Crazy Chaos Concluding

Poppy by my home's sidewalk ~ June 2012

White Rhodies, outside Boy's bedroom window ~ June 2012

I didn't take nearly as many pictures of flora this year as I did last year, to my regret, because life has been so busy. But the above two pics I was able to take just a couple of days ago, and am pleased at their beauty.

Maybe it's a bit much to hope for, but we're hoping anyway, for some of our crazy chaos to come to a conclusion!

The biggest thing for us right now is that as of yesterday (5 Jun 2012), Hubby and I finished (DONE)  at the 'old house' and the pro-cleaners will be there to do their job before renters move in on the 8th, this Friday. That will be a huge stress off our backs, as our minds, time, finances, et al will not be split between trying to manage both properties at the same time. Now that we have completed moving out, we can focus on finishing The Hangout, getting rid of loads of junk (including junk left by the sellers), and moving in, and decorating; I'll be decorating the house (duh! as my kids like to say) and Hubby will be decorating The Hangout, aka "Man Cave." First, though, is completing the insulation removal/installing new insulation and sheetrocking, taping and mudding. All of those aspects I will likely be doing myself, or assisting our contractor-friend (who has sustained several injuries lately, and thus hasn't been able to complete the work here).

The other big deal for us this month is celebrating our 15th anniversary! I have (or had, I think it broke) a sign for my car that says: " Marriage is finding that perfect someone to annoy for the rest of your life." Such a great description for Hubby and I!  There is only one thing I wanted for our anniversary (no, not the beautiful "chain tree" of yellow chain blooms that he bought for 'me')-- an upgraded ring set. I've never really liked yellow gold, as silver colors look best with my skin complexion. I've been searching for about a decade for a ring that I love as a replacement for my yellow gold set that Hubby got me for our engagement. At long last, I found the set I love and at a monetary price Hubby still scoffed at (even though it was on sale!). A 10k white gold (I know, not as good of white gold as I could get, but it was the shape of the ring I was after), natural diamonds set-- see the pic below :-)  Yes, that's dinner cooking in the background! Yes, it's a crappy photo because I took it with my phone.

My new marriage set-- white gold wedding band & solitaire

I had to part with the set last night to send it out for sizing. The set was size seven, which is wayyyyy to large for my fingers. Even at my former weight that would have been too large. And with the lifetime guarantee, I get free sizing for life, having the.... 'white' put back over the yellow as often as needed, and all sorts of maintenance goodies. And I can even go for an upgrade much later, to which Hubby said, "Absolutely not! You're lucky you got this. I only do things once." To which I replied, "So that means you won't marry me again?" His snappy response was, "I already did and that should be good enough. We're still together, so there's no point it doing it over!"

The other aspect of him giving me this ring (aside from my son seeing the biggest smile on my face in years, and commenting about it) is how much the whole thing came about. It's so very  much "Us." Which means when it comes time for our day (like, a full day to celebrate-- just the two of us), I'll be paying the money. . . some things don't change! Hehehehehe

*big smile*

Both Hubby an I prefer to do things only once. Whether it's about perfectionism or just the fact we hate repeating saying or doing things, I don't know. We'd much prefer to ponder and plan first (for as long as needed) and then act, so that we only have to do the act once.

On to the bigger news, that I've been hinting at and withholding for a bit now, as it's majorly life-altering and we had to wait for the process to really get started.

Hubby has submitted a request to change status from active reserves to inactive (no more monthly drilling, etc) because of the severity of problems the military life now presents for us. Taking this route will allow him to still retire (in 3-4 years, after 16 active years and more deployments than we can count, including 3 combat tours-- two of which were "back to back") and receive the full benefits of retirement. This has been a very weighty decision, but necessary for the preservation of our sanity and family. "Everyone has a breaking point, and I'm fortunate enough to know I've reached mine," is what Hubby wrote in his list of reasons for changing status.

The military changes are very complicated, complex, and detail oriented-- unfortunately, it also has been the case that his command doesn't know what to do about one of their Leading Petty Officers (LPO) who was their "top dog" throwing down this request. It stunned them, although he's been telling them for quite some time-- they just weren't listening.

Slowly but surely we're trying to get the huge stresses off our backs. As I've often commented, "We don't just have an overflowing plate, we've had the whole damn buffet table!" We're taking one day at a time, sometimes only one moment at a time; working together in this thing called family and life.

Crazy chaos concluding? I certainly hope so. A little chaos is good, makes for character building. But too much has ill effects, and we've spent far too much time with "too much."

~Cedeham~