FINALLY!

Friday was Mr. X's LAST DAY.....he is officially checked out and ON LEAVE! :) :)

He went trick-or-treating with the boys and I in the mall and instead of having to go back to work....he came home with us, passed out candy, and STAYED HOME....ALL NIGHT!

The boys enjoyed receiving candy, but had so much more fun handing out candy to other trick-or-treaters. In an effort to attract more kids to our house, B leaned out the front door and started yelling "Come get your fresh, sweet candy....we've got all your favorites right here! Come and get it!"

After we ran out of candy, B actually gave away all his candy he had gotten from the mall. He is such a sweetheart!

J changed his mind about his costume a minimum of 10 times, finally settling on Iron Man. B saw a Jengo Fett (?) costume at Target and JUST HAD TO HAVE IT! Of course it was the last one in stock and 4 SIZES TOO SMALL. He begged and pleaded and, finally... I agreed to buy it....but I warned him that it might not fit and if it didn't we would have to bring it back and find something different. The second we got in the door both the boys ripped open their costumes...(actually J started ripping his open in the van) and decided to play Iron Man vs. Jengo Fett. Within 5 minutes there was a GIANT hole in the butt area of B's costume. I wound up cutting it up into pieces and GLUING and DUCT TAPING the remnants onto a pair of thermal underwear. Can you tell I was desperate????? Fortunately for me, B still thought it looked "really cool" and I even managed to whip together something vaguely resembling a jet pack.

Semper Gumby

*Please excuse my vent*

The first time I heard a big burly Marine utter the words "Semper Gumby" I laughed (on the inside of course). How could I have known at the time the phrase was not meant to be the least bit funny or amusing? How could I have known that these words, these two silly little words, were words that I would have to learn to live by for the next 20 years?

Always flexible, that's what it means....... ALWAYS flexible.

When Mr. X came home on Friday night and told me that our PCS date had been moved up, yet again, the first thing that came to mind was "Semper Gumby". I told myself to just smile, give him a hug and let him know that it's ok, everything is ok, you can deal with it because you are SEMPER GUMBY.....you are the epitome of flexibility, you are a Marine Corps wife, situations like this are not only expected, they are embraced and dealt with gracefully.

It was not until around midnight that the severity of the information I had just received hit me. I have ONE month, ONE MONTH to move. Why...why....why could "they" not of told us this 2 months ago????? WHY? I thought of being SEMPER GUMBY, then I just thought about GUMBY and then I imagined that GUMBY was "they", and that GUMBY was forcing us to move sooner than expected for no good reason and it made me want to punch him in the face and run him over. I want to be rigid and inflexible! I hate you GUMBY! I hate you and your ugly green body, I hate your stupid little voice and your ability to transport yourself into storybooks! I want to wad you up into an ugly, gooey, green ball and throw you off the top of the Empire State building and watch you get stepped on after you plummet to the ground!

I wish I was able to say, without hesitation, that I am the perfect military wife...... that nothing ever phases me, that I am ALWAYS prepared for the worst/unexpected yet hoping for the best, and that I have a permanently genuine smile plastered on my face regardless of the situation......I can't say that, and I can't say that I will ever be able to. I know that I love my country, my family and my husband. I love the fact that I am an integral part of the support system that allows him to continue to honorably serve. I understand this lifestyle requires sacrifice on both our parts and yet....I find that, occasionally, I am filled with confusion and frustration. It used to be that I just "let it go" or so I thought I was letting it go. In reality I was just letting, whatever IT was fester in the deep, dark, dank places of my mind...places that are usually only occupied by my irrational fears and useless inventions. I am finished with festering, because festering leads to infection and the last thing I want infected is my mind because I have a hard enough time making sense as it is. I cannot express, even to myself, in words how therapeutic it is to release my thoughts in a manner such as this. I can be the flexible supportive wife, the jubilant loving mother, and the crazy confused woman who wants to run over Gumby........all without scaring my husband or children because I have released my thoughts, feelings, and tensions here...here in my own little corner of the blogosphere...... and you know what? I feel better!

~Semper Gumby~

Mrs. X

Where does the time go?

I'm here and I'm well! (thanks for asking Elena!)

We returned from our trip on Sunday night around 2 am. Monday, we got up late (naturally) and had to rush around town trying to figure out how in the heck to make the jet packs for B's den meeting that I had promised earlier. We then hurried back home in time to make B's virtual meeting with his online mentor, pre-cut all our materials, and make a sample jet pack for the meeting. (Lucky for me Mr. X is really handy with a saw.) Needless to say, I did not squeeze in ANY time for blogging. :(

Tuesday is somewhat of a blur and I honestly can't remember what I did.

Wednesday I really, really thought I would finally post the 2-3 pictures I took on our trip (I know! I am the best photo documenter ever!) but then I got really sucked into B's Benjamin Franklin power point presentation. By the time we finished it was around 9:30 and Mr. X walked in the door.

It is now THURSDAY and I am finally writing up this horribly uninteresting post. *sigh*

One quick story before I go:

I have been on a VERY strict diet the last couple of weeks. (with the exception of the time I was on vacation, because what type of person seriously diets on VACATION!?)
About a week before we left for our trip I was REALLY frustrated with my lack of weight loss, I was *ahem* bloated and since becoming "bloated" I found the weight was not coming off as quickly. Mr. X took note of my frustration and attempted to be encouraging and make me feel better.

"I can't believe this, babe! I haven't loss any weight lately!"

"Well, honey, it might be because you are bloated."

"You're right, I'm probably just retaining a lot of water."

"Yeah! And can you imagine when you're finished with you're "bloating"? You'll be losing weight so fast! You'll probably lose like 10,000 pounds, just like that!"

I watched his face as he finished his sentence. I knew, that he knew what he had just said did not come out quite the way he planned it. His smile faded and his eyes widened...I can only imagine what ran through his head at that point "OH s#!&! I just told my wife she has 10,000 pounds to lose"

I mustered the most devious, mischievous smile I am capable of mustering and replied,

"Thanks, babe. I didn't know I had 10,000 pounds to lose, but I'll do what I can to get it off."

It took him a second, but he finally laughed nervously, after he realized I wasn't an overly sensitive, deeply offended, PMS monster.