Order of the Bullspit

Ok.... prepare yourself for a major vent session about this thing called Army politics. OMG! So, I think I mentioned how Billy just really hates his job. I lied. He really loves WHAT he does, just not the people he works with. Now for the record, I'm not there at Billy's job nor do I know everything that goes on. I only get the snippets that he shares with me which may be enough or may be tainted with bias. I don't know. All I know is that Billy is PISSED and OMG we need to get away from there before he has some sort of heart malfunction due to stress. Which is ironic because the reason he is so mad is over a doctor's appointment. The office made the appointment for him. He did not request the time of day. It was given to him. It just so happened to be during PT which really upset his Sgt. A woman we shall call Umbridge. (this is not her real name, nor does she favor the Umbridge in terms of looks... but certainly in attitude and character). OK... so Sgt Umbridge tells Billy he has to come in and do PT before he goes to his appointment. Error Number 1 - Billy should have just gone, BUT he decided to make a fuss and pissed off the wrong people. His complaint was that he would not be able to make it to his appointment on time and would then get in trouble for being late or missing an appoinment. So, he tells his squad leader who then tells him to go straight to the appointment and not worry about PT. Fine. Done. That was two weeks ago. Well....... Umbridge pulls Billy aside today and tells him that he missed an appointment which is a HUGE big no-no, and unless he can prove that he was there he will get a counseling statement. What the crap? So, fine. He goes to the clinic and asks for some sort of documentation that he was at the appointment to which he is told they do not give such documentation. Error Number 2 - he didn't demand something or explain why he needed it. So, he goes back empty handed and Umbridge decides that Billy is lying and said he went to the appointment when she thinks he didn't. "I must not tell lies" tattooed into the hand - can you see it? Yeah.... Ok so Umbridge tells the squad leader to write out a counseling statement saying Billy missed an appointment. He refused. Good old Neville trying to stick up for his friend. So, then comes Error Number 3 - Dumbledore (the commander for all intensive purposes) sees Billy all upset and asks him what was bothering him to which Billy responds "Nothing, sir... I don't want to talk about it." COME ON! He was the one person who could have saved his neck and pleaded a good case up against the ministry, but Harry... I mean Billy... didn't want to bother him with his problems. So, Umbridge meanwhile tells good old Neville that if he doesn't write up this counseling statement he is being insubordinate and could get a demotion. OMG. So, Neville does it. He brings the statement to Billy to sign and apologizes for not being able to stop the insanity. But Billy is so upset at this point that he refuses to read it or sign it or take a copy of it. [update: absolutely nothing happened with this by the way. He got another counseling statement the next week for his monthly review and there was nothing about this incident on there. It was almost like it never happened. I don't know if she figured out she should have just gone about it a different way or something else. I am just waiting for someone to pop out with some truth serum].

Speaking of Campbell, he is trying to get another Sgt  - one that is actually very nice and helpful  - to help him get his early report date paperwork started so we can get out of Bragg as soon as possible.

Meanwhile I'm still here in Kentucky. It is day 18. I have to say that last week was wonderful. Yes, I was up and down taking care of mom at all hours, but it was quiet. And calm. And QUIET. Now, my kids are back. Which they spent 12 of these 18 days in Tennessee with their other grandmother. But they're back with me now and you just forget (how is it possible to forget) just how loud and messy they are! I missed my kids, but now I miss the clean and quiet house we had for all that time. And then to add insult to injury, we were supposed to leave and go home to my husband this weekend. BUT... my replacement care giver (we'll call her CAT) came by today to inform us that she was headed out to California for two weeks on a business trip. So...... looks like I'll be staying at least until the 31st for mom's last appointment. It just makes me so sad and I just miss Billy so much. Especially when I know he is so stressed and we are seriously broke as a joke. So he's stressed and broke. Not a good combination. Like we have a whole 8 days until we get paid and he literally has $12 to his name.

DO NOT JOIN THE ARMY FOR THE MONEY.


 

Chi

I have a super power. I have this incredible ability to say something and then have it appear within the next couple of days. It is freaky!!!!! But true... I wish I could explain. But I can't really. So I will just give you examples. 

Mom and I walking down the road, we are making silly conversation and I quote the movie "O brother where art thou." So later that night it was on tv, we turn it on and the line that I quoted was on at that moment. 

We watched a movie with Hugh Grant in it and I got to wondering where good old Hugh had gone. Mom mentions that his career took a dive after his indiscretion with the hooker. A couple days later in the book I am reading, the character discusses the episode of Leno where Hugh apologized for his actions. 

I made a reference about Ten Second Tom from the movie "50 first dates" and that movie comes on the next day. 

I cut my finger on a piece of ice in the freezer, got mad and said "you icehole." An hour later a guy on tv called another guy an icehole. 

We were talking about how Johnny Depp is such a weirdo and all the weird roles he has been in. I asked her if she had seen him in that vampire movie "dark shadow" and she hadn't. Neither have I. But we get to the doctor this morning and the magazine on the top of the pile was Johnny Depp in his vampire makeup from "dark shadows" back in May 2012. 

Yesterday I told my aunt to shut the door she was letting out all the bought air....movie quote from "Sweet Home Alabama"   -  it's on tv right now. 

Crazy???? 

My sister and I call this The Chi: The universal energy that flows through you and connects to the things of the world around you. 

I wish I had this ability when it came to anything Army related. In fact, it is usually the opposite. Anything related to Billy's job that I say outloud almost always turns out completely opposite. 

Ouch!

Ever hit your head so hard it knocks you silly for a minute? Well, that is what just happened to me. I'm having a Doc Brown moment when he discovers the flux capacitor. I feel like screaming "1.21 gigawatts" out the front door at the top of my lungs. But not because I've had some major epiphany but rather just a monumental pump knot on the top of my head. Long story... but I was cleaning out mom's fridge and didn't gauge my clearance to the freezer door and just whacked the $^$#$%@#$ out of myself. Heck, who knows.... maybe I will have some serious mental breakthrough and start writing my incredibly amazing novel that I've been contemplating writing for the past 25 years. It is going to happen... one day. It. Will. Happen.

So, yeah... Billy is not liking me being away from home so long. (I've been gone since July 4 - 15 days). When I left, I told him that this was my deployment. I had to leave on a mission to take care of my mother. I've been called to duty! I can't help it, and I'm not sure how long it will be before I will get to go back. Imagine if you will... not being able to move your hand above the height of your shoulders. Or pick something up weighing more than a paperback book. Or not being able to extend your arms to your sides. Or lay flat. Or pour your self a drink. Or stand up in the shower. Bleh! She can walk and talk and eat and go to the bathroom - all just fine. What she cannot do is anything else. For four weeks. Her surgery was July 10. That means she can't do anything until August 7th. Anyway. back to the point... Billy is getting a real taste of what it feels like when the spouse leaves on a mission for weeks at a time. It sucks! He HATES it. I get it! I have been there... you guys were there with me when he left me for basic and AIT and how things went dark and darker while he was gone. He would tell me just to try and find things to stay busy and blah blah blah. I remember getting so mad at him. Like it's so easy to find something to do. But now I get it. He is bored and lonely and just wants us to come home. "I'm trying honey... but it isn't something we can rush" Hopefully, (and I don't mean this to sound vindictive) but hopefully he will get a taste and it will be enough for him to really understand how much it sucks to be left alone for so long. And trust me... he doesn't even have the kids to deal with. He's got it made - from my perspective. Do you know how much I would pay just to be able to stay home alone for 20 something days without anyone to talk to or cook for or drive somewhere or clean up after???? He's living my dream, really. A short term stay-cation. Alone. In silence. OOOHHH the list of things I could do!!! But that's neither here nor there... I'm not ever going to get such a thing and I would never wish my time away from my family unless it was necessary.... and this is certainly a necessary mission.

I love writing again. My head is throbbing and I'm seeing spots... but HEY, I'm writing - two days in a row!! It's a concussive miracle!!!

Jar of Hearts

So, I'm sitting here with my mother in KY. My kids are spread out all over TN. Billy is home in NC.

Mom just had double bypass surgery and so she needed someone to just help her function for the few weeks after. I felt it was the least I could do after all she's ever done for me. It is weird all the blackburns being separated like we are. I don't think any one is having a good time with the situation. Especially billy who is home all alone. Poor guy. But the girls have been with Billy's mother and William went to stay with Billy's dad. It is really weird. Did I say that already?

So what is going on? Well, lots of stuff. We are awaiting orders for fort campbell and hopefully will have them sooner than later. I plan on driving out there while I'm here in ky to drive around and figure out if I will love it or not. Eh... I know that's not so easy to figure out from driving around. But it is a start. I'm seriously ready to move back closer to home. Mom dealing with this surgery, my friend dawn being diagnosed with cancer - those are the big reasons. Plus billy hates his job at Bragg. They just aren't a great company to work for and we are seriously praying to get the heck out of dodge before they try and pull the rug out from under us. I can't imagine it will be all sunshine and rainbows here at campbell, but anything is better than where he is at now.

I'm not sure i will be so ready to go when it is time to say goodbye to my darden street family. These girls have been my true support system, my mentors, my laughers, and my sisters. One day I will sit down and write out my story of each girl. I always have a hard time writing about people really close to me that I know will read my blog one day. Even though I would never publish anything bad about them, I just feel like I could either be overly sensitive about what I say and say something too good and seem fake or under sensitive  and say something they would hate....lol. It's a mess.

Wanna hear a funny story? William ate styrofoam and we ended up having to go to the ER because they were afraid it was stuck in his windpipe. And no it's not like we could just pack up and go to the er up the road, they had to send us by ambulance to the children's hospital an hour away. That was a fun night! I bet you're like How is that funny? Well it was hilarious because only my child would get choked on a colored piece of styrofuoam. Kids are supposed to put peas or rocks up their noses. My kids inhales styrofoam.

Anyway I just felt the need to write tonight.
I've got an idea for a book, and maybe I just needed to see if I still had any bit of interesting things to say at all. I just don't know. I still think in blog mode all the time and I constantly crack myself up. But that isn't sayin much.