Chuga, Chuga, Choo Choo!!

Did you miss me? All 9 of you?

Well I'm back...hopefully for good this time. But let's just take this one day at a time, shall we?

I am going to use this blog to whine and brag. So if you are not up for either, you might want to meander back to Facebook now. ;)

I like wine...so let's start with the whining.

The hubs left me. Not like left me, left me, but left me for good ol' Navy duty. Alllllll the way to Bahrain. I'm not sure about you, but I didn't even know where Bahrain was located on a map. Even now, it still takes me a while to find it.

And to backup, we had been trying to get pregnant. Took a test (actually a few) right before he left and well...nothing.

So when your husband leaves for 6 months and you have a 4 year old, what do you do?

Well me, I bought a cat. I know. Stupid.

Fast forward. 2 1/2 weeks into the deployment SURPRISE we were in fact expecting. Yay!!!

And just when you think I couldn't get even more crazier, I got accepted to a very work intensive grad course. And I took a fiction writing class that included writing 2 of my own stories and reading many other stories. Again. Stupid.

That's it for whining. I promise.

Can I brag now?

Actually I don't really think it is bragging. I consider this portion of the blog as evaluating where I failed and where I thrived.

Remember, I had to learn to balance it all. I had to learn to not go crazy. I had to learn how to do it all without him.

I'll be frank about the failures. We ate out a lot. I often let my daughter sleep in my bed so that I could set the sleep timer on the TV and then I could go to sleep while she enjoyed her shows. I depended on some friends way too much. And I was probably not the best teacher, to my students or daughter, I could be. And I'm sure my house had dust bunnies in the ceiling corners and under the tables.

As for my successes, I got up EVERY morning and did what I had to do. I didn't take 1 sick day. My daughter had a great summer with new friends. I got a great tan while my daughter learned to swim. And minus those dust bunnies and frequent meals out, I think I did pretty darn good. Oh yeah...I made life each and every day.

As my blog title says, I am a jane of all trades, but as it also says, I'm a master of none. My balancing act came through the help of some great friends (hopefully they know who they are) and getting up every day knowing what I had to do. Some days included school, homework, swim lessons, and even the occasional work out and honestly other days included all of those things with a mini break down in between.

Military life is hard. But I'd be lying to say that I have it the hardest. I have the utmost respect for those spouses who have to deal with longer deployments that don't include skype dates.

One last whine before I go have a glass...before you think "I chose this life," bite your tongue. I chose a life with a man that I loved. I chose the future father of my children. I chose to stand by my husband no matter where the future took us...just as he will do for me one day.