I can't give an exact date for two reasons, one - I don't
exactly have an exact date, two - it would be violating OPSEC to give out specific dates. BUT I do have exciting news. I'm all :D :D :D about it! I'm no longer counting down MONTHS until my husband comes home, but counting down DAYS, to make it seem to go faster I'm counting PAYCHECKS or WEEKS. So I'm sure you can imagine the :D across my face. If my camera were working I'd take a picture for you to see. I'm THRILLED!!! I can say that my husband will be coming home eariler than originally scheduled...just not how much earlier. I've known for a while about the estimated date change but today it just smacked me in the face and well, I've turned into a little bit of a nutcase. I keep making lists in my head of all the things I just
have to do before he comes home. Which is funny because none of them are actually
must do things. I'll share some of my list with you so you can get an idea of how my CDO {like OCD
but alphabetically as it
should be} mind has been working:
- Recover dining chairs {a project I intended on doing 3 years ago when I bought the table at a yard sale}
- Scrub every surface - window sills, baseboards, light fixtures {I keep a clean house but I don't spring clean weekly}
- Switch Lydia into toddler bed
- Decorate Lydia's room, I found inspiration for some DIM {Do It Myself} projects
- Get Michael a twin mattress for his twin bed, along with bedding to fit
- Purge & reorganize toys in kids' rooms
- Move computer & desk to different wall in living room
- Get a recliner, bench or other seating for living room
- Get trays for my ottomans {so they can hold a glass or whatever}
- Paint canvas to hang on big blank wall in kitchen
- Get rugs for kids' rooms
- Organize laundry/storage room
- Finish Lydia's one year album
- Do more pages in family albums
- Organize our closet & figure out where all of his gear is going
The list could go on but I won't torture you anymore. Most everything on this list can {and probably will} be done after homecoming {army speak for soldiers coming home} but there are some things I'll want to have done beforehand. The most important is tackling our closet. Because I moved after he deployed we've never had ALL of Shawn's clothing, uniforms & gear in our closet. He's got enough that he could easily take up the whole thing. But because I'm not a nudist {you're welcome} I need some space in there too. So I want to go through all of my stuff & organize it better, making the most of the space. Once he's home he's going through his civi {civilian} clothes and tossing what no longer fits/he likes and we'll go from there. Likely Lydia will have a tub or three in her closet with Shawn's gear that isn't used regularly, she has the space so it'll work. I just don't want him coming home & feel that it's not
home and there's no space for him.
I also want to get Lydia switched into the toddler bed {planned on doing that earlier in the week}, recover the chairs, tackle the laundry room and scrub every surface. I'm excited, nervous, anxious and thrilled all at once, but mostly ecstatic. It will be an adjustment for both of us and the kids but a GOOD adjustment. And I figure if there's some bumps along the way at least he'll be home to make up with afterward. ;)
I haven't had a chance to scrap this week...hoping for this coming week, that would help me check some stuff off my list right!
Saturday I finally took the kids to a pumpkin patch, Michael had been asking for a while but my schedule has been busy. This place is in Kentucky and was a pretty drive out. The best part - I didn't get lost! LOL =] Seriously though, that really surprised me. We got a little later start than I had planned on but it worked out, the kids napped almost the whole way there {30-45 min drive}. When we got there they were so excited to see the animals. First we had to pay admission of course, then the kids played on the hay castle then in the corn boxes. I'm sure you're wondering what a corn box is, I was too. It's like a sand box but instead of having sand in it, there's corn kernals - uncooked of course. The kids thought it was great & so did I the next day washing laundry. Instead of having sand everywhere there were only a few kernals. Then we took a ride out to the pumpkin patch where the kids each picked out a pumpkin & I made them pose a dozen times to get a picture. ;) We brought our pumpkins back to the car and grabbed the picnic lunch I packed - picnic basket & all - and sat down to eat. After that I took pictures of them in front of an old tractor, on a tractor, in front of a pumpkin, squash & flower display and whatever else I could find to torture them. They both used old equipment to shuck corn and then Michael fed a calf out of his hand, Lydia would only throw the corn in their general direction. We then wandered around the corn maze until another mom & I found a secret shortcut out, then the kids wanted to play in the hay castle one last time before leaving. We were there about 3 hours or so and had a great time. The weather was perfect, cool but not freezing. I'd have stayed longer but my allergies were starting to get mad at me for being around so much hay & nature. Later that evening we {I} scooped out pumpkin goop & carved faces into the pumpkins.
