2015 Resolutions/To-Dos

We're now 11 days into January, so I guess I've had enough time to reflect and decide on my goals for the entire year, right? Right. Here goes.

1. Have baby, name the baby!
The second part is seeming harder than the first at this point. I've had a boy name picked out for over 10 years now, but girls' names are hard.

2. Still be pumping at work a year from today.
I'm kinda dreading pumping again (even though I have my own office with an actual door), but I know it's best. And cheaper. That's really the main reason.

3. Decorate Cora's room.
I re-painted it back in August and never got any decorations back on the wall! I think I want to add some curtains, too.

4. Read 12 books.
This is pseudo-ambitious, but I do get lunch breaks at work.

5. Run ONE race.
This sounds lame since I did 6 this past year, but I feel like it took me forever to recover from giving birth last time. I really didn't start running until Cora was almost a year old. So if I can just get out there and do one 5K, I'll call it a success.

6. Host 4 dinners at our house.
One is already scheduled!

7. Learn how to use my fancy camera.
I have the fancy contraption, even an extra lens, the manual, and even a book about photography I got for Christmas. Now I just need to add it all together and stop shooting in Auto.

8. Get that blasted passport already.
This is a leftover resolution from last year. And get one for Cora, because you never know if your weekend may have you driving to Ontario, right? (I just realized right this moment that the new baby will also need a passport for that, and ugh, have you ever seen a tiny baby's passport photo? It's so awkward.)


So there ya have it, my 'big' goal list for 2015. Feel free to leave me some book/dinner/name suggestions in the comments.

2014 Resolutions Recap

I had a fitting 14 resolutions for 2014. I did a check-in about halfway through the year, which you can read here. Or you can skip that noise and see how I fared overall.

1. Organize the basement. Make it functional. Make it awesome.

Well, it WAS organized back in July when I did my last update. It's kind of a mess again, but looking at the before picture makes me realize that we're still better off now, even though we still need a blasted shelf.

Long time ago

Mid-year check-in

Current state. Trampoline and bassinet were gifts/hand-me-downs from people,
 and the high chair will be back in the kitchen by this time next year.

2. Start a toy rotation for Cora. Maybe once a month swap stuff out.

Did this for a while, with reminders in my phone and all, then stopped, mostly due to laziness. Purposely stopped when she began daycare full-time because there's no real need for it any more. I still should probably donate a bunch of toys we have in the basement.

3. Weekly Family Meetings!

Still going strong. Still in the bathroom. We keep changing the days of it due to B's class schedule, but hopefully something will work this semester.

4. Potty train Cora.

Fully daytime potty-trained! Even for naps, which is good because it's all-or-nothing for her daycare class. Night-time is still diapers, even though she whines about it. (We tried 3 nights in undies when she started resisting, and only the first night was dry. Another time...)

5. Use time outs for Cora.

I KNOW she does these at daycare. She does them here, too, sitting on the stairs, but we generally have to stand somewhere nearby or she'll just get up and run away. Ugh.

6. Conquer Cora's picky eating.

Nope. I don't even know what to do here any more, and I'm too tired to worry about it at this point. So she just gets her cottage cheese/yogurt/peanut butter bagel (seriously, that's all she'll eat at dinner), and we have a lot less screaming and tears and we can all eat dinner in peace.

7. Get new passport.

Argh. Has not been done.

8. Make a home management binder. Not sure if I want it as detailed as the one I read about in Organized Simplicity, but there should be some type of manual on running this house if I fall into a hole.

It's currently a few documents that sit in an online file. I have no idea how to manage a home that I only spend about 3 waking hours in per day

9. Keep up with the budget on YNAB. (I just bought this thing!) And in effect, tithe more.

Yep! I LOVE this budgeting program! And I do feel like we tithed more. Now that I'm pretty sure our income is steady, we'll be tithing automatically online each week.

10. Read 7 books. And actually finish them.

1. Unplanned by Abby Johnson
2. Pope Awesome by Cari Donaldson
3. Girl At the End of the World by Elizabeth Esther
4. Strange Gods by Elizabeth Scalia
5. Something Other Than God by Jennifer Fulwiler
6. New Rules of Lifting for Women by Lou Schuler (my first textbook-style read this year, and it went pretty quickly)
7. Saint John Paul the Great: His Five Loves by Jason Evert
8. These Beautiful Bones by Emily Stimpson
9. My Sisters the Saints by Colleen Carroll Campbll
10. Modern Real Estate Practice (19th ed.) -- I read this entire textbook, so I'm counting it!
11. A Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans

I had already read 7 by my mid-year check-in so I upped it to 12. I didn't hit that number, but I didn't know then that I'd be reading an entire real estate textbook and trying to pass a licensing exam. Curveballs and whatnot.

UPDATE: Thanks to Goodreads, I realized I had left a few off!

     12. Deep Dish by Mary Kay Andrews
     13. 1-2-3 Magic: Effective Discipline for Children 2-12 by Thomas W. Phelan

11. Learn 5 new dinner recipes.

1. Sweet & Sour Meatballs in the crockpot (we love these!)
2. ATK Cooking School Hearty Vegetable Lasagna (this was a "labor of love" and was way too involved)
3. Gouda/Cheddar Mac n' Cheese (from Betty Crocker) -- my fave! just made it again the other week
4. Spasagna (B was not a fan, but I liked it. Especially because it fed me for 4 days and I didn't have to wonder what was for dinner when I got home.)
5. Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings

There were probably more, but that's what I remember. B did a really good job with cooking this year, too, learning recipes from our ATK Cooking School book! He definitely has more "chef-like" tendencies than I do.

12. Get pregnant. (!!)

Hooray.

And thank you for the prayers. I had a lot of anxieties through the first half of this pregnancy and am finally feeling more at peace now.

13. Make 2 friends in this town. Like, actual friends that give me their phone numbers and call me to hang out.

I think I can safely say I made about 5 new friends! And I also have co-workers that I go to lunch with sometimes, which is nice.

14. Run 2 races. Setting the bar low . . .

I ran 6! Even 2 while pregnant. Go, me!

1. 5-Kilt
2. Frontier Run n' Fun
3. Nun Run
4. Matthew 25 5K
5. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish Miracle Miles (never did a recap on this one, sorry)
6. Galloping Gobbler

My favorite victory picture

It looks like I hit about 10 out of 14. Not too shabby. For someone who has barely blogged in a while, I sure have a lot more to say in regards to the new year and the old year and maybe some plans for next year. And I have 4 days off, so hey, maybe I'll actually take the time to write it all down.

2014 Resolutions Check-In

We're past the halfway point of the year. Hooray?! Again, I'm not one to think that time is passing too quickly/slowly, so insert your own comment here.


Here is an update on my resolution list 2014, and relevant comments:

1. Organize the basement. Make it functional. Make it awesome.
Not quite awesome yet, but it is functional now!

Here are some before pics. This place was a mess!

And now for some after:

Still need to do something or get rid of the blinds on the right

Decided to set up the table instead of letting it fall on someone.

I still have a few things to do down there, like get some pictures up on the wall. Buy a new shelf for games and books. So far, so good, though.

2. Start a toy rotation for Cora. Maybe once a month swap stuff out.
Being doing this on and off. We have 3 sets of toys, and a reminder in my phone goes off during her nap every other Monday. Sometimes I ignore it. The truth is that she mostly plays with the stuff we leave out all the time (toy kitchen and tea set, Lego duplos, books from the library). But when I change stuff out, she notices eventually. I should probably just sell/donate at least half of it at this point.

The other toys in a corner of the basement. She does like to play with them when she's down there!
Also, the fish painting will be going on the wall.

3. Re-start Weekly Family Meetings!
Ugh, we were doing so well until recently. B joined a sports league that has games on Mondays, which was our meeting night. We just moved them to Wednesdays, but sometimes I go to a running club that night. We do like to do it while we give Cora a bath. All of us in the bathroom together. And Cora loves us reading from her kids' bible.

I just started a weekly chore chart now that B is home with me, so maybe we should just move it to Sunday night so we revise our chart as part of the meeting?

4. Potty train Cora. Goal is to be daytime-trained around age 2, no later than 27 months. 
She's now in undies all day except for naps and night (started right around 27 months!). But this child is a holder and refuses to use a public toilet. It was really bad on vacation--once or twice she held it for more than 12 hours. She often goes only twice a day and then in a diaper at night. She is self-initiating, though (finally!), so I'm gonna go ahead and say she is day-time trained!

5. Use time outs for Cora. She still doesn't quite understand it and won't sit in the chair.
Still working on this. She knows what it is and talks about it and sometimes puts herself in time-out for no reason. But when we give an actual timeout? I have to hold her down sometimes. And then she laughs. And then she kicks the wall. Then she laughs some more. I don't think she gets it. Anyone have tips for this? Should I use the high chair and face it toward the wall? Or is she too old for that?

6. Conquer Cora's picky eating.
We've had a few small short-lived breakthroughs, but we definitely can see that only serving her what's on the table is our best shot at this. Now we just need to follow through with it. She eats oatmeal and drinks milk at breakfast, and I like that but not her other meals. I just don't even know with this. I have to bring food to restaurants because she literally will not eat anything on the menu, not even your typical 'toddler food' like mac & cheese or hot dogs.

We went to Waffle House on our vacation, and all she ate was ketchup. (And yes, she just scrapes it off of whatever you put it on. No trickery gets by her.) She drank her milk, though.

7. Get new passport. This has been on my long to-do list for a while.
Has not happened. I currently cannot leave the country. Time to get the wheels a-movin'.

8. Make a home management binder. 
I've started a file on my computer, and as of now it has less than 10 documents in it (including blank chore chart, blank menu plan, doctor info, etc.). It's a start!

9. Keep up with the budget on YNAB. And in effect, tithe more.
I don't reconcile accounts as much as I should, but I'm doing quite well with this. I wish I could get my husband on-board with using the app and inputting purchases right after he makes them, but he won't do it. I do about 80% of the shopping, and he knows to give me receipts, so we're making it work. As for the second part, we have been tithing about 20% more this year. We're still tithing even through this period of unemployment, thanks to YNAB's way of budgeting for a month ahead.

10. Read 7 books. And actually finish them. I was really bad in 2013 in regards to reading about 80% of a book and then not finishing it. It kinda drives me nuts when I think about it. (Most of the books are back on the library shelves, so it's not like I'll be finishing them tonight.)
Done!

1. Unplanned by Abby Johnson
2. Pope Awesome by Cari Donaldson
3. Girl At the End of the World by Elizabeth Esther
4. Strange Gods by Elizabeth Scalia
5. Something Other Than God by Jennifer Fulwiler
6. New Rules of Lifting for Women by Lou Schuler (my first textbook-style read this year, and it went pretty quickly)
7. Saint John Paul the Great: His Five Loves by Jason Evert

Joining a book club has definitely helped with this one, so I'm upping my goal to 12 now.

11. Learn 5 new dinner recipes.

1. Sweet & Sour Meatballs in the crockpot (we love these!)
2. ATK Cooking School Hearty Vegetable Lasagna (this was a "labor of love" and was way too involved)
3. Gouda/Cheddar Mac n' Cheese (from Betty Crocker)

Shredding the cheese for the best macaroni ever

B has been learning some recipes from our ATK Cooking School book, too. I hope he makes the pasta with the fried egg on it again. Yum!

12. Get pregnant. (!!) And pray I don't have another miscarriage, will ya? Because that sucked.
I gave blood back on June 3rd, and you cannot do that while pregnant. I also drank way too much at a wedding on July 5th. You do the math.

13. Make 2 friends in this town. Like, actual friends that give me their phone numbers and call me to hang out.
I haz a running buddy! And went to the zoo with a different friend and her kids. (She invited us!) I have also brought meals to 2 friends who had babies. Feels good, man.

14. Run 2 races. Setting the bar low because I'm not sure how much I'll be able do if #12 happens (see: bad knee).
Ditched the knee brace this spring, and I've already done 3!

1. 5-Kilt
2. Frontier Run n' Fun
3. Nun Run

I just signed up for another one in July (and will hopefully be there with aforementioned running buddy!) and will be doing the one our church puts on in August.


Overall, I'd say it's good progress with my resolutions! Some of the Cora ones are slow-going, but when you think about it, I made goals for her, but I can't control everything about her so we can only expect so much here.

The Big Purse Dump in 7 Quick Takes

Double link-up time! 

--- 1 ---

Let's start with how it is now.

My Vera Bradley bag (that I got at the outlet sale last year) hang out here, and I keep my hat and gloves shoved into the top.

--- 2 ---

Now dump it!

What a mess! Sort that out.

--- 3 ---

Cora's stuff.

Those onesies are different sizes, and I don' think that cute tree one even fits any more. And I'm pretty sure the pants are highwaters now. The Cheerios? Probably been in there for months. (I gave them to her for dinner last night.) And that diaper is about to fall apart since I haven't actually changed her diaper during an outing in at least 3 months. The cute cats are a small wetbag (for cloth diapers orclothing accidents), and the white thing to its left is an emergency rag/diaper.

--- 4 ---

Hair junk.

I don't even use those running headbands for running. Or anything. (Cora likes to play with them, so one goes back in!)

--- 5 ---

Random junk.

A Metro card for the Washington, D.C. subway. (I live in Indiana, by the way.) 2 coupons to Culver's. A protein pouch I got as a freebie.

I tried the pouch later--it was a lot like the GD-test drink. 1/10 do not recommend.

--- 6 ---

Tissues. Some used.

Trash and a cough drop, neither of which I have needed for months.

--- 7 ---

Things I actually use.

Vera Bradley wallet that fits my phone in it. Still love.

What went back in:

--- 8 ---

Fin.

Winter protip: gloves inside hat whenever they're not on your body.

For more Quick Takers and/or Purse Dumpers, see Jen and Kendra.

Are These Resolutions or Just a To-Do List?

Well, that, I am not sure.

I haven't made resolutions in YEARS. I had my 101 in 1001 list, so that was good enough for me. Maybe one of these days I'll actually update that page on my blog since it ended last April, but that is not actually on my list! Too bad, so sad.

My resolution list just so happened to have 14 items, a fitting number for 2014.

1. Organize the basement. Make it functional. Make it awesome.

2. Start a toy rotation for Cora. Maybe once a month swap stuff out.

3. Weekly Family Meetings! We have re-started these. I dropped the part B hates (weekly highs and lows). We did it while Cora took a bath and we were all in the bathroom anyway. We can do readings out of her kids' bible.

4. Potty train Cora. Goal is to be daytime-trained around age 2, no later than 27 months. She already poops in it, we just gotta get her to know when to go.

5. Use time outs for Cora. She still doesn't quite understand it and won't sit in the chair.

6. Conquer Cora's picky eating. Even if I need to use operant conditioning, this needs to be nipped in the bud sooner rather than later.

7. Get new passport. This has been on my long to-do list for a while.

8. Make a home management binder. Not sure if I want it as detailed as the one I read about in Organized Simplicity, but there should be some type of manual on running this house if I fall into a hole.

9. Keep up with the budget on YNAB. (I just bought this thing!) And in effect, tithe more.

10. Read 7 books. And actually finish them. I was really bad in 2013 in regards to reading about 80% of a book and then not finishing it. It kinda drives me nuts when I think about it. (Most of the books are back on the library shelves, so it's not like I'll be finishing them tonight.)

11. Learn 5 new dinner recipes.

12. Get pregnant. (!!) And pray I don't have another miscarriage, will ya? Because that sucked.

13. Make 2 friends in this town. Like, actual friends that give me their phone numbers and call me to hang out.

14. Run 2 races. Setting the bar low because I'm not sure how much I'll be able do if #12 happens (see: bad knee).

That's it. That's my list. I better get crackin' on it since we're already 4 days in now.

13 In '13

A pictorial review of the past year. With some text, too.

Click the pic to join the fun

January

Celebrated Cora's First Birthday

February

It was cold and snowed a lot?

March

It snowed even more

Trip to my home state of GA to see my BIL (sister's husband) join the Catholic Church

April

Cora started walking, and then a few weeks later burned her hands on the oven door as I was taking something out of it

May

Final nursing session

June

BIL's high school graduation

My first time tubing behind a boat (and not down a river, Southern-style)

July

Won my division in a 5K

August

Trip to Virginia and Cora's first beach experiences (she hated it)

September

Went to my first Notre Dame football game

October

Trip to Washington, D.C., for BIL's wedding, during government shutdown

Cora was the flower girl

November

A visit from ALL of my side of the family

December

Cora got sick on Christmas, but was fine a few days before and after (including when she met Santa)

Wow, that was actually really hard to pare our year down to 13 photos! There was obviously a lot more to our year (I didn't even mention that we bought our first house in this post!), but these were some of my favorite pictures of last year.

A Post About My Cat

I haven't really posted about it before, but did you know I have a cat?

A 20-year-old 3-legged cat named Frisky.

I technically don't have him any more, but I still his 'owner,' in a way. I picked him out when I was 9, named him, and he was mine for all the years I lived under my parents' roof.

I still remember going to the pound and picking him. Before then, we had 2 cats named Sampson (called Sammy) and Phantom. These were my mom's cats from when she was single. Dad had to marry both her and the cats, and they were a fixture in our house growing up. They both died within a year of each other in their old age (over 15, each of them). After their passing, we obviously needed some new companions. My mom decided that my sister and I were old enough to each pick out a cat at the pound.

My sister picked out a tiny little black and white tuxedo cat with big paws. She named him Samie, in tribute to our previous black and white cat Sammy (my sister was a terrible speller).

I picked out a cat that was trying to do everything in his power to get out of that cage at the pound. He was jabbing his paw out of the cage and just being very 'frisky' in general. Hence the name I picked for him, Frisky.

Here's a picture of us on our cats' first Thanksgiving:

My sister with tiny little Samie, and I'm on the far right with Frisky.
I know you're jealous of the sweaters.

My sister's tiny little cat with the huge paws turned into a 25 pound part-Maine Coon (we think) chunker.

Frisky fought his way from being an indoor cat to an indoor/outdoor cat by escaping about 20 too many times, and it has been that way ever since. He even got his tail caught in the door once and it became permanently bent at the end.

10 years later, with less ugly sweaters, we got this picture at Thanksgiving:

My sister was pregnant with her first child here. And she's holding a 25-pound furball.
Frisky is obviously clawing me in the chest trying to escape. Typical.

I believe it was the following year that my sister's cat passed away. It was also possibly during that year, or maybe the one later that my cat needed his back leg amputated. This saved him from having a tumor in his upper leg spread to his midsection, and has luckily given us many many more years with Frisky.

Yes, I now 'owned' a broken-tailed 3-legged cat.

The only thing he couldn't do any more was climb trees.

About a month ago, after coming back from out of town, my parents noticed something off about Frisky. He had broken his leg. His only back leg. Yet he was still limping around, but Mom said he looked pretty pathetic.

I don't think my cat would have done as well as these dogs with wheels for legs. He ended up getting surgery. He's healing. Mom says he's doing alright.

But I'm always thinking in the back of my head about the day I'll get the call. 20 years is almost a centenarian in cat years. I try to give him some extra love every time I go back home (even though he hasn't had a bath in like 2 years), because I never know when it will be the last time. It's been 6 months since my last trip down there, and I'm not sure when the next will be.

As for 20th anniversary version of that picture? Unfortunately, it's won't be happening this year on Nov. 27; the subjects in it now live in 4 different states. But maybe I can make a collage version with my sister (pregnant again!) holding Frisky.

miscellaneous thoughts

Here are just some updates and thoughts from the recesses of my mind right now.

I have taken a shower every single day since coming home from the hospital.  Granted, that's the only consistent thing I've done every day, but it's something.

Breastfeeding has been a HUGE trial for us, to the point where my baby was actually losing weight.  This all started the day after Ash Wednesday, and I decided that weekend that I would stick it out until Easter.  I had to go on an herbal supplement to get my supply up, but I'm happy to report that Cora has gained and finally clocked in at 8 pounds last Friday.  We go tomorrow for another weight check.  I'm glad I've stuck it out because it's definitely getting better.

I can't believe how quickly I lost the baby weight.  I lost about 20 pounds in the first two weeks (this had to be because of breastfeeding, right??).  I had only gained 30 total.  I only have 7 pounds to go now, but if I stall out a bit higher, I won't care.  My goal is to just firm up the tummy and fit back into my pre-pregnancy jeans (they won't button--ugh!).

B is going out of town next week again, and I am dreading it!  He is such a big help at night when I'm just completely OVER being a mom!  We still don't have a routine down, and I feel like all she wants to do is nurse constantly from noon until 8pm.  I need a break!

I haven't taken a nap in over 2 weeks.  I know I should sleep when she sleeps, but sometimes that's the only chance I get to do something on my to-do list (which is getting lengthy).

My parents are coming this weekend, so that my dad can meet his newest grandchild.  They're also going to babysit so B and I can have our first date night!  We still aren't sure what we're going to do, but bowling and the shooting range have both been mentioned.  I'm pretty sure the shooting range is on my 101 list.  If it isn't, it should be, since I've never shot a gun and would like to cross that off.

Speaking of my list, I'm going parasailing!  I don't know when exactly, but I bought a Groupon for it, so I have to!  I actually bought 2 of them, since it was for tandem parasailing, but B doesn't seem too interested.  I'm hoping if his siblings come down and visit, one of them will join me.

I am officially changing the name of my blog with the re-design I won.  We put the project on hold for a bit while I adjusted to baby, so be on the lookout for a new design and a new name soon!

I hate posts without pictures, so here ya go:

My rings on Cora's big toe!

 

the re-introduction of Victorian calling cards

Last week, I needed to get someone's address. I see this woman on a regular basis (we volunteer together). I was about to write it down on a scrap of paper, but before I could she just whipped out a "business" card and handed it to me.  She's retired and doesn't have a side business or whatever, so it was totally unexpected.

The card simply had her name, email, phone, and address.  She had printed it herself on her own computer.  I threw it in my wallet and went on my merry way, thinking it was the coolest thing ever!  It actually reminded me of the calling cards you hear about them using in the Victorian days (except now with a lot more information).

Old style: just a name

I knew that you can get a free sample pack (with free shipping) of 10 business cards from moo.com, so I decided to make my own!  We have less than a year left at this address, so I think 10 will be plenty.  I'm excited to get my cards in upcoming week!

What I ordered: I put my phone number in black instead of a title or industry

By the way, this may be only news to me, but apparently Shutterfly has a decent selection of calling cards (a lot geared toward moms) if you want to get fancy.  I found a few other sites have them referred to as "mommy cards," which I can definitely see being useful when you meet other moms and want to set up play dates and such.

*Neither moo.com nor Shutterfly gave me jack squat to write this post.  But if you're out there lurking, feel free to get in touch.
 

miscellany monday

So I did Music Mondays for a while, but then there became a major blog-hop on Thursdays dealing with music, and I started feeling sheepish linking up my Monday posts on Thursdays. And then I got pretty quiet here for a while, so here's what I'm doing today.

Yep, a link-up for complete randomness of thoughts.  I think that will work for me today, as I can't think of anything coherent.

1.  I lost my glasses at some point when we were traveling over Christmastime.  It's not a huge deal, since they're for distance and just help me drive a bit better (no stipulations on my license).  But B had been bugging me to go to the optometrist and get some new ones though, so I finally went last week.  I went to the Naval Hospital here, and the guy I had was great!  I even told him that I plan to order my glasses online, and he knew of the sites and had nothing bad to say.  He even gave me my pd length.  Maybe I'll even get some prescription sunglasses (never had those before!) if these turn out well.  If not, hey it was only $30.  The pair I lost set me back at least $150.

2. I really want some visitors down here.  I think I've gotten a bit lonely, or at least want a familiar face.  I've also been trying to think of places for us to take weekend trips and am drawing blanks (we've already done New Orleans).  At one point, we had wanted to go camping, but now it just feels to hot and sticky to want to spend all night outside.  I guess we could just go to Destin or Tallahassee.

3.  Adding to my list of picky foods, rosemary just got the official ban.  I made pork chops the other day using this recipe from WikiHow.  Great recipe, but the only major herb was rosemary (dried), and I hated it.  I thought this day might come, since the only time I used it fresh (3 years ago!) it made my nose run in the middle of July, and the smell of the foccacia bread I was making made me gag.  I think I can still add it to things with other spices (like chicken with thyme and oregano and such).  I don't understand my palate sometimes.  Does anyone have an herb suggestion to go with pork chops?

4.  I don't usually talk about B's job, but I just want to mention the difference between "duty" here at this shore command versus back on the sub.  He stood duty every 3-4 days on the sub, and with that he had to get there super-early and then stay overnight.  For most of his sea tour, we weren't married, so I just did my own thing those nights.  Here, his duty lasts an entire week and involves him carrying a Blackberry around and coming home as usual every night.  Oh, and he has to check the locks in the building, too.  It's still pretty ridiculous though, as he ends up having to "play detective" more often than not for issues that have little to do with his actual command.  He calls this "an HR job," and for that industry, the idea of duty is definitely an odd one.  He only has duty a few times a year though, and he's still getting sub pay every month, so no complaints from me. 

5.  Facebook games have been sucking all of my time lately.  I had already been playing Family Feud and The Price Is Right on there, but in the last week I have added Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, and Rummikub.  I was even able to play Rummikub against my mom in live-time.  Technology is awesome.  And I'm so good at Jeopardy! that I haven't even needed my friends' help yet.