Tuesday, September 26

Sarge Sucks

Today I looked out the window and saw Sarge getting his new shopvac (The Librarian and I broke his old one vacuuming the dog) out of the shed. He mows, he rakes, he sweeps, he vacs. I look out about 15 minutes later and see him vacuuming Piko de Gallo's sandbox (he was just finishing up, so I couldn't get a picture).

You know, I realize he just came home from 6 months in the desert, but seriously?

He claims that he was getting leaves out, and he was too lazy to bend down to pick them up.

Riiiiiiight....

Saturday, September 23

300

This is the only movie I want to see next year. I probably wont get to see it in the theatre, but damn it all if I am going to try.

300 Trailer

The trailer is pretty awesome, and you can check out some of the production journals here or on YouTube (key words Frank Miller 300). I think that they have done an excellent job translating the Frank Miller graphic novel into a movie.

Double bonus points for David Wenham in leather pants.

Hi-ho-Hi-ho Off To Maine We Go



Sarge is packing up the minivan and driving us all up to Maine for a lovely fall family vacation. Yay.

In truth I am looking forward to going to Maine. It's beautiful, it's clean, the people are friendly, but holy crap is it far away. We don't go by plane, or bus, or train, we drive. All 15 hours, straight. People think that we are crazy, but we figure by the time that we have driven 10 hours, we're almost there so we may as well go the rest of the way. After making this trip at least 8 times in the past 5 years, we've finally invested in an EZPass and some audio books.

Maine is awesome. As I have said before it's beautiful, clean, and friendly. Sarge is from a town up north, or Downeast, or whatever the hell they say, called Ellsworth. It's between Bangor, and Bar Harbor, so it gets a lot of traffic during the summer. It's rather small, and the kind of "New Englandly" type place that you might imagine from a Stephen King novel. Sarge cant go to the Shop N' Save without running into some of the same guys he worked with 14 years ago. There are lobster pounds, blueberry patches, Church dinners, and a main street called "Main Street".

Every time we go there, it's drive through the town, point out the new traffic lights, drive by the "old" house, stop at his mom's office, stop at his dad's store, eat lunch at China Hill, stop at Marden's and Reny's, get my ring checked at Pyramid Studios. Take the Piko and the dog down to the shore to collect shells, and wade in the icy cold Atlantic. That is pretty much our vacation every time we go.

HOWEVER all this fun is interspersed with visits by family, to family, old friends, people we don't know. It's like my worst nightmare. People. People I have to make polite inane conversation with. "How's the weather been?", "Had a nice summer?", "The leaves are turning quite nicely this year", "Looks like you're headed for a cold winter". "Did you hear that 'So-And-So's' Son 'What's-His-Name' got arrested? I tell you it's the drugs". All this while Sarge and his dad escape to the garage for a beer and a smoke.

Gods I hope that they have opened a Starbucks.

Wednesday, September 20

Hello?

Oh Sarge, you are the greatest. You mow the lawn, take out the trash, put the seat down, play with Piko de G, give me back rubs, let me control the remote during prime time, and you explain sports rules and statistics to me without being an ass.

So I say this with the greatest of love and respect.

The whole "Call me when you're ready to pick me up" thing only works IF YOU ACTUALLY TURN ON YOUR PHONE!!!!

Please turn on your phone, I'm ready to pick you up.

Wednesday, September 13

Dubious Achievement of the Day

56 hits in a row on Piko de G's Dora the Explorer paddle ball.
Go me.

Overheard at Dinner

Well, I actually didn't hear it myself, but Sarge told me about it later.

Myself, Sarge, The Librarian, and Piko de G were invited to dinner. Holy crap! Yes it's true, we do sometimes leave the house and socialize with other people. I met Harriet when I belonged to an on-line message board for mothers. All of the mothers on this board had children born in the same month. Anyhoo, I have not been on the board for about 2 1/2 years. However Harriet's Hot Husband is in the military and they were transferred to this area recently, so we have reconnected. It's good, because Piko de G has a new friend, and Harriet and Hot Husband are very, very nice. It's not so good because, well, now I have to socialize, and now that he is back, so does Sarge.

Well, this dinner we went to was at Harriet's house, her family was there, as well as two other families. Grrrreaaaat...more people, more NEW people. Now, I have to mention that Sarge is an enlisted member of the military, Hot Husband, and one of the other husbands there are members of the Officer's Corps. Usually enlisted and officer's don't socialize together, but Harriet and Hot Husband are cool(not snobs), and Sarge and Hot Husband don't even work at the same base.

Anyway, Sarge is already very uncomfortable, and not that happy about having to go to a dinner where he does not know anyone, thank goodness The Librarian was there. I thought it all went very well, but as we are getting in the car, Sarge tells us this:

Sarge: So I was talking to that other guy, and he asked me what kind of planes I flew. When I told him I'm not a pilot, I'm enlisted, he immediately stopped talking to me and turned around to talk to someone else.

WTF?!?! Who does that? Hello, enlisted are people too!!!

Sunday, September 10

My Boyfrend's Back!

So Sarge has returned from his 6 month deployment. Hooray! His flight home was somewhat delayed and Piko de G and I missed our opportunity to get all dolled up for him.
However, the lack of posts has very much to do with the fact that my husband is home. But it's not what you think! Well, there is some of that too, but that's not what is keeping me off of the computer.
Having returned from 6 months in a 10X10 room that he shared with another person, Sarge is in a cleaning up, moving stuff around mood. Don't get me wrong, he relaxed, for about a day! And he did have to go to the military "Reintigration Training" or as I refer to it, the "Don't Kill Your Wife" training and seminar. So by the fifth day of being home he was pretty antsy to have something useful to do. Unfortunately for me that meant tackling the past 6 months of buildup in the hall closet, outside shed, laundry room, car, and master bedroom closet. I have been busy dealing with his 3 rucksacks of laundry, and chasing him around the house trying to make sure I spot where he moves things, so that I can find my rotary cutter, or glue gun the next time I need it.
I have to mention that these indoor projects all came around after he had already tackled the outdoors. He has mowed the lawn, weeded and cleared the garden flowerbeds, cleaned Piko de G's inflatable pool, scrubbed the slab deck, raked the yard, extended the dog's outdoor run, rearranged the patio furniture, and washed the dog.
He's been back a week.
God's help me, I'm even suggesting he play golf as a ploy to keep him out of my kitchen. I'd never find my Microplane.

Friday, September 1

Patriotic



I was talking to the Librarian last night about going to pick up Sarge at the airport. I mentioned that I had found a small American flag for Piko de G to carry. "Oh no you didn't" was the Librarian's reply. I totally did, but I got it at the thrift store, and only paid $1.50.

So the Librarian suggested I go out and buy a crap load of those yellow ribbon magnets and plaster my car with it. "You know, one for every day that he was gone." She says. Yeeaaanhhh.........No.


It remided me of one magnet I saw that I really liked, but Sarge prohibits me from buying. I cant find the original one, but I made a mock up at Support Our Ribbons. I first saw this ribbon on a car on base, very brave, and very awesome I thought. Don't go thinking that our car is devoid of ribbon awesomeness though. We do have a "Support our Sox" ribbon, and a Collingwood Magpies flag on our trunk.

I am however kitting out Piko de G in her yellow dress and masses of yellow ribbons for her hair.