Drowning in Boxes ....Floating on a New Mattress!

This is the sight in my kitchen as you walk down the stairs this morning:

This is a mere 4 ft away to the left:

The bag has another box and about 10 t-shirts and 10 bags of cards and large notepad paper with written messages on it. Moving on.....

Turn the corner and walk into the kitchen and you are assaulted with this sight:

Another 10 feet reveals my laundry room is also a victim of boxes and bags:

And this isn't counting the approximately 10 boxes in the garage.....


This is what I have been doing for the last month. It is a sure sign that Deployment is on the horizon. Personally I can't wait for the day I take all this crap down to the boat and am rid of it. Talk about stressing me out. I have questioned the stupidity of humans more than once in the last 14 days. I swear, people really are idiots. And they make more out of something than nothing. All this stuff is not as hard as they have made it. really , it isn't. Common sense just has left the building that is these people's brains. I really am gobsmacked at how a simple concepts or two can be misconstrued in so many different ways.....

On a side note, Nessa, I eagerly await your package. It will be nice to get something for myself than boxes for sailors!

The tax return is coming. Hubby says we can get an actual BED and a new matress. We're going King size! woot....

The bad part? I have all Queen bedding stuff.....gonna have to buy some stuff to replace this!

Linens n' Things here we come!!

As soon as the boxes are gone that is!

Getting On With Life

The Funeral was May 3rd. It was very nice. It was short, and more people than I had any idea Dad knew came. Even some of Mom's friends from The Casino came to pay their respects to Dad and comfort Mom. I was happy to see that people cared for Mom and Dad. The Pastor who spoke at Dad's Viewing was a family friend, and had grown up just down the street from Dad. He was very sincere in his words, and I think Dad would have appreciated his brevity.

Mom stayed with us til the following Monday. She felt she was ready to be alone in the apartment her and dad have shared for nearly 8 years....I half expected her to call me and tell me she couldn't do it yet. But she did. She is a trooper. We talk at least once a day just to check in....I think she is going to be OK.

Tomorrow Dad's ashes will be buried. We've had a small amount saved for a keepsake necklace we got Mom. She will always have a little bit of him with her always.

Well, life for me has kept going. The kids are out and playing almost every available moment of daylight. Hubby is still home, working on charts, but will most likely go back to work after his appointment with the Doc next week. He's been walking a little bit on his feet, both of them, and I think with the right supportive sneakers (I am pulling for him to ask the doc that he be able to wear sneakers at work for at least 30 days), he will be fully recovered by July 4th.

Funny thing happened this past week. My Mother's Day Gift this year was a new computer case. Hubby is going to be rebuilding me a computer (quieter, faster, and upgraded sound and video) but we thought that it would be nice to put my old stuff in the new case to make things a little more quiet around here (the other case had like 6 fans and was louder than anything!) Well it all went well until we went to boot up......after about 3 hours of working on it, Hubby decided that one of my hard drives had somehow corrupted, and I lost everything. I was calm, composed, and surprisingly, having an OK outlook on it. a couple hours later he decided that I would be able to retrieve all my pictures and files for work....things were looking up.....windows was re-installed, my files were saved, and this weekend was mostly spent trying to re-download and install all my programs. wow. talk about a long process.....but I am more or less back to it. I have a few more files I need to install (Microsoft office, for instance), and i will be all set.

I am looking forward to the summer. Emmy will be going to camp all day, Hubby will be home for mostof it, and next school year it looks like Kaity will be in Pre-K. I am almost shaking with the anticipation that my house will be child free for at least 3 hours a day! Combine that with Hubby going back to sea sometime, and holy cow, I may actually be able to achieve A CLEAN HOUSE on a regular basis!!

Not that I don't love Hubby and him being home for 2 months HASN'T been a nice time...but it has seriously screwed with my schedule. I am sure I have mentioned this before, but when he is home, I feel compelled to spend time with him and neglect my Housewife Duties. Then the house looks like crap....then Hubby complains....but then he gets the "do something with me" look in his eyes while I am cleaning and we are back to square 1! When Hubby is back to work or Sea, I have a set schedule of how my day goes....and by now, I am doing the chores I have tasked myself with for the day....or at least reminded myself that I want to finish them by lunch....it doesn't take a long time to clean 1 or 2 rooms in the house....but with Hubby around....I can't always do it...especially when he is still sleeping...like today.....

So that's a brief (or not so brief) update of how things around here are going.....I hope you all are doing well! Thank you for the emails and comments. I have appreciated them very much.

Not-So-Happy Valentine's Day

OK to catch up...I DID get a minivan! I love it. It's a Ford Windstar. It's green. It's big. I named her Bertha.

The getaway was great. We ate in great restaurants, gambled, had lots of sex in the middle of the day....definitely NOT what we can do at home....it wasn't long enough. I wanna go back!

Hubby reported back from leave. Which brings us to today - Valentine's Day. How did I spend my day? Bundled up in my house, due to a lovely Nor'easter named Agatha. Oh yes, and with NO HUBBY! You read that right folks, I was alone. The first holiday since Hubby's return and he has duty. But it's Valentine's Day....so of course we wouldn't be together. Let me explain...

We met in Nov. 1997.
Valentines of 1998 - He was out to sea - 1 for alone
Valentines of 1999 - He was on restriction on base, although we did get to be together - 1 for together
Valentines of 2000 - He was out to sea - 2 for alone
Valentines of 2001 - He was home from a deployment - 2 for together.
Valentines of 2002 - He was out to sea - 3 for alone
Valentines of 2003 - He was home on shore duty - 3 for together
Valentines of 2004 - He was home on shore duty - 4 for together- BUT had a 5 month old and we didn't celebrate because 4 days later I had surgery and wasn't allowed to do anything rigorous, including sex.
Valentines of 2005 - I was in Atlanta and then drove to Iowa to help a friend move - 4 for alone
Valentines of 2006 - He was out to sea yet again - 5 for alone, however he did send me expensive roses
Valentines of 2007 - He's home, but he's got DUTY...I didn't even get a phone call from him today. I am not making a big deal though because he bought me a car and a Dooney and Bourke Purse AND matching wallet, and lemme tell ya, none of it was cheap - 6 for alone

The Tally? 6 alone and 4 together...almost 50/50...which most people who are in the Navy will tell you aren't bad numbers....after the 3rd year where we were apart, we stopped really caring about the holiday anyway....so yeah I'm disappointed that the holiday that makes the Jewelry, Teddy Bear, Floral and Greeting Card industries a nice chunk of change was spent alone...but by now, I'm used to it.....

I hope those of you out there who are lucky to have a love in your life, in form or another had a great day....Me? I just hope Emmy has school tomorrow. She was devastated that she missed giving out Valentines to her classmates.....I hope they do it tomorrow....other wise, that's $10 down the drain for valentines and candies!!

Oh Really, Phil???

So Puxatawny Phil proclaimed this morning that he did NOT see his shadow and we will have an early spring. I beg to differ on this point, because today in the Nutmeg State, we acquired approximately 3" of snow, depending on where in the state people are. Yep, Hubby's been home a grand total of 6 days, and we were "blessed" with the white stuff.

Emily was hoping school would be cancelled, but alas, not even a delay....Kaity is too busy playing on the computer at the moment, and I believe Hubby and I have had our share of it for now, while we shoveled and took Em to the bus stop.

The snow is beautiful, but it kinda screwed with my plans for today....you see, I wanted to buy a car...or at least go looking...but I am not quite sure Hubby will want to now.....but a girl can hope...My goal is to have it before my sister Shell arrives next weekend.

oh yes, I wanted to post a couple pictures of hubby, so you can understand what it was like to see the weight difference from 6 months ago...

This is Hubby last spring with me...not much different than the summer, in fact, I'd say about the same weight as when he left...

And here is Hubby this past Saturday....


Can you see the difference??? I certainly can....and damn, he got hotter than before!! Why, just yesterday and this morning alone I had to restrain myself from doing sexual things to him because the kids were there.....I cannot wait for our mini-vacation....wow, I sound like a sex-crazed fiend.....BUT ANYWAY...

Enjoy your weekend! I'll post when I am back on Wednesday!

~Cissa

He's Home!!

After 6 long months, Hubby has returned to me! He arrived home Saturday, 2 days early, and I only had 6 hours to prepare. Needless to say, I was running around like a Chicken with my head cut off!! But we made it to the pier, and soon enough (although at the time it seemed to take forever) the boat pulled u to the dock and the guys came off. My friend Sophia won first kiss, and it was awesome to see it. Then ZB and Ange also got their kisses, and I waited a few more minutes...after what seemed an eternity, I saw Hubby's amble, and tried not to show the shock of his weight loss...WOW...I ran up to him, Kaity in my arms, and gave him a long kiss....As I hugged Him, I could hear Kaity say quietly "Daaaddyyyy!" It was awesome...

So, Hubby's been back a few days now, and we all are trying to get back into a regular grove here at Fireheart House. We're doing alright, and I think all adjusting well. I am glad to have him home. He's on a couple weeks leave, and during that time, we'll be taking a little getaway to Foxwoods Resort Casino without the kids, My sister is coming to visit from Boston, and even shopping for a car for me. All in all, it's looking to be a good year so far...

So if you don't hear from me for a while, I am sure you will all understand why....