We’ve been busy enjoying the sunshine. The weather has just been too awesome to stay inside. The problem with this is it doesn’t lend itself much to blogging. I’ll just leave you with some tidbits from the week. If I repeat myself, I’m sorry. When not much happens, it tends to bleed together.

Due to doing more around the house and outside, I’ve been spending more time on Facebook, and sometimes Twitter, but mostly Facebook. It’s easier from my phone.

Our 5yo is just tantrumming all.the.time. The fixations have been pretty awesome too. Ever have a child who will.not.go.to.bed.until.he.goes.outside.to.blow.bubbles.at.8pm? That’s the sort of awesome fun we’ve been having. Add to that if we say no or ignore the object of fixation, we get a screaming – like you can hear the child across three counties screaming – tantrum. Fun times. Fun times. We’ve been using all the tools in our hats, but I think it’s time to revisit and regroup.

Nothing else ridiculous has come from the elementary school lately. I’m waiting with baited breath. It’s really only a matter of time. The year has been too ridiculous for the last month to sail by unscathed.

I found my makeup. It was in a random unmarked box in the basement. It was in the infamous random bathroom box. Too bad it wasn’t even labeled “bathroom.” I’m just glad I didn’t replace anything more than just what I needed for the dining out.

Every time I go to the basement I try to unpack a box. It’s like Christmas. I’ve brought up items that now have a place that we haven’t unpacked since we lived in Maryland coughsince2004cough.

My husband’s report date to his new job got moved up. They didn’t tell him that the date they gave him initially is when the other guy leaves, and they still need to do the left seat/right seat stuff prior to that until this week. Gotta love the Army. Who knows, it may even change again before it’s all said and done.

I think that’s all. Nothing Earth shattering. We’re back to the same ol’, same ol’, but I’ll take this any day.

Army Heritage Days 2012

The Army Heritage and Education Center is hosting Army Heritage Days complete with live re-enactors, lectures, and presentations. We’ve gone in years past and it’s been a lot of fun for the whole family. The event runs 9am-5pm Saturday and Sunday and is free and open to the public.

Armed Forces Day - City Island 2011

Harrisburg City and Ft. Indiantown Gap will once again partner to turn City Island into a military base for the day. Exhibits open at 10am. There is also a 5K fun run/walk hosted by the YMCA that starts at 8am, May 19th. The 5K is free for military members, but there is a small fee if registering online.

Letterkenny Army Depot is also hosting their annual line up of Armed Forces Day Events. There will be a children’s fishing rodeo, golf tournament, exhibits, tours, among other things to see and do for the whole family. Letterkenny’s events start at 8am and run until 2pm.

Carlisle Barracks Running Festival 2010

Carlisle Barracks and Carlisle YMCA are hosting an Armed Forces Day Running Festival. Registration begins at 7am for the 5K for ages 14-adult (fee), and ages 4-13 will run at approximately 10am (free).

Also starting on Armed Forces Day weekend, current military members and dependents can get a free annual pass to National Parks and other public lands.

These are my projects so far:

The laundry room as seen from the doorway.

The entryway from the stairs.

Porch seating area

There’s more to come. I tackled the smallest spaces first and the spaces that could mostly be done either with things we already had, or with a clear mission. It was easy to go look at bins for the laundry room, and given the dimensions I had to work with, and the stock the big red bullseye store had, choose what colors I wanted to use.

The porch set is two of the chairs from our previous patio set and a table I picked up on sale (read: cheap). The table and umbrella bit the dust in an unexpected windstorm last summer. We said goodbye to the grill a few weeks ago. It gave us a good eight years. We spend A LOT of time outside, so the patio will also be a work in progress.

I was thinking about what to post, when I realized, I’s Friday! It’s #SNRyanGosling day! Now that the major things have been taken care of, my days have been filled with the little stuff that crops up and is annoying – finish unpacking, figure out where that pesky address book went so I can mail out the “We Moved!” cards to friends and family, decorate, and still keep up on the every day stuff like cleaning, therapy, etc. Plus the boys added in a day of puke, which also resulted in a morning of phone calls to rearrange appointments for me. Fun times. Fun times. Is it summer break yet where the biggest thing we have to worry about is swim lessons and me losing my sanity?

Behold the husband’s Sonic LTZ.

It’s a good little car, and the gas mileage for the weekend we’ve had it has been fantastic, even in the city. We drove it down to commissioning Saturday morning, and with the turbo, I have no fear he can safely get up to speed to get onto Nascar 81 without the V6. The V6 is now all mine (insert evil laughter)! Of course that also means it will sit more. While the Altima gets good gas mileage for the boat that it is, it’s not going to be as good as the Sonic.

I get home, and the house is pure chaos. The kids are so unbelievably hyper. The 5 year old won’t nap. Of course he won’t nap. His Poppy is here. We have respite here, and he loves our respite care provider. He never naps for her. Someone had the bright idea to say that he can’t have his iPad if he won’t nap. He’s tired and cranky, and not having his iPad makes it worse. I was really tired and cranky as well. I made it known that whoever had the bright idea to not give him his freakin’ iPad was a dumbshit. It was only punishing everyone, and in my state, I was NOT happy about it. I didn’t have the patience. I was of the mind to just give the kid his damn iPad already. Of course no one did, and so I took my bitchy self and started to get ready.

I opened all my new makeup and brushes and applied to my face. I mourned the loss of what I had the whole time. I lamented that my blush was discontinued. Small problems I know, but really annoying right before an event.

Then I opened the Spanx I bought. The pantyhose I’d been forgetting for weeks. Except they weren’t pantyhose. I put one foot in, and it came out the other side. WTF? It seemed I had gotten a high waisted (read: tucked under my bra) to the knee model. TO THE KNEE. I had about ten minutes to get ready at this point. This is where I was thankful for a couple things. One was that my dress was full length. The other was that I keep knee highs on hand to wear with my boots in the winter. So another Lucy moment: my pieced together pantyhose.

The last part is where I put on my shoes. I had gotten some of those gel inserts where they’re supposed to keep your toes from jamming into the toes of your shoes, and the heel ones to keep the shoes from slipping off. Neither worked. My toes were severely jammed into the toes of my shoes, and the heels kept slipping off, which in turn made my shoes slip off. I just tried not to walk any more than I had to until after dinner when everyone took their shoes off and danced.

Overall, a good time was had by all, and next time, I’m going to know where my makeup is, buy pantyhose ahead of time, and get shoes that fit – not rely on the gel insert thingys.

*I learned at the event that a double strand necklace looks good in the bathroom at home, but in practical application, it kept getting caught around one boob.

Saturday we had the ROTC Dining Out. It’s the first and only time I’ve been able to go since my husband has been at this school due to not having anyone to watch the boys previous years. Needless to say, I was excited to get dressed up and enjoy an evening out among other adults. I had no idea that the hours leading up to the event would turn into my own I Love Lucy episode.

This is how I sew.

It all started Friday. I didn’t get a chance to dye my roots until Friday. I got a call while the dye was on my hair, and the dye ended up being on my hair about twice the recommended amount of time. Thankfully, it didn’t all fall out since it wasn’t exactly a call where I was going to say, “Excuse me, I need to go rinse the dye out of my hair, can I call you back later?” Then later for dinner, we ordered pizza. We figured with the car show in town, we’d better order early. We had no idea that at 4pm, it would take my husband over an hour to go get the pizza when the trip is maybe 20 minutes round trip. After dinner, I passed out on the couch about 6pm. I could’ve slept all night, but I knew I still needed to hem my dress, so I forced myself to get up.  Of course then that night I couldn’t sleep until about 2am.

Then Saturday, as I was getting ready to take a bath, shave my legs, exfoliate, moisturize, etc. I couldn’t find my good face wash. I haven’t been able to find it since we moved, and I’ve been using a travel size Clearasil wash that I found. I was hoping to use the good stuff at least the day of our event since I hadn’t found it in the days leading up to the event. No dice.

Hair done (I hate our split mirrors)

Then I couldn’t find my make up. I’m glad I looked for it before I went to get my hair done. I know I put it aside somewhere. I’m pretty sure anyway. I couldn’t find it anywhere. I felt sick. Over the last two years I have replaced my drug store brands with the good stuff. I had made the change to mineral make up from liquid foundation since I don’t wear it all the time, and I was wasting money throwing away liquid foundation that I wasn’t using before it expired. UGH! Such a sick feeling. It was ALL gone, except for a couple eye liners because they discontinued the colors I wear all the time, but I found a two pack of each on Amazon, so I had the other of each.

Where my make up is, my face wash is. I’m also glad I was indecisive about jewelry and picked up a second necklace on sale at Kohl’s on a whim. I had a necklace as well. It’s with the face wash and make up. I know it’s all together because I put it all together before the move so I’d have it for the dining out. We see how well that worked.

After all of that, I really did have to stop by the grocery store to get half and half. I figured nothing would be worse for my husband than waking up after a night of drinking to no creamer for his coffee. Not that it would matter to me, but I’m a nice wife like that. I also ended up stopping by Target because I forgot cough drops while I was in the grocery store. (Do you see the pattern emerging?)

Then I was finally able to go home to start the process of make up and getting dressed.

**Stay tuned for Part II**

For more #SNRyanGosling, go forth and make your own. Post. Head to the mothership to link up with the rest of us.

Now, I can breathe. I can concentrate on what’s important. I can concentrate on the day to day bullshit that we always have. The therapies. The behaviors we’re working on with the boys – the ones we’re trying to instill and the ones we’re trying to eliminate. The doctor appointments. Trying to figure out why Aaron is losing weight. What the hell we’re going to do all summer. You know, the usual.  I like the usual. Usual is good.

Now that our conflicts are resolved and I don’t have to worry about my older child’s safety as far as transportation every day, I can worry about more important things – like curtains. Like who the hell makes a window less than two feet wide and I don’t even know how long because I didn’t measure, but it’s going to need at least an 84″ curtain. We have one of these windows each in our bedroom, Aaron’s bedroom, the kitchen, and 2 of the bathrooms. Then I have to find a way to dress the windows on the doors in our bedroom and Zach’s bedroom. Why? Because I get migraines, and I need a cave when I get one, and in Zach’s room because I don’t want the light waking him up at the butt crack of dawn. I love this historical house and the huge windows, but at the same time it’s a pain.

But after all we’ve been through lately, bring on these first world problems. PLEASE. We need piddly stuff I can fix fairly easily for awhile. I think we’ve earned it.

We also met a nice neighbor. She brought us cookies to welcome us to the neighborhood. She didn’t even take them back when we told her we just moved from the other side of post. I really like her, and she’s not a Kool Aid drinker. They’re Air Force, which totally explains it. I think I’ve also made another friend through our ordeal. Even though it was all a pain in the ass and totally unneeded stress, it wasn’t all bad since I did meet a couple nice people in the process.

I think this is where I’m going to leave this chapter of our lives and move on with the rest – until the school decides to be asshats again. Six more weeks has become my mantra.