Wherein I tell you about the GOBC

This past weekend, EM and 3 of his buddies went on a 'Manvival' weekend. They picked a spot out in the Georgia woods in the Chattahoochee National Forest, to be exact. They were allowed to bring only what they could carry in their packs.

Theses 4 men are good friends. They play poker together, they play video games together and enjoy each others' company. They all work together and at one point, someone referred to them as the 'Good Ol' Boys Club.' So, they named themselves that. The GOBC. They have hats and everything. The like talking guns and hunting and outdoorsy men type things. However, the main reason they like doing this stuff? The coming Zombie Apocalypse/Fall of Government. They want to be prepared for these types of events. Twice they have gone off into the woods with minimal equipment to brave the elements. The first time didn't go so well. They lasted less than 24 hours, mostly due to the torrential downpour of rain. There are pictures and it looks like they are walking under a waterfall.

This past weekend was much better. It didn't rain, except on the hike out. However, it was FREEZING cold. Since 'what you can put in your pack' doesn't include tents or sleeping bags, they brought tarps to provide themselves with shelter. The first night, they all slept with the tin foil emergency blankets and still nearly froze. The second night, they hiked back to the truck and brought back sleeping bags. And still nearly froze. They built fires close to their tarp city; so close, in fact, EM's tarp came back with holes burnt in it.

I don't know why they do this. When I ask, it's usually some response about it being 'fun' and 'educational'. I call bullshit. Nearly freezing to death and sleeping on hard ground is NOT my idea of fun. Give me a comfy bed and room service any day.

Wherein I urgh

Depression can kiss my lily white ass. I haven't been around here lately because of it. I sleep all day. I'm awake, for the most part, between 3 and 11pm. Most of that time is spent laying in bed because I feel so tired. I don't wanna do anything. I don't want to talk to anyone. I force myself to go to the gym, take my kids to karate and dance. I try to focus on what  EM is saying to me, but it's hard. I feel like crying for no apparent reason. I'm not hungry, but I eat everything in site. I don't want to play with my dogs. I look around the house and see all the things that need to be done, but I can't work up the energy to do them. I don't care that The Boy is eating chicken nuggets. Again. I don't wanna cook. I don't want to do anything but lay in my bed, feeling sorry for myself, hating myself for being overweight, hating myself for not being the wife/mother/daughter/sister my family thinks I should be.
I hate these days. I hate these feelings. The drugs make it better than it could be, but some days it's still not enough.
I'm gonna go hide under the covers some more. Maybe the bastard won't find me there.

Wherein I got nothin'

We bought a car on Saturday. 2011 Ford Fusion, if you really care.
Bunco was Saturday night, and while we didn't actually play we sat around and shot the shit for 5 hours and it was grand. It was during this we learned that Whitney Houston died. More on that later.
Sunday was quiet. Just hanging around the house.
Today, since EM was off, we did a bunch of errands to get our shit together to move in a few months. Let me tell you, it's a pain in the ass. Go to Base Housing, fill out an application for housing in CT, fax application to CT, wait a few days, call Base Housing in CT so they can refer us to the privatized housing office in CT so we can get a freakin' house. Ugh. Paperwork galore.

That's all I got today. I'll post something more prolific tomorrow.

Wherein I tell you about my wifey

I have a post sitting in drafts, just waiting for the right day to publish it. It's not a happy post, and I'm in a fairly good mood today. So it's gonna sit in drafts awhile longer.

I guess the other day when I was telling you about my family, I forgot to mention my other half, AnnaBella (or AB). She's my wifey, in the (mostly) platonic way. She is my bestest friend in the whole world and I am so happy her husband crashed on my couch for a month so we could meet. So here's our story.

In 2006, EM and ET (AB's husband) were on the same submarine and became good friends. The sub was getting ready to go to Texas, from Virginia, to be commissioned. Big ceremony, First Lady Laura Bush was there, Texas senators and congressmen, a WHOLE bunch of people were going to be at this event. This event also precipitated the boat moving to Connecticut. They weren't going back to Virginia, but were going to be stationed in Groton, CT. A lot of the families were moving at this point, AB and ET being one of them. Only, AB moved before the boat left. This left ET without a house, so he came and crashed at our house. No biggie. It was really more a place for him to store his stuff while he went with the boat to Texas. I'd never really met AB until ET started staying with us. We'd met at a picnic for the wives and a pre-deployment/moving to CT meeting. At the meeting, we were both giggling at each others' snide comments.

So, I'm at work one day, and I get an email from AB. It was a thank you card, thanking me for letting ET stay with us, so they didn't have to rent an apartment, or pay for a hotel, blah blah blah. And I was like, cool, I like this chick. So I emailed her back, telling her it was no big deal, he was a great house guest, he offered to babysit for EM and me, so we could go out, he wasn't messy, I never heard him take a shower (side note: I actually asked EM if ET was taking showers, 'cause I NEVER heard him. And the bathroom was right across the hall from our room. True story.). 

Then, I got a response. Well, not a response, but more of a three paragraph missive telling me about her kids, her, ET, etc. It was HI-larious. My coworkers were giving me strange looks as I was trying not to snort. So I emailed her back. And we emailed back and forth for months. She helped me find a house in CT. She came and babysat my kids while the movers were unloading the truck.

It was like I'd found my long lost twin. We have the same ideals about most things, and find the same things about living the Navy life ridiculous. It was great. I moved to Connecticut in October, just in time for the really cold weather and snow. AB was gracious enough to take me places, because I had never driven in the snow. Ever. I grew up in South Carolina. She grew up in Ohio. She could handle snow.

That was 6 years ago, and we've had some lulls in our friendship. Mostly due to not being in the same state, but I always know she'll be there for me. Just as I'll always be there for her. Our husbands? Not so keen on this idea. Oh well!!