Same ole Crazy!!

This last week has been full of stress and fun. Richard was designated as having the Super Bowl Party at our house. Our tv has been going out for about 6 months now (lasted 14 years!!) and Richard felt that this would be the perfect time to get a new one. I wanted to wait until it was completely out, but he was afraid I wouldn't get one as big as he'd like and since this was most likely another 15 year committment he wanted to make sure he got what he wanted. Of course, he wanted a 72" car payment, which I was definately not down with. I had been looking at prices for the last 2-3 years knowing that ours was going out anytime now, but I hadn't really researched much about technology and Consumer Reports stuff. I spent the afternoon doing my research. Superbowl week is definately a great time to get a good buy, and there were many incentives. We got the top of the line Samsung (which oddly is the frontrunner on LCD tv's... who'd have thought?) with 1080 pi (best color and dots per square inch or whatever) and 150 HZ (how often it refreshes itself for clearer picture). I wanted more like a 42-46" tv so we comprimised at 52". It looks way too big, to me, in the family room, but it was incredible to watch a movie on and the Super Bowl was probably a lot better on it!

Richard found out on Thursday that he had to test for Master Sgt this Tuesday (Feb 3). He had been watching the dates to come out but the computer system was down for quite some time. He really assumed that it would be after he got to Korea so he wasn't nearly as diligent as I had wanted him to be in studying. To have 5 days notice was shocking!! He did say that he felt pretty good about it so we shall see. We won't find out until June.

I'm having an "I hate the military" year! Richard's orders have been screwed up for some time now. I am used to dealing with the idiocy of the AF, but we are just getting too close to him flying out. After Christmas the Portal said that his orders changed from Osan (good base) to Kunsan (not so good). He spent much time trying to get this changed to no avail. In the meantime, he was waiting for M-16 shooting to get hard copies and get the outprocessing process started. In the military, without the hard copies, you really can't do anything. So we are going to Disneyland next week, he still hasn't shot, and he still doesn't have orders, but is supposed to fly out 2 weeks after we get back. Shipment of his stuff takes 6 weeks and he can't make an apt for shipment until he shoots and gets his orders. Oy Vey!! He typed up a letter asking to have his assignment delayed by 30 days to give him more time to get ready to go. Yup!! How did you guess? DENIED!! He was hoping that this would give him more time to get ready to go, allow him to see 1 of Rylan's tournaments (in St. George at the middle of March) and change his return-no-later for the next place we'd move (which of course WOULD HAVE worked out perfectly because it would make the report-no-later for the end of May, which is when the kids are out of school and we could all go together!) Gotta love the military!

On the silver lining side ... have to count every one that comes! His orders now say Osan (good base) ... but I'll count on that when the hard copies are in his hands!! We shall see!! Right now I'm focusing on Disneyland ... where all my dreams come true!!

PS -- Got locked out of my house this morning with Elly and a stinky diaper and a husband at some meeting. I learned how to break in. Can't decide if I should remedy my break in possibilites or leave it for future mishaps. Next time you hear from me will be with my Mickey Mouse ears on ... and a slight tan! (I hope)