Blog Evolution

      I finally got around to writing my What is Ethical Eating? post.  Have you read it yet?

      Things are evolving slowly but surely at this little blog.  I think this new blog is still finding it's voice, so to speak.  I don't know if I'll ever give over fully to a single topic blog, even though this one is a lot more focused on one particular area.  I like to keep a personal feel to my blog.

      And, truthfully, I like to rant and rave and brag on my blog.  That is, after all, why I originally started blogging WAY back in 2003.

      I wish I had more time to devote to this blog.  I haven't really pulled together the layout all the way yet, and I haven't marketed it at all (anyone want to host a guest post or in some other way pimp my blog? - I mean really, it's not often I allow myself to be pimped).

      Well, there goes the professionalism...

      Anyway, in the midst of stressing about resumes and jaw surgery (who freaking knows when THAT's going to happen now, erg) and life, I've been nursing blog thoughts in the back of my mind.  I have a LOOONG list of posts to be written and ideas, but little time to write them.

      Oh, and the entire structure of the Marine Corps Legal System is changing - the WHOLE THING.  Top to bottom - by 1 August.  I may be getting a completely different promotion than I thought.  Which might be cool.  We'll see.  At this point it's just more on my plate, more confusion and more responsibilities on top of an already doubled caseload.  And yes, I'm complaining, but don't let that make you think I don't love my job.  I do love my job, I just wish I had more time, or personnel, or resources to do more to help my clients.  It's frustrating.

      For the blog, I've been trying to develop a logo.  I roughly have what I want in mind,  but since I suck at art (and design, and creativity), I'm having trouble getting it out of my brain and onto paper and/or a computer screen.  This is made more complicated by 1) the fact that the blog is getting one final name change that I'm not yet willing to disclose for legal reasons, and 2.) I am completely unwilling to pay for a new logo for a blog I don't use to make money or even promote my career.

      But, hey, if you know anyone who might be up to kick around some logo ideas, send them my way!

      Father's day is Sunday.  The day after I stand duty all night long (not to mention all day Saturday).  I will get home from duty at around 0800 Sunday morning, just in time to kick off all MacGyver's Father's Day fesivities.  And Punky is really relying on me to help her make it great for him.  So I suppose I'll be sleeping at work on Monday.

      Right...

      Oh, and the gifts I ordered for him haven't arrived yet (correction, they came last night, I hid the box, and just remembered that; I still haven't even opened it).  And I still should get him at least one more gift but I haven't the faintest clue what (or when!).  Well, I have some ideas, but I'm really iffy on them.  Erg.  Feel free to weigh in on the Pinterest board MacGyver Gift Ideas.  I'm excited to make Father's Day great for him and also dreading how much this weekend is going to drain me.

      I'm still deep in the baby fever.  So much so that I'm considering cancelling the aforementioned jaw surgery.  I have an appointment this month.  If they won't schedule me, I may just say screw it.  I'm sick of having my life on hold for this ridiculousness.  And I'm pretty sick of having braces, too.  I also thought I was pregnant last month.  I was exhausted, easily nauseated, had a bunch of other little signs, and was "late."  It's good that I'm not pregnant because I have an IUD, but still, I was saddened by the negetive test - irrational as that may be. 

      And it's not just baby fever, I'm also having anniversary fever!  Being on Pinterest hasn't made it any easier to try to resist planning the 5 year Anniversary party and vow renewal/handfasting.  There's a Pinterest board for that, too.  I am telling myself I won't start planning until after our 4 year anniversary in August, but it's so hard.  Next summer is going to be INSANE.

      Flintstone learned a new word this morning: Xena!

      I loved Xena when it was originally on when I was young, and I had a renewed love affair with the show when it was on syndacation every morning when I was in law school.  I would sit in bed in the morning, drink tea or coffee, and watch Xena while waking up before going to work.  I still love that show, as does Punky (though there are episodes I won't let her watch).  Sadly, I almost never get to watch it because we don't have TV, when we do watch anything on the projector it's almost never Xena (currently it's Daria - another AWESOME classic - which Flintstone often wanders around singing the theme song to), and the only time I'd really like to watch it is in the mornings, but MacGyver and Flintstone are both asleep when I'm getting ready in the mornings.  So, very little Xena for me unless MacGyver is out of town, then I put it on in the mornings.

      So this morning, MacGyver and Flintstone happened to be up while I was getting ready.  MacGyver, being the best husband anyone has ever had, put on Xena.  There was much playing with the Flintstone - hiding under blankets and other antics.  He didn't really want to leave when it was time to go; he wanted to stay and play with Daddy more.

      I took Flintsone out to the entryway, put on his shoes, turned around to pick up my bag, and he was gone.  He took off down the hall, reached up, turned the doorknob to the bedroom (for the first time), threw his little hands up and triumphantly declared "Xena!"  Too freaking adorable. 

      Times like that make me REALLY want to call off work.  Like that's an option...

      The gardens are doing great, though some of the plants are suffering from the heat.  My herbs (except the dill which cooked in the sun) are going GANGBUSTERS.  The chickens are as hilarious as ever - like a pack of odd dogs.  The actual dogs and the cat are neurotic as ever.  Our house is swarming with tree frogs - it's awesome.  Except that the cat has caught at least one, which I rescued, but I'm not sure if he was in a survivable condition when I released him.

      The koi pond for Flintstone's room is in, we just have to pick up the koi some weekend.  We're also putting a fishtank in his room, but MacGyver still has to build the special case for it.  Kid freaking loves fish.  And then we move Flintstone into the room.  I'm a little nervous about how that's going to go.  He currently sleeps on a mattress on the floor in our room, but he'll be 3 months from today, so it's time.  Plus it's sad to have such an adorable room for him but it's only a playroom right now. 

      So much going on that I just want to chat about, but just no time to do it.  I've been tyring to hit up all of your blogs a lot more regularly.  Annnnd just as I was getting ready to post this, the power went out and the backup failed, so what was supposed to be posted yesterday is getting posted today.

Less Than a Year

      There are some adorable pictures that go with this post.  But stipid effing blogger isn't cooperating and won't let me post them.  To see them, check out my new Instagram account.  My name is CheapWine42.

      It dawned on my yesterday morning - in one of those moments where reality suddenly fills the room with a whooomp and knocks the breath out of you - that it is now less than a year until I expect to get out of the Marine Corps.

      Except the part where MacGyver today said, "Well, if X, Y, and Z, maybe you should stay in."  Yeah, well, the Marine Corps doesn't usually make garuntees, so I'm thinking I'll probably still be getting out.  We'll see.  The future, as always, remains flexible.

      But less than a year.  That's big.  I STILL have not written my résumés, or started my packages to resign and enter the reserves.  I haven't launched the mediation and new guardian ad litem programs in Legal Assistance, nor have I written the 5 or 6 new web pages I plan to have up before I transition to MOJO (Military Justice = prosecution).

     Oh, and did I mention that I'm supposed to be getting in touch with people about the position I was offered with the ABA a couple weeks ago?  Yeah, haven't even had time to think about that. 

      I don't think less than a year would feel like quite such a squeeze if the busy-ness factor didn't continue to ramp up.  June - and I'm still thoroughly in denial that it IS June - is already jam pack scheduled.

      And so, even though it will make for a rather un-entertaining post, here is a chaotic and disorganized rundown of what's going on and what's coming up in my little Earthworm world:

      Last week was a short week because of the holiday, which made for a mad short week anyway, but that was exacerbated by the fact that I had to stand duty (a 33 hour shift with almost no sleep) during the week, too, and had to pick up Flintstone from daycare early one day because he had diareah.  (Don't know what caused it, but he was fine, and happy to be out of school early).  And all hell broke lose with something I had been very excited about involving Punky and now I don't know where that stands, but there won't be any details here until everything's final - whatever final happens to mean for this case.

      Friday came before I even realized Wednesday was over, and we were off to meet some friends for a Potluck.  That turned out to be a really wonderful and fun night.  We got into a conversation about religion and Kevin Smith (I LOVE KEVIN SMITH - LOVE), and ended up back at our place watching Dogma (one of my favorite movies of all time).  On VHS.  It was epic. 

       When I was 16, Dogma literally changed my life.  But that's another post.

      Sadly, because we ended up being up so late Friday night (and because Flintstone slept in until almost 9 Saturday!!!!), we missed the highway cleanup we had been looking forward to helping with.  We needed to get some new clothes for the kids for summer and maybe some stuff for Flintstone's new room, so we spent the rest of the day Saturday hitting up the thrift stores - not just cost effective, but better for the environment, too!  I was super excited when I disovered that one local thrift store we had wanted to visit for a long time but never made it to had an amazing book selection.  I only got 4 books that trip, but there WILL be more trips there soon!

      Sunday morning church was awesome as always, and inspired what I hope will be a post sometime in the near future.  Sunday afternoon was "relaxing," meaning cleaning, cooking, gardening, etc.  It wasn't all work, though, there was a good chunk of time devoted to some kiddie pool fun.

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       And just when you think the weekend is over, a weekend function rears it's head on a Monday night.  Last night (because I wrote this post yesterday), we went to a wonderful meet and greet function for a local organic farm.  The function was hosted by a wonderful organization here in town that attempts to bring together all the local, organic, sustainable producers.  It was a lovely and informative evening, and we'll be attending another soon.

      This week, I've been knocking work down pretty fast and shrinking my insane pile of cases.  I even organized my office again (something I do about once a month to make up for the fact that I am not at all organized in between).  This morning I have court for a few hours, but I think I'll have to deal the case out.  The judge, I'm told, is a total hammer.

      Friday afternoon, I have a work party at the beach.  Two hours after that, MacGyver, the kids, and I are heading over to spend the night with some homeless families for Family Promise again.  On Saturday, aside from trying to get stuff done around the house, we also have another local food lecture to attend.  Sunday morning, after church, we will be attending the river cleanup that we had planned to do Mother's Day, but which was postponed due to rain.

      The weekend after that, I stand duty again - on a Saturday!  And I won't get to sleep at all when I get home Sunday morning because the church service will be special for Father's Day.  Then the Father's Day festivities will begin.  Which I still have to plan!  AAAAH! (Real Monsters) 

      Oh, and my old boss should be leaving around that time and I should be getting a new boss.  So that will make work - different - for a while.

      Then I have the Gas Chamber - Marine training where - you guessed it - I get gased, ugh, coming up again. 

      And at the end of the month - finally! - we're going on vacation.  Camping in Wisconsin with a few stops on the way up there.

      So yeah, June is looking pretty crazy.

      Oh, and did I mention that we also got an offer on the house?  And we decided to sell it, then we started to get everything together for that and changed our minds.  In case we move back to that area.  But that thought stresses me out even more because that house doesn't have enough land for the farm I want.  But MacGyver thinks it does.  We'll see.  It all depends on where I get a job.

      If I ever write my resume...

      Sorry for such a stress laden post!  If it makes you feel any better, I'm actually really, really happy.  I'm just very, very busy - but it's all good stuff!  With the possible exceptions of standing duty and getting gassed.  The kids are happy.  Flinstone's genius continues to develop - though we had a potty training setback because the potties at his school are autoflush.  Erg.  Otherwise, he's smart, helpful, sweet, and happy as a clam.  Punky made honor roll again, though one of her grades dropped to a B, so she missed straight A's by thismuch.  Still pretty darned awesome even though I know she was a little disappointed.  MacGyver's energy and drive - especially on the pro bono community projects he's working on right now - continue to amaze me.

      All the animals are happy and healthy, and soon we will be gifted three 9 year old koi fish.   So the other day, Flinstone and I spent a couple hours digging a big hole to put the pond in.



       Now, as it turned out, MacGyver had changed his mind about where he wanted the pond...  But Flintstone and I - and a couple of the chickens - still had fun digging the hole.  Plus, the new location for the pond is right outside the window of what is soon to be Flinstone's new room.  He is SOOO excited.  He loves fish.  Loves.  Just like MacGyver.

      Ah, there is so much to tell, and no time at all.  I was supposed to leave for court 8 minutes ago.  I miss you all!  Visit you soon, I promise!