Seriously Christmasy Up in This Bitch

Holiday Crap

So, post Turkey Day we did what has become the annual tradition in the Pu-R household (heretofor known as the Pur household), we decorated the house for Christmas. This is a 4-5 hour process that involved much cursing, spreading of dust and a wide variety of cleaning efforts afterwards. If you are picturing a loving family carefully placing their family heirloom ornaments on the tree in harmony, you are sadly mistaken. In the Pur household, we just get the shit out of the way. I promise I'll post some pics tonight when I get home, but you trust me when I say it is seriously Christmasy up in this bitch (as Hubs commented). C & I were allowed to take out the Menorah this year. My Catholic-rasied Hubs eyeballed it warily, but did not protest (much) when I gave it the coveted spot on the Tibetan piece in the LR (probably b/c it blends in with all the other shit we have up there). Hopefully we'll remember to actually light the candles this year since J has passed the stage of wanting to eat them. Also, when the hell did they start playing Chritmas music before Thanksgiving? I though that was the one prerequisite to the start of the retail holiday season, but evidently that hard and fast rule has gone out the window, too!
Gettin' Serious For a Minute

I really wanted to say thanks to everyone who commented on my pity party about separating from the military. It really is a big deal to me, and your comments were most appreciated. I came across this quote while doing research for an unrelated project, but I thought I would share it with you anyway!
"It's not only children who grow. Parents do too. As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours. I can't tell my children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach for it, myself." ~Joyce Maynard
More Random Pu for You
As some of you may know, one of my most favoritist books of all time is Edith Wharton's House of Mirth, so I was excited to come across this article. Having never taken college English (My AP scores were high enough that I didn't have to, tee hee), I guess I never realized there was any controversy over it. I always thought it was pretty evident that Lily had commited suicide. How anyone could think that EW had written the meaning vaguely is beyond me. I thought she made it pretty clear that Lily had fallen so far that there was no other way for her. So now I'm curious to hear what other people think. So share, dammit! ;)
Also, I must comment that I seriously hate SIPRnet. Seriously. Hate it. Not as much as DTS, but hate it none the less...that is all

Gobble, Gobble

I know, I know, I've been completely remiss in my posting duties lately. I am uber-busy with work and homelife, so I appologize, but you're all going to have to be patient with me. Thanksgiving was a nice, small affair with just immediate family and the plumber who can to fix our drain ($200!!). Hopefully the landlord won't give us a hard time about reimbursing us for the bill. Things are seriously in the works as far as career moves go, but I am loathe to say anythng until I have absolute confirmation as to what we are doing. I don't want to mislead anyone (including myself!) until I know for sure that all the little bumps in the road have been dealt with, but my separation paperwork is currently making its way through the various rounds of signatures it needs before I can send it over to the MPF for processing. If all goes well, I should be released from active duty as early as sometime in January.

This is a difficult move for me, in spite of the fact that I'm doing it to avoid being deployed to a war zone with three children at home. I have been the military for all of my adult life. It is more than a job to me. It has become a way of life and a part of my identity. It may sounds strange, but if I was asked to describe myself, I would say that I am a woman, a mother and a wife, and a military officer. It's going to be very hard for me to adjust to the thought of just being an ordinary citizen. The decision to separate was not difficult, given the circumstances, but I am terrified in some ways of no longer having that security blanket. Plus, I don't know shit about health insurance.

Back to the Hollywood AF

Back home from Omaha. Still at home b/c, as per usual, the airline lost my luggage, so I had to wait here for them to deliver it. Oh well, at least this time they lost it when I was on my way home, so I'm not out of clothes or anything. I got home at about 10:30 last night, and Hubs was the happiest I think I've ever seen him. He rushed up and gave me a big hug, handed me 2 screaming kids, a dirty diaper, and a half-full bottle and ran out the door screaming, "Free at last!" Okay so maybe it wasn't quite that bad, but let's just say I was definately missed (although Hubs had to caveat that by adding, "At least the house stayed clean while you were gone."). J was super-excited to see me, but I couldn't help noticing that A seems to have more of an affinity for his BS than for me, and that just breaks my heart. I know it's only natural that A will be more in tune with the people he spends the most time with, but I can't help feeling devastated b/c that should be me! It's the trap all working moms fall into, especially when you have more than one child. I get so little alone time with A. Usually our time together consists of feeding him until he falls asleep. Even on weekends, my attention is divided between three kids and a husband, so we get very little solo time together. I know there really isn't anything I can do about it, but BS doesn't make it any better with her little snide comments about how A prefers it there and thinks of her house as his home. It just makes me want to strangle her (even though I know she's not trying to hurt my feelings).

Anyway, onto less depressing subjects. I'm getting some good job leads, but I don't want to jinx anything by saying too much. Let's just say there's a good chance we may stay here in LA in a non-mil capacity, but I'm also going to be making a trip to DC in the near future to explore some opportunities out there. I promise I'll keep you all updated as things progress.

Also, I must put in my 2 cents on the Next Iron Chef who is so obviously going to be Chef Besh. Not that I haven't enjoyed the show, but, honestly, there really hasn't been much suspense. Other than the very first episode, I have accurately predicted who was going home each week which sort of takes some of the fun out of it. I have to say, though, I am really looking forward to next week when they actually battle it out in kitchen stadium.

Now I'll leave you with some pics I've been meaning to post from when my moms & sis wuz here. Enjoy!

Postin' on the Road

Back in Omaha. Boo. Of course, no kids = yay. So it's not all bad ;) Poor Hubs. This is first time alone with all three kids, and I think they are eating him alive. I tried calling, but all I heard was, "Stop that! Get over here! Oh god, it's got hold of my leg! Aghhhhhh!" So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everyone's alive and in one piece when I get home :)

I keep forgetting to give a shout out to my sis, MR, who turned me onto this great kids show called Yo Gabba Gabba (I know, I know, I seriously need a life outside of my kids). Seriously, though, even if you don't have kids, you will love this show. It was totally designed for those of us raised in the 80's. Of course, all this Gabba Gabba time has started to affect other parts of my life. For instance, I can no longer eat without giving a shout out to my food. It's a little awkward since I usually eat lunch at my desk.

Me: Hey, sushi!
Me: *in a really high-pitched, sushi voice* Yeaaaaaah?!
Me: *in my normal voice* In my tummy, party party
Me: *in a really high-pitched voice* Yeaaaaaah!
Me: *dancing around my cubicle* There's a party in my tummy, so yummy, so yummy!
Random Coworker: Um...Are you alright in there?

It only get's really weird when I get to the part where my uneaten food starts to cry. Yeah, I know, I really need to get a hobby outside of my kids *sigh*

Halloweenies

Angry Sheep Sleepy Sheep

Witches Counting Their Booty

C & Friend Pre-Treat'n

Witches and Their Sacrificial Lamb

Still Kickin'

Sorry I've been a ghost blogger as of late. October was a bit of a hectic month for me, and November doesn't look like it's going to be much different. In early Oct, my moms came to visit and we got to spend some serious quality time together even if it was only for a few days. Then mid-month was our huge base exercise, which I was very heavily involved in. I was pretty much incognito from even my own family for a week. Now we're in the after action & reporting phase (yippee). Next week I'm headed back to Omaha (my favorite place) for more exercise planning. Kids are all alive and well. C & J went to the dentist this past week and discovered they both have cavaties *sigh* So that's $800 out of pocket for dental expenses (god, I miss being overseas!). Evidently preemies and babies who have health issues during their last few months in the womb are more suseptable to getting cavaties because their baby teeth are not formed properly (a little bit o' trivia for ya). Unfortunately, because J is so young, they're actually going to have to sedate her so they can fill her cavaties. So I am taking the day off tomorrow (you're supposed to stay home with them to make sure there aren't any adverse affects from the sedation drugs) to be with her, so hopefully I will have a chance to post pictures then b/c I had some seriously cute Halloweenies this year.

C, J, & I were a coven of witches, and A was our sacrificial lamb (actually, he was more of a sleepy sheep --props to Sandra Boynton-- since he slept the whole time we were out trick-or-treating). We went with a couple of C's friends from school, and it was a lot more fun going with a big group of people. J had an awesome time. She was in total rapture that all these people were handing her candy, and mommy wasn't trying to take it away! :) She did have a small issue with normal Halloween protocal...

*We approach a sweet old lady handing out candy at her door*

Me: What do you say?
J: My candy!

Then, when we got up this morning, J sleepily rubbed her eyes and looked around in a dazed and confused manner. "Where my candy?" she asked. Clearly she has her priorities!

We also went to Hubs' friend's haunted house. Hubs participated in the event (he's the scary monster on the far left), and I brought the kids over after they were done tricks'n and treats'n. C tried to pretend she wasn't scared, but she refused to go back in after we went through it. J did NOT like it at all. Hubs' friend and co-worker was also participating and he jumped out to scare us, he saw J's lip start to tremble, so he immediately took off his mask and treid to reassure her, but she was having no part of it!