Catching Up...

Well the past couple of weeks have been busy busy and well...Busy! We have been overcome with appointments and various orders of business to take care of as Hubby and I begin to transition from active duty military to the medical hold unit and onto retirement. We finally received the ruling from the hearing back and the percentage given was great but he is to be place on TDRL or temporary disability retirement list. Meaning they can keep him on this list for 5 years and re-examine him once a year before determining on retirement, separation or returning to active duty. This is pretty standard and nothing to be alarmed about by any means, as his injuries prohibit him from working in his MOS, but they have not reached what the military considers "maximum improvement" level. So he will be re-examined and evaluated in July of 2007. But at least the long awaited response from the Board and the Hearing in October has finally been reached. YAY! Now we can make our plans and get our ducks in a row in preparation for our 'new' life.

We have been discussing what items we will pack to have the military ship and what items we will carry with us to Washington State. We have come to the conclusion that since we will be spending the summar and possibly some of the fall in the tipi, we will take mainly clothes and our camping gear. Of course, the princess' schoolbooks and stuff as well. We are also making considerations for our two furry boys for the the trip as well. So, I chose a pic of the inside of a tipi to depict the beginning part of our 'new' life. We cannot wait! Just to have the freedom to have a great time together as a family will no one really to answer to daily, at least for a little while. We both feel like we have earned that.

This past week was full of appointments and a couple disappointments. The biggest disappointment for me was yet another loss at the Triple Crown of horse racing. Barbaro, a strapping strong colt that won the Derby with ease, broke his leg in three places about 100 yds into the start of the Preakness. Very horrid breaks and luckily, he is survived the repairing surgery and seems to be doing well. Now the wait is on to see if he can recover and remain infection and disease free long enough to heal and become a career stallion. Also, the recent loss of a dear friend's mother who has struggled for so very long with bone cancer. While losing a parent is not an easy thing, you still must take a moment to smile at their life and breathe freely knowing their suffering, fight and pain are all gone. The other disappointment was the collapse of a project I have been working on. It was not a total collapse but just a long series of having my time wasted by business people who, in the end, showed complete unprofessionalism and business sense. So, the project has been re-directed into a new direction and is going along just fine.

So more on all that later. In the meantime, workouts are going and eating is going and all is tiringly well here.