Yet Another Week

I have spent the last two months in the house. Why you may ask? Because I have no car. Hubby takes the car to work because it's hard to get two toddlers up at five in the morning so that we can take daddy to work and because hubby complains about having to wait for us to come and get him (it's only five minutes!) In order to get a car I need a job, but in order to have a job I need a car. It's frustrating. There is also only so much that you can do on island with two kids who are too young to be out on their own for a little bit. Trips to the beach always wind up with me sitting on the beach watching the kids in the water. I would love to go on a Boonie Stomp, but I can't take the kids and they are always on Saturday and today is Saturday and guess where hubby is? At work. He's been working 12 hour days, 6 days a week. I bet if the government had to pay him overtime he wouldn't be working all these hours. He told me this morning "I'll be back around 1" which roughly translates to 6 or 7 pm. Ususally we go out and walk around the mall with the kids. I would love to be able to take them on hikes, but kids aren't allowed unless they're a certain age and my kids are nowhere near the age needed. I guess it really doesn't matter today because I am feeling sick. But I think I'm feeling sick because I need to get out and do something. I feel like I've been stuffed in a kitchen cupboard for a month. THE WALLS ARE CLOSING IN! I wish I could take my kids out back and let them play but it's a mismatch of playground parts and orange webbing. They have about a four foot square to play in and they get really tired of it really quickly. There's not even enough room to fly a kite and I have no front yard. The construction has been going on for about two months now and I'm ready for them to be done. Of course they aren't working today....because it's Saturday, but my hubby has to work. I hardly see him anymore and when he is home he keeps to himself or the kids. I don't get any time. I'm getting to the point where I don't really want any time with him becauase I'm getting so used to it (sad). And last night we had a really bad fight that ended with me being so angry I couldn't speak (which is hard to do because I have to have the last word).
I had a dream last night that I was in the states again and it felt weird. Everything here is remote unless you're in Tumon (the tourist area). We're on the southwest so we're 15 minutes from anything like a mall or movie theater, which is how I like it. When the wind blows all you can hear is the wind blowing. I wanted to go to the east side of the island today, but that's not going to happen. *sigh* I need something to do besides cleaning and knitting all day.

Almost

For the past month or so my dryer has been picking and choosing when it wanted to work. Most of the time it doesn't and I run and run and run it only to still have wet clothes tumbling inside at the end of the day. Sometimes you get lucky and it works. Usually that time is when I think to call the repair guy.....then it works and I forget about calling, but the next day it's back to not working. The air is not circulating and the lint is building up on the door of the dryer instead of being passed and trapped by the lint filter. The guy came today and removed a huge bird's nest from the vent. It was huge. I think they were installing condominiums. Once finished it was working fine and I got a load dried and I was happy. Then I threw in the next load and guess what? It didn't work. And the air wasn't flowing because I went outside and checked to see if the vent door was open (which happens if the sir is flowing) and it was as closed as it could be. Then I saw that there was an egg on the ground. It was broken and there was a little bird fetus inside of it the size of a gummy bear. Now I have guilt. I went out a little later and it was gone. Probably food for the many lizards.
Progress on the silk sweater is still clipping along. I had to go back and add another cable repeat to the body because it didn't seem like it was going to be long enough. Boobs take extra fabric and most patterns don't account for D's....or C's....or even B's for that matter ( are the majority of women a B cup or less? Wish I was). I was a B cup once......when I was about 12. I don't understand women that want anything more then a C cup because it becomes a hinderance. Anyways I finished with the first arm and finished adding to the body and have attached the first arm to the piece. I'm about an inch and a half into the second sleeve and can't wait until I can join that as well and start working on the yoke. Right now the sweater is my all consuming project. I dare it not to fit once I get it done! It probably won't because I suck at math and probably didn't cast on enough stitches.
Oh well, if not I can send it to mum. It's silk so I can't throw it in the wash and have been wondering if knitting with this yarn was a wise decision or not. It's so soft though. Really soft. I have a cone of a cotton linen blend that I'm thinking of shaping into a hoodie because I really like hoodies, but it's a shade of tan and seems too boring. I have recently discovered color as a favorite and would love to have a comfy hoodie that can be worn on days when I need something a little more fashionable then my heather grey Tink hoodie that I got at Disney.
It's really raining today. We usually get a shower or two during the day, but today it's been raining off and on. It just started again and was raining earlier. I thought this was the dry season? Hmmm, I'll have to check on info. I thought winter for the states is the wet season and summer for the states is the dry season, but maybe I have it backwards. We've been having some nice days though because of the rain. Every once and awhile it gets humid, but when the clouds block the sun for a little while it cools down and feels like spring. I've been opening my window so I can get the smell of the outdoors.....something I remember from when I was a kid and mom would open the windows when the air would start to turn warm. It smells like the first few days of spring everyday. Sometimes after it rains it smells like wet dog here. I haven't figured out why that is. Probably acid rain from Asia. Why do we get Asia's pollution? We don't make enough of our own here so they have to import it I suppose. That is a downside because you have some days when it's really hazy and you can't go outside. You can, but you can't breathe too well once you're out there.

Cars and Geeks

The part for the car came today. Once I get it dropped off we'll have our car back in one to two days. We might get some money back which would be really great because on the 27th Sean P is coming to the Top o' the Mar. Rumor is that it's Sean Paul and I would like to go there and see him. Top o' the Mar used to be the Officer's Club and the concert is free, but you can get dinner. They have a great Mongolian barbeque and you're on top of the hill so you can see out. In fact I have a picture that has a similar view as the Top o' the Mar does. I'm not getting my hopes up too much. I'm used to having things fall out and not being able to do things at the last minute so being able to go would just be a bonus to life.
I finally finished the body to my silk sweater and have been working on a sleeve. So diligently that my index and middle finger on my left hand have gone numb and the inside of my arm from shoulder to elbow and then around the outside of my elbow to outside of my wrist is in pain. My eyes are also doing something funny with my vision and my head feels like I've been sporting a too tight pony tail. Probably from working too long on something that's right in front of my face. You have trouble focusing on things far away right after looking up from a project. But I'm addicted so I can't stop, except to take some Tylenol and keep stitching along. I'm so close to the end that I'm working faster and faster the farther along I go. I just have to finish this sleeve, work the other one, join it all to the body and work the yoke and then I'll be all done!!!!! It seems like a lot but the body was the longest and hardest part of the whole thing and now that's done so it's just a hop, skip and jump to the end and then I'll have my first piece of knitting that I made for myself!!!! Okay not true because I did finish a pair of socks for myself ( that turned out fabulously if I might say so myself.....and I think I will), but this is the first....... larger wardrobe item. I rarely knit something for myself and have just done so recently with the socks. Everything else has been for my kids or scarves for other people. By the way , how did those scarves work for you this winter, Mom. Post comments and let me know.
I'm planning on going to Fleet Family and Support to help look for a job. Hopefully they have something in photography so I can add to my experience. Plus earning money is a bonus. Even if you're married it is nice to have your own stash of money. Although I get the feeling that I'll get stuck paying the bills while hubby uses his money on whatever he wants to spend it on. Which I probably shouldn't complain because he's more likely to buy for his kids and me then himself, but I wish he could be more money savvy. He has gotten better the longer that we've been married (which will be six years at the end of June [ I can't remember the day....go figure....hubby knows it though :-) ])
My XBox seems on the fritz which really stinks because I don't have cable right now. When you turn it on the little thing slides out to accept the CD. You put it in and push the button and it slides back in, whirs for a second and then spits it back out. It won't stay closed. Maybe it just needs to be cleaned....I hope. I miss being an asian martial artist with the power to save the Empire....yes I can be a geek at times. I embrace the geek in me! The geek in me loves Pirates of the Carribbean for the fact that it's a good story line and not just because Johnny Depp looks hot as Jack Sparrow. The geek in me loves Harry Potter and secretly wishes that world was real because I know some people at the DMV that I'd love to put a Bat Bogey Hex on. The geek in me becomes really proud when I resist the dark side and am kind to people who don't even exist and save the Empire (whether in Knights of the Old Republic or Jade Empire). Everyone has an inner geek. You know you do.

Balboa

It's been a busy month. Our car broke down a few days after my last post. The clutch cable broke and we still have yet to get our car back because we're waiting for the part to come. First we had to get the money from Navy relief because our savings had to go into getting the rental car. Every auto parts store wanted $1000 for the clutch kit. We got it online for $400 (that included shipping and the clutch cable). The Navy also decided that they had paid us too much travel money so they took $600 out of our paycheck leaving us with only $600 which $300 had to go towards the rental car. I don't know how they figure that because we never got all of our money for the hotel and food that hubby was entitled to for travel. They take about six months before they get you your money, but if you owe them they'll take it all at once in your next paycheck. That's the government for you.
I'm still working slowly but steadily on my silk sweater and have about half of the body done. I should be working on my create-along project, but it sits in the corner unloved. Keeping the house clean and cooking dinner every night has trumped all lately. I've been getting kind of OCD about keeping things clean lately and just the little clutter that sits in my house is driving me crazy. Then this past Wednesday my kids were playing and Charlie fell, smacking his head on a milk crate (reinforced with steel along the edge). He had a shirt over his head and was pretending to be a ghost (he does then more often than you can imagine and is always running into walls and having us yell at him to be careful or he's going to hurt himself). He did this time and I coudn't even see his face but I knew he was bleeding by the blood curdling scream that came from him right after the thwack. He has a tiny centimeter wide cut next to his eye and it bled like crazy. We showed up at the ER looking like there had been a massacre at our house. My arms and hands were covered in blood, Charlie had it smeared all over his face and hands and hubby had bloody hand prints and smears all over his shirt. Yesterday he woke with a spectacular shiner that got worse over night and today is a vivid shade of purple. Out in public everyone wants to know what happened. Meanwhile Charlie is still bouncing around as if nothing happened and has us worried that he's going to hurt himself again. I've been to the ER with him more times then anyone and that's saying alot after growing up with a chronically ill mom. I think he's determined to be punch drunk and blind before his fifth birthday. He's always hitting his head on something and regularly pokes himself in the eyes with his own fingers and other objects. Sometimes he even puts his hand to his throat and pokes so that he'll choke (thump yourself in your throat and you'll see what I mean). Crazy child.

Storm

You know how it is whenever any type of storm comes through. There is hourly overreacting news broadcasts and everyone rushes out to buy up all the candles, water and toilet paper, and to fill their car with gas. It's a little less dramatic here in Guam while we are preparing for a typhoon tomorrow. Technically it is still a tropical storm and the winds gust at about 35 miles per hour. We're only going to get the edges of it so it will stay tropical storm strength to us unless it decides to turn and go straight over us instead of Saipan. If it does hit us directly they're still only expecting 50 mph winds. I think we saw more dramatic storms almost monthly while living in Beaufort, but I have yet to see. I guess I will find out tomorrow......or around two in the morning which is 12pm est. Yeah....I'll be asleep. The only thing that urks me is my next door neighbor. The lady has five kids and all of their toys are in the backyard. She has yet to come home and put all these toys away even though it's almost midnight here. I just know that I'm going to have a big plastic tricycle blast through my bedroom window. That would really piss me off. Especially since my bedroom is on the second floor. Supposedly we have safety glass that can sustain 150 mph winds, but I'm wondering how they will fair with a coconut at 50mph. I know I wouldn't be doing too good if it hit me, but I'm not reinforced. Then there is the question of all the spikes and poles and plastic swirly slides that are still just lying around waiting to be put together just 200 yds from by backdoor (which is a full wall of glass I might add). I don't think they thought this out properly. I think I may finally get to see (up close and personal) what's been sitting in those boxes for the past month and a half waiting to be put together.
I'm ready. I have my water and all of my canned food. They say to get one gallon per person/ per day. Yeah......I've been working on a two gallon jug for the past month now and it was still only 2/3rds empty. If I drink a glass of water before I go to bed I should be good for a week. All joking aside I do have six gallons that I bought as well as 32 gallons in a plastic Rubbermaid bin and a full bathtub. I also got a rug for $20 to go in my living room at the local K-Mart while shopping for candles. I was ready for this storm about a week after moving in. Live in typhoon alley and you must be prepared for the storms to come. The wind is already starting to pick up and someone was saying that there is always an earthquake after a typhoon. Great.......a double whammy. Probably not any worse then the ones that we have already expereinced. Speaking of which there was an earthquake while I was in K-Mart and let me tell you......feeling the ground shake and watching the shelves FULL of merchandise in front of you shake and sway is not a fun way to get an adrinaline high. Slightly amusing a few hours later, but not fun at the moment.
One thing that I do have to say for Guam.......they know how to have a storm. The locals here do, anyways. It was the tourists and the transplanted Americans freaking out and running around like ants today. For the locals it was a reason to cook all those steaks in the freezer. Barbeque!!!! Lots of barbeque. I'm sure they'll be barbequing tomorrow in the wind and rain ( for reals.....it's just a leetle storm, man). That's how I feel right now. I always hated it when I lived in Virginia and they would freak out over the littlest things. Dun dun dun......noreaster! Dun dun dun.......tropical storm! Dun dun dun.......1/4 inch of snow.......shut everything down......we're going to die!!!! Stormwatch 2000! 24 hour coverage of the approaching wind from a fart from a cow in Wyoming!