Puddle Pirate Update

Today, Alpha 190 is nearly half way through week 05. Their latest update, , has been tough but looking up as the recruits have had a higher bar set for them by their CC's and have set the bar higher for themselves as a company as well. It seems they are striving to be a unit and not a bunch of individuals. Going back over past updates it is clear that even though they still have a ways to go and grow, they have coma a far way. Everyday I miss my puddle pirate a bit more, and every day I wake up knowing there are fewer days between us and graduation. In the letter I received last week he mentioned that when we watch him graduate he must maintain a professional military persona during the tour of the facilities and everything that follows. There will be no more than brief hello hugs until we are loading ourselves into cars to drive back home. I will be so happy just to see him graduate after months of missing his handsome face, but knowing that I can't smooch him like a wild woman until very long after we have departed Cape May, is gong to drive me bonkers. Even then, finding time when I am not sharing him with his family and friends will be very difficult, but I am determined to make that happen as much as possible. 

Twenty-Three-More-Days

"I have been in the Coast Guard all me bloomin' life. My father was King Neptune, my mother was a mermaid. I was born on the crest of a wave and rocked in the cradle of the deep. My eyes are stars, me teeth are spars, me hair is hemp and seaweed. When I spits, I spits tar, I's tough, I is, I am, I are!!"

-A-190's week04 Mantra, as given to them by Chief Arseneaux 

I always joked I'd end up with a "Pirate"

"SR Logan, G. A-190"

My "Puddle Pirate", as they're sometimes called, is finishing up week 03 of boot camp. The days drag on, but the weeks fly by. How does that work? I have no clue. But we're nearing the 1/2 way mark. Only 35 more days until the graduation ceremony.  Every week or so a recruit from each company writes a short blog post on the events and progress they have been experiencing, as well as stress and yelling. Here is where you can read all about G's company, Alpha 190, and the latest "adventures", or misadventures, they are having. This is just the first post...I don't know how these guys get through this...I certainly would never be brave enough, and I am incredibly thankful for them.

Thirty. Five. More. Days.

A pirate's life for me...sorta...

It amazes me the connection between one's stomach and emotions.  Thankfully I've never been a stress eater. I don't binge on comfort food when I'm sad or lonely, or eat a bag of chips and other various junkies when I'm bored. I'd say that's a pro. The con, however, is that I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum. When I'm stressed, sad, or lonely I don't eat at all. My appetite vanishes completely and is instead replaced with imaginary feelings of sickness. Unfortunately, as I finish up week Two of Eight of waiting for my Coastie to graduate boot camp, my appetite hasn't returned. I'm forcing myself to eat. I get excited when I realize that I'm actually hungry but after just a couple bites I feel like I can't eat anymore. (Just so you know, I am not one to usually pass on an opportunity of being fed, so this is an unwelcome circumstance) I am actually a wee bit scared that my desire for food won't come back until I can om-nom a cheeseburger while sitting next to my beloved.  I actually am recalling a line from POTC #1: 

"The drink would not satisfy, food turned to ash in our mouths..." -

-Captain Barbossa 

That's...pretty much it. Everyone tells me that these bootcamp weeks will fly by...and when looking back on these last two weeks, I'm not sure where they went. But it's living through the weeks that seems to drag on. I'm not angry he's gone. If anything I feel guilty and selfish for wanting him to come back now, or to have never left. I keep reminding myself that this is a good thing. This is a challenge, one that we will get through and come out of stronger at the end. 39 more days. I can do this. I'm just gonna set mini goals to make the weeks ly and give myself little projects to work on and look forward to. Who knows, maybe i'll make this one of those projects. 

Sigh...39 more days...

Of all the days to wear mascara...this is not one.

Earlier I was kicking myself for actually applying my make up this morning, now I just don't give a crap and am smudging it all over my face because the one person I try to look pretty for sometimes is out of state on his first leg of the next 4year adventure.

Yep, my sweet boy left this morning for boot camp. For a couple weeks I have been trying to decide whether or not I should accompany my beloved to the recruiters office for final goodbyes or stay behind and sniffle to myself in my house...well, I had the honor of going with him, shedding tears and saying goodbye. Probably one of the hardest things I've ever done. But I'm glad I went. Now to get through the 8 weeks. They promised me there was an end to this separation. Let's get this over with.

Lover

One of the ways I would describe myself would be "A lover of words." I am a lover of many things, and words are a big part of my life. They shape the sentences that come out of my mouth, the stories I engulf myself in and refuse to surface from for days, the thoughts that run continuously through my head, and the music I listen to.  I am that girl who reads into  the lyrics to much, who romanticizes the poetry to be about those in my life. I day dream about somehow catching the eye of an author and having a character composed in my image. Imagine that! A whole literary alter ego, able to do who knows what, living a double life in another world, another time, possibly another dimension. I mean, how utterly marvelous would that be!?!?

Anyways, one of the poets that my eyes frequent is the whimsically, bizarrely fascinating e e cummings. I love him and all of his "grammatical injustices".  I'm more or less alone in my liking of his way with words when it comes to the people I spend my time with most, but that's ok.  

As always I'm thinking of a new tattoo idea and as I was sitting there in a lovely bath reading a wonderful book that was provoking many feels, an idea popped in my brain (totally unrelated to the book in my hands...because my brain wanders most of the time.) In my mind I saw a dainty drawing of an umbrella and beneath it words dripping down like raindrops. 

"Nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands"

Later I mentioned the little idea to my mom, who like all my family doesn't know who e e cummings is. She wondered what the poem was about and whether or not that would be a good thing to have tattooed on one's self. So, I found her this explanation. Here you will find the original poem and along side it is what it means. I like it quite a bit. And I'm always tickled that one of the bands I listen to from time to time actually have songs named after this particular line. 

Such Small Hands

Nobody, Not Even the Rain

Throwback Thursday... Then and Now

Love me some Fettuccini

Today ended the long winded search for what I have heard called "T-shirt" yarn. I've seen it all over pintrest and the cool-kid-knitting-blogs and have been excited to get my hands on this foreign fabric and craft the crap out of it...I just didn't know where to find it other than online(at prices that made me a little squeamish, TBH).  Finally I threw out a plea to fellow crafters on FaceBook as to where to find this elusive yarn, and someone had recently spotted it at one of our local craft stores...Lion Brand's own "Fettuccini" 

Last week I caved and finally bought myself a laptop(yay for new toys!) and found myself with the excuse to start another yarn-y project, a laptop sleeve/case! 

This stuff has been a pain in the pitutie to work with, but I love the way it looks and feels. I have literally sat for four and  half hours straight just working on this thing. My hands are killing me, my right arm feels like it spent the day at the gym, annnnnnnnnd I ran out of yarn a few inches shy of finishing this project. *sigh*

Guess I'll just have to go buy more.