Sha-ZAAAAAAAAAAM!!!!!!!!

So, this week has been a good one and an interesting one.

Megan had her baby, Harper Treacy Javery, on Sunday afternoon and from what I hear Megan was a super trooper. I have seen a few pics of the little munchkin and she's a super cutie! So excited about that new development.

Also, I found somewhere to live!!! I have been looking for a temporary place to live while I house-hunt in DC, but have had little luck due to my oh-so-endearing laundry list of needs. I need a place that is near a metro (so I can easily get into DC), that is fully furnished (because I don't want to have to move twice), that allows dogs, that has parking for my car, that already has utilities hooked up, has a washer/dryer, is in a safe neighborhood, and is near a dog park. Yeah. So you would think this place doesn't exist, wouldn't you? Well I found a woman who is renting out the basement of her house in the Ballston area of Arlington - it is kind of like a little studio apartment, fully furnished, all utilities included, next to a metro and a dog park and within walking distance of the Ballston shops, restaurants, and bars. The only bad thing is it doesn't have a kitchen, but in the laundry room there is a small refrigerator, a microwave, a hot plate, and a toaster oven. I am thinking I can make anything work for 3 months, and the homeowners said I can use their kitchen whenever I want. OH! And the woman is retired and said she will walk my dogs mid-day. I may just stay there forever! That took a huge load off of my shoulders because I had no idea where I was going to go when I got off the plane. So now I have a place to sleep off the deployment, a place to bring my dogs home to, and unlimited time to find my next home. SO excited about this!

The weather here was amazingly mild for several days. Our highs reached only into the low 100s and it was breezy so we had a break from the oppressive heat for a bit. It was actually not unbearable to sit outside or walk anywhere - loved that! But this week it has been WINDY. We have had two major sandstorms and today it is just intolerably windy. It can be exhausting just to walk from one building to another - having to lean into the wind and trying to keep your hat and/or belongings from escaping you (I think I mentioned before how humiliating this can be).

I am just a little less than 3 weeks from departure (hopefully) and my replacement gets here in 12 days. Once he gets here, I will spend a couple of days getting him spun up and then I will be free to go do some stuff I want to do before I leave - I would love to spend another day or so downtown at the souqs and maybe pick up a few things to ship home. The only thing I have bought since I've been here is a silver ring.

Heather's replacement gets here in 5 days - the bitch. However, her replacement, due to a string of bad luck, is being sent here for 6 months after having just had a baby - the baby will be just under 6 months when she arrives. So I feel really super sorry for her. Basically, she was originally given orders to go to Dover AFB (in Delaware) for a 6 month "deployment", but turned it down, thinking she would be picked up for another stateside deployment possibly nearer to her home so she wouldn't have to be so far from her baby - but instead a week later she was picked up to come here - on the other side of the world. I know she is kicking herself all the way to the airport, and I know that no matter how difficult my deployment has been, hers is going to be 100,000 times worse being away from her infant child.

I got a few care packages since my last post. My mom sent me all kinds of snacky goodies (which I am actually munching on right now), her friend sent me the 25th anniversary edition of Dirty Dancing (which I enjoyed watching thoroughly - man that brought back memories), and my friend Jess (who always comes through for me) sent me three packs of Trader Joe's Vegetable Jumbalaya! I ate one immediately and am saving the other two for when I am super homesick - it is one of my favorite things in the world to eat. Can't wait to go to TJ's when I get home and stock up on everything in the world. I swear, there are two things you become obsessed with when you are in the deployed location. One of them is food, the other one is not food. Thanks y'all for sending along a piece of home!

It is staying very busy here and I will be working hard until the day I leave - but that is making the days go by FAST and that's what I love. Things are looking like I may be here a few days longer than I had hoped (7th vs. the 2nd), but we are hopeful that another plane will show up on the mission tracker to take me home before then. Fingers crossed!

Until next time...love!

P.S. My friend told me to swallow my gum today because I couldn't find anywhere to spit it out, and it has been stuck in my throat for the past 8 hours.