What's your favorite line of the month?

1. Drove kids to Massachusettes this month to visit two sets of Grandparents.
2. Air Force Communications Workshop coordinator - huge success.
3. Drive two to Massachusettes -- arrived exhausted.
4. Blew 60 watt fuses in the heater/AC system.
5. Paid $60 to be told I didn't trip the breaker all the way.
6. Nodded off only an hour into trip home with boys.
7. Stopped for night early afternoon got in two good naps before checking out before midnight.
8. Two naps cost three charges of $100 each on my debit card.
9. Idiot manager at Comfort Inn.
10. Competent sales director at Comfort Inn.
11. USAA thought Comfort Inn manager was an idiot too.
12. Bacon, cheese and eggwhite omlets are yum. Don't judge.
13. Good friends made it possible to go on temporary duty in San Antonio: Mike, Heather and Julie.
14. Julie made video of Judy's limp.
15. Judy is my dog I nickname JuJu.
16. Heather sat JuJu first, before her dental surgery.
17. Doing lunch with Heather tomorrow.
18. Picked JuJu up last night, busted kids bedtime.
19. Edward loves to nap in car.
20. Zachary won't stop talking in car.
21. "If Daddy's not here to protect you, I will and if I'm not here to protect you, Edward will. I love you, Mom, so much," said Zachary.
22. It didn't make me cry, I had tears rolling down my cheeks before that.
23. Motivated to become potential bone marrow donor.
24. Zachary says the things I told him is 80 percent processed, he's still "typing" what adopted means in his mind.
25. Crosswalk complex discovered between Market Square and Riverwalk. Gitty over diagonal crosswalks.
26. Blinking man bad, blinking hand bad, solid man bad.
27. It's nice to be needed, but my phone wouldn't stop ringing.
28. Came home to a freezing house at 5:30 a.m.
29. RAGE. I hate being cold.
30. Bought two packs of fuses at Home Depot.
31. Lectured by home depot man that fuses are hard to come by in the spring.
32. Visited with Grandfather, he survived lunch with the great grandsons.
33. Wonders why there are pillows stacked on top of the step stool in the kitchen right now as I write this.
34. JuJu hurt her paw upon transfer from Heather to Julie.
35. Julie posted picture of JuJu on Facebook.
36. Heather's last blog post is old.
37. Can't figure out why MY mail key won't work, but the spare Mike has does.
38. Thankful the drip in the bathroom is gone.
39. Entertaining the idea of a bathroom rennovation party.
40. Car goes to shop AGAIN tomorrow.
41. Paying off two debts tomorrow.
42. Found blue hairspray to be Marge.
43. Loves the electric blanket.
44. Misses JG terribly.
45. Indy, the snake, is hungry.
46. Bought a wool coat. It's cream colored. Matched brown or black shoes.
47. Lost an earing back. JG bought me more already.
48. Suitcases still aren't unpacked.
49. Car inspection due. Oil change due. Due for wipers.
50. Commented on 30 blog posts. Hope it makes people smile.
51. I have three Halloween costumes.
52. Raynauds turned my right elbow blue too.
53. Zachary has ringworm. Luckily it's not a real worm. I looked it up.
54. Forgot how much I love quiche.
55. Will only eat sausage pizza with bacon. It's a texture thing.
56. "NO!" to Zach's question of "Do you miss my birth dad?"
57. Blended lattes at Cold Stone suck.
58. Wait staff at Boudros sucked twice.
59. Almost forgot to pay the mortgage.
60. DTS worked. Weird. (Defense Travel System)
61. Lost every Mortal Kombat game except one ... a nearly flawless victory. I rock.
62. JG has Halloween care package waiting on him. Hope he gets back to his deployment home base soon!
63. Admired her seamstress friend Liz's handiwork.
64. Bought a bag of dark chocolate Saturday and there's more than half left still. ODD.
65. Hates pre-made breakfast sandwiches at rest stop Burger King.
66. Can't figure out why they don't make biscut sandwiches at the rest stops.
67. Upset the gasoline pump operators didn't wash her windsheid.
68. Zachary stepped on my bad ankle as I was tucking him in this week.
69. Became a Mary Kay consultant ... in it for the discount, their skin care is amazing.
70. Irriated Starbucks at rest stops aren't open 24 hours.
71. Started preferring dunkin donuts coffee again.
72. More than 400 hits on our blog since we started keeping track.
73. Ate half a jar of mini sweet pickles as a snack at work.
74. PFB, you know who you are, witnessed my success against Adobe.
75. Still haven't played my voice messages from last week.
76. Gray is not natural. I don't care how old you are.
77. Salon employee told me she "liked my shape" asked if I needed a brazilian and offered me wine.
78. FEDEXKINKOS open 24 hrs. Pay attention Starbucks! 6 a.m. is too late for hard core road tripests.
79. Flat boots can be sexy.
80. Lamb chops. Mmmmmmm. The accompained red wine went to waste. Bitter bites.
81. Blockout new game addiction.
82. Pulled Professional Development Guide into plain view.
83. Excited I found the honeymoom photos.
84. OfficeDepot closes at 6 p.m. on Sundays. They suck too.

Deployment Eve

Our last family dinner we took Zachary, 8, and Edward, 4, to our favorite restaurant for the first time - JR's Stockyards Inn in McLean.

The restaurant has always been a special place for the two of us to enjoy great wine, melt-in-your mouth red meat and intimate conversation. Our first dinner as husband and wife, still dressed as bride and groom, was at JR's. It was also here that we took his mother, Martha, to break the news that our dog Judy, the boys and I were moving into JG's two bedroom, two bathroom condo, just weeks after our first date.

About a week before JG left, Zachary inquired about where we go on our dates and said that he wanted us to go on a date as a family. We decided to share our special place with the boys. To our delight they were so well behaved. Both ordered the 8 oz prime rib cooked medium rare. Edward finished his entire place and half of his chocolate cake! Zachary ate all but a third of his steak plus a side salad (minus croutons and some lettuce) and a chocolate & white chocolate mousse.

During dinner I could barely look across the table at JG without getting teary. I know how lucky I am and how much I was going to miss him. The last two days have been the hardest for me, evident by my meltdown on Facebook yesterday. I'm overextended in all aspects of my life right now - the stress of single motherhood again, arranging for desperately-needed home repairs and upgrades, and a 50% manpower cut in my immediate work section. In between life as I know it now, how do I maintain closeness with my husband and share things with him without causing him to worry?

Monday, Zachary told me he missed Dad. It was so great to know he was talking about JG and not his 'father.' Zachary said he was sad that Dad was going to miss the beginning of third grade. Yesterday, Edward was talking about how Daddy is gone for six weeks. I corrected him and said six months. "Yeah - that's like 20 days," said Edward. I kept saying "after Christmas." Let it snow.