still here, just busy

we got our replacement camera. it's different than the 3 that i was originally looking at, but that's okay. we can use our rechargeable AA batteries, instead of having to buy a special type of battery and a special recharger for it. it's a fujifilm finepix s1000fd. still trying to figure out all the in's & out's of what all the different settings are for, but we are definitely pleased with the choice i made.

we have been extremely blessed by tom's being able to come home for friday afternoons & saturdays. sundays, he leaves before any of the kids wake up.

i've been exhausted, but finally feeling a bit more rested. i felt really rested last week when i turned off the alarm(to get collin ready), and hopped back in bed for nearly an hour. we missed his bus by 20 minutes. pretty sad, considering it comes to the driveway. luckily, ivy was dropped off at school by some friends. collin starts school about 30 minutes before ivy, but their schools end at the same time.

i've gotten lots of offers for help since we were "allowed" to tell people about tom's deployment. i'm going to start having to take people up on those offers.

i saw this on a friend's blog, and she off another friends' about 101 things to do in 1000 days(i'll link it when i have time to find it). i'm going to start getting my list made, but my list will be for the rest of the time that tom's gone. it's good for me to start making goals for myself again...give myself a sense of purpose and accomplishment.

lack of pictures

two days ago, collin broke our digital camera lens & now the camera doesn't work. i'm eyeing a few different ones, but haven't gotten a replacement yet.

i wanted to find something comparable or better than our Canon A520 that broke..not hard since they don't make it anymore. my criteria were: 1)our budget, 2)4x or higher on optical zoom. our canon had 4, and 3) no less than 4 megapixels, since that's what the broken one has, and 4)favorable reviews.

these have made my list of possibilities(in no particular order):

1. Panasonic FS5

2. Nikon S550 Coolpix

3. Kodak Easyshare Z8612

kind of leaning toward the kodak(but not decided yet), since it comes with a lens cap. it also seems like all that optical zoom would be great for the next time ivy's in a ballet class or performance or something. the nikon seems like a good deal. it ends up being $1 less than the kodak w/accessories(battery charger, case).. the only thing i don't like about the nikon is the lens looks pretty much the same as what the canon's style of lens was. don't want a repeat accident.

My first tag..

4 RANDOM THINGS I LIKE ABOUT MY HUSBAND:
1. his arms around me
2. he left me a bunch of typed up compliments as pick-me-ups while he's gone, to help me on my low days
3. when he's laughing so hard he's just shaking
4. he puts up with my exercise video fetish(luckily justifiable, since I use them)


4 JOBS I'VE HAD:
1. (voluntary)Librarian Assistant
2. Cashier(fast food, bookstore)
3. Friend, sibling, child, spouse
4. Mother


4 MOVIES I'VE WATCHED MORE THAN ONCE:
1. p.s. i love you
2. mr. holland's opus
3. a beautiful mind
4. what about bob?


4 TV SHOWS I WATCH:
1. The Biggest Loser..I've watched religiously since Season 1(now on Season 6)
2. Project Runway(we don't have cable, so I watch via Netflix & buying previous season dvd sets at Blockbuster. I'm up to the end of Season 3). I also like Tim Gunn's Guide to Style(again, no cable), and saw Season 1 (this summer) from Amazon.com's video on demand.
3. Word World(PBS) with the kids
4. Veggie Tales(Saturday mornings on NBC) with the kids


4 PEOPLE WHO EMAIL ME REGULARLY:
1. Tom (at the moment it's phone calls)
2. Anne
3. Ellen
4. Kerinda


4 OF MY FAVORITE FOODS:
1. lasagne
2. cheescake
3. oatmeal(1/2 cup oatmeal mixed w/2 eggs, and 2 packets of splenda)
4. Balance protein bars(a huge staple for me in the mornings)


4 PLACES I WOULD LIKE TO VISIT:
1. dreamland, uninterrupted (mostly my doing..kids get up earlier than last fall, but i've been going to bed later than i should)
2. ireland
3. church history sites in missouri
4. the bathroom, kid free


4 THINGS I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO IN THE COMING YEAR:
1. Tom's deployment being over
2. Seeing my family(I got 2 new brother in-laws and a sister-in-law in the past 6 months, and soon a new niece/nephew)
3. Hearing Andrew's vocabulary(both sign langugae & verbal) expand
4. Ivy *hopefully* keeping her bed dry overnight & out of overnight diapers.



4 PEOPLE I TAG:
1. Sabrina
2. Rebecca
3. Lam
4. Natalie

Just wondering..

Can it be summer now? If not, can we all just hibernate for 9 months? It's soo hard for me to motivate myself to go anywhere besides church, the grocery stores, and Ivy's school to drop off & pick her up. I found a story time at the library that Andrew & I could actually make it to, but I chickened out yesterday.

Tom may be going down to San Diego on Saturday, not Sunday like I thought. Seriously, I feel sick to my stomach.

Putting foot in mouth

That is exactly what Boeing is doing. Boeing is re-instating their job offer to Tom. The lady from ESGR, that has been working (on voluntary basis) for us, sent us the email from Boeing's lawyer. This is just me paraphrasing.

He(the lawyer) said the hiring manager was seeking advice since Tom would be "unavailable", and the lawyer didn't know it was because of "deployment." Also said something to the effect of he found out parts of the law(that protects us) that he was unaware of and didn't know that courts would see the job offer retraction as illegal.

Um..yeah..I don't believe that. They have the signs all over the walls, and I would think/hope that as part of Boeing's lawyers that he'd be pretty familiar with these laws. I think he got caught red-handed and wanted to make himself not look so bad. Thank you all so much for your prayers.

I actually found out the news before Tom. I pulled Ivy aside, and asked her if she remembers how she's been praying every night for "Daddy to get a job." She shook her head yes, and I told her that he has his job back now. I also felt the need to ask if she thought he got his job back because of her saying prayers, to which she again eagerly nodded her head yes. Then it was high-fives after telling Ivy that her prayers worked and that she doesn't need to pray for Daddy to get a job anymore.

Pretty good weekend

Tom got the weekend off for Conference, without even having to ask permission. Apparently, the restaurant the Coast Guard goes to for lunch is closed on the weekends, and whoever's in charge didn't want to provide lunches for everyone! Awesome! I told Tom, I'd take any reason no matter how silly. He and the kids had good bonding time.

I can't wait till this Thursday when all the talks from Conference will be available to read. So many good things, I felt drawn to several talks. I loved Sunday morning, at the end, Pres. Monson's talk. That's where I got my quote I added to the sidebar.

The only downside to this weekend was that Tom checked out our compact car, (that we just had fixed a few weeks ago) since it's been giving us problems since we got it back. Sometimes the car plays nice, but it didn't yesterday. Turns out, the car place didn't fix the last fan belt like they were supposed to & it had a huge tear in it, and several bolts were loose. Nice. They just lost any future business from us. He's at his dad's fixing it. Hopefully they'll get it done tonight, since Tom has to drive it tomorrow and he's only going to be home in the evenings this week.

My lists

The past few days I've been making a mental list of things to avoid like the plague while Tom's gone. There's nothing inherently wrong with these things. I just feel like they may make time go slower or make me more emotional than I'd like. I like to feel like I'm in control, because in all honesty, there are so many things going on in our lives and I have very little control.

1. Chick-flicks & books (including PS I Love You--I had watched that right before news he would be deploying)...although, since Tom's not a huge chick-flick fan, this would be a great time to reconsider adjusting the order of my Netflix queue.
2. Romantic songs
3. Too much down-time/free-time(the busier I am, the better)
4. Reading a copy of the Serenity Prayer, or Footsteps in the Sand
5. Visiting his extended family and having to explain our situation

I'm sure this list will grow, but these are all I can remember at the moment.

Things I worry about:

1. Collin-he starts kindergarten next year, and it's up to me about placement, goals & if any main-streaming will be attempted. Right now, he's doing a lot of babbling that we can't understand. He doesn't know how to: answer yes/no questions, say "my name is collin" by himself without me prompting the whole phrase, his age, feelings, or how to answer "how are you?", count to 20, write ABC's, recognize lowercase letters. If he were to be in kindergarten right now, he'd stick out like a sore thumb. I sure have my work cut out for me.

2. The kids being cranky/missing Tom the entire time he's gone.

3. Higher separation anxiety issues with all 3 kids.

4. Not getting enough "me time" (see #3, above)

5. Not being able to sleep good at night. I have never slept well on other(much shorter) trips he's taken. Every little sound at night makes me feel paranoid. The longest we've been at home without Tom is 2 weeks.

6. Not being able to keep up with everything and being burned out or me being perpetually cranky

7. Dropping huge amount of weight(I'm talking over 15 lbs here). That'll be interesting with my hypoglycemia. Last time he was gone(North Carolina, this summer), I ended up eating after the kids eat and was losing like 1-2 lbs per day the first few days. I can't even fathom the next 9 months.