To do's and NOT to do's

Here are a few idea's of what to do and what NOT to do during deployments.

Do's
- write letters to you loved one-i've never sent a letter, only card.
- blog! I am kicking my self for this one! I should have kept a journal the whole deployment so he could read it when he got home
- sleep! This is very important. This is also something I don't do. So from a woman who rarely gets more then 16 hours of sleep a WEEK.. A WEEK, I am telling you to sleep!
- keep notes- I always think of things I want to tell Dan when he calls but I forget because I get so excited just to hear his voice, my heart is thumping, I get butterflies, and my brain fails me! So, grab a note pad and keep it some where handy and jot down notes, so you don't forget to tell them something. Do you know how many times we have hung up and I say to myself "ahh, man I forgot to tell him..."
- have a girls night- Misti and I do this often. We don't go out on the town or anything but we will rent movies from redbox get some snacks and trashy magazines and veg out on my couch all night. We are home safe, the kids are upstairs sleeping, and we have girls time! It's not much to some people but if I didn't have this I am not so sure I would have made it this far.
- get fresh air. Even if it's just sitting for small talk in your front yard, enjoying a pepsi .... or .... wine with a neighbor as I do with Dawna when it's warm. Winter months make it impossible to go outside with out becoming abominable snow ladies. Now that spring/summer is coming we can enjoy being outside a lot more!
- COOK! ... I am starting to see a pattern here... I am telling you all to do things I don't do LOL. Actually I did cook this evening. But usually, I pay people to cook for me. I don't mind cooking, honest. It's just in the evening after keeping up with daily life-alone- I dont feel like cooking. Or cleaning the mess for that matter. I am trying to get better- way to wait until 6 weeks before the deployment ends.
- Take lots of pictures. Need I say more


Now here is my DON'T list. I came up with this tonight as I sit here in peace and quiet and put myself through hell!

DO NOT YOUTUBE SEARCH "SOLDIERS SURPRISING FAMILY" OR "WELCOME HOME CEREMONIES"
-Tear jerker all the way! I would cry even if I didn't have a deployed husband.

DO NOT GOOGLE SEARCH "DEPLOYMENT SONGS" and sit on your couch listening to them- unless you want torture yourself - then, get stock in kleenex as well!

Yeah- that's my Don't list. LOL. I did this to myself tonight. I knew this one song and I just wanted to hear it.. I remembered it was about deployment but didn't exactly remember the words. Then I hit play... 2.3 seconds later the tears came rolling. HERE IS THE SONG I would advise you to have tissues in hand.

I should have known better then to search these things but I did it anyway!