Society

I came to the realization yesterday that people are rude. I pushed the little blue button in my truck for directions and a very pleasant woman answered. The "navigation adviser" people are almost always nice, but they get paid to be that way so it doesn't count. Anyway, I always try to be really nice to them, since I'm sure that a lot of people are not. The woman seemed genuinely surprised that I said thank you and told her to have a nice day. It reminded me of a day in high school when i stepped in front of a girl in my class to open the door for her. She stopped and told me rather haughtily that she was very capable of opening her own doors. I don't mean to sound egotistical, but what the hell happened to good manners? Be nice to people! You usually feel good about and it makes both your days better.

Yes, I have pink on my blog. It's very visible to make it easier for Emily to read. I'm ok with it.

Determinations

Everything that we are doing at work right now is in preparation for deployment. Pre=deployment training, pre-overseas movement maintenance, pre-deployment loading, etc. We've been thinking about deployment so much that we've forgotten that it's still months away. We still have over four months to go before we leave and yet we act as if we'll be saying goodbye tomorrow. It's as if we are already on our way out the door. So, I am determined to make the most of what time we do still have before we leave. Any suggestions?

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Someone that I don't know is following my blog. Is that normal?

Parenting

So I've learned a lot of things living in my house with four kids. #1 is that I want kids. I already knew that but now it's confirmed. I would say that I want a girl but I witness the cute stage when they're six or seven and the bitchy pre-teen phase which is not fun at all ("Damn it, just get over it or start bleeding already!" is the response from my roommate). I would say a boy but they are fiendish and sneaky, more so than the girls. My determination is that there is no right answer. Either one is amazing in different ways.

Other things that I've learned-

Don't baby the baby. Just because it's little and cute does not mean that it should be able to get away with anything. It makes the older kids resent him and then they start turning on him. Not cool.

Consistency. Punishment means nothing if you turn around and cuddle two seconds later. I understand that when they're really young that after they've taken a nap or had some time to chill out, they will forget why they're being punished. You have to know when it's been enough.

Spend time with your kids!!! Children are meant to be heard, seen, felt (not in a creepy way), and experienced. Quiet does not always equal good. Kids need attention. If you have a dog you take it for walks and pet it. Multiply the time you spend with your dog by five and that's a minimum amount of time to spend with your kids.

These are just a few things that I've thought about recently and they may not be universal. I do know that the best part of my day is walking inside and have an adorable little girl hug me and not want to let go. Of course you may get the same response from a loving dog for less cost and fewer gross diapers to change. It's up to you.

Inspiration

So. My sisters are all very creative and always have these amazingly inspirational or fun blog posts to read. I've known this as fact for some time but am now still awake at 140 am because I could not stop reading them. So I'm inspired. I'm not sure if it's due to me just wanting to be expressive or due to the fact that I can't have my sisters being more wordsmithy than I am without a fight (yes I know wordsmithy isn't a word, I'm being creative. let it go.). So here I am in the middle of the night (wondering why I hear scampering feet outside my door. Abby already went to the bathroom before I put her to bed) trying to rally some creativity. I may have used it all up on my new word, see above, but I'll try to muster up some more. Here goes.

I have 483 days remaining in the Navy. I mentioned this to my mother earlier and she remarked that it seemed like just yesterday I had 719. She also brought up a good point about my future outside of the navy. Once I am done with my indentured servitude something new will begin.

My Life.

What will I do then? No, not where will I go? Where will I work? The question is, what will I count down to? My life will start and I will have to start counting up was her point. I'm not sure if I agree or not. I think that in everyone's life there are things that they count down to. My Mom counts down until the end of school, my Dad counts down until the next graduation or conference or how long it will be until it's socially acceptable to check his PDA in the middle of a conversation (I love you Dad but it's true). I don't know what my sisters count down to. Maybe their student loan payments or something like that. There is a point to be made. I've spent the past few years of my life waiting for something to end and I'm going to be faced with the task of building a future. I think about this a lot actually. What will I want to do with my life when it is no longer ruled by my profession? We'll delve into that later.