I'm Homeless!

Well, I'm not really homeless but my house is totally empty. Literally, the only "furniture" I have at this moment is a lawn chair and a blow up mattress and that's what I have to live on for the next 10 days or so.

Mom and Aunt Frances went back to Ohio yesterday after a solid week of cleaning and packing and a short vacation down to Myrtle Beach. I honestly don't know if I would have gotten everything done without their fantastic help. Thanks so much guys! I love you!

Today is my last day of house hunting leave and I'm really not excited to go back to "work" because, these days, work is very simply going in to the office and sitting - I have nothing to do at work, I really don't even have a job! I suppose I shouldn't complain about this extended break for working, I'll have my hands more than full pretty much from the moment I check in to my next command.

Grocery bagging - The new rocket science???

I have just returned from my bi-weekly trip to the grocery store. Since I do not recycle, my little attempt to "go green" is to take my own grocery bags, rather than getting paper or plastic bags. I took 3 medium size fabric bags to carry home the roughly 20 items I planned to buy. Cashiers and baggers typically get confused by these bags so they under-pack for the bag size, which is why I brought an extra bag.

I was in the checkout line and the cashier began scanning my items...after she spent 5 minutes trying to figure out how to get my fabric bag to fit on the plastic bag rack! She proceeded to put 4 items, weighing a total of 2 pounds, in to the bag and then she looked at me and said "I don't really know what to do with this." I DON'T REALLY KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THIS?!?!?!?!?! It's a bag...put stuff in it until it's full and then hand it to me! Previously, I assumed that anyone over the age of 5 understood this concept, let alone those whose job it is to put things in bags all day long! Perhaps I grew up on Mars but I'm pretty sure that all the kiddies from my hometown could manage the concept of "put stuff in the bag." I tried to let her continue to do her job, because basically I was paying for her bagging service whether she could pack my items or not, but when she could not manage to put a 6 pack of beer in the bag (she tried to lay it sideways on top of several other items of various sizes), I was forced to take over and bag my own groceries. Part of me wanted to ask for a discount since I did 50% of her cashier/bagger duties but I did not.

I'm not a fan of the grocery store anyway and things like this absolutely reinforce that feeling!

There's something to be said...

Though I'll never speak ill of being home, there are a few things that Iraq has to offer that are really easy to get used to; most involve household chores. First, you NEVER have to cook in Iraq. No, the food isn't always great but it's always there and all you have to do is show up. Second, laundry service - you drop your laundry off (no more than 20 pieces!) and someone does your laundry for you. The most effort I put in to doing laundry for the last 6 months was putting a little bit of extra detergent in my socks. I don't know what they use to wash clothes over there but without extra detergent the sweat, dirt and weird chow hall smell builds up pretty quickly. Third, you can go an entire deployment without spending any money if you want. You don't pay for food, laundry, gas or any other day to day expenses unless you really want to buy something. Even bottles of water are free! Lastly, there's a huge difference between cleaning an 8x12 room that is minimally furnished and cleaning a 1500 sq ft house that is full of stuff. I hate cleaning and that's really all I've been doing since I got back!

All that aside, I'm so glad to be home and to be getting ready for my move to Arizona. That preparation has been going very smoothly thus far but that may change after tomorrow when I set up my government move for all of my household goods. I've become addicted to Facebook since I got home; that isn't helping my cleaning/packing/get back in to a normal schedule efforts. I really should stop complaining since all of my friends are still waiting to come home (I got some special treatment because I'm moving).

I'm Home or Happy 4th of July!

HELLO!!!!! I arrived home from Al Asad, Iraq at about 0530 eastern time. Following the 2 hour evolution that is trying to get your bags off the plane, I came home and immediately went to Wal-Mart. I know that some of my friends will frown at that but they too shop at Wal-Mart, at least sometimes, and I contend that you don't know how great it is until you live without it for 6 months.

I will say that I was pretty sad leaving Iraq. This was my 3rd trip in 4 years, most of the Marines I was deployed with were on their second deployment with me and I left this time knowing that I will most likely never go back there. That's an incredibly odd thought for me because I considered registering to vote in the Jan elections there.

Now that I'm home, I have to do my "post-deployment training," which basically consists of a bunch of briefings telling Marines not to get drunk, drive their cars and beat their wives all in the same day. Once that is finished, I have to get ready to move to Yuma, AZ. I'm going to buy a new car (mostly thanks to the new government rebates offered for fuel efficient cars). That's pretty much all of the excitement I have lying ahead in the next month or so.

I haven't taken a shower in 3 days; I need to remedy that stat!