Miss Caitibug had a little swollen eyelid lastnight so we had hot compresses on it until she fell asleep. This morning she got up and her eye was swollen completely closed. Ouchie! I think it’s a sty, obviously she needs medicated cream ’cause the hot compress isn’t helping.

Makes your eyes water just looking at it doesn’t it? My left eye is having empathy pains.

I’ll be finishing up both Kayda and Dixie today, I’ll update my Studio Cam status when I do. I’ll be busy this morning taking care of an 8 year old eyeball.

Poor guys, they have SO much to go through before they finally get back to their homes. I would be pitching such a hissy fit! Jay-Jay the jet plane says “won’t be long before they’re stateside!” and that’s as much info as I will disclose right now.

For those of you reading who are planning on being there upon the unit’s arrival, I will give you some information in advance. The area is going to be very crowded. Immediate family, close friends and press will be the only ones allowed in to be present for their final formation and release. Everyone else will be asked to wait outside. Also, parking passes were issued to the Soldier’s method of transportation only. Only those with a parking pass will be able to park in the parking lot. All other guests and visitors need to park against the curbs in the surrounding area, leaving room for their bus to arrive.

The Man is not anticipating hanging around for too long after being released. He would like to ‘just get home’. That’s NOT to say he won’t be grateful and happy to see people, just that he wants everyone to understand the “I wanna go home” factor. 🙂

As far as the welcome home party goes, we’ll do that AFTER things settle down, probably some time in May.

Ok? Ok. I’ll update with more info as I receive it, expecting not to have anything firm until about 3 days out.

Total overuse of exclamation points? JUSTIFIED!!!!!!!

(graphic background courtesy his right arm.)

It has occurred to me over the last couple of weeks that (duh) I’ve pretty much forgotten how and, more importantly, what to cook for a family of four over the last 18 months.

The girls and I are easy, you know? PB&J, Mac & Cheese, Grilled cheese, soup, pasta with chicken, just small light things. I can do that. (read: McD’s, Wendy’s, BK… oopsie)

Now I’m sitting here thinking “I’ve got to make a grocery list”. Huh? What do I put on it again? Milk and cereal? Chicken? What do I do with the chicken once it’s home in the freezer? Yea. It’s that bad.

There are a couple of things that are our favorites. Those – no problem. But the poor boy has been eating out of boxes and MRE bags for 18 months. I need some HUNGRY-MAN type meals. Boy’s got an appetite you know?

So if you know of a nummy, hefty meal that any hungry meat & potatoes kinda guy would just dig into without a second thought, drop those recipies here in comments for me (and any other interested party), wouldya?

Pretty Please????

THANK YOU!

P.S. Lolo? If you’re reading this, you could link to your favoritest since I know your blog is chock full of good stuff?

LINK OF THE DAY: Einstein. (volume required) ..thanks, Carol!

If you were here with me late lastnight into this morning, THANK YOU! That was SO FUN! Seeing the countdown hit zero was unbelievable. He spent 365 days “in-country”, and now he’s on his way home.

Thinking back to the beginning when I added it, I couldn’t believe that it would ever even reach the bottom. And it did. And then it started climbing back up and I thought “WTH?!?” So I captured the Zero’s forever as a jpeg.

😆

Here’s a list of the very cool Owlies who made their presence known. You all need to drop me an e-mail and let me know what you’d like me to paint for you!

Karen – Angel
Michael
Erikie – Squirrely III in miniature
Paige – bluebird
Sue – wolf scene (coooool)
Barb – alligator, eh?
Taba – harley mouse, flag bandana
Carol

Maybe, maybe I will do this one more time before the day we go pick him up to bring him home. I’ll chew on that, since a few of you couldn’t keep your eyes open. 😉

Ok folks, here’s the scoop. After much thought and deliberation, I’ve decided to do something super cool and, as always, labor intensive to commemorate the arrival of ZERO HOURS on my lil “Homecoming Countdown” ticker. I love giving stuff away. I’m strange like that.

This countdown has been on my blog for over 300 days. Many of you have been with me the whole time, watching it dwindle down to nothing. To you, I send warm sqwishy hugs and lots-o-love. Some of you stumbled upon me halfway thru and hung in here with me, but pretty much everyone who visits can see by first glance what’s been going on in my neck of the web for the last 18 months.

Here are the rules: if you’re here with me tonight when it hits zero (and I will know, because I will be here too!) to celebrate the occasion I am gonna GIVE each person a mini-custom-painting. Just for you. Just to say “thanks”, for being here, for hanging out with me, for taking the time to check in on me to make sure we’re all doin’ ok.

Now I’ll know you’re here when it hits zero, and I’ll keep a record of that. BUT, in addition to being here, I still need you to leave a comment (preferably just after the momentous occasion) so that if you’re new or just haven’t commented before, I know who you are. You do not need to link to any page, and I will be the only one with your e-mail addy, but ya gotta do it if you want a painting.

It gets even cooler. What you’ll get is a 4×4 (inch) painting, a lil bitty thing, in oil, of whatever you want. Animal, vegetable or mineral, person, gumdrops, candycanes, a purse, a shoe, whatever. I will, on every painting, add a touch of patriotism so that when you look at it you will always remember and get warm fuzzies that you were part of celebrating the homeward-bound joy of at least one soldier’s family.

So set your alarm clocks, have a look at the time, and be here or NO SQUARE FOR YOU! hehe!

I can tell you this – I will paint every single one of ’em. I may not get them to you in the next month, but I will get them to you. Another lil perk: you’ll get to see everyone else’s paintings right here as I paint them!

Everybody clear on the rules? Ok. Now go do your thing. Hope to see you tonight!!!

COMMENTS WILL CLOSE MARCH 5, 4AM CST FOR THE 4X4 PAINTING GIFTY! THANKS EVERYONE!!!

For those of you locally who saw the news lastnight, WQAD reported that our Galva unit would be arriving stateside this coming Tuesday. That’s 2 days from now.

They’re wrong.

I wish our media agencies would take more responsibility when reporting and confirm the information they’re given. You really get a good idea of how erroneous our news is when you’re a part of the story and know the actual facts of the situation. I did write the controller, who knows if they will correct the report or even attempt to validate it, but I didn’t want my local readers to get all hyped up about a Tuesday arrival stateside. To my knowledge (which is often firsthand), my countdown is still reflecting the correct “homeward bound” date.

Welcome back, SPC Duncan, your unit is following just a couple of weeks behind you!

(Thanks, Care!)