everything's just wonderful

I kicked last week’s ass.

Caitlin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:38:03 +0000

Genuinely. I’m working on not having a total shit attitude, and I think it’s working. I write to Cliff every day, usually twice a day, because by the evening, I have so much to tell him that it warrants another letter in addition to the one I wrote in the morning. Plus I was assuming that he enjoyed reading all of those things, and he confirmed today that he really enjoys getting my letters. I had his family all write on a card to send to him as well. He misses them quite a lot.

So anyhow, I finished up all of my school work except for one final because it’s not yet posted. I also kept my house spotless (except for the rug under the dining table, and that’s only because I can’t actually MOVE the dining table on my own–it’s so heavy). I got a lot of things accomplished at work. And I made it through alive and mostly happy.

I miss Cliff more and more each day, but I also get used to being alone more and more each day. Overall, I feel like that is a good thing, not a sad thing, especially since Cliff will be gone for around 8 months of this year. I should become accustomed to spending time alone.

Sorry to end this post on a depressing note. Wait, I totally don’t have to. I’ve lost 16.5 pounds since the beginning of January. Wahoo!

Weekends have become extremely productive for me. is

Caitlin — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 01:09:41 +0000

All the laundry in my house is washed, dried, folded, and put away. Even the bedding. The dishes are all done. Floors swept and vacuumed. Bathroom is clean. Bills are paid and filed. Homework is done. Dogs are fed and walked. Clothes are laid out for tomorrow. I’m baking some banana bread. What now?

I guess I can google videos on how to most effectively fold a fitted sheet. Don’t be jealous of my life.

Grilled cheese & Jesus

Caitlin — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 15:19:59 +0000

I have been lurking on several facebook pages so I can have some sympathizers and learn about the process. There is an AF WingMoms page that has so much info. Today, everyone started posting things like “Happy Grilled Cheese & Jesus ….WOOOHOOOOOOO WOT6….AKA “the BEAST” GO GETTEM PREDATORS!!! 321/149.” Uh. Okay. So I started creeping their page and learned so much. Sunday is called Grilled Cheese & Jesus because they serve grilled cheese for Sunday lunch. WOT is week of training (suspected this one already…). In Week 6, the trainees head to BEAST which is something like “Basic Expeditionary Airmen Skills Training” I believe–essentially it is a fake deployment. Every Training Squadron has a mascot and 321 TRS’ is the Predator. Then the parent or SO will write the TRS and the Flight for their trainee so they can connect with others who have loved ones in the same flight.

Happy grilled cheese & Jesus to everyone. I might just have a grilled cheese for lunch today. Solidarity and all. ;)

Lucky break

Caitlin — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 23:05:09 +0000

So Cliff finally called me last night. This is the call where the AB can only read off of a postcard which is then mailed to your contact. Essentially, they are only allowed to say that they have arrived at BMT and that they are fine. Then they read us their mailing address, and WTF Air Force, why would you make all of these AB say Truemper Street over a fuzzy connection? No one knows what that is. Anyways, then they tell us to contact them through our local Red Cross in case of emergency. After that, I asked if he could say anything else and he just kind of chuckled and said “I love you.” So that was the end of the card. I, of course, was like “I love you, I love you, I love you” and he just had to say goodbye. I was proud of myself for not crying even a little bit. I could feel it brewing, but most of the time we were talking, I spent trying to figure out what the heck Truemper Street was and how it was spelled.

So I wrote one more letter today and stuffed it into the same envelope as the letter I had waiting to mail. I checked on facebook today and found the AF BMT page as well as a group for his squadron. So I have been on there creeping the photos and seeing what is going on during other flights’ BMT since there isn’t anything up for his flight yet. :/ I have a feeling I will be creeping that page frequently. I’m glad that I have some experience working for the DAF because that simplified a lot of things; I am not as confused about the process or the lingo as I would be had I never been in a flight or a squadron myself. There is a lot shown on the BMT detail video that I know Cliff is going to have a blast doing, including the pugil stick fighting and M-16 disassembly and reassembly. It makes me feel a little bit better about that terrible 0 Week Lunch video I saw on youtube. :(

My neighbor was mowing his back yard today and I went out to talk to him for a few minutes when I noticed that they had built a composting area. They’re going to try and start a garden this spring! Such a good idea–I was afraid that we wouldn’t be allowed to till the ground in this yard, and the idea of a raised bed had never occurred to me. So I think I am going to try and accomplish one of my biggest all-time goals: to eat food grown in my own garden. It’s on, nature.

After that, I left to run some errands and swing by the post office to mail Cliff’s letter. While I was at WalMart, I decided that I definitely had to go through self checkout since in my basket were the following items: four frozen lunches for next week, a notebook, and a box of envelopes. Nothing screams “pathetic!” quite like that combo.

Now I’m off to dinner with Nicole–we are having some Billy Sims Barbecue. I can’t get enough of their pulled pork. So heavenly! I’m in a much better mood today than I was yesterday or the day before, thank goodness for that. Here’s to hoping I stay on the upswing over the weekend.

This is mostly me whining.

Caitlin — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 03:58:34 +0000

I hate being apart from Cliff. Today was worse than yesterday. He called to tell me he made it and he was safe; I could hear the TIs yelling in the background, and it really made me realize what he’s about to go through for 8 1/2 weeks. Feeling sorry for myself aside, Cliff is the one who is really facing the challenge. It’s hard for me to reconcile feeling bad for myself because I’m lonely and I miss my husband with feeling bad for him because he’s embarking on this really difficult thing. He will get through it and I will, too, but it just sucks. I wish March 16th was tomorrow.