Deployment Life

What a week. It's been a roller coaster ride, quite literally. The week started off with some Key Spouse work. We had a meeting to go over our current and upcoming activities. Somehow I resisted the amazing caramel brownies one spouse baked. We also talked about plans for the deployment homecoming, which means we're on the downslope. I had a sushi date with another Key Spouse the next day at my new favorite sushi spot, The Slippery Mermaid. My job search continues with no real leads. I'm applying for jobs I don't really want, but I have to find something soon since my unemployment is running out. Once it does, I'm going to drive for Uber while I keep looking. Just what I always wanted to do with my PhD! I spent some time this week doing our taxes too. What a pain. Thursday I traveled to my mom's for my grandfather's celebration of life on Saturday. I'm really glad I was able to be there. A large group of his friends from the condo community came o

I realize it has been 2 weeks since I posted a blog, although I doubt many of you really care. There just wasn't much to say. I'll start off by saying that Bryan is doing well. The pic above is of VP Mike Pence visiting some of his squadron at another deployed location. Bryan wasn't there. I didn't post it on my regular newsfeed because I realized "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all". I mean here he is, visiting the troops, trying to lift morale, while they are working for free during a government shutdown. So, while I recognize the unique opportunity to meet the VP, I just didn't have anything nice to say about him. Bryan also participated in a Spartan Race this past week. He said it was really hard, but fun, and he'd do it again for sure. If you look closely, Bryan is on the far right in the pics below. My job search is still pretty much a fruitless endeavor. I called Alteristic again and was told t

Well. It's been another week. Today is my 14th wedding anniversary. It's the 5th anniversary Bryan has missed, and I believe last year it was me that was on a work trip, so we're obviously used to spending it apart. I figure, next year is 15, which sounds like an accomplishment, so we'll plan something big. If we can afford it. Which leads me right into the biggest issue in my life- My lack of a job. So, I haven't heard back from Alteristic. I have absolutely no idea why. I emailed a thank you a week after the initial interview. Then I waited another week because it was the weird week in between Christmas and New Year's when lots of people take off work. Then I emailed again last Wednesday asking for an update, and here's why. I had another interview on Wednesday for a training and development lead for Navy Federal Credit Union and it went really well. I got no response. However, VA had a winter storm last week, so maybe that impacted work? Anyway, I plan

It's a new year. I'm going to go into 2018 with optimism, cautious optimism, but optimism none the less. This week was definitely an improvement from last week. I usually wait until after New Year's Day to put away Christmas stuff, but It was depressing me so I put away all signs of the holiday a couple days after Christmas. I stuck with my gym routine and still haven't missed a day since I joined. I'm really loving the vibe there, but I'm feeling the need to take it up a notch so I may start running or riding my bike once it warms up a bit. This week I finally decorated my bathroom water closet. It's been an empty white shelf so I needed to make it pretty. I'm just waiting on my faux flowers for the big mason jar to complete it. The star lights up on a timer, so it's like having a night light. In addition to the bathroom, I also started to look for a backsplash for the kitchen. I'm not totally sure of my decision yet and want to look at a