- Dec 01 APO/FPO AE ZIPs 094-098- Dec 03 APO/FPO AA ZIP 340- Dec 03 APO/FPO AP ZIPs 962-966- Dec 03 Space Available Mail (SAM)3/ APO/FPO AE ZIPs 090-092- Nov 26 APO/FPO AE ZIP 093- Nov 20 APO/FPO AE ZIPs 094-098- Nov 26 APO/FPO AA ZIP 340- Nov 26 APO/FPO AP ZIPs 962-966- Nov 26 Parcel Post APO/FPO AE ZIPs 090-092- Nov 12 APO/FPO AE ZIP 093- Nov 12 APO/FPO AE ZIPs 094-098- Nov 12 APO/FPO AA ZIP 340- Nov 12 APO/FPO AP ZIPs 962-966- Nov 12

Donut of Misery..

When you are a military spouse you count things, lots of things.

You count how many days until he leaves, you count how many days until he comes home.  You have to count most of these days in private. You have to be careful about Operational Security or OPSEC (is a process that identifies critical information to determine if friendly actions can be observed by adversary intelligence systems, determines if information obtained by adversaries could be interpreted to be useful to them, and then executes selected measures that eliminate or reduce adversary exploitation of friendly critical information).

AT NO POINT SHOULD YOU EVER SHARE THE % OF WHERE YOUR DONUT IS. THE ONLY THING THAT IS OK TO POST OR SHARE WITH ANYONE IS WHAT YOUR SAYING IS..

I think it was in 2003 when some soldier or Marine who was stationed in Iraq decided to compose what was and is to this day called "The Donut of Misery"

Fresh off the jet

Let the countdown begin

Well the time has come and my love has gone..

Saying goodbye was one of the hardest things I have ever done. As he walked away my heart broke. Thankfully my friend Jessica had me over for dinner so I didnt have to sit home and be depressed. I still havent heard from him, I dont think he is even there yet:( As i sit here thinking it will go by fast I get so overwhelmed. its going to be almost 7 months and I dont know how I am going to do it. I already miss him. I am just going to have to stay busy!! I go back and forth, I am fine one minute then start thinking about it and I am a mess the next minute. I am just rambling on now.. I ll be waiting for his call to make sure he made it safe...off to keep my mind occupied!!!!!

...

Joey was away for a week to training, if this was a glimpse into what is coming I am in trouble. I missed him so much and we hardly got to talk at all. I get to see him today and I cant wait! He took a week of leave and then back to work for a couple weeks and then its here:( I am just going to try to enjoy this last little bit as much as possible! He did tell me that they said they want him to go to nights, REALLY!! right before he leaves they are going to put him on nights so I wont see him at all before he leaves Thank you Navy thank you.....

Closer and Closer...

So this week we had a pre deployment meeting.The whole time I am driving to base I have tears in my eyes knowing this is just one step closer to him leaving. At the meeting they gave us lots of useful information. There were a couple speakers . The Red Cross, Fleet and Family Support, and one more I cant remember? She mostly spoke about financial information.During the meeting Khloe woke up and needed changed. Joey being the great dad he is took her. He was gone SO long. When I started to get a little worried I looked over and saw him standing there rocking her in his arms and she has one sock on her headband is out, Joey have his boots on with jeans and he is a mess from working all day. Messy and perfect <3 At that moment looking at those two, I truly realized how lucky I am to have them in my life. It also made me realize how much I am going to miss him. Each day gets harder and harder knowing he will be leaving us soon. I am trying to stay strong and live in the moment. But I have times it just catches up to me and I cant help but sneak away to wipe my tears away...

One of the best things I got from this meeting:

CARE PACKAGES FOR OVERSEAS SAILORS!
The USPS offers FREE packing material to families of military members deployed Overseas!
TO ORDER:
Call (800)610-8734
Press 1 ( For English)
Press 1 again ( For Operator)
Ask for the "CAREKIT04"

*The flat rate boxes have a special bar code so that only allow you to send packages to military addresses

If you have someone serving Overseas this is a great money saver! I know its going to help me out so much and they said to let family and friends know! So here you go!!

They also gave us little books/pamphlets about deployment readiness...

Five stages of reaction:

Disbelief ( I am very lucky to not have this sprung on us so I have had a year to have this sink in. So this one doesn't really apply to me)
Anger - Check.. not at Joey but at the situation!
Panic - CHECK!!!!
Grief - DOUBLE CHECK :(
Acceptance - They say " Rest assured, you will get to this spot" I hope it comes soon .....

I also got to meet the Ombudsman and so hopefully I can get myself out of the house each month to go meet up with the rest of the women and send some packages!!

Baby weight....

So one of my goals while Joey is gone is to LOSE THIS WEIGHT!!

I will be planning a wedding also while he is gone so I really need to lose this by the time July rolls around! I have really never been this down on myself. I know I can get it off but honestly when? With the baby I feel like I dont get a minute to myself unless Joey has her.. When he leaves WHAT DO I DO!!!!!! I feel like I might become a hermit. I guess I have another goal! To get out and meet people! Everything is going to be fine...right?!

The first of many ...

I have created a special blog for me to vent, cry complain, rejoice..whatever it is I need to do that day to get me through this deployment! If you would like to follow you will probably be bored to death!

We have about a month together left, it brings tears to my eyes just typing that! The time leading up to him going is hard and the last month is rough. Don't get me wrong everyday in between is a challenge but I will be in a routine and the time will fly by( right?!)

I have been through a deployment with an ex and I was in such a different place at that time. Joey has also been on a deployment once before this. He was on the USS Boxer for 7 months. This Deployment Joey will be in Kuwait.

As the time runs out, its the small things that bring tears to my eyes. With having our new baby girl here its all her firsts..rolling over, crawling, laughing, first words.. I will be experiencing all these great memories alone.. I will try to make it seem like he is here as much as I can but I would like to have him next to me watching her grow. I will be taking pictures and recording everything for him! He will be gone through all the holidays, it will be harder on him for those since I will be family and that will help pass the time..


I have been trying to think of things to do so Khloe can remember her dad while he is away. I am going to go to Build A Bear and have him record his voice and spray his cologne on it. i will also show her pictures and we can Skype. Does anyone have any other ideas on what I can do for her?

I am not going to be updating this much before he goes. I am going to try and embrace every moment we do have left together. so in closing....Hold your loved ones close! We all are not as blessed to have them home every night with us!