I Deserve My Hazard Duty Pay

Since I’ve been gone, Lindsay has been extremely occupied with the two girls and any free time that she has, she takes advantage of it. Whether that be going to the gym, working on some project, or just plain ol’ relaxing – she’s gotta have her own time. That said, there hasn’t been much time for her to update the blog.

My days are pretty occupied as well, but I get a spot open here and there throughout the week, so I decided I’ll update the blog when I can. Interesting thing happened to me today, so that is why I decided to do this.

Being a male military member, my hair will stay within standards for about two weeks. Anything after that, it starts to get a bit in the gray area. Speaking of gray, I know when my hair needs to be cut as the grey hairs near my temple are apparent. BACK ON TOPIC. I was due for a haircut today, so I went to a non-AAFES Iraqi barber shop that I passed and thought to give it try. Really, if they mess up, it can be fixed in two weeks so no worries.

One thing I like is that these Iraqi barbers actually take the time to do a good job when cutting your hair. In the states, those barbers on base spend about 4 minutes total. I’m lucky if they take the time to brush off the hair from my face. These guys spend 15 minutes minimum. It’s not that they are working with Fabio’s hair by any means. These are standard military haircuts. However, they don’t miss the straggler hairs; they use scissors and not just the buzzer, and focus on making that minimal amount of hair actually look good.

So, once my barber finished up and held the mirror up behind me for my approval, he asked, “Do you have time?” This caught me a bit off-guard, “Excuse me?” I asked back. He repeated again, “Do you have time?” Not quite sure what he was getting at, I said, “A little. Why?” He said, “OK.” Then he laid the chair back as if I were going to get my hair rinsed. He then put a towel behind my head and started putting some gel or something on my face! At first I thought he was going to give me a shave. I had shaved that morning and my facial hair doesn’t grow that fast, nor that thick, so I was a bit confused. When he started smearing this stuff over my forehead, eyes, and nose as well, I knew I could throw getting a shave out the window. He then left me. Apparently, I was just given a facial mask. Hmmm. Awkward. Very awkward indeed.

So there I was, lying back in the barber chair, still with my haircut apron on, with a white mask on my face. It had some menthol or something in it that had the same effects of Icy Hot. I knew that some other military guys came in there, and so I immediately felt very uncomfortable and stupid. I would be pissed if I came in to get a haircut, then some schmoe gets a facial and I have to wait. After a bit, I was able to open my eyes a bit and I saw that the other two guys had on facials as well. Geez, what kind of place is this? I’m not Metro! Last time I had a mask was with Lindsay about 6 years ago and that was in the confines of my home and we were just goofing around.

I heard the guy walking back to me after a few minutes (seemed like forever) and I thought I was going to be saved and be let go. However, he then just added a “fruity” exfoliate scrub on top and rubbed that in. Sigh. More insult. Finally, he came back and wiped it all off. My face felt surprisingly good, but my pride definitely felt violated. My first haircut here in country I was asked if I wanted a massage after he was done cutting my hair. “No, I’m fine.” Since I’m not really fond of getting massages from dudes and getting massages from girls will bring a painful and merciless death down upon me from my beautiful and loving wife, I tend to decline anything along the lines of massages. Had I known that I was getting a facial, it definitely would’ve been declined.

When I went to pay, it was still only the $5 for the haircut. Since I normally give these guys a $3 tip, I figured $5 was warranted. He did a good job on the haircut, but now that I gave an above normal tip, I will have to decline future facials if I go back.

Some might think getting a facial is a vacation type service. I politely disagree. I was so uncomfortable and on edge during this ordeal that I know that the Hazard Duty Pay that I receive was well earned today.

deployment...grrrrr

sorry i have fallen off the face of the earth with this blogging schtuff. i will update when i have time as a lot is changing with our family and we have been super busy.

we face our first deployment this coming tuesday, which i am dreading. steve will be gone a total of 8 months which leaves me and the girls alone till mid-late july 2011. i am NOT too thrilled about dealing with the harsh alaskan winter as a single parent...been pretty emotional about that along with everything else :(

so, me and the girls will be in utah december 13th-january 12th to spend the holidays with steves family and to break up the time a little. its going to be really hard to not have steve there with us.

i am so grateful for all the support we have received from our family, friends and neighbors. i am truly blessed to know such amazing people! thank you everyone :)

errr, thanks?

brynn-"mom, it looks like your boobs are smiling!"

(after seeing me put on a ruffled shirt)

uhhhh, WHAT?! at least she said they didn't look cross eyed or angry...

on the move

guess who is crawling?

i just hope that she doesn't figure out the whole walking thing for a looong time. i like my babies immobile :)

and yah, she is basically the prettiest baby alive. i love this age!

bedtime tantrums

grrrr...the last few months, it has been a PAIN to get brynn to go to bed and STAY in her bed. we fight with her every night about this and it's getting soooooooo old. it literally takes 2 hours some nights, combined with multiple threats, tabasco sauce in her mouth (we are such nice parents) and favorite stuffed animals banned from her bed.

i am going to start a new rewards method that a friend of mine out here told me about, so wish us luck! steve and i are so close to sending her away!

how could someone not like sleep?! sleep is the BEST!

february so far...

first off, let me apologize for being so sporadic at this blogging business. having 2 kiddos is KILLING me and blogging is just something i had to put on the back burner for a while. plus, when i DO have some free time to blog, i find myself looking at my friends' blogs and feeling bad that i'm not half the mom that they seem to be. i have to remind myself that people are most always only blogging about the highlights and leaving out all the other details that are going on...but, it still sucks to read these blogs as i start to feel inadequate and question my skills (or lack of) when it comes to parenting or whatever.

like i said, having 2 kids is tough. although, each day i am figuring out how to let some things go and try to enjoy the craziness. sage is such a joy in our home and giggles/smiles constantly! it definitely helps when all i want to do is run away...she still is not sleeping throughout the night (gets up anywhere from 2-4 times), but my body is so used to the lack of sleep now that i've learned to push thru it and chug a diet dr pepper (or 2...) when i feel like i'm about to die. brynn continues to be ELATED about being a big sister, and loves to help in any way (if she knew how to change diapers, she would totally do it for me) when i need her to. she needs to constantly be reminded about personal space as she believes sage appreciates the smothering...hey, i'm just grateful that there hasn't been any issues with jealousy! steve and i were worried that brynn might act out when she learned sage was going to be in our family indefinitely, but she hasn't.

i am so so so far behind in what's been going on in our household the past few months that its overwhelming...so rather then stress about it, i'm going to just start now and catch up if i have any time.

valentine's day was on a sunday, so i decided i would heart attack (a mormon thing where you stick paper hearts all over someone's house/car/etc. similar to toilet papering , but nicer) steve's office the friday before while he was out to lunch. i actually had way more hearts then shown below (that i cut while i was there), but took the picture before i added more. since we are doing the body for life 12 week program at the moment, i left him some pop instead of all the traditional valentines day goodies...it was so lame! whats valentines day without chocolate and those crappy conversation hearts?! (by the way, they taste like chalk...blah)

i am a pretty practical person, so getting flowers on valentines day i think is a friggin huge waste of money. especially since most places jack the prices up really high and they die within days...steve knows this, and has made out pretty well each valentine's when it comes to getting gifts.

i got this bad boy last year

(i know, super romantic. in my world it is baby! clean floors?! nothing is more sexy than that!)

and this, this year

brynn enjoys it too, as in her eyes it is a slide. i really enjoy lifting weights, so this was a sweet gift for me.

i am not a huge fan on dressing your kids the same, but bent my rules a little in buying brynn and sage matching heart pj's. brynn has really been into anything with hearts these past few months so you can imagine her excitement when i showed her the pajama's. she is such a goof ball! it melts my heart to see her interact with sage so tenderly and see her smile when she knows she has made sage happy. i hope this sisterly love continues throughout the years.

steve turned 30 on the 15th and since it was presidents day, he had the day off. we ended up running errands, going grocery shopping, and working out together at the elmendorf's artic oasis (indoor playground for kids, with workout equipment/weights for parents). like i said above, we are eating better so i made steve the healthiest cake i could make (that was edible) and it didn't look so purdy...i swear it tasted way better then it looks.

i can't believe he is 30! i don't think he looks 30 at all. steve, you're great! i couldn't have dreamed of being married to anyone better.

merry christmas!

merry christmas! we hope all our family and friends are enjoying this wonderful day and creating lots of awesome memories together! we have had a fabulous day so far opening gifts, laughing, lounging, eating lots of fattening food, and taking it easy. we miss our family members who are scattered in washington, utah, california, texas, africa, and korea and hope they are all having a fantastic day. we feel awful for reagan who is in the hospital and wish her a speedy recovery. milk it for all it's worth baby! hahahaha!

mango is a little upset that she didn't find a gift with her name on it under the tree, so we slapped a bow on her head in hopes that it would cheer her up. do you think it worked? ya, i didn't think so either...

hopefully no one is feeling this way after opening their gifts...