Since my last post, I've experienced a few annoying things in my life... which is why I haven't updated. Over a week and a half ago I was sitting on my couch minding my own business, watching TV, when all of a sudden I felt like I had an eyelash in my eye. So I did the usual, pulled my top lid over my bottom lid and hoped it would push out. The feeling never went away, in fact, it got worse. I know I'm not an opthamologist however I know as well as anyone else not to RUB your eye because you could do more harm then good - and it could cause wrinkles later on in life (thanks, Cosmo!). With that said I went to the grocery store and browsed the 'eye' section... drops, ointment, salves, you name it I bought it... I tried Visine intensive care for two days - nothin', then I went to the stye ointment for two days... still no improvement... Finally I faced the facts - I must have pink eye (GROSS!) so I called the Dr. to get an appointment - all booked they could see me in a week (hell no!) so I explained I think I have pink eye, explained the symptoms, and they called in drops to the pharmacy for me (thank God!). I went and got the drops, used them for a couple days, and still... no improvement. Now not only am I frustrated - but if you've ever had an eye condition you know how annoying it is, AND, how blind you become paired with eye sensitivity and the tearing (as well as my whole right side of my face now swollen I looked like I got punched in the eye AND my right nostril was clogged and draining at the same time - one of life's greatest mysteries to me). I called my mom crying about a dozen (or so) times because I was so miserable. I went to the Dr. and he determined he didn't know what was wrong and I should see a specialist who comes to Nantucket on Saturdays (how nice of him). I went to see the specialist, 2 hours late for my appointment (thanks Dr. Butterworth's office for writing the wrong time on my card) so he was rushing out to catch the ferry but said he'd see me quickly - he took a paperclip and ROLLED my eyelids around it (was that thing sterilized?!) and said my cornea was scratched but didn't seem to see any foreign body, then said he might have pulled out a piece of lint or something but he was running late for his ferry so to put this ointment in it and continue with the drops and it should get better soon. FLAKE. I went home, did as he said, and holy hell that ointment BURNED! Needless to say the eye is still an issue - and staring at the computer doesn't help... Ice pack, Aleve, benadryl, drops, and bearing the ointment at night has been working - but I thought your eye was supposed to be the fastest healing part of your body - what gives?
Not to mention throughout this misery - it has snowed 3 times, and I've had no food in my house because I'm a danger behind the wheel - seriously, I almost hit someone the other night who decided to kamikaze (in true Nantucket, "I'll cross the road when I want and you WILL stop" fashion) the road while I was driving home. Trust that I honked and gave them the best NY finger I could paired with a "F--- YOU!"... hopefully they learned their lesson... next time they might not be so lucky.
I finally received a letter from Kyle, which was such a relief since everyone in the FB group for his company had received theres I was starting to get concerned. He was appointed company "guide on" which means he holds the flag and stands at the front of his formation and everyone should keep his pace. It also means he's responsible for grabbing the flag when the company is forming, and putting it away at night. Which also means he has to walk through the building yelling "GANGWAY GUIDE ON" - and I cannot wait for him to come home so I can yell it when we walk past each other in the house - how evil am I!? haha... but seriously, I'm proud of him, and it will make it super easy to spot him during grad - and he will be one of the first to receive his graduation certificates since he will be in front. I should get another letter from him this week.
Yesterday I went to my 6 month cleaning at the dentist and they classified me as a dental class 3 - non deployable... which means I need to get two root canals and a filling re-filled before I can get underway (although chief said I just can't get underway on a 270') but this also puts me in the 'red'... and I don't want to be in the red... you'd think I gargle with sugar water at night, thanks, mom and dad for the awesome teeth! I'm really annoyed at this particularly because our dentist here on island doesn't do root canals anymore so now I have to go off-island, probably a few times, and that's just a huge hassle and waste of time to me. If we didn't live on this stupid island I would be less annoyed because a root canal is NBD to me.
Anyway, I'm done with my ranting... and I'm off to the dentist yet again, to discuss my issues... then make a game plan.
"It's fun"... that's what the cashier at the Sephora counter said to me as she handed me a sample of a Boscia Face Peel. "What does this all mean?" - you're probably saying to yourself... Boscia is a preservative-free, botanically-based skin care company, who I have purchased product from in the past but I'm still not certain I am completely sold on it - and I have yet to find anything wrong with good ole' Clinique... but it was free, so tonight I decided to give it a whirl... but first...
I took the past two days off working out kind of on accident, and for those of you who have no idea what I've been doing, it's the TurboFire program by BeachBody - the amazing people who make P90X... and if you don't know what any of that means, well... I'm sorry for you! TurboFire is basically a kickboxing program that incorporates yoga and plyometrics. After my three week hiatus from work and getting into the groove of working out I was doing really well, but once I went back to work and had to be awake at 0530 (you see what I did there?) I kind of fell off the bandwagon... plus I hadn't slept for the 72 hours after Jeff broke into my house... but that's neither here nor there, I digress. In addition to going back to work, and Kyle leaving for bootcamp, I started an online class (Critical Thinking: Strategies in Decision Making - AKA giant BS fest...). Tonight I did three workouts to catch up because GOD FORBID my OCD let me just move on with the program. This totaled 85 minutes of working out in my living room. To treat myself afterward I took a long hot soak in my tub, lit candles, put on relaxing music (Sara Bareilles Radio on Pandora) , and found a little slice of heaven right here in my very own home. Seriously, I don't know at what point I stopped taking baths but I think in the past 10 years I've maybe taken 5... and I think every time I say to myself, "I really need to do this more often".
A drop in the ocean
A change in the weather
I was praying that you and me might end up together
It's like wishing for rain as I stand in the desert
But I'm holding you closer than most
'cause you are my heaven
You are my heaven
Ron Pope
Let's be clear here, this is no roman tub, and my bathroom might be just a step above a questionable gas station accommodation (I'm not even kidding...) that I've blissfully decorated with photos of seashells, beachy pictures of my family, and a plant (because plants make even the darkest places seem lively). DC1 (the guy who takes care of the government housing - for you civilians) had to replace the vanity in our bathroom about 6 months ago because the faucet was leaking and when he tried to replace it he cracked the porcelain sink because it was so corroded. The new vanity was about 4 inches less deep than the old one, and wouldn't you believe, the tiles on the floor ended at the old vanity (because whoever previously laid the tile was either too lazy to tile the whole bathroom, or wanted to save money and only tile the visible floor) leaving visible wood and a 1/4" or better gap that my toes often find when I stand at the mirror to brush my teeth. The shower and tub are one of those one piece fixtures, and Kyle and I have gone around and re-caulked the bathroom and kitchen because the caulk was completely molded out when we moved in. Also, most of the cement between the tiles that ARE on the floor is cracked... I won't even touch the toilet or baseboards in this blog, I'll save that for a rainy day.
So anyway, back to my face peel... after getting out of the tub I decided to give this a shot... I put the peel on, made some jokes to myself about how there's white out conditions on my face right now (because the peel was white and it's snowing like mad outside), and went to my room to continue relaxing and let it dry. Once the peel was dry, I very quickly came to the conclusion that this Sephora cashier and I have very differing views of what "FUN" is. The peel came off in long strips, and left the part where it broke off kind of hanging and made my face very itchy - like someone was tickling me with a feather. Not only was this frustrating because I wanted it to peel off in one big piece like a mask - I realized almost instantly that unless this woman was handing me a bottle of wine, a shot of tequila, or tickets to a football game - that there's no way I could possibly consider this to be fun... then I realized I might have a problem (although I think many of my friends and readers would agree that those three things almost always = fun... and if you don't, well then again, I am sorry for you!). I peeled most of the mask off and once I really looked like a clown I marched my ass right to the bathroom and washed the rest of it off...
I'm sure you all want to know if I've heard from Kyle, or if I know where I'm getting stationed after this... the answer is NO - to both the above. Trust me people, you will know as soon as I know - I will update my facebook, take a picture on Instagram, email all my contacts, text all my family members, Pin it on Pinterest, and send a letter to Kyle (sad... he will be the last to know). I've almost come to accept that maybe we aren't going anywhere and we're staying here for another year, but then I think it's one of those Murphy's Law type things where once I decide I'd like to stay we get orders to Gnome, Alaska (which is a standing joke in this Pitcock household... but might not be that funny when it actually happens). At the end of the day the decision isn't up to me - so hang tight followers, you'll find out soon.
About six months ago my friend Chelsea who was stationed here on Nantucket with me was getting rid of some stuff before she got out of the Coast Guard and moved on to start a new life... among those things were two lamps. The lamps had mis-matched lamp shades and were a gold marble color. I bought some matte black spray paint and spray painted them and my friend Sally, who I met while I was working on yachts in Fort Lauderdale, went lampshade shopping for me this summer while she was staying in Falmouth and visiting periodically on Hilarium (the yacht she currently stews on). After sending lots of pictures of lampshades back and forth and shopping around Sal found the perfect lampshades and the completed lamps were the perfect addition to our living room.
This summer, while Kyle had some friends over, he started auctioning off random things around our house. He does this sometimes when he has a few drinks in him, and it's all in good fun - but once he shakes on it, the deal is done. Jeff, one of my newer shipmates, has had his eyes on those lamps since he moved here. He has gone into great length to try to feed Kyle and I just enough cocktails to get us to agree to sell him the lamps. I stood my ground and have never fallen for his trickery because I am proud of all of my DIY projects around our house - especially when I am able to get something for free and then get a ton of compliments on it!
Last night, Jeff had called me and invited me out to one of our other shipmates houses around 9:30. At this point I was already 6 episodes in on a new TV series, still in my pajamas from the night before, and on my second glass of wine. I had become a fixture on the couch and I really wasn't in any particular mood to socialize with anyone, plus the series had just started to get really good. On the other hand I saw this as an opportunity to share some of my gummy bears (since I really don't want to be held accountable for eating the entire 10lbs - and trust me, I'm well on my way), so I took a shower and told Jeff I'd meet him at his house unless he tells me they already left. By the time I got out of the shower, I had pretty much decided I wasn't going anywhere. I watched a few more episodes and moved upstairs around 11:45.
I was having trouble sleeping - even though I was DOG tired and my eye-lids felt like they were made out of sandbags. I turned the TV on, which was still on History channel from the last time Kyle watched it, and set the sleep timer to go off in 90 minutes. I tossed and turned and tossed and turned. Around 12:20 I heard some scrambling around downstairs, I pressed my ear further into the pillow so I could hear whatever it was more clear. Pippin must have gotten ahold of his catnip cigar and was bouncing around - "what a crazy cat" I thought to myself. Then almost immediately following I had a minor heart attack and countered that thought with, "what if there's someone in my house?!". There's never anyone in the house, I comforted myself, and thought about the shotgun in our closet and how I had taken the safety off of it and made sure it had a couple rounds in it earlier.
At 12:45 I got out of bed finally to go downstairs and take some Benadryl, my eyes were actually swollen and I felt like my sinuses might be bothering me. The second I reached the bottom of the stairs tingles fluttered from my toes to my heart and back again. MY LAMPS WERE GONE. One of the curtains hanging over the couch was pulled out from behind the couch and draped across it like a throw - the entry point (there's a broken latch on that window and it can't be locked). I quickly scrambled around my downstairs checking all the windows and locking them. I took two Benadryl and ran upstairs and texted Jeff, "if you damage my lamps you are a dead man". No response.
I woke up pretty much every hour after that because I kept having dreams about people being in my house. When I finally woke up at 7:30am, I had 4 texts from Jeff, he didn't think I would notice the lamps missing until halfway through the next day (what do you take me for, Jeff?!). I just responded, "you're an asshole", and got ready for my day.
I left my key in my mailbox and made Jeff tend to my animals and return my lamps. When I got home from work at 5 the lamps were back in their spots, plugged in even.
Little does Jeff know, he just opened a WHOLE can of worms on someone who LOVES trickery. This means war, Jeff... consider yourself warned.
(By the way, for all my worried mothers out there - I screwed the window shut with the broken latch - house is sealed).
Tonight will be my first official night home without Kyle. Leaving him at MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station for my civilian followers) was less emotional than I had originally anticipated - I remember my mom coming to say goodbye to me the morning I left and I was confident and held it all together until she said goodbye, I had that pain in your throat you get when you're literally choking back tears, and wanted to cry like a little kid whose parents just left them for the first time.
When we arrived at MEPS, Kyle was required to check-in at the DOD desk at the Boston Westin Waterfront Hotel between 5pm-730pm. I was really impressed with the accommodations, I think I stayed at a Hilton in Staten Island, but this was really swanky and flooded with business men and women carrying briefcases dressed to the nines in designer suits, bags, and shoes... trust me, I know. I checked into my room, on the 14th floor, and asked the concierge if he knew anything about the MEPS people. He said he was friends with Dave, the guy who checks them in, and directed me to him to answer any of my questions. Little did I know, I was being sent straight to "awkward wife zone". I found Dave on the second floor but by the time I found Dave, Dave had found me and mistook me as a recruit trying to check in. I tried to explain to him (in a room full of 18-20something year old guys) that I wasn't checking in I was already in the service but I wanted to know if my husband could stay with me in my room. Flustered, Dave explained to me that my recruiter should have told me DOD would have provided accommodations and that I probably wouldn't get refunded... I had to explain to him again that I was already in the service, I was just trying to bend the rules a little. He informed me that once recruits check in they are required to be in their rooms by 1030PM no exceptions. Long story short - Kyle stayed with me on his last night 'home'.
Kyle met up with me almost immediately after the awkward encounter with Dave, and informed me that I was like an embarrassing mom (I could actually SENSE that I was being like an embarrassing mom). He wanted to go meet his roommate and meet some of the other people who were going to be with him tomorrow so I decided I was going to do my workout since I haven't skipped a day in a few weeks I wasn't going to let myself just because I was out of town. Kyle actually brought our DVD player from our house and hooked it up in my room for me so I could (which is one of the things I love most about him - always goes out of his way to make sure I'm happy!). Kyle's 'roommate' for the night was a very interesting character also named Kyle. He told us he was madly in love with Rachel Ray, enjoyed creative writing (even had a degree for it), has Aspergers, weighed 280lbs at the age of 11, has a girlfriend who is bisexual, never leaves his house, is 24 years old, drives a 4runner, and is allowed to have his best friend over on Friday nights. He was trying to get into the Coast Guard also but was only in the beginning stages and didn't score enough points on his ASVAB the day prior so had to call his dad to come pick him up (I didn't bother asking why he didn't drive himself...). We had dinner with Kyle at O'Connor's pub in the lobby of the hotel. They got meal vouchers from the DOD and I ate off the civilian menu.
When we finished eating Kyle and I told awkward Kyle we were going to go for a walk and he got the hint and told us he was going to go back to their room to watch some cooking shows. We took a long walk to the World Trade Center building and along the waterfront, we ran into Whitey Bulger and some of his cronies, admired the smell of saltwater (which Kyle informed me reminds him of Hooters - which if he had never brought me to - I might find really disgusting, but since I know it's on the water, I get it) and then we made our way back to the hotel. He had a mandatory meeting at 830 so I figured I could probably sneak down to the bar and have a glass of wine or two to loosen up a bit - by the time I was leaving my room I ran into him in the hallway, I think the meeting was only four minutes long, so we decided to go find me a bottle of wine instead since he figured it would probably cost just as much for me to sit and have two glasses, and he probably couldn't sit with me at the bar.
(we took this photo on our walk to the waterfront)
I feel like we walked forever, I literally have a blister on the bottom of my foot and I was wearing UGGs (WTF). I blame it mostly on Kyle's mile long legs and the fact I have to take 4 steps for every one of his strides - I break a sweat every time we go for a leisurely walk. I felt like we were walking straight into the neighborhood for the new show Southie Rules, and I was grateful to have a mammoth of a husband (and even more grateful once I got my bottle of wine because I felt like I was armed). We ended up cutting our walk down by taking some really dark sketchy backroads and winding up WAY behind the convention center, where they must be staging a pop-up car sale because there were a bunch of rows of different makes of cars with no plates.
(kyle #hashtagged the $#!T out of this pic - a little game we play on Instagram to see who can get the most likes for the most ridiculous #hashtags because we think #hashtagging is #obnoxious)
When we got back to the hotel almost immediately after my first glass of wine I turned into an emotional train-wreck. It only lasted a little while though because I think since I've been through this experience on the other side of the spectrum, I know how he wouldn't want me to act. We watched some Duck Dynasty and I dozed off pretty quickly. I woke up around 2am and he was still up, and had to be up at attem at 4 - to embark on pretty much the longest day of his life.
Kyle left the hotel around 430 and told me to walk over to the MEPS building by 830. I got there by 815 and he didn't swear in until about 1030. We (the families of the shippers) were told by the liaisons to pretty much plan on saying your last goodbyes by 1145. I left around 1130 because I didn't want to deal with the mob of crying parents and Kyle was pretty much ready to go by then anyway.
I spent the next hour driving massive circles around Boston, pretty much the most poorly laid out city I've ever been to. I literally was SCREAMING at the top of my lungs in my Chevy Sonic and had the worst case of road rage I've ever had. I actually drove down a road that was blocked off for some effing road race at one point and then three people followed behind me so I couldn't back out. I was so frustrated. Once I knew I was on the road and didn't need to pay attention to signs anymore, I called my mom for some moral support, and did about 90mph back to the cape so I could go to the mall and get some good retail therapy in before trying to catch the 310 boat back to Nantucket. By the time I landed in Nantucket, Kyle had landed in Cleveland (thanks to lowest price flights paid for by the government). We stayed in touch until about 8pm when he called to tell me they were probably getting on the bus soon and he was going to secure his phone in his bag. I choked back some tears and gave him some last minute advice, "it's artificial stress, I did it - you can do it, the company commanders are normal Coasties like nacho and Jeff, they're not actually mean it's just their job, hang in there... it's just 8 weeks". I can't wait for my 10lbs of gummy bears to get here tomorrow.
So I had been thinking for AWHILE I wanted to keep a blog... then I realized I had already started a couple and had to backtrack a few years and find my old Xanga and Blog Spot from old email addresses (which brings me to mention a common trend you will likely see throughout these posts social media is creepy). It was nostalgic to read all the old posts I had made 5+ years ago, and I also concluded (not surprisingly) that I was not as put-together as I am today.
I started a blog a week or so ago on Tumblr. however I realized instantly Tumblr. is BEYOND my technological experience and I had NO IDEA what I was doing. Then my friend Jesse posted on her blog and shared it with Facebook and I realized this is where I need to be. I'm just going to brief what my Tumblr. said (then I'm going to go back and figure out how to delete it...). I had set a goal this year to lose the 30lbs I gained since I joined the Coast Guard and got married, and I'd love to blame it all on becoming a chef and that when you're happy - you're fat. After getting fat, I realized this is actually far from the truth...
Kyle got motivated to join the Coast Guard after spending his first year here playing video games waiting for calls from the construction company that they were starting a new job, but due to miserable weather (freezing rain, wind, snow... etc) spent most of his time sitting on the couch waiting for me to come home. He gained about 50lbs during the process, and collectively, we were fat, and happy... or not. He spent the next year working at a liquor store and KNEW he needed to do something to start moving forward. He started running, watching what he ate, I stopped cooking dinner every night and only once a week at home (and limited what we ate to super healthy meals - grilled chicken, ground turkey, whole wheat, steamed veggies... etc), and taking GNC burn 60 and fish oil every day. He quickly lost 60lbs and got his foot in the door to go to Coast Guard basic training. I on the other hand had hit a plateau, which I knew I would since I had my thyroid to blame for my slow weight-loss. I felt defeated and stopped trying, we spent the summer working and playing and I did little-to-no exercising just kept saying, "I can't lose weight", when really I was just lazy and didn't want to work extra hard.
Backtracking a little... we had NOTHING when we moved into our house on Nantucket after getting married - we had responded to an ad in the classifieds that someone was giving away a bunch of free crap (from what I can remember, mattresses, directors' chairs, a dining room table with a chunk missing out of the top of it, a rickety old night stand...etc) so we went and loaded up our truck and filled our house with all this hand-me-down furniture... it was perfect. I instantly had this instinct I needed to nest egg and went to the dump a couple times and found some fabric, old pictures and frames people were getting rid of, and made our house 'home'. Over the next couple years we upgraded and re-handed down some of the free furniture and (with the help of some of our family) finally had our OWN nice stuff. We had also accrued a little debt from buying, traveling, etc. etc. We sold both our old cars and upgraded those too.
Not to digress, I'm getting to the point... why I am blogging. We are finally due to transfer off of Nantucket to the "real world". While we are really excited, it will be a whole new experience for us as a married couple (moving... new distractions outside of this little bubble... new jobs... new house... new friends...).
Kyle leaves for Coast Guard basic training on Tuesday, two days from today, and graduates in March. I will get orders to find out where we are going (destination X) by the end of February. We will move to destination X by mid-June, and he will go to his advanced training school in July.
In the meantime, I decided to take this opportunity for new beginnings and set a couple goals for myself (and us). While Kyle is in his 8 week training program, I am doing my own bootcamp at home. By the time he graduates I want to be in the same (or better) physical shape I was in when I graduated basic training (which means losing an additional 20lbs - additional to the 10 I already lost since Thanksgiving - because I decided not to have a New Years resolution and start early). By the time we transfer I want to get rid of 3/4 (if not all - but I'm being realistic) of the current debt we have. ALSO - we want to travel, haven't decided where yet but by 2014... so we're saving for that.
We have also made a collaborative decision to kick our 20's in the ass and have the BEST time we can and settle in our 30s. A lot of people want to know when we're having kids, etc. etc. we decided "no cupcakes or children"...
