Homecoming

The FRG is meeting today to make homecoming signs. I really wish I could be a part of it. My friend Amy is going and I’m jealous. I so badly wish I were in Germany right now. It would eliminate a lot of frustration for me.

There are some days when I wish I didn’t have a job. I could hop on a plane and go to Germany for homecoming, and again for block leave, to visit Seth. Hell, maybe I would even live there. I wish I didn’t have to worry about having only X amount of vacation days, hoping and praying to God that they get back when they say they will, and aren’t be delayed and I’m not in Germany “using” my vacation days all alone. But for the rest of the deployment, I would go crazy without a job to keep me busy while he’s away.

I wish I had answers... and some extra money wouldn't be bad. Not a lot really, just you know, a couple hundred.



And for your viewing pleasure:

I can't believe that it's getting close. This deployment has seemed NEVER ENDING at times, but it's getting there. THIS is the first time I published my donut...oh my how it has come since then :)

Donut time

I had two donuts this morning. I had my R&R donut and deployment donut. I washed them both down with an Irish Coffee...with lots of whiskey.

Here's my progress!

(I'd better start figuring out what I'm going to wear!! Only 9% to go?!?!! AHhhHHHhHH!!!)

Both of these donuts are getting stale. I've been eating away at them for a good 9 months now. They're almost done though. Then I'll regurgitate them with pure excitement like you wouldn't believe.

Is it 2011 yet??

G-Camming date night!!

UHhhhh, YEAH I'm totally excited, thankyouverymuch. Are you crazy, deployment donut!? Leave hasn't even happened yet!! I'm more excited for that to take place, and then I'll be super excited for this deployment to be overwith.

Seth and I g-cammed on Saturday night. It was about 1:30 AM my time, and somewhere around 10 AM his time. I think. I'm not good at math. And espeically with the weird multi hour + half hour time difference...that's hard for me to calculate. Anyways, we g-cammed for a good few minutes. Third time this deployment!!! His internet was being awesomesauce and it stayed connected for a really long time. We talked for about 45 minutes maybe? I was so tired, I don't know. I just know it was cooperating nicely. And then he said we can try to g-cam!!! It took a few minutes to get it connected properly but then it connected. It disconnected a few times, but we were able to re-connect. It was wonderful seeing him and got me so very excited for leave!!!! He was showing me his extra long hair...he said he hasn't cut the top of he deployed (he thinks...he can't remember if he's cut it, but he doesn't think so). So he was running his hands through his hair and showing me how long it was. His hair was so long, he seriously looked like he had a combover!!! It was so cute. :) We still don't have sound on g-camming, so we talked on gmail chat, and just looked at each other. I took screen shots of us "talking", but they're on my home computer and I'm at work right now. He was obviously in his uniform and I was wearing jeans and a long sleeve shirt and a multi-colored scarf. I was also really cold and so I had my Snuggie on. (Yeah, I have a Snuggie. Don't hate until you try it!) I guess I could have taken off my Snuggie so I could have looked a little nicer for our 3rd g-camming date in 8 months, but hey man, I was cold. And he knows I hate being cold. But the point is: we got to g-cam and it was the most wonderful thing in the whole world :)

Random updates

I've been a busy bee the last few weeks. Here's what I've been up to:

• Christmas shopping...this is by far the earliest I've started. Today I even wrapped presents. It's not even Thanksgiving yet!!
• I work with Molli and she is amazing. We are so much a like and have been getting together every Thursday night for the last few weeks. We go out for dinner and drinks. I live for Thursdays right now. She's also going to be joining the Boot Camp thing at my gym, so she'll be my work out buddy for November 15 through December 18th.
• Speaking of working out...I've lost 7 lbs in the last 7 weeks, doing the Biggest Loser thing at my gym. I've lost quite a few inches overall and I'm keeping this up. I can't wait for the Boot Camp classes...they have a class called "butts and guts"! I'm super excited for it! I have 7 more lbs to go to meet my goal for when Seth is home, and 3 lbs left to reach the weight I was when he deployed. Totally doable if I stay focused.
• My sister is coming home for Christmas!! And my brother is probably too!!! I CANNOT WAIT!!! I haven't seen my brother in......shit, I don't know. I think the last time he was here was when he came out for Christmas 2008 and stayed through April 2009. Holy crap that was forever ago. I haven't seen my sister since February 2010, which is forever too. My sister and I are very close and she's thinking of staying the winter here (she currently lives in Oregon). I told her she can stay with me if she'd like, except when Seth is home. haha Having my siblings home will definitely help me get through Christmas with Seth deployed.
• Speaking of Seth, he's been in a different location, and we actually talked quite a bit over the weekend. Just a lot of little random phone calls and some text messages here and there. I think he's paying for internet access and it's consistent, so we're able to have a full conversation.
• We've g-cammed (yeah, I just made that up...it's webcamming on gmail chat...whatever you want to call it) only twice this deployment. TWICE. It's very frustrating. Hopefully this weekend we'll get a chance to do it again.
• I really want (need?) a new couch. We've been looking at them online and sending links back and forth. I finally found one that I really like, and I've even tested it out in person. It's superduper comfortable and Seth likes it too. He said I have his approval to purchase it for us, and we'll have it in time for our little belated holiday dinner in January. I can't wait to have everyone over and show off our new couch!! I did want to wait until he was home so we could go to the furniture store and try them all out together and get in dumb arguments about which one to get (hey, it's true. We've never done that before because we've always been apart, and I would love to have a dumb, stupid argument over what couch to get), but he said that we can purchase a new TV when he's home. I'm not one to complain in this department.
• I have to get my wisdom teeth out. It's going to be friggin expensive. I hate insurance. (If anyone has any advice or knowledge in the TriCare dept and dental insurance, please feel free to let me know). I'm going to have to do it twice, because I refuse to pay $1,118 out of my pocket to get sedated once, and get all 4 teeth taken out. I'll save about $500-600 by doing it twice. So I have one appt in December to get two teeth taken out, and then I'll make another appointment for February to get the other two taken out. My dental insurance resets in January, so this is why I'm doing it again after the new year. The money I'll be saving with this will go towards my couch.
• After I get my wisdom teeth out in February (I'll spend time recovering on my new couch!!!) we'll be in the very home stretch of this deployment and I'll be heading to Germany for the welcome home ceremony :)
• My deployment donut says 60% done and 40% to go. Still a great deal to go, but it's going by fast, to be honest.
• So Seth sorta annoyed me today. Not really, but yes really. He wants new boots for Christmas, and since he'll be in the 'Stan on Christmas day, I wanted to get him something he'd use over there, and not just a bunch of junk. He told me he needs new boots, and he sent me the link to the ones he'd like. I waited a week or two before purchasing them, and ordered them last night. He emailed me this morning and sent me a different link to a different pair of boots that he wants more. Ugh, figures that I just ordered them last night, and now he wants different ones. I swear that he knows exactly what's going on in my head and knows when I purchase a gift for him. Somehow any surprise for him gets ruined. So I had to cancel the boots (at the new place he's at temporarily, he was able to try on the first pair of boots that he sent me, and he didn't like them, so I'd rather not waste $150 on boots that don't fit comfortably, but still). Now I'll purchase the new pair of boots. He KNOWS every single present I buy him, even if I don't give him any hints. It makes me so mad. On my bucket list goes this: purchase Seth a gift and actually have it be a surprise.

I suppose that's all the updates for now. I guess I'll go clean up my Christmas wrapping mess in the living room and fantasize about cuddling with Seth on our new couch in 2 months. A girl can dream, right?

Getting close

So here's a picture of my upcoming months in my Outlook calendar. Within this view, I can see the (tentative) date that Seth will be home for leave!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

While we're at it....here's my donut:

I CANNOT WAIT FOR LEAVE!!! AND I CAN'T WAIT FOR THIS DEPLOYMENT TO BE OVER!!!

Signs

This weekend, I was going through some files on my computer and I ran across the first emails that Seth and I wrote back and forth. I re-read through a lot of them and I actually remember how excited I was when I'd get a new email from him; I'd be learning something new about him and he'd say something to make me laugh. I still get excited actually...I look forward to getting to work each morning and yes, the first thing I do is check my personal email. As I was reading through these, so many things make perfect sense as to who he is now!

I also ran across something I wrote shortly after he deployed this time. Kinda like a little journal, but not really. Just something I wrote at the time. Here it is, from April 15, 2010:

Before Seth deployed, and I knew we wouldn’t be talking on a regular basis, I was wondering how I’d know he was thinking of me and he missed me and how much he loved me….signs from him basically. Well, turns out I’ve gotten a few. On the day he left, Easter, I went over to mom and dad’s for dinner. Then I had to stop by his parents house to drop something off to his parents. After talking to his dad for a little while, I started to drive home. The song I’m Already There by Lonestar came on and I started crying. It’s a song about being thousands of miles apart, but still together in your heart, no matter where you are. That was sign number one. The other day I got a box. I was expecting it, but it was still a sign. I’m expecting another tuff box with some of his stuff from Germany. It will have his two suits, his wedding tie, his hard drive, and some other stuff for me to keep, he said some important papers. He also said there was a little surprise in it. I can’t wait to get it! I should get it in a day or two. It was mailed at the same time as the other box, which just had his laptop in it, and I have to send that to him. The laptop box came yesterday, so I’m expecting this one any day. Plus, we got to talk for 14 whole minutes, which was like, FOREVER! So I’m glad to get the good box on a separate day, so I have something to look forward to, and so when I get it, it will be another thing to brighten that day. I don’t want all the excitement on one day…..I want it spread out. Tonight I was driving home from my parents house. As I was getting close to my apartment, Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton came on. Last Valentines Day, 2009, when we met in Cleveland, I was driving him back to Erie, PA to meet John. We went to breakfast at an iHop and when we got back in my car after breakfast, I said, “what song do you want to dance to at our wedding?” Mind you, this was only about 11 months after we had started talking (talking, not even dating, it was 8-9 months after we met/started dating). He said…hold on, I’ll play it for you. And he went to Wonderful Tonight on his Zune. Then we listed to a 9 minute acoustic version as we were driving, holding hands, down the Pennsylvania/Ohio freeway/toll road. It was cute. He still wants it to be the first song we dance to at our wedding. I’m always looking for little signs like this, of him saying hi to me and he misses me, and I know one when I spot one. He loves me, even when we’re thousands of miles apart, on totally different continents, and we can talk for about 20 minutes per week for a whole year.

Well, I'm glad to say that the last part of the last sentence has improved greatly in the last few months. We now average (this is a guess) about an hour to 90 minutes each week. (Thank you Lord!!) Anyways, I'm still always looking for little signs of him saying hi and he loves me. I get the signs frequently when I'm driving and my ring sparkles on my car ceiling. I love it. Might be weird, but I always kiss my ring and say hi to him when it gets all sparkley. On the day I went to the wedding location to check it out in the summer, I was sitting in the back seat of the car and OMG my ring has never been so sparkley!!! It was beautiful. The picture doesn't do it justice. I took this as a sign of a long, happy and healthy marriage. :)

Today after work, I was going to the gym. I was listening to the radio and my ring was all sparkley yet again. I said hi to him and kissed my ring (whatever, call me weird if you want. He probably will when he reads this) and then I changed the radio station. It was the very beginning of Eric Clapton's Wonderful Tonight song! It took me back to our Valentine's Day together in Cleveland and asking him what he thought our wedding song should be. For a few seconds, when I closed my eyes, I could actually picture him sitting in the car next to me, listening to this song with me.

This sorta reminded me of a memory of when he was home this last Christmas. We were standing in the kitchen, NOT engaged yet, and I said to him, "when we get married, how are you going to kiss me?" Then he took my face in my hands and gave me a really sweet gentle kiss on the lips. He's not one for full on PDA, and it was just perfect. I think I remember making him practice it a few more times, even though he hadn't even proposed yet. He's the best for going along with me when I asked him these kinds of questions while technically we were still dating!!!



P.S. My deployment donut officially says, "congratulations! you're over the hump!!" YESSSSS!!

Two (deployment) Donuts... for breakfast

Ohhhh man, we are sooo close to the half way point! After the 6 month mark, it will hopefully be smooth sailing from here!!!


As if one donut wasn't enough today, I had my leave donut too. This is coming along nicely too. Not a terrible amount of time until he's home for leave :)


I love you and I soooo cannot wait to see you, Seth!!!! xxoo

Deployment Donut

My donut is at 47% complete. SOOOO close to the half way point! SOOO close to be on the downhill slope of this deployment. I'm close-ish to seeing Seth....47% closer to be exact. I cannot wait to see him to hug him and kiss him and feel his arms around me!! I cannot wait for leave! I still have a few months to go. It's getting closer and I'm slowly getting things for him, such as clothes, and maybe shoes.

OMG!!!! I CAN CALL HIM!!!!

Guess what I did today!! Finally. I FINALLY got ahold of Seth! I was able to call HIM!! I've not had any luck with this since he deployed. For almost 4 months, I have had to wait patiently for him to call me. Not so anymore! He bought me this one calling card when he was in Iraq because it was fairly cheap. I've used it since 2008, and it's worked perfectly. I've never had problems calling before, until this deployment. I looked online to find the country code and this and that and dialed everything and nothing ever worked. I tried a few different numbers, with and without 93 (which is the country code for Afghanistan) and it never ever connected. So I basically just gave up. I was looking on my Verizon phone bill yesterday and noticed that his phone number was listed differently. We were talking on gmail this morning and I told him I wanted to try it. I made sure his phone was right by him and on. I tried a few different numbers, like what was on my Verizon bill and then with and without the 93 and it didn't connect. Then he told me to try a number and my phone card said I had 73 minutes and sure enough, I got that international call weird ring tone. I got realllly excited and then he picked up!!!!! I was so excited! I said to him, "OMG IT WORKED!!!" my coworker in the next cube said, "what worked?" She didn't realize I was on the phone. We only talked for 5 minutes and I asked him if there are limits on when I should and shouldn't call, and how often I can call. He said I can call whenever. I think we'll still keep it to a minimum because it will still be pretty expensive to talk, but it's better than me just having to wait patiently for him to call! The number he gave me, I am postive that I tried it before, but I'm guessing he had his phone off at the time, so it didn't connect. That's what it'd do in Iraq, but I thought it just wasn't working. Now I know for sure it works, and I am soooo excited!!!! Even 5 minutes a day to hear his voice will be SOOOO much better than talking to him once or twice a week. The next 70% of this deployment is going to be much more enjoyable now!!!

Hot, hot, hot

I always check the local weather where my soldier is at. It's been in the 100's lately, up to 105, and today when I looked, the 5 day forecast does not look pleasant:

I can't/won't complain about the 93 degree heat wave we're having here. I am pretty sure we have more humidity than where he's at, but still, I am sitting in air conditioning and I don't have to wear a full uniform, boots and a hat. I wish I could cool it down for him. He hates weather like this. He has air conditioning in his tent, but it's just too hot that it doesn't really make a difference. Poor guy :(

On a happier note, my deployment donut is coming along nicely. It is officially past 26%!! Woo hoo!!!