Death Comes in Threes

At least this post isn't about people dying. But it's about dying nonetheless.

Most of you know that D and I are having quite the week. Short version- our only car died on Monday which caused a lot of stress and panic. (By me) We figured out that it was our alternator and saved ourselves at least $275 by installing it ourselves on Tuesday.

Then our laptop power cord died... after we installed the alternator. No power cord- no laptop. The car was working so I was at peace with waiting for a newly ordered cord to ship to us.

Today the power cord arrives. The laptop has power!

And, also, the car died....again. While D and another coastie were working on the car the SAR* alarm went off. Just my luck.

While I'm hogging sleeping in my comfy bed tonight our car must spend hers on base. Alone. Behind a secured gate. (At least she'll have a great view, right?) Depressing music will play in the background as she tells the wandering deer stories about the good-old-days.She'll shed a little oil tear when she flashes back to earlier in the day when the little pup had his head out the window, tongue flapping in the breeze as I enjoyed my new ipod playlist.

Start workin', girly!

Soooo... in an attempt to relax and be calm here are some lovely pictures that I took while taking dinner to D last night.

Now I'm off to attempt to melt my worries away in the tub and then finish my onesie project.**

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*S.A.R.: Search and Rescue

**Onesie project: a post about this will come after Saturday.

The Inner Nerd Confesses

Less than a week ago I was watching a small fry when we decided to watch a movie. Not being able to decide on a dvd I checked the tv schedule to see if anything might be airing. I found that the The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe movie had started five minutes prior.

This is a story that I've been dying to read since I was in elementary school. Every time I went to the school library I picked up the book to check out but, for some reason, I always put it back. After watching the movie for about fifteen minutes I was thrilled to find that it's like a kid version of Lord of the Rings. (Let's just say that I probably know more about Lord of the Rings than you think I do. Enough to argue with correct D.)

So this morning I was offered a chance to borrow the series to read.

Uhh... didn't know there are seven books. Seven!

Confession: I'm half- way through the first book.

In fact, I'm only writing this blog post at 12:36am as a way to break myself from the book before I feed my inner nerd cookies and put her to bed. Okay, Okay, I'm going to sneak in a recorded episode of My Life As Liz but only so I'm caught up on the show.

Speaking of which...

Someone recently commented that I love Liz so much because I am Liz.

Told that to D.

He said, "What? No. You're not even close to being as cool as Liz."

He's right. She probably doesn't calculate, based on today's readings, how fast she'd get through a seven-book series...

...On her calendar.

Because It's Saturday

If your brother calls you at the crack of dawn to find out if you're surviving the potential tsunami warning he might be totally freaking out extremely concerned that you didn't know about it.

J: "HOW can YOU NOT know about it!? You LIVE in a TSUNAMI area!!!"

Wifey: "Uhhh...well I did just wake up."

After being up really late. Organizing my closet. Until 2:00am. 

Big bro is calling me at 7:00am.

On a Saturday. 

I don't watch the news. 

Especially at 7:00am.

On a Saturday.  

He probably doesn't want to hear you say that you'll call your coastie husband to get the scoop... you know... when you get a moment. (All this phone chattiness is severely cutting into my sleeping in time.)

He probably doesn't want to know that you spent most of your day turning your dining room into an invitation sweat shop with your new Cricut cartridges as a way to block out a recent bad day and procrastinate housework.

And.not.really.caring about the tsunami warning. 

Water was high but not alarming. 

But I do appreciate the concern, big brother!

Yesterday and Today

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

AST

It's been a long, long time since I've posted anything pertaining to the Coast Guard. Well, despite the posts about where we live. The days of fretting if it would work out, the countdown until D left, and the anticipation of him coming home feels like so long ago.

We've been at our first station about 6 months and in that time D has been working hard to obtain his qualifications. It's also time that he's taken to think about what rate (job) he'd like to pursue. After lots of debating he's finally decided to pursue the AST route to become a rescue swimmer.

D had to pass a couple physicals to make sure he was fit to fly. As of late last month his name was officially added to the waiting list to attend the Airman program. Rescue swimming is the hardest job, not to mention the most physically demanding, within the Coast Guard so the Airman program is a way to weed through those who will not make it to rescue swimming A-school. D has been working on becoming boat crew qualified and the Airman program will make him flight crew qualified.

D is able to check the list once a month to check on his status. As of today he's number 88 out of 96. This makes his wait about 8 months. This means a move is in our future to a location near us. It could be as close as Astoria or somewhere within Washington or Oregon.

The Airman program is about 4 months long. If D successfully finishes it then he will move on to attend A-school in South Carolina. This is about 6 months long with EMT training in Petaluma tacked on at the end. I can't remember if I can go with D to South Carolina but I will most likely spend my time back in California, with family. I've already survived two loooong months of D being gone so I'm hoping I can do it again... plus another 4 months added on top.

If D completes A-school he will graduate as a rescue swimmer. Then it'll be time for a new station in a new location.

Check out the movie The Guardian if you'd like to see what rescue swimming entails. They actually have real Coast Guard people and snips of A-school in the movie. Plus, you'll get to see the Alaskan cave (at the end) that's located around the corner from our house.

Betcha didn't know that southern Washington is that close to Alaska.
 
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If you're not a Kevin Costner or Ashton Kutcher fan you can read more about rescue swimming here.

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy

Today I drove up to Portland to pick myself up a washer and dryer.... finally.

Actually I rode along for the ride as I drive a tiny, plastic car. My neighbor was kind enough to volunteer her driving and trailer to help me out.

I have to admit that I'm not entirely happy with the set that I purchased. I had a set picked out and when I called the seller to tell her when I'd be coming she didn't respond. She didn't call me back until 8am this morning. So given that change of events I was forced to find the next best thing. I'm still trying to change the picture in my head of the set I wanted versus what I now have.

Bottom line- I'm so, so, so happy to have them no matter what. Doing laundry on the base or relying on neighbors gets very old. Tomorrow I'll be making a trip into town to pick up some hoses and a cord because I guess I'd like them to run.

It's so nice to be able to use my laundry room for that purpose instead of the-room-that-the-trashcan-occupies.

 

Notice that nice blue paint on the wall? 

Someone got a little too excited in anticipation of the washer and dryer and painted like a mad woman.

.... She will not be named.

Long Walks On the Beach

For the past couple of days I've been sporting a head cold/ sinus infection. When I'm not blowing my nose, trying to breathe through my mouth, becoming best friends with my neti pot, and having no desire to eat I've been willingly stranded on the island of our couch. After, sadly, my fifth episode of recorded 7th Heaven D decided that I needed to get outside for a little bit. To the beach we went with the curious pup.

 

  

A little excited to be out

 

Watching D (black dot) in the water

 

Pointing, weakly, at some birds

 

Our first catch

 

  

  

  

Interrupting my shot... thanks. 

 

Much better

 

  

My favorite picture of the day. I love that you can barely see the pup... and he's up to no good.