Monday, September 13, 2010

I Gave Up

So it's been five months since we adopted Alice. She is a loving, sweet, angel of a kitty and Elijah and I adore her. As many of you probably already know, I had high hopes of toilet training our kitty when we first got her.

At first everything seemed to be going well. Her litter box went right next to the toilet and she used it. I raised the litter box gradually until it was level with the toilet and she was fine with that, too. I duct taped her box to the toilet seat, she had no problems. I exchanged her litter box for the training rings made by Citi Kitty and that was fine.

Then I had to send her in to the vet to be spayed. That whole fiasco is in another post. But the short end of it is that Alice was so loopy from the meds when she got home she couldn't make it to the toilet, so she had an accident in the living room. And as anyone who has owned cats before knows, once a cat has an accident in a spot it's hard to convince them that it's not okay to continue going in that spot.

I had to completely clean, sanitize, and deodorize my carpet and even squirt Alice with water a couple times to convince her that the carpet under the computer desk was not an alternative cat box.

Back to toilet training.

As instructed, I gradually started to remove the rings from the toilet training aid. We were nearly done, we had only one ring left to go. Then one day I heard a loud BANG from the bathroom and Alice streaked out like a white blur.

What had happened was this. When she was done doing her business (in the toilet like a good kitty) Alice was scratching and pawing all over as if to cover it up. When she pawed at the toilet lid her claws must have hooked around the edge of it and she'd pulled it down on top of herself! The resulting whack and loud bang as the lid crashed down frightened her. She was convinced after that happened that the toilet was no longer a safe place to potty.

More accidents. More cleaning, sanitizing, deodorizing, and squirting kitty with water.

I had to go back a lot of steps after that. I put her litter box back on the floor next to the toilet and started raising it again, trying to give her a chance to forget the whole toilet lid incident. I taped the toilet lid in the upright position to prevent that from happening again.

Thankfully the Citi Kitty system comes with a spare set of training rings in case something like this happens and you need to repeat steps. I got her back to going on the toilet and we were part way through taking the rings out when Elijah and I went up north for the Fourth of July and a family reunion. I asked some friends to look after Alice, assuring them that she would probably be fine and not have any accidents, she'd been accident free for a while. I did leave an extra bag of litter and her litter box just in case, though.

Half way through the vacation we received a phone call. Our toilet had clogged and Alice, not liking the situation and also stressed because her family was missing, had started using the living room carpet again.

Back to square one.

When I got home I ordered another Citi Kitty training system. It only comes with one extra set of rings and this would be our third try.

I got her back on the toilet and slowly started taking the rings out again. But, even though there was nothing obviously wrong she started rebelling. We'd get half way there and she'd start going #2 in the corner of the bathroom. I tried and tried to convince her, but she would only pee in the toilet.

It got to the point where she started going in her food dish. That's when I decided to call it quits. Maybe someday. Maybe when we move. But not now. Alice really doesn't want to use the toilet. So I started looking for a permanent cat box.

What I found is pretty neat. I'd say it's the next best thing to having a toilet trained cat. It's called the CatGenie.

I was a little skeptical at first. I've had experience with the LitterMaid and I know how well that doesn't work. The rake rusts, the motor breaks down, it misses pieces, you still have to buy litter, you still have to deal with the smell, and you end up having to spend a fortune on the little plastic cartridges that catch the waste.

But the CatGenie doesn't work like that. It does scoop for you (similar to the lItterMaid), but it flushes the cat product out of the house so you don't deal with the odor. It even washes, sanitizes, and dries the litter, which is made of a lot of tiny reusable plastic particles instead of clay. So instead of buying bags and bags of cat litter, I have a small box of extra granules to replenish the ones that happen to get tracked out of the CatGenie. I will need to continue buying the sanitizing solution But it's not terribly expensive and the cartridges last about four months each.

I've read a lot of reviews on this thing. Some of them great, and some of them terrible. It seems like the people who buy it either love it or hate it. I was going to give up on the idea but I wanted to figure out why the reviews were so polarized. If this thing really worked it would be great! After some sleuthing I figured it out. They had two models. Their first one, the CatGenie 60, had a couple design flaws. Those ones had the terrible reviews. Then the company came out with the CatGenie 120. They fixed all the design problems and added some new features. These ones had the great reviews! Ah, dilemma solved.

I've had mine for about three days and I only have two complaints. First, the water hose leaked. This cat box connects to a cold water line, either in your laundry room or bathroom. The hose on mine had a slow leak, but I was able to fix that by tightening the connection at the back of the unit. Also I'm not terribly impressed with the customer service. I tried calling them but got no answer. Then I tried e-mailing them, it's been three days and still no response. Other than that, everything is going fine. Alice has taken to it like a champ and I'm looking forward to never touching cat waste again!

So, this is what has been going on in the kitty toilet world. We gave up and opted for an expensive compromise. I hope that's the end of this story!

Here's a video of Alice checking out her new self-flushing litterbox! It was in the middle of a cleaning cycle. She watches it like it's TV.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Trip to Forks

And Port Angeles... and First Beach in La Push.

That's right. I'm one of those people that totally LOVES the Twilight series. Now, if you've only ever seen the movies I can understand why you don't get the craze. The first movie totally sucked. The second didn't totally suck, but it still wasn't that great. The third is better, but could be MUCH better.

But the books are awesome!

To give you the general idea, in case you haven't read the books or seen the movies. The Twilight series is about a seventeen year old girl, Bella, who moves from Phoenix Arizona to Forks WA to give her mom some space with her new husband. Bella doesn't like Forks, (she prefers sunny weather) but things get really interesting when she meets the Cullen family.

Edward Cullen, Bella's lab partner in her biology class, is beautiful, pale, and mysterious. Bella is quickly fascinated by him. One day when a van careens out of control on course to smash into Bella Edward amazingly saves her by stopping it with his bare hands.

Eventually a Quileute (local Native American) boy, Jacob Black, reveals to her that the Cullens are, according to their legends, cold ones, also known as vampires.

This knowledge doesn't stop Bella from falling in love with Edward. And eventually, after saving her life again from a gang of drunken men in a dark alley, Edward learns that she has figured out the truth about what he is. What follows is a long, intriguing story about Bella who desperately wants to become a vampire so she can be with Edward forever and Edward, also in love with Bella, believing that she should remain human and the greatest danger for her is to be involved in his world in any way.

So, when I went up to Washington I took a day trip to see the areas in which this story takes place. Here are some pictures from that trip!

When Edward takes Bella home from their first "date" he drives, at outrageous speeds, back to Forks down the 101. Here are some views of Lake Crescent from the 101 taken from the side of the road on my way to Forks.


When entering the town you are greeted by this sign:


When Bella graduates from high school her dad, Charlie, takes her to The Lodge for dinner before she goes to her graduation party at the Cullen's. Elijah and I had lunch at the candy shop right across the street.

Forks was getting ready to celebrate Quileute Days, as you might be able to read on this banner.


Elijah and I headed out to First Beach. This is where Bella learns from Jacob that Edward is a vampire. First beach is in La Push, the Quileute reservation.
On the way into La Push there is a sign warning the vampires to stay out. Long story short: the Quileutes turn into werewolves when vampires are around to kick vampire butt. But they made a treaty with the Cullens that if their coven stayed away they could coexist with the wolves without fighting. Hence the treaty line:

Some lovely views from First Beach.

Elijah playing on the beach.
 

Here's a good shot of the rocks on First Beach. They're all multi-colored but look gray from a distance.

 There is a lot of driftwood on the beach. In the story Bella and Jacob go for a walk and she sits on a large driftwood tree while he tells her stories about the cold ones.

After the beach Elijah and I visited the Forks chamber of commerce. There, we saw Bella's truck. The old, red, rusted Chevy her dad bought for her when she first moved to Forks.

In the chamber of commerce there's a note from Stephenie Meyer, the author of the books, to the people of Forks.
From there we visited the Swan residence. (Bella and Charlie Swan's house)
 
And then Forks High School, where Bella and Edward meet.
They're actually tearing down the school building, I'm not sure why, but there wasn't that much left of it when I got there.

It was starting to get kinda late in the day so we headed back to Port Angeles to have dinner at Bella Italia. This is the restaurant that Edward takes Bella to after he rescues her in the dark alley. She has mushroom ravioli and Coca Cola. So that's what I had.
The ravioli was very good! I only wish I could make it at home.
On the way out of town I got a snapshot of the Port Angeles movie theater. Throughout the stories Bella ends up at this theater a few times, once on an accidental "date" with both Jacob Black and Mike Newton, a boy from school who very much wants to be her boyfriend.
That about sums up our trip. I hope you enjoy!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Trip to Washington

The Davenport family reunion is held bi-annually over the fourth of July weekend. This year it was held in Seattle, so that meant a trip up to Washington with the little man. Traveling alone with a one-year-old on an airplane is a little tougher than you might think. I did manage to survive somehow.

We rented a car at the Sea-Tac airport and stayed with my in-laws. They have a nice place in the north of Poulsbo. Western WA is much nicer this time of year than 29 Palms, I have to say. When we left it was 110, when we landed it was about 65! Such a relief!

The family picnic was great. Elijah was a great hit and it was really nice to see folks I haven't seen in a really long time.

The next day we went on the Seattle Duck Boat tour. Our driver was really funny, we got crazy quacker whistles, and Elijah fell asleep halfway through the tour while we were floating around the lake.



While we were there Elijah and his grandpa Davenport went for walks in their yard every day.



Elijah got to see his first ever fireworks show. (We didn't see one last year)



Grandpa Davenport took Elijah "fishing" for the first time. Really it was more just a boat ride. But it was really cute.
We visited my mom and stepfather and went to the Point Defiance zoo. I don't have any pictures of that, my mom was the camera wielder there. We also went shopping and Elijah got to ride in one of those car-shaped strollers for the first time. He loved it!
When we got home Alice kitty gave us a very warm welcome. She didn't even mind it when Elijah body-slammed her. She's purring like crazy and kneading her paws in this picture:

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

A Really Good Phone Call

  I normally don't like answering the telephone if I don't recognize the number of the person calling. I'm always afraid it will be some awkward situation, like a wrong number or someone who knows me but who I can't remember at all. Or it could be an annoying caller, like a telemarketer, or someone begging for donations for one of the thousands of noble causes out there, or the census bureau. But, since I am supposed to be a responsible adult, I force myself to answer calls from random phone numbers, no matter how suspicious the area code might be. Sometimes I'm glad I do. A few days ago I got a call from a strange out-of-state number. When I returned the call I was pleasantly surprised that the person responded "Oh, hey Natalie! It's me, Leslee." Being in the military you never know what "state" your friends might be calling from. Or at least what state they were in when they got their cell phone numbers.
  Today I got a call from a really bizarre phone number. I was pretty sure that no one from the area code "808" would be calling me. I took a deep breath and answered, hesitantly...
 "Hello...?"
  There was a pause and I wondered if I was about to hear some automated message start playing.
  "Hey babe, it's me!"
  It was my husband! I hadn't heard from him in almost a week! He was calling from a satellite phone in some remote area of Afghanistan. Oh, it was so good to hear his voice. And Elijah hadn't gone down for his nap yet, so he got to hear daddy's voice, too. Not that he really understood what it all meant. We chatted a bit and he told me that they got the popcorn popper already. I put enough insurance on it that they must have put it high on their priority list. I asked him if they'd used it yet and he said they haven't. They're looking for a good place to put it before getting it all unpacked and set up. So the 3rd CEB guys have a popcorn popper now!
  We weren't able to get much of a conversation in. Satellite phones are notoriously unreliable. But it was a great relief to hear his voice and know that he was safe. The last thing he was telling me before the phone cut out was that he sent a late birthday card for Elijah and some sand from the desert over there.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

A Walking Boy!

I'm sure most of you have already heard by now. Elijah has decided to start walking! I was a little shocked at how quickly it happened. One day he was cruising along and would take one or two steps. The next day he would take five or six steps before plopping down on his tushie. The day after that he was walking across the room! Is it really supposed to happen so fast? He still doesn't know how to pick himself up off of the floor when he falls. He crawls to the nearest object  to pull up to a stand.
 


Some update on toilet training the cat, too. We had a little backsliding, I believe I mentioned this in a previous post, but when I took her in for surgery and she came back all nauseated and loopy she had an accident in her cat bed which was on the carpet. The cat bed was not waterproof and I think some of the scent must have lingered in that spot. Since then she has periodically gone there instead of in the toilet. I deodorized the carpet and have a squirt bottle at the ready. But this morning when she started sniffing that spot and got "The Look" from me she ran off (knowing that a squirt was on the way) but didn't go to the toilet. She went to the baby's room! I gave her a proper scolding when I saw what she was doing. But that convinced me that it was time to take a few steps back in the training process. She was going in the toilet before, but with a thin training device that had some kitty litter around the edge. I'm adding more to that so the toilet is more like a litter box with a small hole in the center open to the water. Now I'll gradually make that hole bigger. Much slower than last time. Maybe I'll wait a week between each change to be positive she's accepting it. Pottying anywhere else is not acceptable.

That's all for now!

Monday, May 17, 2010

Manic Monday

Last Friday was the big Movie Night for all of us ladies for 3rd Combat Engineering Battalion. We watched Julie and Julia and tried out the giant popcorn machine.
The machine worked great and the popcorn was just like you get at the movie theater. I was almost ready to invite more friends over the weekend to try it out again (just to be really sure it works...) but when I went to clean the thing... I decided it would be best to just pack it up and ship it out. The main body of it isn't too hard to wipe down, but combine that with the kettle and the tools and the seed-collecting tray it's a bit of a chore.

Last night Elijah came down with something. He developed a fever and puked all over his sheets, all over his carpet, all over himself, all over me. Neither of us slept well last night. In fact it's hard to believe it was only last night that it started. It feels more like several days ago.

So I was exhausted and emotionally strained when I got up this morning and started packing up the popcorn popper to take to the post office. That took several hours to do. Elijah was still not feeling well and was being quite clingy. He wouldn't go down for a long nap like he usually does so I'm sure he was tired on top of feeling icky. So I worked in short little spurts whenever I got a minute or two reprieve from him.

It was about three in the afternoon when we finally got to the post office. I had a sick baby in a stroller, a very large 50 lb box, and a smaller but still heavy 20 lb. box of popcorn packets. I wasn't sure how I was going to get it all into the post office from my car at the same time but I was sure going to try.

Fortunately for us a very kind First Lieutenant saw me struggling with it all by my car and carried the big box in for me.

Everyone in the post office was in awe at the size of my box.

"Wow! Is that really a popcorn machine?" The lady in front of me asked. (There's a picture of it on the side of the box.)

"Yeah, I'm shipping it to my husband in Afghanistan. He's going to use it to make popcorn for all the guys for movie nights."

"Wow, that's awesome! I'm just sending my husband a toaster oven."

Meanwhile the postal worker behind the counter eyed me critically when I mentioned Afghanistan.
When I got the chance to request some customs forms he eyed the box and told me that there were size restrictions for sending things overseas via airmail and my box was too big.

My heart sank. I was crushed. After all that... After finding the perfect popper, spending an enormous amount of money on it, buying popcorn for it, waiting for it to arrive, arranging a movie night with all the ladies, cleaning and re-packing it, hauling it all the way to the post office with my sick baby, and now they weren't going to be able to send it!

"Really? I mean, isn't there some way? There has to be some way to send it, right?"

"Well, miss. It could possibly go via ground shipping. But that could take months to get it there and it would be very expensive."

"Really? How much are we talking about here?"

"We're talking about a lot of money. I can't imagine you would be willing to spend that much to send it."

I think he was underestimating how much I really didn't want to walk back out those doors with that box. At that point I was seriously thinking that I would spend a thousand dollars if it would just get that darn machine to Afghanistan.

He seemed to see the resolve in my expression and we started filling out paperwork and taking measurements. In the end it wasn't so bad. Yes it will take a couple months (possibly longer) for the popcorn popper to make it to my husband. But that's not much different than half the boxes that I've sent him so far. I sent him a care package a month ago via Priority Mail and that still hasn't gotten to him. It actually cost significantly less than the postal worker was expecting because for FPO APO addresses there is a discount. I don't remember exactly how much it was now, but I think it was around $60.

The packets of popcorn seeds and oil I'm going to re-package in free flat-rate boxes. It will be much cheaper to send them that way. Possibly free if I get them packed up quickly enough and send them tomorrow through our community Care Package Day event.

So that's (hopefully) the end of the popcorn machine story. I hope that I can soon report that it made it safely to the troops and is providing them with loads of tasty popcorn to munch on while they watch their manly movies.

Another great thing that happened today, the previews of Elijah's first birthday photo shoot are up on the photographer's website! They're wonderful and I can't wait to see them all!

Here's the site. Just scroll down to see some of Elijah's pictures.
Shannon Velloza Photography Blog

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Birthday Party, Pictures, and More

Elijah's birthday party was on the 8th. It went pretty well, all things considered. I'm not really the best at being in charge of events. But the party got pulled together and the kids (and even the adults) seemed to have a good time. I ordered the decorations from a website and our local grocery store was able to draw an approximation of one of the cartoon characters from his decorations on his birthday cake. There were bubbles for the little guests to play with outside, there were snacks and drinks. The grown ups got to sit on the couch and chat. The cake was delicious. It had fresh strawberries and Bavarian cream in the middle. (I'd asked for bananas, but I'm not complaining. It was tasty.)
I made a Banana Split Brownie Pizza (Pampered Chef recipe) and that was a real hit. Almost as much as the helium-filled balloons were with the kids.

It was all so hectic, and I'm so unused to being in charge of things, that I completely forgot to serve the cheese/meat/cracker tray I bought and the homemade ice cream I'd been working on all that week. So some of our guests who stayed to help clean up got to take home a couple cartons of Natalie's Signature mint chocolate ice cream. I'm stuck with a bunch of crackers pepperonis, salamis, and cheese.

As you can see in the picture above of the cake there is a significant amount of blue frosting. It was very cute as decoration, and made for some really cute pictures like this one:
But we soon realized that the blue was not so easy to get off of the skin. Really, when you order a cake from a bakery shouldn't they courteously ask, "Would you prefer the dying or the non-dying frosting?" I seriously thought Elijah was going to look like a smurf for a week! And he was supposed to have his first year portraits taken the next day!

Fortunately most of the blue came out in the bath. And the rest seemed to rub off easily as he played. One of our guests gave me a call a couple days later and asked if it all had come out, her daughters hands were still blue.

As luck would have it, the day after his party was so windy we had to reschedule his portrait session. Around these parts the wind isn't blocked by trees or hills, it just runs free carrying anything and everything with it; bushes, lawn furniture, small dogs... So when it looked like I was about to see Dorothy Gale or the Wicked Witch sailing past my window I wasn't surprised to get an email from the photographer asking if I would rather hold off on our outdoor session for less inclement weather.

Elijah was supposed to have his one year doctor's appointment yesterday. But yesterday was significantly less windy and it seemed like the only time in the near future that we could reschedule his photo shoot. Normally I would never back out of a doctor's appointment here on base. If you do you aren't likely to get a new appointment anywhere near the date of your original. But the timing was just too close and I didn't want him feeling all grouchy from his shots while trying to get a smile out of him.

The photo shoot went pretty well. The photographer, Shannon Velloza, Shannon's Website went with me out to the park and we got a lot of pictures of Elijah among the rocks and wild desert foliage. Her husband is deployed, too, so she brought her kids along. They all kind of went wild among the boulders, about giving their mom a heart attack when they climbed up to the tops of the rocks. I just chuckled to myself, knowing that if they were our kids and my husband were here he'd be egging them on.

Now I know some of you are wondering about how Elijah is doing in the walking department. Well, he isn't walking on his own yet. He still prefers "four wheel drive" so to speak. But I will get a video of him taking a few steps if/when I can.

Alice is progressing in her potty training. We had a minor setback when she got spayed cut open. She was so loopy from the meds, I think, that she couldn't make it up to the toilet so she went in her bed. It was just once but I'm taking it slow just in case. Still, I think that in a couple weeks we'll be done and I can post a pic of our dear little Alice using the toilet!

I still have not shipped out the extremely large popcorn popper. I'm hosting a movie night at our place this Friday so we can "make sure it works" before I send it. Also, we get paid again this Friday and I'm sure I'll need the extra funds to actually get the machine over there. It's really big and quite heavy. Not to mention that for the movie night I needed to buy a TV and a Blu-Ray player. The TV is a surprise to my husband and I'm hoping he won't find out about it until he gets home. So, please, everyone try to keep it hush hush. I got a 46" Sony Bravia LED LCD TV. It's very thin, fairly large, and has excellent resolution. A friend came and helped me mount it on the wall last night. When it was done, even though it was a little late, I couldn't help but put in Avatar on Blu-Ray just to see how it looked. It was AWESOME! I think Bryan will be thoroughly impressed when he sees it.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Our Poor Expensive Kitty

One of the requirements from the shelter when we adopted Alice was that she must be spayed within thirty days. They gave me a voucher for $30 off the spay at a local vet's office and attached to that was a certificate that the vet would send them confirming that he had performed the surgery. They spoke rather threateningly of coming to steal her away if they didn't receive that confirmation within the allotted time.

So, shortly after we brought Alice home I took her for a check up at the local animal hospital. At that check up they found that she had ear mites an ear infection from the mites and gingivitis. The vet prescribed some medicine to get rid of the mites and some antibiotic drops for her ears. He said he wanted to do a dental cleaning soon to help combat the gingivitis and see if she needed any teeth pulled. I decided to hold off on that and see if her gums got better being at home with us.

So that was a pretty expensive trip to the vet, and I hadn't even gotten her spayed yet. I decided to postpone the spay until she was no longer being treated for her ear infection.

While we were waiting for her ears to get better a thought occurred to me. What if she had already been spayed in her "past life"? It would be silly to shave down and cut open this poor animal for no reason. So I called and asked them. "What happens if she's already spayed?"

They said the only way the Dr. could be sure would be to open her up and see if there's nothing in there to take out. But they would gladly wait if I wanted to see if she would go into heat or not. I remembered the threats of the shelter saying they would come take her away if she wasn't altered on time and decided not to chance it.

So I took her in. With the voucher the shelter gave me the surgery would not be very expensive. I also had high hopes that her gums were doing better. They didn't look nearly as red or swollen as they had when I first got her.

A couple hours after I dropped her off one of the vet-techs called me: "You were wondering about whether or not she was spayed already. Well, we have her sedated and shaved and there is a scar there. We can't be positive that it's not from some other surgery, though."

I sighed. It would be better to be positive and have the certificate than to back out and violate the contract. I told them to go ahead and check.

A little while later I got another call. It turns out Alice was already spayed. They'd shaved her down and cut her open just so I could have a piece of paper.

Sigh... okay.

But there was more. As the vet-tech was extubating her she noticed that Alice had a pretty nasty cavity on one tooth. She touched it and it obviously caused Alice pain. Did I want them to go ahead with the dental cleaning and pull that tooth? She quoted me a total price that was about four times as expensive as the spay alone.

Sigh... okay.

A while later I got another call. The same vet-tech explained that they had done the dental cleaning and the vet examined all Alice's teeth. There were six teeth that he recommended be pulled, one of which was already cracked in half and all of them had cavities all the way to the root. She explained that I could turn down the procedure but that eventually the pain could cause her to become aggressive or, if they got infected, to die. I asked if any of these teeth weren't really necessary to be pulled. She checked with the vet and answered that he recommended they ALL be taken out.

Sigh... okay. (Can you tell I'm a pushover, yet?)

So, in the end, she didn't really need to be spayed, but she had six teeth pulled. I won't quote prices here, I'm not sure if any of you have heart problems and I don't want to put you at risk of a heart attack. But, in the end I spent about SIXTEEN TIMES what I was planning to spend on her spay alone. For what I spent that day I could have driven to Los Angeles and bought a fancy purebred cat from a breeder and still had money left over to get it's shots and spayed or neutered it.

She is a very sweet kitty and I think she deserves to be taken care of. I just wish it wasn't so darn expensive.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Moving Right Along

It feels like nothing is happening, so it's easy to procrastinate with updates. I keep telling myself I'll write something when something interesting happens. But I still keep putting it off. So here I go, forcing myself to write.

Many a spouse of a deployed sailor/marine/soldier gets requests for things to send. "I need some new razors," one might say, "Send me some books to read," another will plead "I've really been craving some beef jerky," is heard a lot.

My husband, in his first email to me, asked for a popcorn popper. It sounds weird, but it gets weirder. He wants me to send him a huge, expensive, theater-style, electric popcorn popper so he can make very large quantities of popcorn. The reason (in case you're starting to think my husband is a lunatic) is that he wants to show movies for his marines on occasion and having a popcorn popper would be a good morale booster. Before he left he packed up all his favorite kung fu and action DVDs to take with him and bought about ten on iTunes to have on his hard drive. So he's got a nice library to choose from. I think he might have access to a projector and speakers also. All that's missing is the popcorn.

So he writes to me asking if I can buy and ship him one of those big poppers like you see at the carnival or in Target. How can I say no?

I start aGoogling and find one for the relatively cheap price of $200. Another $60 for a couple cases of popcorn and oil. The only problem is nowhere can I find a place that will ship to an FPO address. (That's the kind of address military folk get when they are sent overseas on deployment.) So I had to send it all to myself first.

So now I'm sitting here with a very large box (the machine) and two smaller-but-still-heavy boxes (the popcorn) sitting in my entryway and I'm thinking... I need to make sure this thing works!

To be continued...

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

One down...

Has it already been a week and a half? I can hardly believe it. The time seems to be flying by.

I suppose keeping busy helps. So much has happened, but I'm having trouble organizing it all into coherence. I'm getting used to being in charge of the things that he used to be in charge of, paying bills, putting gas in the car, and even being social. When he was home we would always be on his schedule and go where he would go with the people he wanted to be with. Now it's up to me, the introvert, to make sure our household doesn't become a hermitage. I think I'm managing it... with a little effort.

Elijah and I are putting together a care package to send to daddy. Every month here on base they have a "Care Package Day" on which you can send a special military flat-rate box overseas for free. This month it's on the 20th. So we've got to make some special things to send so that he knows how much we love and miss him. Elijah is going to send a "high five" (I'm going to trace his hand on a piece of paper.) I'm sending a card with a note inside. There will be some practical things in it, too, like trail mix, baby wipes, perhaps some razors and mouthwash. If anyone has a good idea for something to send let me know! I need all the advice I can get.

My husband's birthday is coming up soon, too. Someone kindly brought to my attention an online Cakery that will ship cakes directly to our servicemen overseas! So I'm going to send him a birthday cake! Here's the one I plan on sending. I think he'll like the coffee cake: Birthday Cake

Speaking of birthdays, Elijah's birthday is also coming up soon. As The Lord would have it, Elijah's birthday is the day after his daddy's. In the future we hope to be able to throw combined parties for them, or we can choose to have separate parties. It's a nice arrangement. This year they won't get to be together. We'll have to plan something to make it special anyway.

I get to arrange Elijah's first birthday party all by myself. Part of me wants to go WAY overboard, invite every family we know, hire a clown, rent a bouncy house and all that good stuff. But part of me also wants to just have two or three friends over, a few cupcakes, sing "happy birthday" and have that be it.

We'll see what happens I guess!

Friday, April 9, 2010

Toilet Training the Cat (Part 1)

As mentioned in a previous post I'm training Alice to use our family commode. I'm doing this for several reasons. 1. It will save a lot of money on kitty litter. 2. I don't like to clean litter boxes. 3. If we decide to have another child I won't have to worry about toxoplasmosis. 4. It's a cool trick!

I have done some reading up on the various methods of toilet training cats and have mixed a few of them together to accommodate our particular situation.

The first step was to make sure that Alice was, in fact, litter box trained. I acquired a small white litter box (about the size of our toilet bowl) and flush-able litter. I placed her box right next to the toilet. I intend to train her on the toilet in our master bathroom. I don't want her using the guest bathroom as I can foresee that leading to quite a shock to visitors.

For the first day she was with us I kept Alice shut up in our master bedroom with the door open to our bathroom and her litter box. This way I could make sure she knew where her box was and it would be easy to find any "accidents" if they did happen.

Step 1. Complete

The next phase in training involves raising the litter box to the same level as the toilet. Every day I will raise it up a little higher until she eventually has to jump up to get into it.

One book:
Two books:
You can see that I've taped the box in place. It wouldn't do to have a unstable litter box during her training.

Yesterday we got her toilet training kit in the mail! They shipped it very quickly. Once we're ready it will be exciting to start using it.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Free Video Chat and a City Kitty

I ended up mostly doing chores today. It started out being pretty boring and I'm sure you all don't want to read about laundry and shopping so I won't write about all that stuff.

But at around two in the afternoon my computer started ringing. I'll say that again; my computer started ringing!

Before my husband left we agreed to download a program called Skype which allows you to have free computer-to-computer video conversations. I had never used it before but I downloaded it and got my account set up and encouraged my husband to do the same. Then today (about 3:00 am for him) he decided to give me a call, and my computer started ringing...

I came to figure out what was going on. It all seemed so confusing and I wasn't sure what button to push to do what, but eventually we got it all figured out and were able to see each other and have a real conversation.

He asked how Elijah was doing and if he was walking yet (he's not), I asked if he was enjoying himself over there in whichever of those "-stan" countries he was in. He noticed some slight alteration in the room I was sitting in and told me to give the baby a big hug from daddy.

Then Alice came around the corner.

I must note that at this point my husband had no idea that I had adopted a cat. He doesn't read this blog, though he knows it's here, and hasn't been checking Facebook much. I hadn't volunteered the information to him either. If he had asked I wouldn't have lied, but I was counting on him not to ask and be surprised when he got home.

But then Alice came around the corner.

"What is that?" My husband asked, shock (but thankfully not anger) written all over his face.

"Bryan..." I picked up the cat. "Say hello to Alice."

Alice purred almost loud enough to be heard 7000 miles away.

"You got a cat?!?!" And then he started laughing.

I assured him that she was the sweetest ball of warm fur in the world and that Elijah already loved her.

And, after all, it's not like there was anything he could do about it...

Speaking of Alice I'm working on a special trick with her. You know how the worst part about having an indoor cat is the litter pan? Well, I'm going to get rid of it altogether.

I'm going to toilet train my cat!

That's right. We're working on a very gradual process of toilet training, and at the end of it all I hope to never have to buy or scoop cat litter again. It should all last about two weeks, but they say it all depends on the cat so we'll see. I'll keep this blog updated on how it's all going.

I've ordered a CitiKitty toilet training kit which should get here soon. But we've already begun the process.

Toilet training your cat:

Step 1. Move litter box into bathroom next to the toilet. Keep the lid of the toilet open at all times. Put only a small amount of flushable litter  in box. Complete!

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Alice

Remember when I said that I had a list of goals and things to do while Bryan was deployed? Well, Item #1 on that list was to get a kitty for Elijah and I. The kitty needed to be an adult but not too old, already litter-box trained, very friendly, and good with babies. (A tall order, I know!)

Yesterday our local shelter was closed, so we went out and just got some supplies. Food, litter, brush, toys, treats, all that good stuff. It was a lot of fun and did a good job of taking my mind off of things. I was getting excited, especially when I saw how happy Elijah was when we saw the kitties at the PetSmart. He loves all things furry!

Today I decided on a game plan. We have a local "Palms and Paws" animal shelter and there is also the Morongo Basin Humane Society a little further off. If we didn't find what we were looking for at P&P I would go further away to try our luck there. I was a little pessimistic on finding exactly what I wanted. After all, if a cat is really friendly, good with babies, litter trained, and not old or sick why would anyone give it up?

We got to the shelter right when they opened at noon and they were already pretty busy. I asked if we could see the cats and the kind-looking lady at the desk directed us to a back room. We opened a door to find a room with a bunch of cats, a cat tree, a litter-box and some food and water. The cats were free to just roam about as they pleased and most of them were reclining on the tree or cowering in corners, but one cat, a fluffy white one with golden eyes, came right up to us. She sniffed my leg and then went to Elijah and sniffed him She meowed and purred and begged to be petted. She even continued purring when Elijah grabbed a fistful of her fur. (He didn't really pull on it, but most cats would have been rather indignant about such treatment.)

We stayed in the room for a few minutes and I greeted some of the other cats there. Most were friendly and enjoyed being petted and talked to. Those that weren't just ignored me and weren't aggressive at all. But the white cat was by far the friendliest there and I just had a feeling about her. She was perfect!

We went back to the desk and after about half an hour all the paperwork was signed and the kitty, named Alice, was on her way home with us!

When we got home one of the first things I did was trim her nails and apply Soft Claws. I wasn't afraid of her scratching me or the baby, but the lovey-dovey kneading thing that cats do isn't healthy for furniture and bedding. She tolerated the nail clipping like an angel and even though she struggled a little she purred the whole time. I can't believe what a sweetie she is!

So, without further adieu, here are some pictures!

Monday, April 5, 2010

Where is the good in "goodbye"?

Goodbyes are not forever.
Goodbyes are not the end.
They simply mean I'll miss you
Until we meet again!

This morning our alarm went off at 0300. (That's three in the morning, for you non-military folks.) Half-asleep still, I pulled on the clothing that I'd set out the night before a few hours earlier. Poor little Elijah was dragged out of bed and stuffed into a sweater to help him stay warm. Bryan took a shower, shaved, and donned his uniform.

We got there at about 0400. Other families wouldn't be showing up until later, but we have only the one vehicle and there was no way my husband was going to come back to pick me up after already getting there and in 'the zone'. So I really had no choice.

There was a long time of waiting. Elijah and I waited in the car. We went into the office and waited there. Finally we went outside and waited there. By that time there were more families assembled. Tears were falling all around me, but I put on a brave face. The smile on my husband's face showed that he obviously saw it all as an adventure. I wouldn't ruin it for him.

I knew then and know now that he is not happy about leaving. His eagerness was not a reflection of any indifference to us, just an excitement for his work, for a challenge, for adventure.


The big white military buses arrived and it was time for the marines to start boarding. My stomach tightened, but I didn't cry. Maybe I'm one of those people who needs a few days for sadness to really hit home.

They started boarding; the families wept. It was almost time.

We stole a few moments together to say goodbye. This will be the longest we've been apart since being married, perhaps even since we've met.
He got on the bus, and a few minutes later they were gone.
And now I can join with my sisters all across the country in saying that half of my heart is deployed.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Egg Hunt Mayhem

Yesterday we had a base-wide free egg hunt. The fliers that went around for it looked quite promising; advertising free cotton candy, snow-cones, face painting, pictures with Peter Cottontail, and egg hunts. It seemed like a great opportunity to build memories and take some adorable pictures.

We arrived promptly when the event began and snagged one of the very last parking spots available. Our friends who went with us got the last spot. The field was packed with people. I think the attendance for this event far exceeded the expectations of the people who were pulling it off.

As Elijah was wearing a WHITE suit and tie combo, I wanted to get his picture with the Easter Bunny before he did any crawling about in the grass. One of our friends informed us that the egg hunt for Elijah's age group didn't start until noon. That gave us about an hour to find the bunny and take a pic.

I was cheered by this until we finally found the bunny. The line waiting to see him stretched around the track almost the entire length of a football field.

We decided that it would be best to get in line right away if we wanted a picture with Peter Cottontail at all, and that if we ran out of time the mamas could go with the babies to do the egg hunt while the men-folk stayed in line.

Well, we did run out of time. So the mamas grabbed the babies and we rushed over to the field where ages 0 - 2 were supposed to "hunt" for eggs.

I should have known just by the look of things that it would not turn out well. There was a square of grass covered with eggs about the size of a suburban front lawn and, surrounding it, a mob of parents and children. It was like a pack of wolves, or hungry crocodiles at the zoo at feeding time, just waiting for the keepers to throw in the meat. The sheer numbers of  people there should have warned me. I don't profess to have a gift for spatial relationships, but if all of those people were to crowd into the area with eggs they would be standing shoulder-to-shoulder with barely room to move at all.

One of the workers walked into the field and held up three fingers. Then two. Then one.

Suddenly it was like someone had dropped blood into a shark tank. (yet another zoo analogy) The people rushed forward and the egg-patched was completely obscured by bodies of doting parents seeking prized plastic eggs for their babies and toddlers.

It was a mob, a stampede, insanity. And I have a picture to prove it! This is a shot looking right into the area where the eggs were. You can barely see the ground! Let alone any eggs!

It took my friend and I about three seconds to decide that we had better skip this whole egg-hunt thing and get back to the bunny.

It didn't take long to get to Peter Cottontail and we got our free snapshot:
While we were having a snack afterwords they announced that the little ones would be allowed to join in the next age group's hunt since so many weren't able to get any eggs.
Well, that hunt didn't work out so well, either. It turns out that little kids have a tendency to be greedy, and there were a LOT of little kids there.

We were able to get a few eggs from one of the staff and went to have our own egg hunt on a neighboring field. We were got some great pictures and let the little ones finally have some fun crawling in the grass.

Friday, April 2, 2010

Fun on Friday

Today my husband was going to have one last rock climbing day. (On a side note, my husband is fanatical about rock climbing.) He was expecting the whole day off but got called in early in the morning for some stuff that had come up last minute. He was able to get some climbing in but not as much as he really wanted. So tonight I'm taking him out to see Clash of the Titans as a special treat. He's been excited about that movie ever since he first saw the trailer in theaters months ago.

Today Elijah and I also got a special treat. Our neighbor friend dropped her daughter off with us for a few hours. The daughter is almost exactly one month older than Elijah and they always have a lot of fun together.






That's one of the great things about living on a military base, I think. The community is really tight. There are always families around you who understand what you're going through and if they haven't been there themselves they will be.

Tomorrow we go to an Easter egg hunt and afterwords the same family will watch Elijah while we go out. Nice trade off, right?




- Posted from my iPhone

Thursday, April 1, 2010

They Say it Happens Before it Happens

In a typical day my husband is up and out the door before my cute little squishy alarm clock wakes me. When he comes home we have about two and a half hours before putting the baby (formerly known as alarm clock) to bed and about two more hours before we settle down for the night ourselves. So out of twenty four hours in a typical weekday we get about two as a family and two for "just us". That doesn't seem like very much, but it's probably no less than any other family gets.

Recently we were given "pre-deployment leave". It's basically the government saying, "Yeah, we're going to take your husband away for a really long time. So go ahead and take two weeks to enjoy him before that happens."

We took the time to go to Washington to visit family and then to Florida to take a nice vacation. It was a great break from our routine. All of us, even little Elijah, had a wonderful time. We spent every hour of every day together; something we hadn't done for a long while.

But when we got back something, and nothing, changed. Before our vacation the deployment seemed like a far-off evil. It was something that would happen in the distant future and it wasn't something to be worried about just now.

After coming home, everything settled back into the old routine, but there was a different feeling to it. The knowledge of our impending separation seems to taint everything. It's about to happen, right around the corner, and we can feel it. Somehow it sneaked up on us while we were off having fun.

For him the difference is much more material than it is to me. He went from doing his normal duties to cleaning out his office, getting his uniforms ready, making sure he has all of his supplies, getting vaccinated, and packing his bags.

They say that for some time before a deployment the military man (or woman) will be mentally already overseas. Their body will be home, but they won't be. I can't say I've really experienced that yet. My husband, if anything, has more of a desire to be with his family and soak up all the time and love he can before he has to go. Maybe because it's a first deployment?

As for myself I have started inventing tasks to do and goals to reach to occupy myself while he's away. I have found in our previous separations (some lasting up to three months) that having his return be a deadline for some goal (a fun goal) makes the time move much more quickly.

One day closer...

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Tic Toc Tic Toc

Every room in the house testifies to it: the packing mess in the family room; the uniforms piled on the dryer; the pile of camo and tech gear in the bedroom; even the daddy doll in the baby's room. Every day it feels like the air pressure increases, the tension rises.

"Are you okay?" I'm frequently asked by my husband.
"Are you ready?" Kind-hearted souls ask at the chapel on Sunday.

It's almost funny. I remember those same questions being asked (to the point of irritation) when I was nine months pregnant.
Am I ok? How does a woman know if she is ready for her husband, and the father of her child, to leave for over half a year? Leave to the other side of the world where unknown hazards exist which might return him in otherwise than pristine condition. Or may not return him at all...

But we aren't supposed to dwell on that. It isn't beneficial for anybody.

When he comes home we will have been gone for seven months. But, of course Uncle Sam may-and frequently does-change his mind. By that time our son, Elijah, will be 18 months old. He's almost 11 months now and not yet walking. My husband's biggest concern is that Elijah won't recognize who daddy is when he comes home.

My biggest concern is that I won't be able to handle things by myself. I can plan meals, clean the house (usually...), take care of the baby, cook, and shop with skill. But I'm also the kind of wife that will say "Honey, I need a big strong man to open this jar of pickles," and mean it, too. I'm worried I won't be able to manage if something comes up. What if the car breaks down? What if something happens with our finances and he stops receiving his paychecks? (It wouldn't be the first time.)

Of course, it doesn't do to dwell on "what ifs", not beneficial for anyone...

It would be imprudent of me to post here when the big day is. As the old saying goes: "Loose lips sink ships," or in this case they might plant a terrorist bomb on the road their buses will be taking. But it is a matter of days, not weeks or months anymore. Days.

It is going to be our first deployment. He's going to Afghanistan with an engineering battalion. I can see that part of him is excited for the adventure. Part of me is, too. I've heard other military wives say that, once you get in the groove, its not so bad. There's more money and less laundry! Then once he comes home you get irritated with this "stranger" coming into your house and getting all up in your business!

We'll see, I guess. For now, all I can do is wait for the big day and pray.