New Address! Bye bye blogspot...

.... but not bye bye to blogging!

NavyGuy has finally prevailed on me to move away from Blogger. He's been working furiously to relocate MarryingtheNavy to Wordpress instead. (Which is better for his techie-ness, and gives me more options in the blogosphere.)

If you follow me on a feed reader (such as Google Reader), you will need to update your subscription. On Tuesday, go to MarryingtheNavy.com (that URL will take you to the new site no problems), and re-subscribe to the feed. You'll know you've correctly subscribed to the new feed if you do NOT see this post at the new site. Instead, you'll see a welcome post, and all my previous ramblings (oh yes, the archives are moving with me).

If you simply have MarryingtheNavy.com bookmarked, you should be fine. If you are still using MarryingtheNavy.blogspot.com, you will need to bookmark the new site (as Blogger will not transfer you over).

Got all that? Really not as complex as I've made it out to be - basically, just keep checking in at MarryingtheNavy.com, and you'll be with us. Hopefully there won't be too many bugs or glitches with the changeover happening tonight. NavyGuy should have all the technical difficulties under control.

Can't wait to hear what you think about the new blog design and some of the fun new things coming... :)

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Progress in the Garage

NavyGuy and his new shelves. And the mallet. So manly :)


And voila! All of the random garage items that had no home, now neatly organized in one place.

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Squeaky Clean

As a bribe / morale booster, the skipper gave NavyGuy's command Friday and Monday off. Which is excellent, because it means we can institute spring cleaning a few weeks early!

NavyGuy is thrilled.

Nope, that's not the word, but we'll go with it.

I am PUMPED! Friday is garage day. We're going to Lowe's to get shelving, so we can stop storing everything on the extra swivel stools stashed in the garage. NavyGuy doesn't know it yet, but I'm also going to find something to bet him over, and when he inevitably loses the bet, he'll have to mow the lawn (which has gotten way out of hand and makes our house look like it should have broken down cars and empty Blatz cans scattered about the grass).

We're also planning to get a medicine cabinet for the master bathroom (because I'm sick of digging through the Xerox paper box in the office to find bandaids or cold medicine). If there's time, the oven needs a good cleaning.

What spring cleaning task would you love to tackle? (or pay someone to deal with while you sit comfortably with a cool drink...)

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Disney Mean Girls

Alternative Title: Entertainment until I get a chance to post something real...

Was made aware of this yesterday by one of the Navy wives. As I learned after trying to make NavyGuy watch it, it won't nearly as funny if you haven't seen Mean Girls.

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Happy St. Patrick's Day

And Happy Birthday to Mom. (The birthday wishes are from Tally, and you can't possibly get mad at that little sweetie.)

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Deployment Update

NavyGuy's deployment has been delayed until May-ish.

Rumors started on Saturday, but we got confirmation today.

On the one hand...
- he won't leave for almost two more months
- he'll be around for his and my birthday
- we'll probably get to bring Tally home from the trainer together

On the other...
- everyone was physically, mentally, and emotionally prepared for the separation, and now, we'll have to go through the process all over again
- backing up the leave date means backing up the return date... so now we're bumping into Thanksgiving and possibly Christmas

Bottom line, there's nothing to be done about it - it's not like the Pentagon called for my opinion.

Ah, the needs of the Navy...

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Tally Pup Update!!!

NavyGuy was able to check on Tally on Saturday - she's doing GREAT! He watched her do some work with the trainer, and then got to play with her for a bit. Basically, she's kickin' ass. Tally is doing fabulous for her age, and is still a little peanut (she'll look big in the first photos, but check out the relative size in the last photo). She's eating well, making friends, has clean ears and teeth, and is still our little squeaker pup :)

I'm ready guys! I'm ready! Let me run! I wanna run!



Bringing back a bird.

Finally in the water! Apparently, she still isn't a huge fan, but can you blame her? It's still freezing cold!

Awww... spending some quality play time with her papa.
Here's Tally in the front middle (her pink collar has faded drastically). The yellow lab in front of her... is 13 weeks... Tally is 6 months!

Only a few more months to go until Tally comes home!

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Card Inspiration

I had originally pulled out this magazine insert to use as a make-shift bookmark as I read the latest issue of Seattle magazine. But after looking at it for a few days, I realized it was the start of a cool design for a card!
I didn't have the exact same colors, but I think it's a good example of how you can look at something with a different tilt of your head and use it to inspire some crafty goodness.


I used three flower stamps to create the background pattern, and then used Stampin' Up's blender pens to lightly color in the blue and green flowers. I stamped the blue balloon on the card, then masked it to add the green one behind. I wanted to incorporate the balloon strings in with the sentiment, but I'm not loving how it turned out. Maybe a different stamp? Anyway, crafters - have you found inspiration in an unlikely source?

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Cheers and Jeers

Cheers... to possibly having our wedding featured in a Madison magazine!!! I don't know all the details yet, but our wedding photographer asked if he could pass our name along to Brava Magazine, and now I'm working on filling out a questionnaire from one of their writers. I've been running around the house for the past two days yelling, "I'M GONNA BE ON THE COVER OF A MAGAZINE!" and NavyGuy's been shaking his head and reminding me that a) the writer said nothing about the cover, and b) it's an article about us, not just the bride. We'll see about that...

Jeers... to having to work on Saturday instead of being able to visit Tally pup. I'm sending NavyGuy down without me, but with our camera (we're still negotiating the video camera, as he's terrified of being that parent), because even if I can't see her, I need reassurance that she's okay. And happy. And at the top of her class. And making friends. And brushing her teeth. (I'll be sending a checklist with him.)

Cheers... to payday today. Thank god.

Jeers... to NavyGuy's squadron. They deploy very soon, and yet they're being completely ridiculous in scheduling the guys, and leaving them absolutely no time to get any pre-deployment stuff done, or even, I don't know - see their families AT ALL. NavyGuy was one watch twice this week (which means 7am - 10pm at the squadron, no leaving), had two days of night flights, and there's no sign it'll be letting up. Way to go squadron - good job building morale before a deployment, and taking care of your own. Total bulls#$%.

Cheers... to getting my craft mojo back. It had flittered away for a bit, but with the arrival of the latest Creating Keepsakes magazine, and an invite to scrap next week with some of the Navy wives, I'm feeling artsy-fartsy-mojo-licious.

And all of you...?

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My family is trying to kill me.

Phone conversation with Mom this morning:

Mom: Hey - am I waking you up?

NavyGirl: Nah, I've been up for a bit. What's going on?

Mom: I have an idea.

NavyGirl: Shit.

Mom: Young lady!

NavyGirl: Your idea?

Mom: So, you know how we didn't get a chance to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge when we visited Sister last summer...

NavyGirl: Yes...

Mom: Well, we're going to visit Sister this summer and RUN across the bridge! Won't that be great!

NavyGirl: Are you drunk? Are you drunk at school at 11:30 on a Thursday morning? Did you hit your head on something?

Mom: No! C'mon! We can do it! It's only like two miles. I'm giving you 'til August to get in shape and do this. It'll be like our version of The Amazing Race!

NavyGirl: Yeah, we've talked about this. We'd be kicked off Amazing Race in the first episode for refusing to bungee jump or eat monkey brains or you know, work hard in some way.

Mom: Well, I sort of already committed us to this...

NavyGirl: What do you mean, you "committed" us to this... did you... oh no, you didn't.

Mom: I did.

NavyGirl: YOU ALREADY TOLD SISTER ABOUT THIS?!?!?!?! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!


So, I guess I have until August to get my last will and testament in order. Cuz come this summer, my Sister and Mother are going to Bataan Death RUN me across the Golden Gate bridge.

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De - wait for it- nial

NavyGuy deploys soon. Real soon. I can't give specifics about dates due to security issues (see a great introduction to Operational Security here), but it's within spitting distance.

And I'm waaaaaaaaaaay in denial. Like, "it ain't just a river in Egypt" kind of denial. Yes, I can look at a calendar and I can understand that D-Day (Deployment Day) is coming, but I'm in a weird sort of casual-oh-it'll-be-fine-its-no-big-whoop-worrying-about-getting-the-garbage-taken-out-instead-of-the-fact-that-my-husband-will-be-gone-for-six-months kind of place. I don't know if this is my coping mechanism for the moment, and when it truly sets in that he's leaving soon, I'll have a total melt-down or what. But I'm definitely not feeling what I expected.

We still have a not teeny-tiny list of things to do, and yet, I'm sitting watching Gilmore Girls reruns. And thinking of going to bed early.

It sure is nice vacationing in Denial - wish you were here!

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The Latest From Your Friendly Neighborhood Starbucks

Tuesday was a big launch for Starbucks, with a new drink, lots of new merchandise, and a renewed focus on coffee (even a new way to brew coffee!). It's a lot to take in and as your unofficial Sbux guide, I thought I should highlight a few things so you're not completely bowled over the next time you wander into a sea of green aprons...

*Dark Cherry Mocha
The new drink, which is essentially a mocha (espresso, chocolate syrup, steamed milk), except it includes an additional cherry flavored syrup. I was terrified to try it as I don't like cherries and feared it would taste like cough syrup. However, I was pleasantly surprised. The cherry flavor is subtle (and you could always ask for fewer pumps of the syrup if you're really leery). It comes topped with whip cream and chocolate curls as well.

*Fun New Stuff
Tons of new mugs, tumblers, and cups in fun spring patterns and colors.

The spring themed cherry blossom gift card is a personal favorite (makes me harken back to our cherry blossom themed wedding!), but you'll have to check it out for yourself in a store because I can't find a photo yet online. UPDATE: Click here to see what the card looks like.

*New Coffee
The featured coffee at the moment is Peru Chanchamayo (rhymes with "on the bayou). I'm a fan because the acidity of the coffee is really low (so it's less bitter than others). In fact, NavyGuy and I busted open our bag this morning (the renegade Starbucks in the Safeway in Anacortes had it on the stands already on Sunday night... they never follow the rules and tick me off every time I'm in there... but I'm not above taking advantage of their rule-breaking).

*Bold Picks Coffee
Starbucks is highlighting a different coffee each week for the next eight weeks. They're obviously trying to get people to try different varieties, so every Starbucks should be brewing the standard Pike Place coffee as well as the Bold Pick of the Week. This week it's Organic Yukon Blend. If you're a plain 'ole coffee drinker and you frequent Starbucks, there's actually a deal to be had here - if you buy at least one 12oz cup of each bold coffee (so one cup each week for the next eight weeks), you can get a free pound of any of the Bold coffees. Just ask for a coffee passport at your Starbucks and be sure to get the coffee stamps each time you try one of the Bold Picks. Obviously, if you're strictly a white mocha kinda person, this isn't a deal for you, but, if you're a brewed coffee drinker who often goes to Starbucks, this is a great way to get free coffee (assuming you're going into Starbucks at least once a week to begin with).

The last bit of news is that Starbucks introduced a "pour-over" brewing method. The idea is that you should always be able to get a freshly brewed cup of coffee no matter when you walk into a Starbucks. So, let's say, you're at my Bucks - all we brew on a daily basis is regular Pike Place. We're not a very busy store, and it's silly for us to be brewing more than one kind of coffee every 25 minutes (which is how often Starbucks makes a new pot of brew coffee). So, using the pour-over method, we have ground Decaf Pike Place ready to go, and if you come in wanting a Decaf cup 'o joe, we'll make you your own individual cup of coffee. The ground coffee goes in a small filter, and then we pour the hot water over the grounds and the coffee brews (drips) right into your own cup. (Essentially, the baristas have become human coffee pots, because we're doing by hand, what a normal coffee pot does, automatically.) We'll see how it works out. Right now people are way confused and think we're making them instant coffee (it's not), or charging them more (we're not).

Whew! This post ended up being a heck of a lot longer than I expected. As always, I'm not trying to convince any of you to buy Starbucks. I just know that before I worked there, Starbucks intimidated me. I never knew what to order, I didn't know the lingo, I didn't know what I might like, and I'd usually just end up getting a hot chocolate. So hopefully these little updates shed some light on the 'Bux, and help those of you who may also share my weird fears.

Also - feel free to ask any other questions you may have about Starbucks! Either post them in the comments, or ask anonymously on Formspring.

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Reader Question, Answered

Keep your questions coming here!

BeeHive asked:

Do you ever miss Pensacola?

Great question! The answer is yes, and no. There are tons of things I definitely don't miss, including (but not limited to), sweet tea, Southern accents, the oppressive heat and humidity, bugs, fear of hurricanes, and more sweet tea.

Yet, I've realized there are several things that I do miss about Pensacola:

1) That it was a big city. Pensacola had tons of restaurants, stores, bars, and other important city components. Even though the geography of the city could make traveling from one part to another a bit of a challenge, it was still all there. And Anacortes just can't compete there.

2) That it had a fairly substantial sized airport. Traveling home (or anywhere) was vastly simpler when we lived in Pensacola. Drive twenty minutes to the airport, and hop a flight. Now, it's a two hour drive to the aiport in Seattle. Additionally, the Pensacola airport had lots of flights to Wisconsin, which was great for us.

3) That it was relatively closer to home than where we are now. Traveling from Wisconsin to Northern Florida is totally do-able. NavyGuy and I drove it in two days. Flights were a simple jump to Atlanta, then a short connecting flight to Milwaukee. Pensacola is also in the Central Time Zone, so it was easy to keep in touch with friends and family back home - no irritating math to try and figure out if I'm going to wake someone up or interrupt someone's workday. Northwest Washington to the Midwest is a different ball of wax - basically, you have to allot an entire day just for the trip, which cramps my jet-setting style.

4) That it had beaches. Lots of beaches. If you're going to get technical, Washington has beaches. But if I have to wear a wet suit and winter coat to go swimming, it ain't really a beach.

5) That Pensacola meant I could see lots of NavyGuy. Let me explain. When NavyGuy and I were in Pensacola together, he was still in flight school, so he'd go several days without having to do much of anything. Maybe show up for muster at 8am and then back home for the rest of the day. One or two flights a week. So, I got used to having him around. And I'll always associate Pensacola with us. It's where we started our Navy journey, and despite all the struggles, sweat (literally), and sweet tea - I'll always miss Pensacola just a little bit.

Where have you previously lived that you can now look back on fondly?

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Deployment Prep: Driving Lessons

NavyGuy is teaching me to drive stick-shift.

Let's discuss why this is complete and utter nonsense:

1) I don't like driving to begin with. As a teenager, I wasn't clamoring to get my license like all my friends. I didn't count down the days until I turned sixteen. I didn't beg for my own car. I don't actually enjoy the act of driving. I find it tedious. Obviously I do it, but if I could simply blink and go from point A to point B, eliminating all that starting and turning and braking and whatnot, I'd be giddy. (Or if beaming me from one place to another instantaneously isn't in the cards, then a chauffeur would be nice.)

2) So when I do have to drive, I like to be as comfortable as possible. With a refreshment in the cup holder next to me. A good song on the radio. Perhaps a snack. The ability to dislocate my shoulder and randomly reach into the seat behind me to reach my coat, or errant box of Cheerios that I want to snack on.

Stick-shift takes driving to an exponentially more complicated level and eliminates any of the possible comfortableness of driving. You can't eat! You can't drink! You can't change the CD! You need both hands, and both FEET to drive a stick shift. One hand on the wheel, one hand on the shifter thingy (I'm still learning the lingo), one foot on the gas, one foot on the clutch, one foot on the brake... it's humanly impossible! You have to watch like six different gauges on the dashboard, which means au revoir to being able to look at your lipstick in the rearview mirror, let alone being able to look at the road. You have to be in peak physical condition to balance the tricky "let the clutch out and push the accelerator down" at the same time (I'm sorry - if I wanted to do leg presses and work my quads, I'd go to the gym... not drive a car!).

It's too much work. NavyGuy and I have had two lessons so far, and I hate it. Don't get me wrong- NavyGuy was a shockingly good teacher. (Shockingly good - like, I didn't want to kill him at all. And we're still married). I just have no interest in stick shift driving. It feels like I have no control over the car. It jumps into gear and takes way too much work to slow down. And don't get me STARTED on trying to deal with all the hills around here; every freaking stop sign is on a hill. NavyGuy is constantly telling me "more gas, more gas" as I'm trying to get into first gear, and it took me two hours to discover that you can brake when you're in second, and it's just too much work. Give me my nice automatic, please.

Who's with me!! Why, if we've advanced to the point of automatic cars, are there still manual transmission vehicles? (NavyGuy, I'm not actually looking for an answer here, k?) Am I the only 27 year old who is just now learning to stick it?

Oh, P.S. - we're doing this because NavyGuy has a stick shift car, and he wants me to drive it while he's deployed... cuz apparently you can't just leave the car in the garage for six months. (You should have seen how red his face got at that suggestion! Like a tomato!)

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Got Questions?

BeeHive asked me a great question yesterday (which I'm working on answering), but it inspired me to finally jump on the FormSpring bandwagon. If you haven't seen this floating around the blogworld yet, it's basically a website that lets you create a profile, and then people can ask you questions anonymously. Vain? Sure. A good way to waste time? Obviously.

So...itching to delve even deeper into the insanity that is MarryingtheNavy? Click here and ask away. Crafts, wedding, cooking, Navy life, teaching, books, movies, Starbucks, or anything else you're curious about. You can submit your question anonymously, so no need to be shy! Please remember that I am a person though, and rude or inappropriate questions probably won't be answered (but probably will be shared and heckled on the blog).

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Seriously - this is why so little gets done around here...

My Thursday morning...

7:00am - Alarm goes off.
7:09am - Snooze.
7:18am - Snooze.
7:27am - Snooze.
7:36am - Finally get up.
7:37am - Watch a little Today Show.
7:52am - Turn it off when Ann Curry is allowed to speak.
8:00am - Remember that I wanted to make a card for the Poppy Seed Challenge.
8:02am - Rummage through already-made cards and see if anything can be used as a starting point.
8:10am - Realize I'm woefully short on birthday cards.
8:11am - Peruse stamps to see what birthday stamps I have.
8:15am - Remember original purpose for being in the craft room before 9am in my pajamas.
8:16am - Refocus.
8:17am - Work on Poppy Seed card.
8:38am - Set up area to take photograph of card.
8:39am - Search through the house for NavyGuy's good camera.
8:42am - Realize he probably has it in his car, or has just hidden it from me because I tend to forget to put the memory card back in it, and then when he wants to use the camera, he has to retrieve the memory card from my laptop...
8:43am - Finally take a photo of my card using my camera
8:45am - Upload card to computer.
8:46am - Futz with lighting in the photo.
8:50am - Decide that in the photograph, the yellow on my card looks orange, and therefore, I have to make a new card so there's no doubt I have yellow on my card.
9:15am - Finally finish making second card for the challenge.
9:16am - Do another hunt for the good camera just in case I missed it during my first sweep of the house.
9:20am - Admit camera defeat.
9:21am - Reconfigure set-up for photograph so there's no lighting issues this go-round.
9:23am - Upload card to computer.
9:26am - Edit photo and decide lighting is satsifactory.
9:27am - Write blog post for photo.
9:36am - Debate whether blog post makes me sound like a crazy person.
9:38am - Realize that's a moot point.
9:40am - Publish blog post.

There you have it. Almost three hours. And that was a three hours that actually produced some sort of tangible results!

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Poppy Seed Challenge

Guess what happens when you spend much of your free time diddling online?

You stumble upon crazy things! Crazy like a craft blogger whom I've been following for some time... who I only this week discovered also lives in Anacortes!!!!

I KNOW!

Oh, that's right. Many (most) of you are not paper crafting nutties and this is probably where you're going, oh great, no good story today, just a dumb artsy fartsy post... wonder if Dooce has anything new up...

But stick with me! Lisa Johnson, of Poppy Paperie, made a random reference to the "nice weather in Anacortes" a few days back and I though, huh, that's funny. I wonder what other state has a city named Anacortes. Cuz there's no way that this fabulous crafter, who DESIGNS stamps for a major rubber stamp company, lives in the same Anacortes that I do. Well Google me this and Google me that - lo and behold - Lisa lives in MY ANACORTES! (Wow, all of a sudden the town in which I cried when I first arrived has become MY town.) CRAZY! I mean, as if she wasn't cool enough already with her amazing cards, now I find out she has been stamping and crafting in the same zip code as me! (Whoa, I am not worthy.)

Disclaimer: I am not stalking this woman. I mean she does have a photo up on her blog, so should I happen to see her and recognize her at Safeway, I would in no way go up to her screaming, "OH MY GOD you're the Poppy crafty lady with the awesome designs who lives in MY TOWN!"

Anyway, this story had a point. Oh - so Lisa Johnson, of Poppy Paperie, has started some challenges on her blog. Obviously, being "neighbors" and all, I wanted to participate. The idea behind the challenges is that she gives you a few "seeds" of inspiration. The first week was to use crystals, a flower stamp, and a hint of yellow on a card.Here's my humble attempt (finished just under the wire, as they're due to be posted by 10am PST!):

I couldn't decide which flower stamp to use, but then I remembered this cherry blossom. I had originally purchased it from JoAnn's intending to use it for wedding invitations, but after a few practice runs, I realized it was a wee bit too complicated to use on 125 invitations (my invite helpers were troopers but asking them to color in 125 large cherry blossom branches may have ended the friendships). I still love this stamp though, and as we've basically officially entered spring here in Anacortes, with the dogwood/cherry blossom trees in full bloom, I was inspired.

Here's a close up shot of the stamped image. I used blender pens to lightly watercolor the flowers and branch. (Sorry for the sketchy photo quality - NavyGuy has absconded with the good camera. Grrr.) The hint of yellow required is the card base, and I was sadly out of crystals, so I substituted small crystal-like pearls to add a little bling to the flowers. So there's my first Poppy Seed Challenge. Hopefully Lisa doesn't read this and a) take out a restraining order, b) put her children into a witness protection program, or worst of all, c) disqualify my card for lacking appropriate crystals!

Thanks non-crafters for sticking this out - I'll try to post something NOT involving paper later on in the day. :)

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Tuesday

First off, whoa people. Whoa. It's just a pig. Can the pig-lovers and bacon-eaters find a way to get along? P.S. I love when posts about tea-cup pigs get more comments than an entire week's worth of posts about my actual life. I should really stick to the inane more often. :)

Moving on, I had my first day back at Starbucks. I'd been gone two weeks. Not two months, not two years. And yet, I felt useless. Oh I wasn't rusty making the drinks, and I could still run the cash register, but I wasn't on top of things. My boss had done some rearranging of our supplies, so every time I tried to restock something, I had to root around for a while or just give up and ask her where we kept it now. And there's new paperwork for our cleaning tasks. And next week Starbucks is launching a whole new way to brew coffee (a topic for a later discussion), which all the other baristas have known about for two weeks. And I'm just finding out today. I'd left at the top of my field - the employee everyone else came to with questions, and who everyone counted on - and now, not.

How much more of a transition is it going to be when / if I get back in the classroom full-time? I left teaching at the top of my field. I was teaching an advanced placement class. I was well-respected by my students, my department, my administrators. People came to me for advice, wanted my opinion on lesson plans and classroom management. I, and excuse my blatant lack of humility, was a really freaking awesome teacher. I knew how to change the toner in the copy machine for God's sake - do you know how high that will rank you in teacher world!?!?

And now I've been gone for almost two years. I keep working to get myself back in the classroom, but truthfully, it's absolutely terrifying. For as much as schools haven't changed in two years (hell, two hundred years), I feel vastly behind. I love hearing stories from HistoryGirlie about what's going on at the school I used to be a part of, but it also makes me panic. She talks about technology I'm barely familiar with, being used as an integral part of instruction (using a flip camera to teach geography? say whu?). She tells tales of enlightened discussions and debates over grading and best practices and assessments, and the concepts that are becoming common place in many classrooms. And I don't have insights to add to those discussions anymore. Nor do I even know what the "right answer" is for when a future principal interviews me for a job and asks me my views on grading or best practices or assessments.

Am I going off my nutty here? Who else is currently "not working in their field" (the oh-so-clever euphemism we use to hide the unpleasant truth that we're currently stocking shelves / waiting tables / making coffee or doing anything but what we majored in in college)? Are you worried about the knowledge gap between what you knew then, and what you're expected to know to hold the same job now? Is this just a worry of mine because I'm an anal-retentive (yes, hyphenated) perfectionist who can't bear the thought of completing a job to less than stellar reviews? (Or this is just a worry because I stood around all day searching for the extra coffee filters and using my mind for little else but random worries?)

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Debate of the Day

Cute or not?These teacup pigs were featured on last night's episode of How I Met Your Mother. I cooed, NavyGuy gagged. Which led to a serious debate. And many cries of "I want a teacup pig!"

Even now as I type this...

NavyGuy: You are NOT putting up a post about those god damn pigs!

NavyWife: Oh hell yes I am! I have to prove they're cute!

So? Vote early and often.

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Monday

*Met with a new babysitting client today. Apparently, I seemed trustworthy so she and her husband went out for lunch and left me to read a book on their couch while the 15 month old napped. Little one slept soundly for two hours, and I went home a few dollars richer.

*NavyGuy's pox arm is still not right. He checked with the Doc today and Doc thinks perhaps the shot "didn't take." And the conspiracy deepens...

*Tomorrow I go back to Starbucks after a glorious two week vacation. My barista life continues. For how long I don't know - I'm still waiting to get my permanent teaching license so I can go back to subbing, but it's in the hands of the bureaucrats at the moment, so who knows how long it will take. The Starbucks income is dwindling as of late (not only because of my frequent vacationing), but also because now that the holiday season is over, Target has drastically cut back on hours for its employees. So my 30 hours weeks are down to 18, maybe 20 hours if I'm lucky. Which means I'm half excited to go back to work tomorrow to make some moola, half bummed that I have to don the khakis and green apron again.

*The bad news continues - we couldn't go see Tally pup this past weekend. The trainer was hosting an event and didn't think he'd have time to show us around and show off what Tally had learned so far. I almost burst into tears over the whole thing - I miss that dog so much! How is that possible? She's a dog. And I've known her for all of five months. But the house is so quiet without her, and everyday I come up with some new completely irrational legitimate concern. Is Tally adjusting to the new food alright? What if she's not sleeping well at night? What if they aren't cleaning her ears? Lab ears can get very waxy, and what if Tally's ears are getting too waxy? And then she can't hear the lessons they're trying to teach her, and they think she's untrainable, but really, she just can't hear well? NavyGuy is starting to wonder if ten years of an unruly dog would have been less painful than three months of me, without the dog...

What up with all of you? Any news to report? Stories to share? Complaints to lodge?

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