ammogirl

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day outside, and I had to spend the whole day in my room studying for my business management final.  I’m not complaining, though, because I would study through 5 days of wonderful weather, if only I could be done with this class!  So, one day is worth it, and it looked windy anyway.  Stupid wind.

I have been thinking a lot about Italy, lately which, duh, who wouldn’t be, right?  But I was thinking, wouldn’t it suck if I had built it up so much in my mind only to find when we got there it wasn’t half as cool as I thought it would be?  Then I think, nah.  It will be fabulous, no matter what.  I have been emailing with some other people headed that way, and it got me thinking about houses and such.  Now, John and I are fortunate enough that we will be able to afford pretty much any house we want to live in over there, thanks to the wonders of military married to military (or, mil/mil, so much easier to type).  My only preferences in the place we chose to spend the next three years of our lives are thusly: big (for y’all, when you come visit!) open, and airy.  Also, a garden so I can grow tomatoes, and large area outdoors so when you’re staying we can drink wine, and watch the sunset.  You know how you get a picture in your head?  I have one right now, of my perfect house there…it would be great if we could afford to buy a villa, with a little vineyard of our own.  I realize that may be just a pipe dream…still, one I can’t help having.  But, this brings me to a dilemma, one that I would like some help solving: beach, or hills?  Because while we are going to be living in Tuscany, we are also going to be right in a resort area, with the beach within miles from Darby.  They both sound equally appealing, don’t you think?  By the way, did you know Pisa is approximately 3 miles away?  How about Venice?  Rome?  All those places, and more, are going to be there, just for us to explore and experience.  More than anything, I am excited for the girls, because how many kids get to spend their teenage years in Italy? 

Anyway, I’m a little homesick today, for my family, for my friends, my home I left behind in California, and strangely, the one I don’t have yet in Italy, if possible.  And, the other day while walking home I smelled the sea (which my friends here insist is not possible; but I grew up around and with the ocean, and I would recognize the smell of one anywhere) and that, mingled with the smell of somebody burning woodchips on their barbeque, instantly made me homesick for Oregon, and that doesn’t happen often.  There are so many changes going on this year that I am gone – happy changes, for sure, but I think sometimes it’s the happy changes that are the hardest to miss, don’t you agree?

More than anything, though, it’s the people that I am homesick for; people that, whether they know it or not have become integral to me being the person I am today, and sometimes I think I would even give up Italy to be close to them (but not really, because I’m quite sure they would promptly kill me).

But then I think how lucky I am to have such wonderful people in my life to miss, and that makes it better–not any easier–but okay.

CIAO!

Because you are dying to know, yes, I did sleep in, until the unbelievable time of 9:40-ish.  It was GREAT.  I felt so peppy when I woke up that I decided to NOT go running, ha ha.  What I did do was drink coffee like there was no tomorrow, and once I was sufficiently caffeinated, I cleaned.  I started with my room, but I also did the bathroom, because my suite mate and I have this system for whose turn it is to clean the bathroom, and it involves who bought toilet paper last.  Well, I was not, in fact, the last person to buy the toilet paper, and so I found myself scrubbing away.  And, yeah, two women sharing a bathroom do not make for a lot of mess, but people, the HAIR. Yes, to the list of weird things that gross nobody else out but Treena, please add hair.  Not, mind you, hair that is, um, attached, for lack of a better word, but the hair that has fallen out and collects in the corners and under things.  Bleh.  And as you can imagine, two women with fairly longish locks makes for a bathroom floor with a substantial hair collection.  So.  Go ahead, comment on my freakishly weird hair phobia.  In fact, let me summarize all my phobias up at once, and I will even add a few that I have not talked about, just for your entertainment:

1. moths
2. spiders
3. unattached hair
4. germs on my phone
5. water from a faucet
6. lint
7. lettuce, in general
8. hotel floors
9. stairs

Hmm, I think that’s it.  No, actually, I know quite well that that ISN’T it, but I can’t think of anymore, just now.  And before you say "Lettuce?  in GENERAL?"  I would like to emphasize: yes, indeed.  I do eat lettuce, in large quantities, but this does not mean that I have a great relationship with it.  If you don’t believe me, ask my husband, who has watched me spend an hour preparing lettuce for a salad, and then end up throwing it all away because it was too gross for me to deal with, on several occasions.  And, I will almost never eat a salad that I have not prepared myself, unless doing so would, I don’t know, make somebody cry.  The moral is, if I come to your house for dinner, please don’t make me eat salad, or you will probably spend the rest of the evening secretly hating me for passing it up. 

On my way back from the post office today (Dear Toni, no package yet) I thought to myself, "Huh.  It’s a beautiful day – I’m not doing anything right now, I think I’ll get a pedicure!"  It was nice, but…y’all, I’m used to the nail salons in SoCal, for cripes sake, and the nail salon at the Kunsan BX is definitely not one of those.  It was cheap though, I suppose, and my feet sure look purty.  I miss my bi-weekly spa pedi, for realz.  Doing it yourself is just not the same, no matter what anyone says.  Especially when they massage your feet – sigh.  I am a sucker for massages.  When they started in on my feet today, I just melted, I swear.  Instant relaxation. 

The only bad thing about all this cleaning and pampering going on today is I completely missed the opportunity to chat with John, awww.  And, isn’t it funny that after all the stuff I have written in this blog for you guys to read, I’m afraid telling you that missing a chat opportunity with my husband makes me sad is too much sharing?  I’m so WEIRD! 

Okay I have to go enter the Battle of the Laundry Room: who gets the best washer?!?  So enjoy your weekend, y’all.  Go get a pedicure, and please, watch out for lettuce.

CIAO!

Yeah, so after this whole long week of inspector hell and jerkitude, we found out how we did, and the word used to describe my shop in the report? Stellar.  Yes, STELLAR.  Now, is that a word to top all other words, ever?  Also, in a Flight Call today, we were told that AFK (my shop) is going down in the report as a strength for the entire bomb dump.  And, like the Chief said, THAT NEVER HAPPENS, not with AFK, never.  There’s so many documents, so much room for error.  However, we (My Big Boss and I) have a sneaking suspicion that Mr. Jerky Jerkwad’s comments to and about us this week have a lot to do with both the rating we recieved and the zero findings.  Because between yesterday and today, we had a great deal of high ranking visitors to our shop, and they all would come in and absolutely gush over how brilliant we are and how fantastic, and, well, stellar our job performance is.  Apparently, word got around about the comments he was making to us, and it did not go down very well with the powers-that-be.  Ah well, as I said before, I know my shop is awesome, and I don’t need a silly inspection to tell me that.  We cleaned up in the awards though; Bri and Mark both were awarded with Outstanding Performer coins.  I get so stupidly happy and proud when stuff like that happens that it almost makes me cry.  Why yes, I am a dork.

Anyway, the best part?  As soon as that briefing was over in the morning, the bomb dump was dunzo.  All of supervision had an 8:30 am appointment – at the golf course.  The rest of us went to minimal manning, and I ended up sending everyone home around 11:45.  Bri and I totally won the lotto on lunch though – we get boxed lunches delivered because we are so far away from the main chow hall, and the annex across the street is closed right now – and with everyone gone, we got to go through all the lunches and pick what we wanted.  So we shared somebody’s order of two cheeseburgers, and split the rest: I scored 8 ham sandwiches, 2 oranges, 2 yogurts, and 3 bags of chips.  In fact, I just ate those 3 bags of chips for my dinner.  What!  They were SMALL, and I was CELEBRATING.  Plus, it’s Friday!

Y’all, I am DONE working Saturdays.  I am going to sleep tomorrow without worrying about waking up, and when I do wake up, I’m going to…sleep some more.  Even if I don’t want to.  I’ll just lay there with my eyes closed and pretend.  And occasionally I will say “I’m SLEEPING…don’t bother me!!!” to my mind, which will be saying: Go to the gym, Chipeater McFatass.  Honestly though, I purposely did not make any plans – not for anything.  So, I can do whatever I want! Maybe I will drink a whole pot of coffee!  Who knows – I have TWO DAYS OFF! 

I’ve had a couple of people email me and ask about my health-issue issues.  Well.  If you recall, they were getting progressively worse – and then, about a week after I went to the doctor, I realized one night when I went to bed that I was fine.  No pins and needles, no trembling legs, hands, muscles.  No discomfort.  I was pretty happy about that – but the day before yesterday,  I noticed a few things have started coming back.  But don’t worry – I’m still waiting on the results of my labs, remember?  The doctor said it could take up to a month to get them back.  I call every couple of days, but so far no luck.  When they get in, I have an appointment to go over them with a doctor.  I’ll keep you guys updated whenever I hear anything, but just so you know, if I’m not talking about it, it’s either because I’m feeling tons better, or because it gets embarrassing to talk about.  I don’t want to become a trainwreck journal, and I said before, this isn’t the “poorme” blog.  Also, I kept getting these random emails from my mom, and although she was pretending to just be nonchalantly asking how I was doing, I could totally tell she was getting worried, so I decided to lay off the blow by blow, for her sake.  Thanks, though, for wanting to know!

Enjoy your Friday!!

CIAO!