What I Really (Really) Want

Everyone who knows Husband has deployed is asking, "Is there anything you need?" And I always say no but that's not true. Let me tell you what I want (what I really, really want).

I want someone to come and shovel the snow. We've had more snow fall since Husband's been gone than we've had all winter. Every time it snows, I'm out there with my shovel, trying to move the snow that's accumulated in the driveway. There's a snowblower for the unit but I don't have the little card that comes from taking the safety class the army says you need to take to use it. I'm wondering when the last time was the army checked on this particular snowblower. I think it might be circa 1970. It's bright orange. It's being held together with a screwdriver, jerry-rigged by somebody when the original piece, whatever it was, probably rattled off and got lost in the 2' storms this area gets. Every once in a while, while you're blowing the snow, you have to use a long pole to unclog the chute otherwise it gets to the point where all you're doing is wasting the gasoline it guzzles. Did I mention the noise? Earplugs should be standard issue with it. Oh, and it doesn't start unless it's been plugged in for a couple of hours. When you're lucky enough to get it to start, you can do a driveway or two (there are four in this unit) before it decides it's time to rest and shuts down. To tell you the truth, I'm afraid of it.

Then there's the evil snowplow driver who loves to push snow back into the driveway apron area. My problem with this is that it isn't my snow. I already moved my snow away and here he is, giving me more to get rid of. I tell you, there's no place to put it. I've created a mountain at the end of the driveway that's almost as tall as me. My arms ache from shoveling my snow from my driveway. This snow he's giving me belongs to someone else. I'm not tall enough to pile more on that mountain and as I perform my sorry attempt to do just that, it just blows back into my face from the incessant wind. Furthermore, the fingers on my right hand are starting to cramp up and there's an ache every time I squeeze the toothpaste tube or shake my fist at the evil snowplow driver.

I do have a plan however. The next time someone asks if I need anything I'll say, "Yes, bring your snow shovel over." Either that, or move to Hawaii.

The Question Answered

A few weeks ago, I suggested to the Lieutenant Colonel's wife that we make little treat bags for the deploying soldiers. I had thought of it when Husband deployed. There was alot of hurry up and wait that day and we waited for hours. And even after the soldiers boarded the buses to the airfield, they waited some more at the airfield before they actually boarded planes and left. And while I sat there at the motor pool and waited for something to happen, the thought occurred to me that it would have been nice to "do something". So the idea that came was to make bags using the quart size with the zippered tops and fill them with individual cracker packages, granola bars, candy -- whatever, that the soldiers could take with them. And that is what I suggested to the Colonel's wife. She loved the idea and the plan went into action.

A group met this evening to assemble the bags. I walked into the room and was amazed at what people had brought or donated. There were packs of gums, individually wrapped Slim Jims, raisins, packaged crackers, hard candy, miniature chocolate bars. Someone even thought to bring Brush Ups (the fingertip toothbrush), marshmallow krispie treats (the Little Debbie kind) and more. There was so much I'm not even sure I saw everything before it got packaged up. It was better than I ever imagined and I was so pleased it was well received. I think the soldiers will really appreciate it. And that's where my Saturday night plans come in. Colonel's wife asked, since it was my idea, if I wanted to distribute them. I sure as hell did! And doing this helps me accomplish several things:

1. I get to see some of our friends before they leave.
2. I can give Specialist A. a hug that she can pass along to Husband.
3. I now have something to do Saturday night.

However, before I return home, there will be a bottle of Grey Goose, chilling in the freezer waiting to be united with some olives and their brine and my glass. And I will toast the one I love, who is always in my heart even if he isn't here.

Question of the Week

Saturday, February 25, is my one year anniversary, and if you're a regular reader (all two of you) of my little blog know, Husband is deployed. So that means I'll be alone, but do I have to be?

I'm not one to follow trends as anyone who has seen my wardrobe will tell you but would it be bad taste or improper to go to a movie (one ticket, please) or dinner (table for one, please) or just treat it like any other day (frozen dinner and watch Food Network or Nick At Nite)? What's a gal to do?

Where's Emily Post when you need her?

What I Watch

No one seems to have Olympic fever this year, me included. I'll watch the figure skating, I've always watched it and having taken a few lessons three years ago, I know how hard it is and how easy those skaters make it look. Yeah, well you try skating a piece of metal no bigger than 1/8" across.

But it got me thinking... what's on my list of appointment TV? Here's my list in no particular order:

The Simpsons
This is one of the best, if not the best, show on television. Week after week the writing is consistently funny and I absolutely love how nothing is sacred.

Grey's Anatomy
This is another well written show. If you call me at 10pm EST on Sundays and I don't answer, now you know why.

And my guilty pleasure.... Project Runway on Bravo. I am the LAST person to know anything about fashion but it's the flame and I'm the moth. Go figure.

And those are the only network shows I watch. Thanks to The WB, I'm catching up on all the Sex And the City episodes I never got to see since I didn't have HBO.

Oh, and I do try to catch Whose Line Is It Anyway? It is funny.

So don't call me on Sunday nights, ok?

Tempus Fugit

Time flies. It really seems to, anyway. Which has caught me by surprise since I figured it wouldn't. I thought the weekends would be really slow and here it is, almost 9pm on a Sunday night. Where did the day go? I didn't even get out of bed till 9:30am and spent the day putzin' around. I'm trying to clean the place up because my mother is coming to visit at the end of the week and the place is a mess. It really is. The bedroom looks like a tornado went through it. When we got back from the funeral we just dropped our suitcases wherever they fell. They're still there. I'm going to have tunnel my way through eventually unless I get that laundry done.

Oops, my attention wandered for a moment. There's that Tide To Go commercial with the drill sergeant yelling at the recruit for a stain on his shirt. One of his buddies slips him the product while the sergeant is looking and wipes the stain out. When the sergeant returns his attention to the recruit and makes a comment about the stain, the recruit says,"Sir! What stain sir?" It's clever but no drill sergeant would ever be called sir, at least in the army. If you called him sir you'd be reminded that he works for a living.

But that, and a trip to the post office is how I spent my weekend. Husband said he sent me something, so I'm waiting for it to arrive. He won't tell me what it is only that I have to wait to open it. I won't make you wait that long... once I open it, I'll tell you what it is too.

$300 Paperweight

Yes, that's what the nice new (well, a few months old anyway) 27" TV is downstairs. It worked fine this morning and when I came home at lunch all I get on screen is "No Signal". Now, I did have it on this morning when I was getting ready for work. I used the remote to turn it on, and I used it again to turn it off. All I can figure is that I hit a button I shouldn't have on the remote but randomly pressing every button does not seem to be solving the problem!

But that was not going to be my topic tonight. No, not by any means. One of these days I will take the time to read the email thoroughly Ph-faith sent me about how to set up links to other blogs. In the meantime, here are three blogs I check daily, and you should too:

monimania.blogspot.com
This lady has been a friend since kindergarden. She has lots of cool stuff and you should look at her stuff for sale on ebay.

mcfaith.blogspot.com
Ph-faith is a lovely graduate student I used to work with in Alaska. One of these days she's going to be a psychologist and shrink my head. Well, not really. She wouldn't be allowed 'cause she knows me but maybe we can talk about ourselves in the third person, as in, "I have this friend..."

newyorkhack.blogspot.com
This is a female NYC cab driver and her blog is great. She was featured in the news as a human interest story a few weeks ago. Her blog has something like 20,000 hits from all the publicity. Ah, if only I could be so lucky...

I also go to bloggersforfreedom.com which has blogs by both US soldiers and Iraqi citizens that make for some interesting reads.

So there you have it. My reading list.

Miss Popularity

All of a sudden, my social calendar is full.

I was invited to the Chamber of Commerce dinner Thursday night. I usually don't like work-related events because these types of things run long and are extremely boring but I must say this one wasn't too bad. The boss was buying everybody drinks so I ordered my usual, a dirty martini. But the temporary bar didn't have any olive juice so we had to wait. And wait. And wait some more. And then I had my drink. Before dinner, someone else bought me a drink too. And later I was asked if I wanted a third. Uh, no, thanks, I want to be able to drive home. And I did. I was home by 9:30pm and happy to be there.

Friday night was the company's Christmas party. Bad weather in December forced the cancellation then and it was finally scheduled for January. A bus was rented and we drove into Syracuse to eat at a Japanese restaurant. Ah, but even on the bus, beer was flowing. There were at least two cases and a bottle of Jim Beam. I had a beer. But at the restaurant I had a dirty martini which was good. I didn't want to mix drinks but I did. Ah, you only live once. After leaving the restaurant, we stopped at a bar. And there I had a Vodka Sprite. I drank it and found some of my co-workers at the bar where they insisted I have a shot of tequila. I have never had a shot of tequila before. All I could think of was a title of a song I've never heard, "Tequila Makes Your Clothes Fall Off" By now, it's obvious that not only do my co-workers drink - alot- they seem intent on getting me drunk. We left the bar and drove north with a stop in Pulaski where I had another vodka sprite. From there, we went home. Ah, but one of my co-workers was absolutely sloshed, in no condition to drive so we had the bus driver take her home but she lives on post so I was able to give directions once she figured out her address.

Then last night I received an invitation to a small party being held at the Colonel's house for my husband's unit. It was really only for officers but they invited me because, as I was told, "If we didn't want you here, we wouldn't have invited you." And they knew (obviously) Husband had deployed. And while there, I was offered drinks of all kinds but stuck with diet coke, which made me very happy. And much to my surprise, the colonel announced to all present that my name had been submitted for Volunteer of the Month and I won! I can't believe it, I didn't expect it. My picture goes in the post newspaper and I get my own medal (take that, Husband!). No doubt I will be famous and people will stop me in the mall asking for my autograph. I'd like to thank all the little people...