Here and There

It was a good thing we got the car registered when we did. We got pulled for a random inspection on Sunday morning when we went to Ft. Carson to go grocery shopping at the Commisscary.

It’s been a largely pleasant week so far, though I seem to be having trouble keeping track of what day it is. I’m not sure why, but I keep thinking it’s yesterday. I did have to drive Alan to work on Tuesday. I hate doing it because it means I have to get up at 4:30 in the morning. And it was particularly unpleasant this time because it’s been all kinds of nasty cold out. I think it was actually zero degrees when we left the house. So bitterly cold that it felt like I wasn’t wearing clothes at all. But it did give me the chance to go to JoAnn. I bought fleece to make a pair of black pants and beige lycra for the tummy panel. I’m not confident in my ability to sew that, so I just made it into a tube and I’m going to use it the same way I use my Bella Bands. When I’m done with this whole pregnancy thing, I’ll add a waistband to the pants. For now they’re loose because my belly is just going to get bigger.

Tuesday night we had a class organized by the FRG on Military Ball Etiquette. Aside from the fact that we had to wait an interminable time before we got to eat, it was very helpful. I wouldn’t have known about the toasts and when to sit and stand and not to eat until the Head Table eats and all that. I’m surprised more people didn’t go to it, though.

I spent all day yesterday sewing and I may have broken my sewing machine. I got frustrated with it, though, so I haven’t pursued trying to fix it yet. Fortunately, I was done with the pants already and moving on to the alterations to my dress. Those mostly had to be hand sewn anyway, so it wasn’t a huge loss. I hitched the shoulders up a few inches, covered the seams with ribbon and added a modesty panel of the same ribbon. It looks good and now it just needs to hang for a while to get the wrinkles out. I put it in the bathroom while Alan was in the shower last night, and that helped, but I’ll probably have to do it again. Maybe when he has time for a longer shower.

On Tuesday morning when I came home I noticed a cat’s paw prints in the snow leading up to our door and the doors downstairs. It made me quite sad considering the temperatures overnight. I saw the cat later. I think it’s the cat I used to hear yowling at night over the summer because it sounds the same. Over the summer I never saw it and eventually concluded that it was in another apartment and I figured that it was one across the way, because they almost always had their windows open, even as it got colder. Well, they moved out a few weeks ago and I think they may have left the cat. I’m not sure, of course, and it may be that it was a stray that they took in for a while. So I put out a little bowl of food. Yesterday when I got up in the morning it was empty. I put more out last night and it’s clear that a cat’s been there, but it didn’t finish the food. Hopefully that means it’s getting food elsewhere.

Pippa is doing lots of kicking lately. Alan even got to feel it for the first time last night, which is very cool.

And for some reason, Alan’s grandmother called me last night. It was 9:20 here, which means it was 11:20 there, which seems rather late for a social call. She just wanted to know how I was feeling and how everything’s going with me. I think it might have been partly based on the fact that Alan told his grandfather off earlier. Zach apparently spent some time over the weekend with Richard and Gary and didn’t tell him about it because he knew how he would react. Well he found out and reacted as expected and is now mad at Zach for lying, because he never lies. And Alan called him out on that, because he does lie. Add to that the fact that whenever he gets mad at either Alan or Zach, he threatens to cut both of them out of his will (as if they’re the same person) and leave everything to the Humane Society. Alan told him he didn’t want any of it anyway. LOL… So much drama.

The ball is next Thursday. I’m pretty excited about it. I hope to meet some new people, since we’ll be assigned seats. I’ve already met a lot of the people in the receiving line, so that won’t be too awkward. That’s the advantage of Alan’s job. He spends more time with officers and since he is the way he is, they all pretty much like him. Plus, it’s an excuse to dress up. And being a clever boots, I have shoes that won’t make me want to chop my feet off before the evenings over, since taking off your shoes for the dancing portion of the evening is frowned upon. Considering that long dresses are the standard, it’s a wonder more people don’t do what I do and buy dance shoes. Literally. The shoes I’m wearing are made for dancers. So they’re made to be comfortable and to be worn for long periods of time. And the heels aren’t so high I’ll break my neck since they’re basically athletic shoes. I’m thinking about getting more so I have black and silver ones too. For now I’ll just wear the nude ones. It’s not like anyone’s going to see them under my dress.

Anyway, it’s lunch time.

~Liz