...and a wake up

We're at X days and a wake up! Single digits baby, dang that feels good!

No more "out out" and as long as the Army and Iraqi weather cooperate... (here's hoping for the best)

I can. not. wait. He's almost home!! He's so excited. The last few days have been adorable, to say the least. I don't know if it's because he's finally allowing himself to be excited, or if it's because the realization that us seeing each other is a reality and is sinking in, but the man has been QUITE affectionate these past few days. :) I'm enjoying every single second of it.

Our IM conversations are peppered with random outbursts of "omg I MISS YOU SO MUCH!!"
Every time we talk he tells me how many days it is and talks about how he wants to surprise me or what he wants to do while he's home. He is constantly reminding me how excited and impatient he is for the day to get here. I wouldn't go so far as to say he's more excited than I am, but I think it's different in that I've been allowing myself to be excited about this for quite some time now... and he's finally allowing himself the pleasure with only a few days left... to say that it's catching up with him is an understatement. I'm loving it!

There is still a long list of things I need to get done and things I need to buy before he's here. I wrote out my grocery list the other day and I actually have his soap written on there :) it's good to see that again. Today I'm going shopping for some new clothes since I've lost weight and most of my shorts and jeans are quite baggy in the waist and crotch area.... I suppose it's not a bad problem to have, and I love shopping so I'm not going to complain about it :). We'll go shopping together again when he gets here so that he can get some things "as long as I don't have to wear this uniform" I believe were his words. That along with getting the car washed, cleaning, more cleaning, laundry, a new shower curtain, getting ahead on some stuff at work, etc... I'll have more than enough to keep me busy until the day arrives!

It's so close I can almost feel it!! There are no words to describe this feeling - none... I even used the online thesaurus but nothing seems to do it justice. I'm a little nervous again, last night I woke up at 3am and couldn't get back to sleep, my mind just won't stop generating best and worst case scenarios, but I'm a firm believer that everything works out so I'm sure it will.

In the words of Sgt: "this is going to be the LONGEST WEEK OF MY LIFE!"

couldn't have said it better myself darlin'!

It's a date!

We have dates!!

*insert happy dance here* Gah!! I'm so excited. He's so excited. The long awaited time is finally around the corner. He'll be leaving that country in single digit days!!!

A while back when we first started talking about moving his leave up I was getting anxious about it. All these worried thoughts and feelings were washing through my mind and I wondered if I was even looking forward to him coming home. As if his leave had been some sort of White Whale to our deployment saga and now that we were catching it, it had lost is illustriousness. It wasn't like I was feeling as though it didn't matter one way or the other if he came home, I wanted him home... that was very clear. However it sometimes felt like his leave would end up a huge disappointment or that I was scared to let go of this idea of my boyfriend that I'd had for over a year since we last parted and that seeing him again might be seeing another person entirely than the one I remembered.

I might still be a little anxious but I can't even tell. I'm just too excited. It doesn't even feel like he's been gone a year now, it feels like he's been up in Garrison the last two weeks and he's finally coming down for the weekend!! Like we don't have all this time to make up for, we're just getting time to enjoy each other.

We were talking online earlier today and I said something about having been nervous before and he was being really reassuring "Those feelings are normal darlin'. You're not the first person to have to go through this and to feel that way, you're doing great! We just gata talk about them out in the open" "Yeah, well, sometimes it's just better to leave it alone..." "haha, ok how about this. A little later tonight, YOU, ME, girly mushy feeling talk so that way it's not maddening when I get home" He told me to think about it and to think about what I wanted to ask him and talk about and then we would... so we'll see how it goes. He's so good at picking up on stuff... I wonder if that's ever going to get annoying. :) Even if we're only talking about it so I'm not driving him crazy when he gets home, the man's got a point. We might as well think about it and talk about any fears we have so that it's all out there and the time we have actually together is spent in better ways than tip toeing around unaddressed issues or whatever you want to call it.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's completely normal to be a little nervous and a little apprehensive. As Sgt. put it, being apart for so long is not normal, but it IS normal to be a little concerned about that. I think I'd be a little more worried if I had never felt any concern about it all... but I must admit I AM glad that the excitement is overpowering any hesitance at the moment.

In other news, Sgt. is trying to quit smoking!!! I'm so glad, so happy for him and so proud of him for making the decision. He made it all on his own and is going cold turkey. I've never been a smoker so I can't attest to how hard it is to quit, but I've seen many a family member and friend try and fail so I'm rooting for him. He said he's probably going to gain about 10 lbs in the process but I told him it was well worth the trade off!! He's at the end of day 3, ready to gouge out his eyes, but hangin' in there :) You can do it babe!! Hopefully he'll be out of the mood swing phase of the withdrawls by the time he gets home ;).

He's coming home. :) I can say it now, and I can say it with some gusto! Whoo hoo!

e-cards are fun

Update on leave now is that he actually got to request dates!! Actual dates. Who knows if they're even the ones he's going to get, but the fact that he got to request dates and order them 1-3 seems to have elevated my mood to a whole new level. If he comes home on ANY of the dates he requested... he'll be here in a number of days that I can count to using my fingers and toes!!! *daydream sigh* I'm so excited... I need to go shopping.

It's true.

So this is what this feels like...

AFTER OVER 400 DAYS HE COULD BE HERE IN LESS THAN A MONTH!!!

I was totally going to start this blog off so that it escalated into the big, exciting news but I couldn't hold it in anymore.

We don't have dates yet, but hopefully very very soon!

He called on Friday and we got to talk for over an hour, gosh that was great! The short version is Top asked him if he was still wanting the time he put in for leave, Sgt. said yes, and Top said "ok, well I have the extra dates so it shouldn't be a problem" Sgt. even sounded confident about it, which is slightly unusual. Not that he's not confident, trust me, he IS, but he's usually very careful to remind me "it's nothing for sure yet..." or "don't get your hopes up." This time though he sounded so excited and we talked about things he wants to do! This feeling is just indescribable.

I'm completely overjoyed, incredibly apprehensive, slightly anxious, overcome with excitement and I have the strong and unavoidable desire to clean everything thoroughly and buy new bedding. (although I have a slight obsession with buying new sheets... it's a terrible spending habit) My man is coming HOME! Whooo hoooo :)! Not for good yet, this is just for leave, but that doesn't even matter at this point... all that matters is that he's going to be able to come home, that I'm going to be able to touch him, that we can stop at Starbucks together, that he can hold me while I fall asleep.

It seems so unreal. We talked about that part of it. I'm so excited to hear the news but at the same time, it's sort of out of my grasp. It doesn't seem real... if that makes sense. How can that be? After so long, not much longer? When did "eventually" turn into "soon"? He said he felt the same way, but that it was still a good feeling. I've been doing the long distance and long wait for so long, I'm a little ill equipped for this portion of it. Just something new to learn I suppose :). And boy am I friggin ready to learn it!! haha.

We talked about the me going to the airport to pick him up. One of the many things I love about our relationship is we constantly have the same idea running through our minds at the same moment... it's not something that we've just learned as we've been together, it's been happening to us since we first started dating, we're just really in tune with each other.

I wasn't going to bring it up yet, not till we got dates but when I said "so... how's your room mate doing?" he wasn't buying it.

"Just say what you wana say darlin'"
"What are you talking about?"
"How long have I known you?"
"mm... a good while now"
"right, and how many hours do you think we've spent total talking on the phone or in person?"
"I don't even want to know... thousands."
"Right. The only time you ever try and fill silence with pointless conversation is when you're avoiding talking about what you really want to talk about, so just say it"
"You're crazy, I don't know what the heck you're talking about"
"mmhhmm... well I'm just gana sit here and wait for you to say it"
"Fine. *audible sigh* It's not a big deal, I had just been thinking and, if you really want me to be there I will be but.... I was thinking it might be better if I didn't go with your family to pick you up from the airport... there's going to be a lot of people there already and everyone's going to want a piece of you, I've waited this long, a couple more hours isn't going to kill us."

I think more than anything I was worried that I would hurt his feelings by thinking that but, like usual, he had been thinking the same thing.

It's not that we don't want to see each other, it's just, it's not as glorious and romantic as I think it's sometimes made out to be. He's going to be tired and cranky from being on a plane for that long. 6 other people who have been waiting just as long and missing him just as much are all going to be vying for his attention. The drive home is an hour and half, it's not really necessary that we all be crammed in the car forcing awkward and repeated questions into the air. It's not going to be this amazing moment for us... if anything it's going to be a let down from the common romanticized fantasy that is the "airport pickup." I just figured they could pick him up, and I could meet them all at the house when they get home. It would give him something else to look forward to anyway :). His idea was slightly different, he doesn't want anyone picking him up, he said he'd rather rent a car and have the hour and half to himself to decompress and just have that independence for a moment. That makes a lot of sense to me, and I can completely see why he'd want to do that. He even went so far as to say "I might not even tell anyone when I'll be coming home, I may just show up!" - I love surprises but... somehow I find it hard to believe that's going to happen, the guy doesn't even know how to get to my place now haha.

Who cares... as the song goes "I don't care how you get to me, just get to me"

If it was possible to miss him any more, I think after hearing the news that his leave was a very very real possibility, I do. C'mon R&R God's... don't take this one away... PLEASE!

You are just a girlfriend.

I did it. I contacted the FRG.

I was terrified to do so - you hear those stories, those stories about Jody and about soldiers receiving myspace messages to inform them that their sweetheart is just "kind of over this" but she's "really sorry, she never thought this would happen." My particular peer group is one that has had it's fair share of bad apples.

You also hear those stories about spouses who say things like "yeah well, you're just a girlfriend" and who assume that just because they are now elevated from girlfriend status to wife status the girlfriend stage never applied to them. They're wives after all.... not JUST a piddly young girlfriend type.

Lets face it, the Army, in all it's progress with technology and equipment and rational thinking skills (which is somewhat debatable) still considers Sgt. as "single." That's why if something happens to him I'll find out through a third party.

Even though Sgt. was the one who set me up on the Virtual FRG site, I was still pretty hesitant to talk to these women. I figured I would just fly under the radar and use some highly tuned, borderline stalking, skills to acquire whatever scraps of information I could piece together. I think at some level, as crazy as it sounds, I was the one putting myself in the "you're just a girlfriend" category. I was afraid I would contact these women and then in some form or another I would be told:

"wow, you're not even supposed to be on this site. This is sensitive information, we can't just have floozy's tramping in and out of these young men's lives parading around as caring and supportive girlfriends, taking our updates and newsletters and weekly DFAC menu's and selling them to the highest bidder! Be gone Jezebel!!"

I was also worried it would somehow affect Sgt. That if I addressed someone incorrectly or asked a question I shouldn't have asked he would suddenly be ridiculed and given a baseball bat instead of an M4 as punishment for having "that girlfriend" who is poking her nose around in the hierarchy of the Army home fires. "Hey Sgt. I heard your girlfriend is taking her newsletter complaints all the way to Pennsylvania Ave." "Oh yeah? I heard she's been calling the Rear D for hour by hour updates... she found our troop NCOIC's house number and is threatening his children"

This is what happens when you drink wayyyy too much coffee late at night.

But, since contact with Sgt. has been sporadic at best and because I'm sure he doesn't have any idea what the heck is going on at the VFRG site... I decided it was best not to bother him with it and put on my big girl pants. "Just do it" I thought. I figured as long as I was polite and kept it short they couldn't do too much damage.

I hadn't heard anything from my (and I say my as in Sgt.'s troop's) FRG leader since he deployed. The website does an ok job but... realistically as much of an information hog as I am, they update far too infrequently (I know, they're busy to). The kicker was that there was finally a new newsletter posted up from downrange but it was linked wrong so it kept sending me to the same one I'd already read 3 months ago. It was driving me insane, so I had to take action.

I e-mailed the squadron FRG leader because that was the only person who's e-mail address I could find on the site and said something like this -

"Hi Mrs. FRG leader, my name is KJ and I am a member of the Super Dooper squadron's VFRG. I noticed that the new newsletter was linked wrong, as it sends you to the old newsletter whenever you click on it. I just wanted to let someone know. Also, I was trying to get in touch with Awesome troop's FRG leader to see if they did any weekly newsletters or anything of that nature. I apologize if this is not the way people normally go about things, this is all very new to me. Thank you so much for any help!"

Whew! That was tough. She wrote back though and seemed very helpful!

"Hi Mrs (should've known something was amiss right about here.) KJ's last name. Thank you for letting me know about the newsletter, I will check it out. Also your FRG leader's name is Jane Armywife and I have copied her to this e-mail to let her know you are trying to contact her. Please let us know if there is anything else we can answer for you or your husband......"

awwww mannnnn.... now I have to go and explain myself. Just as I was about to write her back, my troop's FRG leader wrote me and said:

"Hi Mrs (again with the r.) KJ's last name, I spoke with my husband (omg omg omg omg, I'm in trouble already!!) and he doesn't seem to have a Sgt. KJ's last name in his troop. Is it possible that your husband (no, it's not) is in a different squadron? Sorry I couldn't be of more help."

Damage control: E-mail Sgt. and explain everything. let him know that you're contacting the FRG in case they ask him about it.

"Hey honey, just wanted you to know I e-mailed the FRG leader to ask her about a newsletter so if someone asks you about me asking about it, that's what it is!"

At this point I'm just trying to crawl back out of the hole I think I've put myself in...

"Hi Mrs. Jane Armywife. He's not my husband, he's my boyfriend. Sgt. Sorry for the mix up! I was just trying to get a hold of you to see if the FRG did any weekly or biweekly newsletters for the families. Thanks so much! - KJ"

I waited for a few days and still got no response. I figured once they saw the girlfriend title they dismissed it, and was sort of starting to fume. I mean after all, YES, I am only a girlfriend. But I still care about him just as much. I still worry about him and the men he serves with. I still send care packages and cry when I hear a song that reminds me of him. I still count down the days till I can be in his arms. Just because I don't have a ring doesn't mean I don't love him any less for it. I was frustrated at the thought of the stereotype being true.

Thank goodness it wasn't.

She finally wrote me back and was very nice and told me that unfortunately the troop doesn't do a specific newsletter, and the one on the website is the best bet. Even if that's not true (I'm sure it is though), I'm glad she was at least polite enough to contact me back and let me know. She even asked about Sgt. and asked me about a news article he was in a few months ago.

I know the Army has rules about that sort of thing, and I'm GLAD. I'm glad they have parameters on who is allowed insight into information and who isn't. I'm thankful that there is a group of spouses who volunteers their time for such a thing... especially with their own loved one deployed. I understand that there has to be those rules, and I know that most of the time, I'm going to fall under the "doesn't need to know" category, but the fact that she took the time to at least tell me there wasn't much else, that she was polite even though I'm not one of "them", and that she asked me about how he was doing - that meant a lot.

Thank you Sgt's FRG, for not being snobby stuck up Army wives who think that just because I lack a ring on my left finger I lack intelligence, due respect, or love and concern for a man who wears the same uniform as your husband. THANK YOU. I wish all girlfriends were as lucky.

I don't speak Army....

Yet, but I'm trying! I'm starting to get the hang of it I think. Case in point, the new update about Sgt.'s leave is that he's on standby. He described it to me as "they have no problem letting me go if they get the dates that they've gotten every other month so I should know more on XX date"

I suppose that makes sense to me... sounds mostly like a waiting game (isn't everything in the Army?). A waiting game with an optimistic outlook? Eh... I don't know about optimism, I think I left that behind 12 months ago. I live more by a "hope for the best, expect the worse" mantra. I don't think that's pessimistic but rather realistic in this situation. So I suppose my question is have any of you experienced some kind of "standby" issue and if so... how'd it turn out? I'm still learning my way through this whole deployment/military lingo, I'm not completely ignorant to it, and I try as much as I can to get the information I can but sometimes you have to go to an outside source :). He sounds hopeful. I think he's about ready to come home... he absolutely loves what he does but he hasn't been back home in over a year, and I think he's starting to willingly admit to himself that he misses it.

We talked through e-mail on Monday, mostly about work :). Both of our jobs though so it was nice... one of those "what do you think about making this your life's work?" conversations. I'm a little more indecisive than he is so I was using the "it really all depends on so many different things" shield - which is as about as honest as it gets in my case. He's a lifer. He said he can't really see being happy in any other job and that the Army just offers too many options. I'm so proud of him :). Plain and simple, I can't really find other words other than I'm really really proud of him!! I know how happy it makes him, albeit stressed and exhausted, he loves it and that's really all that matters to me.

I really hope we find out SOMETHING about this leave situation... even if it's that it's not gana happen... I want a countdown again. I don't like this limbo feeling. I guess no matter what it's one day closer... one day closer to whatever day it is.

Tag Chaser

Not literally but I got my first tag in the blogosphere! Whoo hoo. Not that this is some kind of popularity contest... I'm not that shallow, (no one ever thinks they are right?) but I was tagged twice for the same survey, once by Jrzywife and once by Corn! Thanks ladies :) I appreciate the love.

Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves a comment letting them know they've been tagged and to ask them to play along and to read your blog.

So here we go... about me MeMe

5 things I was doing ten years ago:
1. Going to school sporting a rather fabulous Lisa Frank binder
2. developing crushes on the neighbor boys
3. being painfully abusive to my younger brother, who is now one of my best friends. Maybe he blocked it all out...
4. Kicking butt as the statistically best goalie in the hockey league I played in (the only sport I was EVER good at)
5. Working on my back handspring and stunting abilities for Genesis' cheer team.

5 things on my to-do list today
1. Enroll a couple of campers who's applications I received today
2. Take lots of pictures of the weekends events!
3. Lifeguard for the canoe and kayak class at 1:30
4. Destroy some parents in a rousing game of kickball at 4:00
5. make smores with kids at campfire later tonight.
(it's family weekend at the camp I work at. So much fun :) did I mention I love my job?)

5 snacks I enjoy
1. Craisins... those things are fabulous!!
2. Deer jerky, there is a place down the road that makes some amazing jerky!
3. mixed nuts... I actually usually have a little can on my desk with like peanuts, cashews, almonds, Brazil nuts, pistachios... nuts :)
4. Coffee or Red Bull... yes, I completely consider these to be a snack.
5. String cheese. I buy large quantities of string cheese.... not embarrassing at all.

5 things I would do if I were a billionaire
1. pay off all my debt!! (yay for no more student loans!)
2. Set aside money to pay for all my siblings to go to college so THEY don't have student loans either!
3. Buy my parents a home of their choice
4. Set up a nice trust fund for future children
5. Play, buy a new car, and travel travel travel.

5 bad habits
1. Biting my finger nails... I'm getting better though!
2. chewing on straws after I'm done with my drink... so bad for your teeth I hear
3. Overloading my invisible life "plate"
4. Myspace like it's a crack addiction and I'm going to rehab tomorrow.
5. washing dishes before I put them in the dishwasher... I don't consider this a "bad" habit but it annoys people when they're trying to help me do the dishes.

5 places I've lived
1. Elk City, Oklahoma.... please, for your sake, leave it off your list of 1,000 places to see before you die. It's ok. You're not missing ANYTHING
2. Austin, Texas - now that you have a slot there since you crossed off Elk City, ADD Austin!
3. New Braunfels, Texas - home of Gruene hall, America's number 1 water park, and miles of river with which to toob down in the summer! Can't beat it.
4. San Antonio, Texas - Riverwalk anyone?
5. Kerrville, Texas - God created the Texas hill country so he could vacation there. It's absolutely beautiful.

5 jobs I've had
1. Design assistant at a flower shop
2. Lifeguard at America's number 1 water park! Schlitterbahn.
3. Children's Research center at the University of Texas - can we do some experiments on your babies brain please? (c'mon folks that was a joke!)
4. "Hi welcome to CiCi's!" - that was me... I'm a whiz with pizza flavors.
5. Registrar at the most amazing summer camp ever :)

All right now I have to tag five people and see if they will be so kind as to fill this out with their info and post it on their blog! I choose...

Lt. Nixon at Lt. Nixon Rants - the man is my source of daily good, bad, and ugly in Sgt's world. He's funny too!
(Army)Wife at More than an (Army)Wife - She's already such an interesting gal! I love reading about the adventures of her and Stonewall
Stephanie over at She who waits - She's about ready to be MIA with her hubby coming home so soon! She started blogging when she was just a girlfriend as well so I was so glad to see her story evolve!
Katie at Future Mrs. Waage - today she is officially no longer the future Mrs. but the actual Mrs.!! congrats on the big day Katie!
and last but not least D.A.R. at The Student and the Soldier - I think Jrzywife may have already tagged you... hmm... well she's a fabulous blogger and I have a feeling she's attending law school at my alma mater, but that's just a guess. :)

Have a great day everyone!

Checkin my spark plugs

So Sunday was a nice day. I went to church and saw Sgt.'s family there, his little cousin (who in reality is much more like a little sister) asked me to come out to their house to see her new prom dress. I didn't have much going on and his family is really great to be around so I agreed. Since I was heading out their anyway Little Sister and her boyfriend - drummer boy - asked if they could ride with me. Not a problem, although Sgt. would probably be a little annoyed that I let drummer boy in the car. I'm not entirely convinced he isn't hatching a plan to have him disappear on a country back road. Any time the poor boy is even mentioned the words "break his legs" usually follow shortly after. Big brothers for ya I suppose. :)

We got out to the house and Little sister looked absolutely GORGEOUS. Not that she's not adorable anyway, but she had great taste when she picked out her dress. I'm taking her to get her nails done before the big day as a special treat and also for some "girl time." - she's an only child and her and Sgt. are very close. I know this deployment has been difficult for her as well.

After showing me the dress, I left her and drummer boy to their video games and chatted with Little Sisters mom, T. T, conversely is very much like Sgt.'s big sister and she and I get along great, she's a pistol and will always tell you what's on her mind but I like that about her :).

I sit down at the kitchen table with my car's manual that I brought in and T says "what are you doing?"

I might interject here that while I am by no means a princess or high maintenance, I am girly. I remember one night we were all playing cards and somehow we got on the topic of my old cheerleading days.

Me: "hey, cheering was fun, I enjoyed it... I even have trophy's!"
T: "Yeah, I have trophy's too..... for motocross"

Of course, they pick on me because they like me... at least that's what I tell myself :) (kidding!) but T is an all knowing type of woman. One thing she is quite knowledgeable on is cars. My knowledge about cars is pretty much limited to knowing I need to get my oil changed, knowing how to open my hood so someone else can look under it and knowing if there's something wrong when it starts to make funny noises or dies. My current problem is my blinkers don't work so after church I resolved that I was going to figure out the problem myself. I was quite motivated and actually really looking forward to learning something new and feeling that sense of accomplishment. So fast forward back to the kitchen table -

"what are you doing"
"I'm trying to find out where my spark plugs are"
"*laughter* why?"
"cause my blinkers don't work so I wanted to check them and see if they're blown or whatever. I think I know where they are... like under my steering wheel but I'm not sure so it should say somewhere in here... *flips through manual looking for spark plugs*"
*laughter* *laughter* *tries to speak but cant so laughs some more*
"What are you laughing at me for"
"Are you sure you're looking for your spark plugs"
"I think so... ya know those things that you plug in and there's a lot of them and if they blow then stuff doesn't work"
*more laughing* "I think you mean your fuse box"
"yeah maybe that's it! Is that under your steering wheel?"
"give me that *points to manual* and lets go outside"

We proceed to go outside where I'm kneeling down beside my car, in a dress and heels might I add, while she finds the map of my fuse box and what they stand for. She gives me pliers and I begin to pull them out one by one, checking them but of course there are none that are blown. This anomaly of me doing something to my car draws a crowd as Sgt's Uncle and T's husband gather near. After retelling the spark plug story Sgt's Uncle determines that it is not a fuse, and most definitely not a spark plug, but it is in fact my relay.... whatever that is... and I have to take it in.

I'm still proud of myself that I figured out what my fuse box does and where it's at.

After we all went inside the house, T and I decided to watch a movie. For some reason we picked "Premonition" with Sandra Bullock. It's the one where she keeps waking up and her husband is dead then alive then dead... I give it 3 stars. While watching this movie, I mentioned that I've had nightmares about getting that phone call about Sgt. Which then led to us having a conversation about how we think we'd react and how, she wouldn't call me, she would just show up. We break for the bathroom when the phone rings.... Guess who it is.

Sgt.

Creepy much?

It was great to talk to him, he laughed a lot at the spark plug story and then asked me if I had checked the blinker fluid... that maybe THAT was the problem. Haha, so funny honey, I know THAT one. He didn't mention anything to me about his leave so when T took the phone I asked her to ask since I'd forgotten to. He didn't know anything and said he would push a little harder tomorrow at getting some info. Short and sweet convo since he had everyone else to talk to but any contact is welcome.

At this point... since it's supposed to be so close (if it had been moved up)... I'm thinking it's not gana happen. Huge bummer, but survivable. Just come home alive. Whenever you come home is fine, just come home alive.

Gone to the dogs

Well, I said I would post a summary of my dog sitting adventures so here it is. Dog sitting is not quite over yet.... *sigh* I have to watch the little ones again this weekend but it's only a couple of days and I'll be busy at work with our family weekend so they'll be left on their own the majority of the time.

It all started with these two

Tooter and Cricket. They look nice enough don't they? Mmmhhmm. They're nice... when they are given their 5 different treats each morning and night, their peanutbutter covered medicine and their own personal spot on the bed. (A TWIN sized bed might I add, and everyone knows a princess - the dog, not me - likes to sleep right in the middle). The majority of my time inside the house was spent perched up on something like those cartoon house wives you see jumping on chairs when a mouse runs into the room. I would sit in chairs cross legged and as far back as I could so that they couldn't reach me.

I know this might make me sound awful, but I'm really not. We did go on walks, we played with their toys (and trust me there are many!). Here's a picture of the duo with a favorite stuffed animal of theirs.
After almost two weeks together though I believe we were both glad that Grandma and Grandpa came home.

After Tooter and Cricket, the son of Grandma and Grandpa and his wife asked me if I wouldn't mind watching Ruger and Gunner, their two Brittany Spaniels over night. "Sure" I agreed, it was only one night, I had already been sitting the divas of the dog world... these two laid back guys shouldn't be a problem.

Ruger and Gunner are a lot of fun! They're both roamers. I can see them out my office window during the day wandering around the camp and chasing squirrels. They're pretty easy going and although I haven't spent a lot of time playing with them, I figured it's one day and night... nothing wrong with that.

This is Ruger, trying to figure out what the heck I'm taking a picture of. You, silly! The two chased each other around the house all night and eventually tired themselves out and retired to their quite plush beds located in the master bedroom. I was watching tv in the living room while the kids slept, but Ruger decided he wanted to see what I was up to, so he came and relaxed in the living room after a while until I went to bed.And now, last but certainly not least, my FAVORITE dog in the entire world. My friend Sancho (and for all you Spanish speakers, NO that's not what he IS, that's just a very old nick name people have been calling him for over twenty years.) comes out here on some Tuesdays to play basketball with the other guys from around the area, it's a little pick up game the directors put together... camp people are a tight knit family, what can I say.

Sancho has a dog named Gus, and Gus has been my buddy ever since he started hanging around camp with his pop. Sancho is a camp person as well, we've worked together the past couple summers and he's also a great friend, Gus became my friend by association and now it's very possible Gus is a closer friend than Sancho :) (I'm KIDDING...). He knows how much I do adore Gus though so he brought him out one day for some fresh air and basically so I could play with him while the guys played basketball.

Isn't he a stud :). We went and walked around and went down to the river so he could play... he's braver than I am. There is no way I'd be getting in that water in late March. After the river we walked around some more and Gus found a tennis ball that he liked, so that consumed the rest of our evening, but it was fun!

Once he got tired enough he figured he would just lay down and then play with the ball in my lap.

All in all it was a good two weeks. I don't plan on making this a career though... thanks pups! It's been fun :). I've been wanting a dog really bad and now I'm just thankful I can play with everyone else's!