Friday, July 31, 2009

Why?

So Ranger Man's upcoming TDY (#4 this summer? can't keep track) got pushed WAY back. As in, he should be home for longer than he's ever been home before (which, at 5 weeks, isn't much of a record to break).

So why, then, is this happening at the same time that my job is taking me away and OUT OF TOWN every other weekend? I'm a freaking library associate, what is with the odd hours and the travel all of a sudden?

No, I'm not bitter.

And why do I think it is incredibly adorable (in a hot and handsome sort of way, of course) that Ranger Man is playing on a soccer team? I'm not a fan of team sports, as a rule, but I think this is great. The soccer team should only last a couple weeks or two, but it amuses me, and I've not even seen him play! I had the same reaction when he played football in Super Secret Army land once. and I am SO not a football fan.

Also, I want to know why I love knitting brightly colored socks, but I will never wear them anywhere. Especially not in Georgia- they're wool! It's hot! I'm getting way ahead on Christmas knitting this summer, but I can't resist casting on socks for me as well (my feet are small- socks are almost instant gratification sometimes). I'll never wear them, but I love making them. why?

This weekend will be full of writing, knitting and enjoying home-ness.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Boring Life

Apparently, I gave myself too much credit when I said that I outsmarted Webster. As much as he loved his bed with the towel covering it, as soon as I removed the towel, he was back to not wanting anything to do with it. Why is the cat bed the only surface in the house NOT covered in cat hair!?

Ranger Man has returned from his most recent TDY for a couple weeks and then he'll leave for TDY #3 since we've been back from Turkey. It should be #4, but the first one (and the reason that we came home early from Turkey) was cancelled. This last TDY was a complete and utter disaster, so he's very stressed out about going back to work and dealing with the fallout. Me- I'm just glad to have him home for a while.

I've not been blogging, but I've been relatively productive in other areas. Thesis-izing has been consuming my spare active thoughts and knitting has been the calming-down thought work. Makes for boring times from the outside looking in.

I spent last Friday back at the archives, and came up with new evidence and ideas that should prove helpful. If I could get out of the writing slump that would be even more fantastic.

Perhaps now that Ranger Man is home for a (fleeting) little while, I'll have a more exciting and blog-worthy life. We'll see.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Outsmarting Webster

I've outsmarted the cat!

Before Webster flew out to GA last summer, I bought him a new cat-bed. It was very cute and I thought for sure it would be cozy and cat-friendly. His old cat bed is pretty raggedy, and it was before it made the cross-country trip. His old bed is ratty and covered in cat hair (despite regular vacuuming) and made out of foam that I'm frankly surprised still holds its shape. The new bed is lovely and has gold embroidery and is just the right size for him.

Of course, Webster has been here for almost a year now and he hadn't touched the new bed, until tonight when I finally figured out how to trick him into using this lovely new bed. Gosh, it is a sad commentary on the state of my weekend that tricking the cat is the highlight and breaks a slight blogging hiatus...

Webster loves slightly used towels, and if I throw a towel that I've used in the hallway floor instead of in the laundry basket, he will be happy for days (or until I actually clean and move the towel).

So- my brilliance led me to combine the two tonight- the towel that I know he does love and the bed that I want him to love. I put the bed in front of the television, where he likes to hang out anyways, and covered it with my favorite green towel, and waited.

Sure enough- it worked! He's sleeping on it as I type! I am brilliant! Muahahaha, I have outsmarted Webster the Wonder Cat!

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Things I don't want to hear...

"Uh, babe, can you make dinner tonight? There's tons of leftovers, they just need to be nuked, my (fill in the body parts here) hurts and I can't really walk..."

Mind you- Ranger Man is a master complainer and whiner. But not usually about things HURTING, and not wanting to make dinner? That's completely unlike him. And of course he wouldn't tell me what actually happened until I got work, when I was greeted with:

"See, what happened was... " (never a good sign) "I had a jump today" (Ok- not terribly unusual, but also jumping doesn't usually break him) "And we were using these new parachutes. See, the Army hasn't actually approved them yet- they were testing them on the Rangers. I told them they were great in the air, but not so good once you're out of the air..."

great. parachute testing. No wonder he's all scraped up and is having problems walking...

Never a dull day!

eta: I'm pretty sure (or perhaps hoping) that by "the Army hasn't appproved them yet" he actually meant a word like "implemented" or something like that. There was some vetting process first, before they strapped the chutes on the Rangers, right?