Friday night at The House of Wickid usually involves dinner, wife going to work, kids going to bed, and me sitting on my arse playing video games late into the night. Today however, I have had a change in plans. The Washington Fair is going right now at the Fairgrounds in East Bremerton. For my West Coast homies, tickets are a dollar so go out and have some fun. I would normally not be going because my beautiful one will be at work tonight and I really don't feel like going. I'm still 100% after my surgery, but I got home from work today to find out that I was volun-told that I was taking the kids to the fair tonight. Now, I'm normally not one to put a bad vibe on fun, but I really didn't want to go tonight. I am for all intents and purposes just a driver tonight because its the other people in the house that want to go. Between my mother in-law, my second oldest sister in-law, and her friends coming over, my house has become too crowded for its own good. Hence the title of this latest edition of The Arena.
This post will provide back story and details to the reasons behind my "Full House." I wish that I could say that I was talking about poker, but unfortunately I am not. It started in February of this year while I was out to sea. I got an email from my wife stating that we would be having a visitor coming in March. She went on later to detail that the visitor wouldn't be a visitor, but instead be my mother in-law who was getting evicted from her house. I love my mother in-law I really do, but sometimes she does things that make you question her intelligence. Things like going out to the local shows and spending money on things that should be left at the store. Not to call the kettle black, but we do the same thing however, we only get excess stuff that we NEED and USE. My pantries used to look like a mini grocery store because we had a stock of things that we used quite frequently. I'm talking about those things. I'm talking about things like cover charges to get into shows, going out to do things after she tells me she has no money. It's things like that that drive me up the wall. I told my wife that I didn't have a problem with her coming to stay with us until we got back to Washington. The plan WAS to have her stay with us until we got back to Washington and got settled in. We used her to help out with the boys and to help us around the house. She even assisted on the drive across the country in the van with my wife by helping out with the kids. For the final two months I was in Georgia, things were great. I didn't expect her to immediately move into a new place once we got back, but I did expect her to be actively looking for a place to live that wasn't with me. Again, I love my mother in-law, but there is only so much I can take. We have been back since mid-May and it is now into the end of August.
Not only do I have my mother in-law living with me currently, we also have my second oldest sister in-law, Meagan, staying with us too. This happened by pure accident. She would come and visit and stay for the weekend, then head back to Olympia and go back to work. It was nice because I only had to deal with her on the weekends. She isn't a complete pain in the ass, but she is a pain in the ass none the less. She would come to our house around supper time on a Friday afternoon, eat, hang out for a minute or two, and then head out to go hang out with her friends. Nice and easy visit that was low maintenance. It was nice to only have to ask her if she was going to be home for supper and get declined instead of having to make sure that I have made enough food to feed her. I guess that she ended up getting suspended from work because she didn't have enough money to take some sort of test or something that she needed to do to continue doing her job. She pays rent for an apartment in Olympia and she has other bills, so I understand the lack of funds for doing something like that. Now, I am no whiz when it comes to budgeting my own money, I let the wife handle that. I was usually hardly at home so I had no idea what money went where or when it needed to be paid. I don't even care that I don't know all of this. As long as the bills are paid and there is food in the refrigerator, I'm golden. Again, the pot and kettle comment comes to your mind. I know it does because I've analyzed this whole situation myself as an "outsider" so to speak. So, now I have my mother in-law and Meagan living with us. The good news about Meagan is that she is soon to be leaving to head back to Olympia because she has another job that her friend is helping her get and she will be able to live on her own again. She has a college degree, you would think that she can handle herself.
Last weekend I wrote a post about early morning flights. Don't remember the title, but I know that it is there. I wrote it for Christ's sake. I had to take my mother in-law to the airport so that she could head down to Arizona and pick up my oldest sister in-law, Jamie. Now at this point, my mother in-law was supposed to be in her own place and ready to bring Jamie back to Washington. This obviously didn't happen because I am staring at Jamie sitting on my couch and her movie collection is sitting in front of me in 9 different milk crates. I have a "man cave", but it doesn't have any of the normal things that you look for in a Man Cave. So now I have three extra people in my house that don't need to be here. It has made things hard for Damen because he has been overstimulated with everybody in the house. It was easy for the time that my mother in-law was gone because things weren't being used all up and no one taking the blame for them.
In one week we can go through about three gallons of Almond Milk. Since you can't buy those in the gallon size, I have six half gallon milk cartons sitting in my fridge pretty much at all times. When it is only me, my wife, and my kids, the milk lasts forever and a day. The kids are the only ones that drink the milk and they only drink milk at meals. Well, Lucas drinks milk most of the time, but we are working on weaning him down to three bottles/cups of milk a day. Mom doesn't really pitch in for much in terms of groceries unless we ask her for something while she is on her way home from work, or if she asks us. I don't really task her with too much at home except to give me a hand in putting children to bed. Now I have to come up with a move out date for everybody so that I can focus on calming my wife down, who is losing her mind with everybody being here, and get the kids onto a school routine since school starts in about two weeks. Needless to say, things have been very difficult at The House of Wickid for the past couple months and it is starting to take its toll on me and the family. I guess tonight while I am out at the fair, I will get a chance to talk to my mother in-law and find out her plans of getting out of my house and getting the rest of the "baggage" to go with her. It should be fairly easy since I see her complaining on Facebook about not being able to do things like she's used to doing. I can't say for certain if it was her fault or not that she got herself into this mess, but I do believe that she is somehow involved in the reason why I am harboring her at my house.
At some point I will get my home back and it will be quiet and calm again. I am ready to have a clean house instead of cleaning my house and feeling like it isn't clean. I'm ready to have a wife that isn't so angry all of the time and ready to have my time with her when the kids are asleep. Things have been hell, but we manage through it. Time to go put laundry away, change clothes and see if I can find a way out of going to the fair tonight. I was planning on video game time with my uncle, but I may have to put that on hold until tomorrow.
Until next time, from The Arena.......
Wickid
Friday, August 23, 2013
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Working My Fingers to the Bone!!
Today has been all about work. Not work like I would normally do when I put my uniform on and leave the house. More like work being done around the house that has been semi-neglected. It is a shame that the last two weeks have been spent doing as little as possible while trying to heal up. Well guess what friends and readers! Wickid is done healing (kinda) and on the move again. I know that I have been functioning since last Tuesday, but this is different. I am ready to get back to my daily grind and get back to being around my coworkers. Those assholes might not have missed me, but I do miss all of the fun that we have while we are sitting in the office doing practically nothing. We do a little bit of work, but that's all we actually do. Walking around the pier and touring a boat or two a shift is what we consider work. If that isn't a cake job, then I don't know what is.
There are people in the civilian sector that would love to do what I do, but I don't think that they want all of the hours that I put in unless they are getting paid hourly. Trust me, my work isn't all that it is cracked up to be. Shore Duty is meant to be my resting time from being out at sea away from my family. Trust when I say that I get plenty of rest and I don't have worry in the world about going back out to sea. At least not yet I don't. As my Shore Duty comes to a close, it will start to get very stressful around my house again because of the impending schedule change and the fact that I won't be home as often as I am now. I don't mind going out to sea. In fact, sometimes I would rather be there then at home. I know that sounds bad, but it really is easier than being home some days. Right now, everything is as easy as it can be. I am enjoying the loads of time being at home with my wife and kids and being able to see them every night. I haven't qualified anything for my duty section as of right now, but that will be remedied here shortly when I qualify Duty Driver. Sounds simple enough. I don't have much to do because I have awesome people in my section and my qualification card got signed off almost immediately. Just have to bone up on the information that I am going to need for when I do my interview and do two Under Instruction watches. Easy enough and I will get it done within the next week or so. Once that is completed, I will move on to Junior Officer of the Day. That card is also signed off with the exception of final interviews and under instruction watches.
There have been a few changes around the House of Wickid. There are two more bodies in the house thanks to my mother in-law going to pick up my oldest sister in-law. Hopefully, they will find a place soon and get out of my house. Not that I don't like having them here, but I really can't support everybody that is sleeping under my roof right now. I still struggle (slightly) with taking care of my own, much less anyone else. My wife's paychecks are decent at helping in the middle of my pay period, but her money was supposed to be used for savings and extra fun stuff that we may want to do. Instead they are going to groceries and anything that we need. I want to get to the point where we won't need her paychecks and we are able to have extra money left over from my paycheck. Time is of the essence in this desire and at some point I will get what I want. It's not that I don't love my wife's family, I just don't need them all staying with me. Soap box talk complete on that subject.
It is HUMP DAY!! I only have two days of work this week and that just happened to fall just the way I wanted it. Next week will be a "rigorous" schedule for me. I get to work afternoons all week next week. I'm actually looking forward to that because I will be home shortly after dinner is normally served and I can get things ready rather quickly, put the kids to bed after supper and still get enough time to relax and enjoy the rest of the night. I really can't stress enough to the rest of my Navy Family (very extended mind you) that a shore duty is the best way to end your career (if you plan on getting out). Not only will get paid to do practically nothing, but you don't have the nasty hours that you would being attached to a sea going command. I should have taken a shore duty after my first boat, but babysitting baby nuclear trained nubs was not something that I wanted to do. A security guard job didn't sound enticing at that point in time. I enjoyed my time on my last boat and I am actually glad that I went there because now that I am qualified Senior In Rate, I have nothing to worry about once I get to my third boat.
Keep reading you dedicated reader. I end this edition from the comfort of my chair in hopes that you find it in the comfort of yours. Until next time, from the Arena.........
Wickid
There are people in the civilian sector that would love to do what I do, but I don't think that they want all of the hours that I put in unless they are getting paid hourly. Trust me, my work isn't all that it is cracked up to be. Shore Duty is meant to be my resting time from being out at sea away from my family. Trust when I say that I get plenty of rest and I don't have worry in the world about going back out to sea. At least not yet I don't. As my Shore Duty comes to a close, it will start to get very stressful around my house again because of the impending schedule change and the fact that I won't be home as often as I am now. I don't mind going out to sea. In fact, sometimes I would rather be there then at home. I know that sounds bad, but it really is easier than being home some days. Right now, everything is as easy as it can be. I am enjoying the loads of time being at home with my wife and kids and being able to see them every night. I haven't qualified anything for my duty section as of right now, but that will be remedied here shortly when I qualify Duty Driver. Sounds simple enough. I don't have much to do because I have awesome people in my section and my qualification card got signed off almost immediately. Just have to bone up on the information that I am going to need for when I do my interview and do two Under Instruction watches. Easy enough and I will get it done within the next week or so. Once that is completed, I will move on to Junior Officer of the Day. That card is also signed off with the exception of final interviews and under instruction watches.
There have been a few changes around the House of Wickid. There are two more bodies in the house thanks to my mother in-law going to pick up my oldest sister in-law. Hopefully, they will find a place soon and get out of my house. Not that I don't like having them here, but I really can't support everybody that is sleeping under my roof right now. I still struggle (slightly) with taking care of my own, much less anyone else. My wife's paychecks are decent at helping in the middle of my pay period, but her money was supposed to be used for savings and extra fun stuff that we may want to do. Instead they are going to groceries and anything that we need. I want to get to the point where we won't need her paychecks and we are able to have extra money left over from my paycheck. Time is of the essence in this desire and at some point I will get what I want. It's not that I don't love my wife's family, I just don't need them all staying with me. Soap box talk complete on that subject.
It is HUMP DAY!! I only have two days of work this week and that just happened to fall just the way I wanted it. Next week will be a "rigorous" schedule for me. I get to work afternoons all week next week. I'm actually looking forward to that because I will be home shortly after dinner is normally served and I can get things ready rather quickly, put the kids to bed after supper and still get enough time to relax and enjoy the rest of the night. I really can't stress enough to the rest of my Navy Family (very extended mind you) that a shore duty is the best way to end your career (if you plan on getting out). Not only will get paid to do practically nothing, but you don't have the nasty hours that you would being attached to a sea going command. I should have taken a shore duty after my first boat, but babysitting baby nuclear trained nubs was not something that I wanted to do. A security guard job didn't sound enticing at that point in time. I enjoyed my time on my last boat and I am actually glad that I went there because now that I am qualified Senior In Rate, I have nothing to worry about once I get to my third boat.
Keep reading you dedicated reader. I end this edition from the comfort of my chair in hopes that you find it in the comfort of yours. Until next time, from the Arena.........
Wickid
Play Dates and Trouble
I haven't had a play date since I was a child, but the title is very fitting for what I did yesterday. Monday night I planned to have a game night with my Uncle +tim kimbrough via the Xbox for a little Borderlands 2. I had it all planned out and my Tuesday was going to end perfectly, until I had to take my beautiful one to the Emergency Room. Come to find out, my lady has multiple ovarian cysts, which by the way isn't a very good thing for her. They cause her an immeasurable amount of pain and the fact that she has more than one means that bad things will happen soon. Needless to say, she didn't go to work last night like she was scheduled to. It is okay though because I ended up playing video games with my uncle regardless. I ended up helping my lovely lady get her month of Xbox live gold for free and we joined Tim for about twenty or so minutes for some adventuring fun.
Unfortunately, I do not have all of the downloadable content (DLC) for the game, so we could do very little with my uncle since he was all level 61 and just dominating everything that walked in front of him. I however, had to start a new character and I advanced three levels before we decided that it would be better if we waited until I got all of the DLC for the game before we tried playing again. Now, my free gold membership lasts until September 20th so I am hoping beyond all hope that I can get what I need before then. If not, our play time will just have to wait until I can afford to keep a healthy supply of Gold membership for the Xbox. That shit isn't cheap you know?
Trouble brews whenever video games are involved at my house. Since we had an impromptu trip to the emergency room, I of course tried to stick to my plans. Unfortunately, telling the wife that I had a date with my uncle was not on her list of priorities. I knew that no matter what I did, I would be in trouble because I'm just good like that. I did however, lessen the severity of my punishment by including my beautiful one in the adventuring. It made it a little easier to take the verbal lashing that she gave me later. It isn't easy taking a lashing from her, at least not a verbal one. Like I said, we only got about thirty minutes of play time with Tim before he said that it was best that we wait until I can get the extras that were needed for all of the fun stuff that he wanted to do and all the loot that he wanted to give me. After the whole video game fiasco, my wife and I decided that we were going to watch TV. Well, she decided that we were going to watch TV.
My punishment for my planned video game time ended up being rather simple. I have spent the day doing lots of dishes and taking care of children. She has been put on light duty since I decided to tell the doctor that was attending her that she was a workaholic. She is, mind you, so I don't feel too bad in telling him that. It is best that I only got the "punishment" that I did because I added her to our fun. Everything has gone pretty smoothly today. I had music in my ears most of the day, so it made the chores go a lot faster. I have this thing where if I listen to music while I do stuff around the house, it makes things easier for me. I have spent way too long on a boat doing Field Day every Saturday that music is the only thing to make it fly by. I had fun and I know that my wife is happy that the dishes are all done (minus the supper dishes) and that I cleaned the living room and vacuumed it. Now all I need to do is finish putting the laundry away. That chore has to be my Kryptonite because every time she tells me to put the laundry away, all I want to do is stare at it in hopes that it will put itself away. It still won't do that so I have to suck it up and put it away before the children go to bed so that she can finish the laundry. I can't work our new super heavy duty, super cool washer and dryer. I wouldn't trust me to do laundry anyways. I have the tendency to not separate clothes nor do I worry about load size. Again, a product of being on a submarine too long.
Trouble has passed and I feel that I have served my time. As I tell my kids, do the crime, do the time because everyone has been there at least once before. After dishes, cooking all three meals and vacuuming, I think that I deserve to sit on my tush for a little bit before I do some more stuff around the house. I have to clean my car out before I go to work tomorrow. Alas, I also have duty tomorrow. It's so difficult to show up and then go home at the end of the day. That last statement is so dripping with sarcasm that I think you can flavor a sandwich with it. Time to leave this edition to you the reader so that I can listen to more music while having Doctor Who play on the TV (wife figured out how to get Amazon video via Xbox) and screaming children from upstairs. Their Nani is "drowning" them tonight. Spaghetti night leads to baths. Easy supper, easy evening! Good night dear reader and I look forward to seeing you again. Until next time, from The Arena........
Wickid
Unfortunately, I do not have all of the downloadable content (DLC) for the game, so we could do very little with my uncle since he was all level 61 and just dominating everything that walked in front of him. I however, had to start a new character and I advanced three levels before we decided that it would be better if we waited until I got all of the DLC for the game before we tried playing again. Now, my free gold membership lasts until September 20th so I am hoping beyond all hope that I can get what I need before then. If not, our play time will just have to wait until I can afford to keep a healthy supply of Gold membership for the Xbox. That shit isn't cheap you know?
Trouble brews whenever video games are involved at my house. Since we had an impromptu trip to the emergency room, I of course tried to stick to my plans. Unfortunately, telling the wife that I had a date with my uncle was not on her list of priorities. I knew that no matter what I did, I would be in trouble because I'm just good like that. I did however, lessen the severity of my punishment by including my beautiful one in the adventuring. It made it a little easier to take the verbal lashing that she gave me later. It isn't easy taking a lashing from her, at least not a verbal one. Like I said, we only got about thirty minutes of play time with Tim before he said that it was best that we wait until I can get the extras that were needed for all of the fun stuff that he wanted to do and all the loot that he wanted to give me. After the whole video game fiasco, my wife and I decided that we were going to watch TV. Well, she decided that we were going to watch TV.
My punishment for my planned video game time ended up being rather simple. I have spent the day doing lots of dishes and taking care of children. She has been put on light duty since I decided to tell the doctor that was attending her that she was a workaholic. She is, mind you, so I don't feel too bad in telling him that. It is best that I only got the "punishment" that I did because I added her to our fun. Everything has gone pretty smoothly today. I had music in my ears most of the day, so it made the chores go a lot faster. I have this thing where if I listen to music while I do stuff around the house, it makes things easier for me. I have spent way too long on a boat doing Field Day every Saturday that music is the only thing to make it fly by. I had fun and I know that my wife is happy that the dishes are all done (minus the supper dishes) and that I cleaned the living room and vacuumed it. Now all I need to do is finish putting the laundry away. That chore has to be my Kryptonite because every time she tells me to put the laundry away, all I want to do is stare at it in hopes that it will put itself away. It still won't do that so I have to suck it up and put it away before the children go to bed so that she can finish the laundry. I can't work our new super heavy duty, super cool washer and dryer. I wouldn't trust me to do laundry anyways. I have the tendency to not separate clothes nor do I worry about load size. Again, a product of being on a submarine too long.
Trouble has passed and I feel that I have served my time. As I tell my kids, do the crime, do the time because everyone has been there at least once before. After dishes, cooking all three meals and vacuuming, I think that I deserve to sit on my tush for a little bit before I do some more stuff around the house. I have to clean my car out before I go to work tomorrow. Alas, I also have duty tomorrow. It's so difficult to show up and then go home at the end of the day. That last statement is so dripping with sarcasm that I think you can flavor a sandwich with it. Time to leave this edition to you the reader so that I can listen to more music while having Doctor Who play on the TV (wife figured out how to get Amazon video via Xbox) and screaming children from upstairs. Their Nani is "drowning" them tonight. Spaghetti night leads to baths. Easy supper, easy evening! Good night dear reader and I look forward to seeing you again. Until next time, from The Arena........
Wickid
Monday, August 19, 2013
Binges and Champions!
I had one of those days yesterday where all I wanted to do was sit on the couch and do a bunch of nothing. I can say that I succeeded in that venture. I ended the night by watching movies instead of playing video games. I had originally planned on playing some Skyrim last night since my beautiful one was at work and I really had nothing better to do. Once I got the dishes done and had the kids all laid down in bed, I popped in a movie instead. I went on a hardcore movie binge and it felt weird doing it at home because normally I watch regular TV and I do all of my movie watching while I am underway. Since I won't be doing the latter for at least three years, I guess I better practice and keep my movie etiquette strong while I am home. It was nice to lounge on the couch, drink crystal light infused water, and just relax. I know that I haven't had the most stressful schedule for the last 11 days, but sometimes it is really nice to just sit and do nothing. I'm not sure if I want to divulge which movies I was watching because I'm not sure if I want to lose cool points or not, but just know that I was being lame about my movie choices last night. I started the movies around 1930 (730 pm for you civilians) and didn't stop watching movies until around 130 this morning. Luke decided that 330 was an appropriate time to get up this morning. Was not a happy camper when I had to get up at 6 to watch him because he wouldn't go back to sleep. Ah, the life and times of being a father. I will get over it. In three days I get to head off back to work and resume my normal daily routine. I am so ready to put my uniform back on and look like a million bucks again. There is something about taking leave that drives me insane. It's not that I don't like being home, I think that it is the fact that I am not going to work and it ruins my routine. That whole routine burned into your head and this is how you operate, yada, yada, yada that the Navy does to you. I can't help being me sometimes.
I also decided this afternoon that I would show my face on League of Legends again. It is an online PvP game that is phreaking awesome!! I played four or five games today and I only lost two. Not bad for someone who tends to suck at PC games. This one is just phenomenal. So many champions to choose from, so little game time. Well, I can't even say that. The champions are just the tip of the iceberg for this game. The game play itself is fantastic and rather easy to learn. One game I let Luke sit on my lap and he played a little for me. I let Damen play too and he didn't do so bad. The goal of the game you ask? Destroy the enemy nexus! Simple as that. Getting to the nexus on the other hand is the real challenge. So many minions die a senseless death and the champions slay the other champions. It was the one game that my buddy recommended to me that took forever to download and it hasn't disappointed. Go to www.leagueoflegends.com to download and play. It is free for you and you and you and you. Yes, I pointed at random places in my house just to emphasis my point.
Have to cut this edition of The Arena short, the children need attention and I'm the only adult home. Again the joys of being a father. So until next time, live from The Arena........
Wickid
Sunday, August 18, 2013
No Rest for the Wickid.....er......Wicked
I did the name play on the title because even though it says my name on my profile, my pseudonym for all intents and purposes is Wickid. We submit this latest edition to the readers because it serves two purposes. Purpose one deals with all of the time I spend at work and the second purpose is all of the time my wife now spends at work.
For those that don't know or are new the The Arena, I am an Active Duty Navy Submariner. I have been in just over eight years and two months. I have spent the majority of my career on board a United States submarine. I enlisted in August of 2004 while I was a junior in high school. I come from a long line of Sailors. Well not so long if you think about it. My grandfather on my mother's side was a signalman aboard a destroyer, my grandfather on my father's side was an Auxiliaryman aboard the USS Midway, my mother was a Shopkeeper stationed in Japan, and my father was an Engineman aboard the USS Midway before she was decommissioned in 1992. I think that after hearing all of the stories that my old man used to tell me, I was intrigued about doing something completely different. I volunteered for Submarine Duty when I was with the recruiter filling out the paperwork. I can't say that things have been easy because they definitely haven't, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I love my job almost as much as I love my family. They come first because that is just how I am. Now, with that being said, there isn't a moment that goes by that I don't daydream about being underway and doing my job to the best of my ability. I'm a Sonarman by trade, but a Shower Technician by every other rate on board the boat. I spend lots of time in the shower and anytime that I'm not in the shower, I'm either on watch or sleeping. There is a random bit of time sandwiched into my schedule for a movie or two every off-watch. As a qualified Sonar Supervisor, I am in charge of a three to four man watch team that is the safety and security of the vessel while the ocean is trying to break its way into the people tank. Now, I won't say anything bad about any other branch of the service however, I will say that being on a submarine is a lot harder than most people think. The surface fleet and every other branch get the joys of having internet, facebook, cell phones with reception, and sunlight. Yes, I chose this line of work, but that doesn't mean I can't complain about the little things that I don't have. I have spent more hours a week a work than most people do in a month. Nowadays, most places of business try to limit their employees to 120 hours in a month. In a typical week on the boat, I can put in about 104 - 120 hours of work. This includes 3 overnight stays on the boat where I can't go home and 4 normal eight to twelve hours days depending on the workload. In seven days, I can put in as many hours as a normal civilian can in a month. My hours decrease significantly once the boat is underway and I am not on it. I go to the normal 40 hour work week like everyone else tends to enjoy. Underway, while on the boat, I shift from the normal 24 hour day to an 18 hour day. I lose six hours that every once else gets. I have a watch and then some time off. I can't tell you how many birthdays, anniversaries, or Christmases I have missed because I have plain lost count. It is nothing compared to the sacrifice that I make with my family. I missed first steps, first words, first roll over, first crawl, you name it, I have probably missed it. I love my job, but sometimes it gets in the way of things.
My wife, on the other hand, spends way too much at work for her own good. I know that her paychecks are extra money and that the more she works, the bigger they are. My paychecks are pretty standard, but hers will vary depending on hours. I'm glad that I am on shore duty and that she has a chance to go out and work and get away from the children, but sometimes I really wish that she would either learn to say "no" or train someone to do their job. I'm of the mind that if you are hired to do a job then you better know how to do it. If you don't know how to do it then you better get someone to train you or you better learn how to do it on your own. A lot of the things that I know about my job are things I gleaned from books and brains that I have picked of senior sailors. There are days that I sit at home with my boys and wonder if my wife works all these hours because she resents me for the job that I do. I know that is kind of a mean thing to say, but that is how I feel. She never says no when they call her and ask her to work. She never says no when they call her on her day off and she feels like collapsing in bed. I just don't understand why she pushes herself so hard and doesn't rest. It's not like we are hurting that bad for money so I don't know why she tries to run herself ragged. Maybe she just likes being at work. Who knows? She does have an excellent work ethic, but sometimes I just wish she would listen to reason. I love her, but she needs to spend some time at home with me and the kids. This is my three years of rest and relaxation away from a sea going command. It is also her three years of rest and relaxation and of having me home to help her when she needs it.
Rant complete. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.
From the Gamer Chair of Wickid
For those that don't know or are new the The Arena, I am an Active Duty Navy Submariner. I have been in just over eight years and two months. I have spent the majority of my career on board a United States submarine. I enlisted in August of 2004 while I was a junior in high school. I come from a long line of Sailors. Well not so long if you think about it. My grandfather on my mother's side was a signalman aboard a destroyer, my grandfather on my father's side was an Auxiliaryman aboard the USS Midway, my mother was a Shopkeeper stationed in Japan, and my father was an Engineman aboard the USS Midway before she was decommissioned in 1992. I think that after hearing all of the stories that my old man used to tell me, I was intrigued about doing something completely different. I volunteered for Submarine Duty when I was with the recruiter filling out the paperwork. I can't say that things have been easy because they definitely haven't, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I love my job almost as much as I love my family. They come first because that is just how I am. Now, with that being said, there isn't a moment that goes by that I don't daydream about being underway and doing my job to the best of my ability. I'm a Sonarman by trade, but a Shower Technician by every other rate on board the boat. I spend lots of time in the shower and anytime that I'm not in the shower, I'm either on watch or sleeping. There is a random bit of time sandwiched into my schedule for a movie or two every off-watch. As a qualified Sonar Supervisor, I am in charge of a three to four man watch team that is the safety and security of the vessel while the ocean is trying to break its way into the people tank. Now, I won't say anything bad about any other branch of the service however, I will say that being on a submarine is a lot harder than most people think. The surface fleet and every other branch get the joys of having internet, facebook, cell phones with reception, and sunlight. Yes, I chose this line of work, but that doesn't mean I can't complain about the little things that I don't have. I have spent more hours a week a work than most people do in a month. Nowadays, most places of business try to limit their employees to 120 hours in a month. In a typical week on the boat, I can put in about 104 - 120 hours of work. This includes 3 overnight stays on the boat where I can't go home and 4 normal eight to twelve hours days depending on the workload. In seven days, I can put in as many hours as a normal civilian can in a month. My hours decrease significantly once the boat is underway and I am not on it. I go to the normal 40 hour work week like everyone else tends to enjoy. Underway, while on the boat, I shift from the normal 24 hour day to an 18 hour day. I lose six hours that every once else gets. I have a watch and then some time off. I can't tell you how many birthdays, anniversaries, or Christmases I have missed because I have plain lost count. It is nothing compared to the sacrifice that I make with my family. I missed first steps, first words, first roll over, first crawl, you name it, I have probably missed it. I love my job, but sometimes it gets in the way of things.
My wife, on the other hand, spends way too much at work for her own good. I know that her paychecks are extra money and that the more she works, the bigger they are. My paychecks are pretty standard, but hers will vary depending on hours. I'm glad that I am on shore duty and that she has a chance to go out and work and get away from the children, but sometimes I really wish that she would either learn to say "no" or train someone to do their job. I'm of the mind that if you are hired to do a job then you better know how to do it. If you don't know how to do it then you better get someone to train you or you better learn how to do it on your own. A lot of the things that I know about my job are things I gleaned from books and brains that I have picked of senior sailors. There are days that I sit at home with my boys and wonder if my wife works all these hours because she resents me for the job that I do. I know that is kind of a mean thing to say, but that is how I feel. She never says no when they call her and ask her to work. She never says no when they call her on her day off and she feels like collapsing in bed. I just don't understand why she pushes herself so hard and doesn't rest. It's not like we are hurting that bad for money so I don't know why she tries to run herself ragged. Maybe she just likes being at work. Who knows? She does have an excellent work ethic, but sometimes I just wish she would listen to reason. I love her, but she needs to spend some time at home with me and the kids. This is my three years of rest and relaxation away from a sea going command. It is also her three years of rest and relaxation and of having me home to help her when she needs it.
Rant complete. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.
From the Gamer Chair of Wickid
Dealing with Deviant Delinquents
For those who don't know, I have four amazing little boys. Some days are harder than others, but most of the time I don't have an issue with my children. My oldest stepson is 7 and herein lies my problem. He stands roughly about 4'5" tall and weighs around 80 pounds. It is a little on the heavy size for a child his age. In fact, the doctors have said that he is obese. I agree with them wholeheartedly because I know that he doesn't eat the way he is supposed to when he is with his dad. Now, I know that I can't "confirm" anything that goes on at his dad's house, but I do have my suspicions. It isn't hard to figure out what he eats because whenever we feed him any meal at our house, he has a huge problem with it. It has gotten better since we have gotten back to Washington, but it isn't where it needs to be. At the House of Wickid, we eat pretty healthy. Lots of vegetables and nutritious stuff gets put on the table. It isn't always healthy, but more often than not it is healthy, delicious food. The younger boys tend to eat a lot of chicken nuggets and meat sandwiches. We get the good chicken nuggets that aren't just a bunch of fat. Carter doesn't always like to eat chicken nuggets though. He has expressed that quite often. Unfortunately for him, neither me or my wife will make three separate meals for the house. It takes too much time and causes too many dishes. His dad had the nerve to ask him on the phone for all of us to hear, "Are they still feeding you like you are in prison?" I just about lost it and hung up the phone for him. In now way, shape, or form do I feed my children like they are in prison. I feed them the appropriate amount of food. It's called portion control. It's what we do at our house.
We have recently come to terms that he is also a bully. That is another thing that we do not tolerate here at the house. Unfortunately, my 5 year old has too pure of a heart and doesn't like to see anyone get into trouble. It sucks for him because Carter likes to bully my 5 year old. He likes to take control of everything, including how the toys are played with and who is playing with them. I can't discipline Carter like I would Eli and Damen. I can't really discipline Luke because he is just too young to have to do that to. I won't spank a defenseless infant. Well, soon to be toddler. Hell, I can't even spank Carter for fear of the fight that my wife and his father will get into because I "laid a hand on HIS kid." Well, for six months out of the year, he is my "kid". I don't like the fact that I have to change the way I discipline my children when we have Carter at our house. It makes everything a lot more stressful and it causes me a lot of grief. I know that it isn't easy for my beautiful one either, but at least she can spank him and discipline him and won't get into "too much trouble" with his dad. I'm at a loss for what to do because of the way I grew up and the way I discipline the other boys. Eli and Damen, when they commit an egregious penalty, can and will get a spanking. I know there are many of you out there that do not condone the spanking of children, but I will tell you something. As a living example of getting my butt spanked on a regular basis for the penalties that I committed, I didn't turn out too bad now did I? I have a great job, an awesome family, and I'm not addicted to drugs or in jail. Pretty successful childhood if I do say so myself. I just becomes difficult to handle because I have to worry about being "too mean" and "scaring" the poor child because I yell at him. He decided that it was alright to pinch his little brother yesterday at lunch. Of course, paternal hearing grants me the ability to hear even the quietest things when it comes to my children, he got caught. So we (the wife and I) called the boys out to the living room to find out what was going on. I keep it relatively strict in the house because that's how I grew up. Again, I didn't turn out so bad. Come to find out, Carter pinched Eli but didn't know why he pinched him. My wife, being the wonderful person that she is, pinched him back so he could see how it feels. He cried and cried for the entire time we were trying to yell at him. It wasn't until after Carter got in trouble that he decided to change his story and he then stated that Eli pinched him first. Now, I know the tendencies of my 5 year old. Not my child by blood, but my child nonetheless. He takes after me and is really never in trouble until Carter comes around. I pinched Eli because, well he pinched his brother, and he didn't cry at all. Tough little cookie he is. I apologized afterwards because my beautiful one pointed out that he already got pinched by Carter and I didn't need to pinch him. To teach the boys about bullying, I told them that I would do to them what they do to each other. Of course, that was too far and I was too mean. We asked Carter if he would go home and tell his dad that we were being mean to him. He vigorously shook his head yes and said that we were being "too mean" to him. I love my wife because she can keep her cool in the craziest of situations, picked up the phone and called his dad right there on the spot. Carter and his dad had a nice little conversation, which I think was just for show, and that kind of ended that conflict. I don't understand why he has to bully his brothers. He is three times their size and shouldn't be mean to them because he should know that he is going to get into trouble.
Eli usually never gets into much trouble when it is just the 5 of us. Once Carter gets here, I have no choice but to yell at him because he is always fighting with Carter and arguing and whining about something. I know that the problem is Carter because Eli just doesn't do any of the above when he is playing with Damen. I hate knowing the Carter is bullying his brothers. I know that some of it is sibling rivalry. I don't yell unless I have to and I monitor the situation for a minute or two before I step in. I'm not the type of person to yell at everything. I used to think my dad did that all of time, but after becoming a father myself, I see why it felt like he was always yelling at me. This morning was kind of a relief for me because Carter's dad came to pick him up. Now I have two free weeks of minimal yelling at children. I know that it sounds bad that I am so happy to have him gone, but in all reality it lifts some of the stress of dealing with my children. Like I said at the beginning of this post, most days are awesome because my children are just awesome. Yes, every parent says that about their children, but not many comment on how well behaved other children are. I get compliments all of time about how well behaved my children are and how they are so polite. I spend time training that. I learned that for my parents and my children will learn it from me. Nothing wrong with having polite, well-mannered children.
I think that part of the problems that we have with Carter also stem from him being at his dad's house for so long. He spent two years straight at his dad's house while we were in Georgia. During that time, I am pretty sure that his dad was saying some not so nice things about me, my wife, and our children. His dad told him that Eli, Damen, and Lucas were his half-brothers because they all have different dads. In retrospect, he is correct, but that is not something that you need to teach a seven year old. How hard is it for his dad to accept the fact that the mother of his child married someone who loves her and doesn't treat her like shit? My wife had to work THREE jobs while she was with him because he was "too good" to flip burgers. When realization finally smacked her in the head, she did the smart thing and left him. Eli's "dad" is nothing but a sperm donor. That dude isn't even good enough for me to call him a man. My wife is the only one that he did that too either. He has like three different kids with two other baby mamas. Mark (Eli's sperm donor) left my wife when she was four months pregnant with Eli. I've known all of my wife's children since their birth. I knew exactly what I was getting into when I got together with my wife. I made that choice with a sound mind and able body. I have two boys that are my own, Damen and Lucas. Those are my blood children, but that doesn't mean that I love Carter and Eli any less. I love all of them equally. I "own" the majority of the children. Carter's dad has the tendency to teach Carter some very bad habits. Things like telling Carter that he doesn't have to listen to what I tell him and that if we are being "too mean" to him, then he can just leave and walk back to his dad's house as long as he is careful. Who the phuck tells a seven year old that he can just leave his mom's house if she is being "too mean"?? Seriously?? If that was the case, that boy wouldn't even step foot into my house because I am "too mean" to him. I provide health insurance, dental insurance, house, food, clothes, school supplies, and anything else that his little heart desires. Paul (Carter's dad) is supposed to tell us whenever he took Carter to the doctor or the dentist because we needed to know about it and HE put it in the parenting plan that HE wrote up when we left for Georgia. Since I am the active duty member (Navy Submarine Service WOOT WOOT!!), I always and I mean ALWAYS, get the bills from the doctor visits. It is very hard to hide doctor's appointments from me because of this. Apparently, Paul had the mailing address changed to his address so that he would get the bills and paperwork. I guess we forgot to tell him that no matter what address is there, they will always send the bill to the active duty member. So when confronted about this, he tried to hide some information from us. We got all the information we wanted because Carter, like the rest of my children, is on my Page 2 and they will freely release his medical and dental records to me whenever they are requested. The joys of being Active Duty. Another reason why I love my job.
Well that escalated quickly.... I think I will end the rant about deviant delinquents here. Just remember step-parents, you aren't the only one dealing with your issues. There are those of us here in the realm of Parenthood that are in the same boat you are. Until next time in The Arena, this is Wickid signing off.......
We have recently come to terms that he is also a bully. That is another thing that we do not tolerate here at the house. Unfortunately, my 5 year old has too pure of a heart and doesn't like to see anyone get into trouble. It sucks for him because Carter likes to bully my 5 year old. He likes to take control of everything, including how the toys are played with and who is playing with them. I can't discipline Carter like I would Eli and Damen. I can't really discipline Luke because he is just too young to have to do that to. I won't spank a defenseless infant. Well, soon to be toddler. Hell, I can't even spank Carter for fear of the fight that my wife and his father will get into because I "laid a hand on HIS kid." Well, for six months out of the year, he is my "kid". I don't like the fact that I have to change the way I discipline my children when we have Carter at our house. It makes everything a lot more stressful and it causes me a lot of grief. I know that it isn't easy for my beautiful one either, but at least she can spank him and discipline him and won't get into "too much trouble" with his dad. I'm at a loss for what to do because of the way I grew up and the way I discipline the other boys. Eli and Damen, when they commit an egregious penalty, can and will get a spanking. I know there are many of you out there that do not condone the spanking of children, but I will tell you something. As a living example of getting my butt spanked on a regular basis for the penalties that I committed, I didn't turn out too bad now did I? I have a great job, an awesome family, and I'm not addicted to drugs or in jail. Pretty successful childhood if I do say so myself. I just becomes difficult to handle because I have to worry about being "too mean" and "scaring" the poor child because I yell at him. He decided that it was alright to pinch his little brother yesterday at lunch. Of course, paternal hearing grants me the ability to hear even the quietest things when it comes to my children, he got caught. So we (the wife and I) called the boys out to the living room to find out what was going on. I keep it relatively strict in the house because that's how I grew up. Again, I didn't turn out so bad. Come to find out, Carter pinched Eli but didn't know why he pinched him. My wife, being the wonderful person that she is, pinched him back so he could see how it feels. He cried and cried for the entire time we were trying to yell at him. It wasn't until after Carter got in trouble that he decided to change his story and he then stated that Eli pinched him first. Now, I know the tendencies of my 5 year old. Not my child by blood, but my child nonetheless. He takes after me and is really never in trouble until Carter comes around. I pinched Eli because, well he pinched his brother, and he didn't cry at all. Tough little cookie he is. I apologized afterwards because my beautiful one pointed out that he already got pinched by Carter and I didn't need to pinch him. To teach the boys about bullying, I told them that I would do to them what they do to each other. Of course, that was too far and I was too mean. We asked Carter if he would go home and tell his dad that we were being mean to him. He vigorously shook his head yes and said that we were being "too mean" to him. I love my wife because she can keep her cool in the craziest of situations, picked up the phone and called his dad right there on the spot. Carter and his dad had a nice little conversation, which I think was just for show, and that kind of ended that conflict. I don't understand why he has to bully his brothers. He is three times their size and shouldn't be mean to them because he should know that he is going to get into trouble.
Eli usually never gets into much trouble when it is just the 5 of us. Once Carter gets here, I have no choice but to yell at him because he is always fighting with Carter and arguing and whining about something. I know that the problem is Carter because Eli just doesn't do any of the above when he is playing with Damen. I hate knowing the Carter is bullying his brothers. I know that some of it is sibling rivalry. I don't yell unless I have to and I monitor the situation for a minute or two before I step in. I'm not the type of person to yell at everything. I used to think my dad did that all of time, but after becoming a father myself, I see why it felt like he was always yelling at me. This morning was kind of a relief for me because Carter's dad came to pick him up. Now I have two free weeks of minimal yelling at children. I know that it sounds bad that I am so happy to have him gone, but in all reality it lifts some of the stress of dealing with my children. Like I said at the beginning of this post, most days are awesome because my children are just awesome. Yes, every parent says that about their children, but not many comment on how well behaved other children are. I get compliments all of time about how well behaved my children are and how they are so polite. I spend time training that. I learned that for my parents and my children will learn it from me. Nothing wrong with having polite, well-mannered children.
I think that part of the problems that we have with Carter also stem from him being at his dad's house for so long. He spent two years straight at his dad's house while we were in Georgia. During that time, I am pretty sure that his dad was saying some not so nice things about me, my wife, and our children. His dad told him that Eli, Damen, and Lucas were his half-brothers because they all have different dads. In retrospect, he is correct, but that is not something that you need to teach a seven year old. How hard is it for his dad to accept the fact that the mother of his child married someone who loves her and doesn't treat her like shit? My wife had to work THREE jobs while she was with him because he was "too good" to flip burgers. When realization finally smacked her in the head, she did the smart thing and left him. Eli's "dad" is nothing but a sperm donor. That dude isn't even good enough for me to call him a man. My wife is the only one that he did that too either. He has like three different kids with two other baby mamas. Mark (Eli's sperm donor) left my wife when she was four months pregnant with Eli. I've known all of my wife's children since their birth. I knew exactly what I was getting into when I got together with my wife. I made that choice with a sound mind and able body. I have two boys that are my own, Damen and Lucas. Those are my blood children, but that doesn't mean that I love Carter and Eli any less. I love all of them equally. I "own" the majority of the children. Carter's dad has the tendency to teach Carter some very bad habits. Things like telling Carter that he doesn't have to listen to what I tell him and that if we are being "too mean" to him, then he can just leave and walk back to his dad's house as long as he is careful. Who the phuck tells a seven year old that he can just leave his mom's house if she is being "too mean"?? Seriously?? If that was the case, that boy wouldn't even step foot into my house because I am "too mean" to him. I provide health insurance, dental insurance, house, food, clothes, school supplies, and anything else that his little heart desires. Paul (Carter's dad) is supposed to tell us whenever he took Carter to the doctor or the dentist because we needed to know about it and HE put it in the parenting plan that HE wrote up when we left for Georgia. Since I am the active duty member (Navy Submarine Service WOOT WOOT!!), I always and I mean ALWAYS, get the bills from the doctor visits. It is very hard to hide doctor's appointments from me because of this. Apparently, Paul had the mailing address changed to his address so that he would get the bills and paperwork. I guess we forgot to tell him that no matter what address is there, they will always send the bill to the active duty member. So when confronted about this, he tried to hide some information from us. We got all the information we wanted because Carter, like the rest of my children, is on my Page 2 and they will freely release his medical and dental records to me whenever they are requested. The joys of being Active Duty. Another reason why I love my job.
Well that escalated quickly.... I think I will end the rant about deviant delinquents here. Just remember step-parents, you aren't the only one dealing with your issues. There are those of us here in the realm of Parenthood that are in the same boat you are. Until next time in The Arena, this is Wickid signing off.......
Hangovers and Early Morning Flights
Ever regret that night you drank so much that the hangover the next morning isn't worth it? My sister in-law has found this out the hard way. She turned 21 last night and went barhopping with her mother. It wasn't really a good night for her because all of her friends bailed on her and she spent her birthday all by herself. Well, by herself minus her mom, dad, me, my kids, and one of her friends who showed up at my house to give her some presents. After spending the day out and about at a wine festival with her dad, she came home to her friend who took the train to Portland to get her car and drive all the way back up here to visit, she went out with her mom (my mother in-law) to go barhopping. It is the typical right of passage for most adults who turn 21. My 21st birthday involved me, my best friend, his dad, and a gentleman's club. Yes I got stripper herp that night and I got severely wasted on one Jaegerbomb and a bunch of Jack Daniels. It was a fun night. Anywho, my sister in-law went barhopping and had a blast with a ton of people buying her drinks and feeding her loads of alcohol. She doesn't remember much of the night, which I guess is a good thing since nobody wants to remember that they vomited all over a bar parking lot. She is a trooper though because normally she doesn't puke all over the place. No, she didn't drink underage, but she did spend Friday night getting wasted at a party with Mom. So now it is Sunday and boy does she have a hangover! I hated the hangover I had after my 21st because I had to drive back to Silverdale that afternoon. I went to have my party at my buddy's house who lived in Oregon. Not a very fun 4 hour drive that I did with my ex-wife, who by the way wasn't very happy that I went to a gentleman's club. I really didn't have and option since that was where my buddy wanted to go and his birthday was the next day. I take that back. I didn't drive back to Silverdale the day after my birthday because it was a Friday and I stayed to celebrate my buddy's birthday the next day. Yes, we went to the same club and got obliterated again because hey we're dudes and we wanted to see something naked. It was a good weekend that weekend. The drive home for me wasn't so nice because my ex-wife (hence the term ex) was not very happy that we went out to the bar two nights in a row and she couldn't go. She was only 20 at the time. Poor girl didn't like that I went to see something naked. She paid me back though because once I went out to sea, she decided to sleep with any swinging dick that she could. Her loss and my gain.
Anyway, this is about me sister in-law not me. She is now laying on my couch, not saying that she will never drink again, but instead saying that she hates having a hangover. I laugh because I made her take a shot of some Sinfire Whiskey after she blew out the candles on her cake that I slaved over for about an hour. She wouldn't take the shot at first, but the I called her a sissy and well she got angry. I'm such a bad person. Wait, no I'm not, I'm just the older brother that likes to laugh at my younger siblings. Who knows where I am going to be when my little sister turns 21. I will probably still be here on the West Coast while she is on the East Coast with her marine husband. Another story for another time and place. Trust that it is coming for you to read. I will have my soapbox about that.
Do you want to know what I find weird? Even if you don't, I'm going to tell you anyways because you are taking the time to read this, which means you must be interested in what I have to say. I had to drive my mother in-law out to the Seattle airport this morning because she is going to pick up my oldest sister in-law and bring her back up here. I got up at 330 this morning and got ready to go. Not a phreaking car on the road for the most part. Traffic was how do you say, practically non-existent. It takes about an hour to drive around the Sound to get out to the airport. We made good time and it only took us about 45 - 50 minutes to get out there. Here's the dilemma: Why was everyone and their phreaking mother at the airport this morning?? I literally had to play Tetris with my car (fun game by the way) to get close enough to the departure gate to drop her off. No traffic on the highway, but the minute I pull into the airport it was like finding buried treasure on a deserted island and Captain Jack Sparrow just conned me into facing Barbosa. Like my movie reference? I know, I do too. Anyway, once she got out of the car, I made like a professional escape artist and was out of there before anybody really knew I was there. No stopping to find a gap, no need to reverse more than once and I was out of there like a fat kid running from a gym. Haha, I crack me up! I made good time going back home too. There was even a wreck that I passed by on my way back through Tacoma. Not sure what happened, but one of the two cars looked like it got smashed like a soda can does after you stomp on it. I like to stomp on Pepsi cans, but I will cherish a Coke-a-cola can when I put it in the recycle bin. +Chuck Bisbee, it is thanks to you that I cherish the Coke can. Other than that, my drive home was spent with blaring music, a coke-a-cola, and about 4 cigarettes. I know I shouldn't be smoking, but hey, must maintain vigilance to get home safely. Plus, I don't have any of my electronic cigarette fluid or else I would have had that instead. I got home about ten minutes before my wife's alarm went off for work. I ended up sleeping for another four hours once I got home. Oh, how time does fly when you want to only sleep for about an hour or so. Speaking of which, I have to get the beautiful one up in about 5 minutes so she can get ready to go back to work. Don't ask. It seems like she is the only one that knows how to do her job. Again, another edition for another time.
I don't know why, but I was happy to see my oldest stepson go back to his dad's house. It seems like every time he comes to stay at our house for the weeks a month we get to have him, I spend more time yelling and putting children in time-out than I should conceivably be doing at this point in their life. It is so stressful when he is here. He tends to act like a bully to his little brothers since he is like 3 times their size. Not a very fun thing to try and counter because when he is with his dad, he is all by himself and doesn't have to share anything. It makes his time here at our house very difficult. I do digress though and this is another subject that will be for another time.
Stay safe when you drink and find a cure for that hangover that you got over the course of the weekend. No need to remind you that tomorrow is Monday and we all know what tends to accompany a Monday. Have fun for the remainder of your weekend dear friends. Take care of each other and I will see you next time here in The Arena.
Wickid
Anyway, this is about me sister in-law not me. She is now laying on my couch, not saying that she will never drink again, but instead saying that she hates having a hangover. I laugh because I made her take a shot of some Sinfire Whiskey after she blew out the candles on her cake that I slaved over for about an hour. She wouldn't take the shot at first, but the I called her a sissy and well she got angry. I'm such a bad person. Wait, no I'm not, I'm just the older brother that likes to laugh at my younger siblings. Who knows where I am going to be when my little sister turns 21. I will probably still be here on the West Coast while she is on the East Coast with her marine husband. Another story for another time and place. Trust that it is coming for you to read. I will have my soapbox about that.
Do you want to know what I find weird? Even if you don't, I'm going to tell you anyways because you are taking the time to read this, which means you must be interested in what I have to say. I had to drive my mother in-law out to the Seattle airport this morning because she is going to pick up my oldest sister in-law and bring her back up here. I got up at 330 this morning and got ready to go. Not a phreaking car on the road for the most part. Traffic was how do you say, practically non-existent. It takes about an hour to drive around the Sound to get out to the airport. We made good time and it only took us about 45 - 50 minutes to get out there. Here's the dilemma: Why was everyone and their phreaking mother at the airport this morning?? I literally had to play Tetris with my car (fun game by the way) to get close enough to the departure gate to drop her off. No traffic on the highway, but the minute I pull into the airport it was like finding buried treasure on a deserted island and Captain Jack Sparrow just conned me into facing Barbosa. Like my movie reference? I know, I do too. Anyway, once she got out of the car, I made like a professional escape artist and was out of there before anybody really knew I was there. No stopping to find a gap, no need to reverse more than once and I was out of there like a fat kid running from a gym. Haha, I crack me up! I made good time going back home too. There was even a wreck that I passed by on my way back through Tacoma. Not sure what happened, but one of the two cars looked like it got smashed like a soda can does after you stomp on it. I like to stomp on Pepsi cans, but I will cherish a Coke-a-cola can when I put it in the recycle bin. +Chuck Bisbee, it is thanks to you that I cherish the Coke can. Other than that, my drive home was spent with blaring music, a coke-a-cola, and about 4 cigarettes. I know I shouldn't be smoking, but hey, must maintain vigilance to get home safely. Plus, I don't have any of my electronic cigarette fluid or else I would have had that instead. I got home about ten minutes before my wife's alarm went off for work. I ended up sleeping for another four hours once I got home. Oh, how time does fly when you want to only sleep for about an hour or so. Speaking of which, I have to get the beautiful one up in about 5 minutes so she can get ready to go back to work. Don't ask. It seems like she is the only one that knows how to do her job. Again, another edition for another time.
I don't know why, but I was happy to see my oldest stepson go back to his dad's house. It seems like every time he comes to stay at our house for the weeks a month we get to have him, I spend more time yelling and putting children in time-out than I should conceivably be doing at this point in their life. It is so stressful when he is here. He tends to act like a bully to his little brothers since he is like 3 times their size. Not a very fun thing to try and counter because when he is with his dad, he is all by himself and doesn't have to share anything. It makes his time here at our house very difficult. I do digress though and this is another subject that will be for another time.
Stay safe when you drink and find a cure for that hangover that you got over the course of the weekend. No need to remind you that tomorrow is Monday and we all know what tends to accompany a Monday. Have fun for the remainder of your weekend dear friends. Take care of each other and I will see you next time here in The Arena.
Wickid
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Power Outages and Healing
 |
| Recovering Again |
To You, my dedicated reader,
I submit this latest edition from the Arena to you, the reader. I know that you have been looking forward to many stories about what it is that I do and the things that I enjoy on a frequent basis. No I haven't been neglecting you, I have been dealing with recovering from a more invasive procedure than I am used to and it held me down under the pain medicine's control for a lot longer than normal. Well, normal for me. I don't like taking pain medication, but this time it was something that I had to do. It took me four days to do something besides get up, go downstairs, eat a little breakfast and then head back upstairs to go to sleep. I wasn't always sleeping, but doing something that had me focusing on an object for too long made my head extremely sore. I am still numb from my surgery. The doctor says that the area above and in front of my left ear will be numb for at least six weeks. If it makes anybody feel any better, I feel like I have a constant dose of the dental numbing medicine in my head. I still have stitches in my head and they will remain there until the white strip that you see comes off on its own. No, I promise I will not pull it off. Other than the typical drowsiness of everything that I do during the day, I have been doing really well. I figured that if I was okay to drive to my children's appointments and to my own appointment, I was well enough to start doing things around the house again. Things haven't been easy this last week or so. My beautiful one has been on my case about a lot of things and I have been kind of ignoring her and neglecting her, much like I have been "neglecting" you guys. I put quotes on that because I haven't done any of the sort to any of the parties involved. Between everything that has been going on at the House of Wickid, we have been busy trying to get everything settled and try to get into a routine. Things have been hectic and tempers have flared. Tears have been shed and mean words uttered. Yes, we fight as do many couples, but that doesn't mean that I don't love her. I love her, but sometimes she drives me up the wall. We joke about it being her job and usually that is all it is, but some days it isn't a joke.
Anywho, along with everything happening here, we have also been experiencing random power outages. Not planned outages like we are used to, but no shit legit random power outages. Take last night for example, we were in the middle of watching "Under the Dome" and all of a sudden the power says "F-U" and dies. Still haven't watched the end of the show. At any rate, the power went out around 8 p.m. PST and didn't come on again until about 6 a.m. PST. Why is it that we have to go 10 hours without power? Two days ago we lost power all night long and it has been going out randomly over the course of the past week. I can't believe that we have to deal with this stuff on top of dealing with loads of children's appointments and work and my surgery. In fact, we are having a "planned" power outage again today, but nobody knows what time it is supposed to start. Knowing my luck, I will be ending a quest in Skyrim that has taken an hour or so to do and the power will go out before I get a chance to save. Not my idea of a fun time. Yes, I will be upset and yes I know it is just a game, but that is besides the point. The point of the matter here is that nobody knows why the power has been going out and no one ever knows for how long it will be out. There are people on base ( I live next to the hospital not on the submarine base) that complain because they have SCHEDULED power outages. Yes, the power outages suck, but at least you know when they are coming and can plan to do different things while the power is out. Try having the power go out while watching a TV show! We had to light candles throughout the house and then we started playing Risk. We couldn't see after about an hour, so the wife and I went out to Wal-Mart to get flashlights and other things to help us see in the dark. UGH!
Power outages and Healing have been keeping me away from you guys. Now I am back and ready to put out fresh material for you here on the Arena.
Thank you reader, for your dedication!!
Until Next Time
From the Arena
Wickid
Friday, August 9, 2013
Recovering
 |
| Recovering from Surgery |
It also appears that a couple of my family members (in-laws) decided to trash the house and not really clean after they were done making supper and other things like that. I feel bad for my beautiful one because she didn't get much sleep either last night and she is now running around the house cleaning and sprucing up trying to get it back to the way we had it before I had surgery. I was being a good husband and helping around the house and doing chores quite regularly. I had a lapse of doing things because I never did get the list of things done that I needed to do before yesterday. I will remedy that once I get better and more mobile. I do know at some point over the course of my leave period (free 14 days yo!) I will be playing some Skyrim and other various XBox 360 games. Thanks to the helpful people of the +Skyrim community, I have learned some things that I would like to put to practice. Just need to have children sleeping and wife at work or willing to let me play while she is home. I was trying to play before I had my surgery, but every time I wanted to play someone was always on the TV and hogging up the couch. I blame my sister in-law for that. It is always her fault.
I also know that I am in a serious need of a shower, bath, water and soap, cleanliness. You know the she-bang. I need it. I don't like being dirty, well smelly, and I reek of hospital and stink. They don't have central A/C here in Washington and that happened to be the hottest hospital room I have ever stayed in. I was sweating all night and that doesn't help with my cleanliness issues. Luckily we are home and I went straight to bed and turned on the fan in the bedroom and stayed in bed for a few hours. Those damn fluids have been messing me up. Every time I went to the bathroom, I pretty much filled up the container they wanted me to pee in to monitor my hydration. Filled it up almost every time. They wouldn't take my IV out because the doctor wanted it in. I was going through about 30 ounces of water from a cup every hour and they still wouldn't take the IV out. I guess the doctor knows what he is talking about. I wasn't originally supposed to stay over night though. They told my wife right before she got my discharge medicine that I was going home. She gets back from getting my medicine and then they tell her that I am upstairs and that I have been admitted for the night. My kids were nice enough to make me some Get Well Soon cards. I love my littles so much!!
Like I said, I'm at home and I'm recovering in private (well, public for you guys). I'm doing good and I will be up and going again within a few days. I just have to get the rest of the anesthesia out of my system and get some real food in my belly. Thank you loyal readers for standing by while I have been away.
From the Arena,
Wickid
Monday, August 5, 2013
What?!?!?!
| What does it want? What does it WAAANNNNTTT?? |
Then, I get home and my wife has started up the Buffalo Lasagna that I love. She is going to make me super fat one day and I'm not sure if it is worth it or not. I do love her food and I love the fact that she can cook. It is made with buffalo sauce, spaghetti sauce, ground turkey, and lasagna noodles. It is phreaking awesome! I love the food that she cooks.
My day has been fantastic because of all kinds of things falling into place. If everyday could be like this, I would be a very happy person. We know however, that everything will not always fall into place like you want it to. Now after I get done eating, I'm going to clean up the kitchen and the dishes and then it will be getting kids into bed and video games. I love being on shore duty. It is highly recommended that you take the time in your career, be it Navy or whatever branch you are in, to enjoy a shore duty where you relax from doing all of the deployments.
Until next time from the Arena,
Wickid
Are you ready???
 |
| Welcome back Sunday, welcome back. |
Is America ready for Sundays to return to a T.V. screen near you? I know they are a welcome addition here at my house. There is nothing better than getting up around nine in the morning to children running around screaming "FOOTBALL!!". My kids love football season as much as I do. We like to spend the day getting the newspaper so that my wife can clip her coupons to save us money on groceries, and then we do a little work around the house. There is never enough work to do on a Sunday to justify spending the whole day cleaning. Once that is complete we spend the rest of the day sitting down in front of the T.V. watching the news and pregame shows to gets us ready for the fun that will last well into the night. Typically, there are nachos and regular chips with dip. We watch as many games as we possibly can during the day. Normally we focus on four games at a time because we follow four different teams. Luckily for us we have one team in each conference. There are a lot of intense rivalries once the games begin. My wife has tried to brainwash my children to liking her teams and only her teams. For the most part they agree with her, but sometimes I get lucky and they like my teams. As pictured below, you can see that the kids will follow her teams more than mine.
| Houston Texans (Wife's Team) |
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers (My Team) |
Now, regardless of what happens on Sunday we always look forward to any football game that we can put onto the T.V. Thursday night football, Monday Night Football, it doesn't matter. As long as the football season is in full swing, the T.V. will be tuned in just to see who is doing what. Last year during the season we had a whiteboard that had the schedule written on it with the four teams that we follow. She obviously had the better season because both of her teams made it into the playoffs. There were a few games that I wish my teams would have won, but hindsight is always 20/20. This year we decided that we would use this item that we bought from Best Buy. It is a football helmet standings tracker with all thirty-two teams. Now, it won't keep the number stats of wins and losses, but I can make that up on a sheet of paper and change it out every week after all of the games have been played.
As you can see, Football is a staple in my household. I know that yesterday (since I am typing this today) was just the Hall of Fame game, but it was still a heated battle of words and wits. I paused LIVE TV just so that my wife, who was picking up our son from his dad's house, wouldn't miss the first kickoff of the season. My week will now be complete with the NFL back on my TV screen.
Until next time from the Arena,
Wickid
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)