Monthly Archives: October 2006

Sewing

Ladies and Gents… we have a winner

Posted on by Jean

Well.   I certainly didn’t think anyone would get it already.   Lisa must have scoured the internet for every photo of every stadium in the world.  She was the only one who got it right.   A pound of the lovely lavender will be winging it’s way across the Atlantic to her this week.

We’re running the 10K at Panathinaiko Stadium in Athens the first weekend in November.   We will be in Athens for less than 24 hours.  How dumb are we?  We were so focused on being home in time to put the kids to bed on Sunday night that we didn’t even think about going on Friday afternoon and actually relaxing for a bit.  We will probably exert more energy trying to make our early afternoon flight back to Germany than we will during the race.  Poor planning.  Actually there was no planning what-so-ever.  We got excited and jumped in.  We’ll still have a blast and we’re still SO excited.  I’ve been to Greece before but Pam hasn’t.  Our hotel is right in the thick of things and the race course goes right by all the main attractions.   Gives a whole new meaning to a quick trip.

I’ve been sewing again.  We have the Wives’ Club Bazaar this weekend.  It’s a pretty big deal over here.  I’m making bags for the Ways and Means table (money that goes back into the club to help run it).  The Army changed uniforms recently.   So what to do with all those old Battle Dress Uniforms?  Get creative!

Trust me.  WAY cuter in person.  They are lined with the T-shirts that they wore with these uniforms.  I also made up large messenger bags and wine gift bags and little tissue holders.  I’ll share the pictures once I get more done.  I need to get back to the sewing machine.  The bazaar starts on Friday! 

My load will greatly be relieved come November 1st.  Soccer will be over and we’ve decided to put off the Tae Kwon Do until we get back to the States and the boys can join a proper class that isn’t so late in the evening.  That’s FIVE, count ’em, FIVE days a week we’ll get back the afternoons and evenings.  Whew.   Maybe I’ll actually have time to pick up the needles again.

During breakfast I’ve started reading to the boys.  The book we started this morning is Here Lies the Librarian.  They both love it.  This author, Richard Peck, is fantastic.   Daniel read one of his other books in class and I got hooked on him.

Family, Travel

18 Saturdays

Posted on by Jean

That’s how the boys and I count down the rest of the deployment.   We have 18 Saturdays left.  It’s so much more easy to swallow than 127 days.   Thank God because I’m about at the end of my rope.  Single parenthood is for the birds.  I don’t know how people do it on a permanent basis.  I am on the go from the time I slap the snooze button for the last time at 6:15 until the boys are in bed at 8:30.  Doesn’t help that I’m a moron and started the boys in Tae Kwon Do before the soccer season was over.  We have something every single day of the week now.  Even on Sundays there is Mass and CCD (and I’m the Religious Ed Coordinator so I have to work that day). 

We did get to spend about an hour with Dan (sort of) a couple of weeks ago.  He was promoted to CW3 via video conferencing (think really high speed web cam).  It was nice.  He was actually promoted on September 1st but held off on the ceremony until all his troops were back in Afghanistan from R&R.

I have good days and I have bad days.  I’ve told you all a little about my “battle buddy”, Pam.  She has been my rock.  Always there and we always seem to be on the same sheet of music.  Her husband is in Iraq and due home in December.  She has three kids and two of them are younger than the boys AND she has a full-time job.  On top of that, her husband had only been home from Iraq for about eight months before he had to leave again on this deployment.  We had three full years between Dan’s deployments and that was hard enough.  It just stinks no matter how you look at it but she always has a positive spirit and keeps me laughing.  I mean that awesome gut-busting kind of laughter where you start tearing up.  You can see why she’s my hero and I’m so proud to call her my friend.

We’re training to run together in the Berlin Half Marathon in April.  She ran it last year.  Both guys will be home by then and it’s our Grand Finale to the deployments to come out strong.  So I’m going to have a little contest to liven things up around here.  We’re running in a 10K next month to keep us motivated.  The prize?  A full pound of the lavender yarn I have up in the last post.  If I can’t sell it, I might as well give it away. Your mission, should you accept it, is to tell me where we’ll be running.  I’ll take all the correct answers and draw a name from them.  Don’t spoil the fun and put it in the comments, email your answer.  I’ll give a hint per post until I get the right answer.   I have a feeling someone will get it right off though.  Here’s the first hint:

On the knitting front I picked up the shawl kit that I bought in Shetland.  It’s a simple lace pattern but I’m having a heck of a time getting it set up and going.  Could be because I’m trying to watch “The Unit” while I’m knitting.  lol.