Life is NEVER easy

I have said before that my work is sending me on an extended trip.

I have 3 children that are each taking it in their own ways.

Bug 14 about to turn 15 next month and going on 30 in her own mind. She is mine with my ex for this blog we shall call her PITA. Let me start by saying that Bug has lived full time with Mamalang and I for the last 8 years. I took PITA to court and won custody I got all I asked for, joint custody primary placement with me. I did NOT ask for child support and over the years that is exactly what I have gotten from PITA. Bug came back from PITA's house this August saying that she wanted to go live with her mother while I am deployed. We spoke to her telling her that the school here is better (which it is), that she is already established here, her friends are here, here sister and brother are here. She seemed fine with it and went on with school and life. A few days ago PITA called and told me that as soon as I left she was going to come and get Bug and take her while I am deployed. I spoke to Bug and she said she still wanted to live with her mom but was fine staying here as well. I went and spoke to a lawyer and found out that she could do exactly as she said she was going to do. The Soldiers and Sailor's relief act that protects personnel in the Military when deployed does not cover this for the most part. The only protection I have is that she has to bring her back when I return. That is fine for her, but it doesn't do much for my other children when she leaves shortly after I do. She doesn't care how this effects the rest of my family. How this effects me while I am trying to take care of my family. How this feels to Mamalang after she has been much more of a mother to Bug for the last 8 years than her own has. I know she must feel betrayed, abandoned and insulted. Princess and Monster are going to feel abandoned as well. First Daddy leaves for a year and now Big Sissy runs to the mysterious woman they know she visits during the summer the whole time Daddy is gone as well. Bug is just ecstatic, she gets to go live with the mother that rarely gives her the time of day when she visits, how is she going to fell when her mother ignores her for an entire year. More on this later.

Princess Bear... She is already having sleeping problems, stomach problems, and on top of all that is dealing with having Lyme's disease at the same time. She is still doing well at school at least and is up beat during the day. It is only at bed time that she has problems.

Monster... Ahhh "The Boy" as I call him most of the time. He is peacefully oblivious at the moment. The life of a 5 year old boy is simple, I want food, I want to play, I will hold myself every chance I get ( and yeas I mean "there"), I do NOT want to sleep and will do so only when I absolutely crash from exhaustion. He will notice when I am gone but he will adjust quick. When I went away last time I web cammed home enough that he thought I lived in the computer.

I am trying to keep it all together. I am trying to get all my honey do list done, tie up loose ends around the house. Spend one on one time with all of them. Get myself packed and mentally ready. One of my day job responsibilities is making sure that all the people in my unit are ready to go as well. It is strange to think but I am really ready to actually be in the sand box so I stop getting these curves balls thrown at me by life.

I just want my family to be together helping each other and working together until I get home. Is that really too much to ask?

OK I think I am going to end this small book and go cuddle in bed with Mamalang. I only have 12 more days to do that for a while....

Kids bathroom

OK we are not afraid to pt color on the walls of our house. In the kids rooms we have colors named "Atomic Vomit", "Bikini Bottom Blue", "Building Block Blue", "Princess Pink" in our Kitchen we have "Harvest Orange" our bedroom is two shades of blue. A few weekends ago Mamalang painted the kids bathroom Bright Yellow, talk about a way to wake the kids up in the morning! While putting everything back into the bathroom we decided to embrace the rubber ducks the kids have and love. Rubber duckie, shower curtain stays, Rubber duck towel holder on the wall (including kewl water painted under it by Mamalang) so the shelf/cabinet of fake wood just didn't match anymore. Mamalang asked if I could make a shelf to go in there. I went in and looked and told her YUP! Out to "Man Land" I went, otherwise known as our garage. I had made a hutch for PB's craft desk in the basement and it kind of looked like the sail of a boat so I knew what I was going to build. I built a sail boat, the hull is storage for plastic bins ML bought that holds the girls hair ties/scrunchies/clips/STUFF. The sail is shelving for hair care products. Some of the kids rubber ducks went on for decoration. Not bad for a project that actually I got done in 2 days 3 days if you include the painting ML did. Everyone that sees it thinks it cute and the kids love it.

Honey Do List

I have quite a few things on my Honey-Do-List from Mamalang. I have finally gotten one of them off. I have been working on a Computer desk/Armour since I think January or February. I would work hard and then take some time off and then work hard again. My deployment date is getting quite close so I figured it was time to get it done. I can say that after almost 10 months it is complete and in the house ready for her to overfill it with stuff. I say her cause I am not going to be here to help. Above are pics of it still in the garage. I am pretty proud of it. Is it perfect? NOPE! Does Mamalang like it? YUP! That is all that matters. I can say all I bought was plywood, 4 hinges, 4 magnetic door holders, door hardware and drawer hardware. Everything else I made, doors (including the chalkboard paint on the backs) Drawers (including the slides for the bottom file folder drawer. I learned how to work with wood in High school...more than a few years ago. I have always enjoyed doing it. I have made a few other projects but those are for blogs for other days.