Day 299 - Still Sick

Well, this sucks. I am STILL sick. I can't believe this. I emailed Al yesterday telling him that I was still coughing like crazy and not doing good, etc. He emailed me back at 0430 this morning telling me that I had to promise to call the dr. today so that I could get other medicine. He also called me twice today too - so I guess he must be worried, lol. Well, I did call, and they said that I had to come in - AGAIN - this is three trips to dr. so far.

So, I dropped Em off for the night to her dad's house - and go to the clinic. They take my temp and I still have a fever - this is two weeks after I originally got sick. They took bloodwork - and my white count is higher than it's ever been. So, the dr. says that - get this - an antibiotic resistant bacteria that's causing my bronchitis. Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.So - FIVE PRESCRIPTIONS LATER - I will hopefully be getting better soon. I was supposed to sing in a special group for choir tomorrow in all three services - but NOPE - I will be home and in BED. YUCK.

AND - THIS IS THE BEST PART - Em is STILL coughing too. Soooooooooooo, I get to call her pediatrician in the morning - explain everything to them - and hopefully they will call in a prescription for her - OTHERWISE - I will have to take her to the doctor TOMORROW.

Sorry I am not blogging right now, guys!

Day 294 - Down for the Count

Ugh. Well, I'm sorry that it's taken me f.o.r.e.v.e.r. to update our blog - Em and I have had a SERIOUS case of fall sickies - like one step away from the bird flu or something - yuck!

I started feeling like junk two weekends ago - which progressed into sinus stuff/sore throat by last Monday - which led to a full scale, coughing-all-night fit last Tuesday. I missed work on Wednesday and Thursday (you know I'm sick when I miss work) - and then I had to go back to the doctor on Saturday because I still couldn't breathe.

I have: acute bronchitis, sinusitus and pherengytis - and a viral and a bacterial infection. I am on so many medicines right now (thank GOD for TRICARE!) that it's not even funny. Em was at her dad's house this past weekend, just feeling low with a fever - I called like 16 times but I was told every time that she had no congestion or cough. I picked her up last night - AS I'M STRAPPING HER INTO HER CARSEAT, I KID YOU NOT - "Hack, hack, hack".

She went to her babysitter today (my next door neighbor watches her) - and then we went to the after hours clinic as soon as I could get home from work, pick her up, and drive her back into town. Guess what? She has bronchitis. LOL. Like mommy, like daughter, I guess.

Al - my favorite nurse in the whole world - has been great - checking on me every day - double checking what medicines they have me on. If he would just come home so I could get that kind of TLC in person, life would be perfect.

I PROMISE that I will hopefully be feeling better by this weekend - and that there will be many more blog entries in all of our mutual futures (including an exciting review of the book, "My War" - by Colby Buzzell!).

Mwah! (Thank God that's an Internet kiss, and not a real one, or you'd already have the plague - tee hee!).

Day 282 - Our Weekend

Em and I were able to get out of town this past weekend to see my best friend Melissa and her hubby in Chattanooga, TN. We hadn't stepped foot outside of Birmingham since Al was home in early August, because of hurricanes and gas prices, but, we needed the break and breathing room - so it was wonderful to go and see friends for a few days. Since Em goes to her dad's house every other weekend too, it was really nice to get "quality time" with her, I know she's mine, but she's a pretty cool kid - lol.

We got into town Friday night and just did a bunch of errands and ran around - so there was nothing 'newsworthy' in that.

Saturday, we got up and took Em to a park that had a really cool hand-carved carousel in it . . . Melissa and I paid double admission so that we could stay on for as many rides as we wanted. Em was free - lol.


Our first trip around, sitting down.


Being two is FUN, mom! Wheeeeeeeeeee!


By the end of the second trip around, I was kind of feeling dizzy and seasick!

After the carousel, we went outside and Em climbed around on statues that normally spray water - thankfully, they were shut off because it was kind of chilly.


Giddy up, Turtle! Giddy UP!


Hey Missa!


Trying the lion on for size.

Once we finished up there, we walked across the street and ate lunch at the "Yellow Submarine" - Em ate a corn dog with fries - and I had a philly cheese steak w/ lots of mushrooms, YUMMY! They had a game room though, so Em and I played there too!


This game would be lots of fun if I could reach the pedals!


What do you mean this isn't how you play skeeball?


The military family in us - we're blowing up 'bad guys' - lol!

After that, it was nap time. Then we got up and headed to the mall just to window shop.

Em played in a neat children's play area for a little while. I worked hard to not stress about the germs - lol.






I think Emelia might have my gift for leadership (a.k.a. 'bossiness')!

Then we went to the "Hello Kitty" store. They didn't have anything good though.


'No thank you' - Em deciding that she doesn't want to leave "Hello Kitty".

Then it was time to go back to Melissa's house (thank goodness!)


Howdy Pardner!


Who turned out the lights?

The next day, Melissa and I got $2.99 haircuts at a 'Great Clips' that had just opened up - on our way back to her house after lunch, I took this silly picture for Al because Captain D's is his favorite restaurant of all time:



Thanks for letting me share our weekend with you!

Day 276 - This is Good!

Thursday Inspiration!

For today’s entry, I wanted us to examine for a moment the things that happen to us in our life – and the way that even a negative experience can be used to benefit us . . .

I received this story in my inbox last week, and I thought that it was very applicable to what our theme was going to be for this week:

This is Good...

The story is told of a king in Africa who had a close friend with whom he grew up. The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that ever occurred in his life (positive or negative) and remarking, "This is good!"

One day the king and his friend were out on a hunting expedition. The friend would load and prepare the guns for the king. The friend had apparently done something wrong in preparing one of the guns, for after taking the gun from his friend, the king fired it and his thumb was blown off.
Examining the situation the friend remarked as usual, "This is good!"

To which the king replied, "No, this is NOT good!" and proceeded to send his friend to jail.

About a year later, the king was hunting in an area that he should have known to stay clear of. Cannibals captured him and took them to their village. They tied his hands, stacked some wood, set up a stake and bound him to the stake. As they came near to set fire to the wood, they noticed that the king was missing a thumb. Being superstitious, they never ate anyone that was less than whole. So untying the king, they sent him on his way.

As he returned home, he was reminded of the event that had taken his thumb and felt remorse for his treatment of his friend. He went immediately to the jail to speak with his friend. "You were right," he said, "it was good that my thumb was blown off. And he proceeded to tell the friend all that had just happened. "And so I am very sorry for sending you to jail for so long. It was bad of me to do this."

"No" his friend replied, "This is good!"

"What do you mean, "This is good?" How could it be good that I sent my friend to jail for a year?"
"If I had NOT been in jail, I would have been with you when you were captured."

*** Situations may not always seem pleasant while we are in them, but the promise of God is clear. If we love Him and live our lives according to His precepts, even that which seems to be bleak and hopeless will be turned by God for His glory and our benefit.

After reading that story, I felt particularly impressed to examine the last 14 months of Al being gone and the “GOOD” things that have come out of it:

• We were close before, but with him being gone – and us having to communicate so much by phone, email, letters, packages, etc. – it has really added a new dimension to our relationship. Our communication skills have really been put to the test – and I know that we will benefit in the long run from that.
• I have personally become a much stronger person. I only ‘thought’ I was strong before Al got deployed, but this situation has forced me to dig down deep inside of myself and find an inner resolve that I didn’t even know existed.
• I have really learned fully what love is about. When you can love someone across thousands of miles and without seeing them ‘in person’ for months and months at a time – and that love doesn’t diminish – but only gets deeper and deeper, you know that you have found the ‘real thing’.
• I have shipped enough packages and done enough overseas mailing, that if I ever find myself out of work, I could immediately obtain employment at the nearest post office or shipping supplier. LOL.
• I have been able to learn so many things about Al that I might not have been able to discover in ‘normal’ life --- even though he hasn’t been on the front lines, kicking down doors in Iraq – his sacrifice for his country and the citizens of Iraq has been pretty amazing to me. It’s pretty awesome to be able to think of your husband and use the words honor, sacrifice and hero when you do.
• No matter how much this deployment has sucked – we will always be able to look back on it and say ‘Oh, that was our first deployment’ – and ‘That was the deployment that we got married on’. The two weeks that he got to come home in August were so wonderful, and getting to become “Mrs. Big Al” will always be a special memory that I will treasure.
• I know that this situation has brought me closer to God. God and I got along pretty well before this, but I have really come to understand what trust and faith is all about because of this situation. I have no choice but to trust God during this time – and have faith that He is holding Al in the palm of His hand. That has been an amazing lesson!
• Finally, no matter how hard deployment is – I have one word for you . . . HOMECOMING!! I can’t explain the anticipation and excitement I had when I went to pick Al up at the airport when he came home on R&R. Regular people don’t get to feel those emotions, the heart pounding, and the nervousness – all just to see the person that you love most in the world. If you get to see your loved one every night – day in, day out – you don’t get the roller coaster thrill of seeing them for the first time in six months. I look forward so much to Al’s final homecoming too.

So, I just encourage you that, as you go throughout this next week that you would try to find the ‘good things’ that have happened as a result of the ‘bad things’ in your life. Everything happens for a reason, and there is a plan and a purpose to EVERYTHING under Heaven!!

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

Day 273 - I am the most boring person alive.

Seriously. This stuff has to stop. I have to stop spending my weekends organizing my sock drawer. You guys don't even know - I think that I have easily become the most lame person on the planet - second only to maybe Bert of Bert & Ernie fame - and his bottlecap collection - except he's a puppet and not even a real person - so I win. I am officially the most boring person on Earth.

In honor of this marvelous achievement, I will tell you the exciting projects that I completed this past weekend:

• Re-organized my shoes. I took my spring/summer shoes and put them in a rubbermaid tote and stuffed them in the back of my closet. Then I took my fall/winter shoes and neatly made them into pairs and lined them all up in my other closet.
• Went through all of my clothes and got rid of anything that I haven't worn in at least six months. Made a big giveaway pile. Bagged up said giveaway pile into a trash bag to haul to said giveaway place.
• Went through all of Em's old fall/winter clothes and figured out what she could still wear this year. Took any clothes that she couldn't wear and matched them up in outfits to take to the consignment store. Folded up all of her spring/summer clothes and put them in a rubbermaid tote on the top of her closet.
• Took all of Al's and my CD's and took them out of their plastic cases - and neatly organized them into CD-ROM binders. This took forever as we have a lot more CD's, etc. than I realized.

I mean, WOW! It doesn't get much more exciting than that, does it? I did go shopping on Saturday and get some new fall clothes though because my stuff from last year was too big (yay!) - so that was nice. I had fun hanging my new stuff up in the closet. Looking over my 'project' list, and realizing that my life is about as interesting as a jar of white paste is pretty scary. I have huge problems with military wives who go out partying and drinking while their hubbies are deployed - but now I'm wondering . . . hmmmm. JUST KIDDING!

I also have a little news on Al - it looks like his "BOG" (Boots on Ground) time is going to be extended because of his new position. We are trying to suck it up - but it's going to be much closer to five months, rather than four months before he is home. He is busy looking over equipment and running around doing stuff every day - but he always makes the effort to call and email as much as possible - so that's nice. He has started slowly shipping stuff home too - so I know the end is in sight, I guess, maybe - lol.

I am attaching a new picture of our doughnut/donut of misery, just so you can see our progress. Please note, that for OPSEC reasons, the dates on the donut have been slightly adjusted and are not completely accurate. I always do a new one each Monday morning, and I plug in the date of the following Monday. When I plugged in today's date, it popped up with a new saying, "Congratulations! You're over the hump!". Bleerrggh. I unfortunately feel that the hump has just begun. On one hand, you want to say, 'OMG! We've got NINE MONTHS done baby! NINE MONTHS!' But then, on the other hand, you want to say, '****INSERT EXPLETIVE HERE**** I can't believe that we've got five more months of this ****INSERT EXPLETIVE HERE**** stuff left!'.

Well, I would write more, but I believe my silverware drawer is calling me. I think I will sort the big forks from the small forks. That should kill a good 15 minutes, lol!