While Kurt's ship was in Hawaii, getting ready to cross the ocean to go to Japan, another frigate (the kind of ship Kurt's on) called his ship to ask if they had anyone who had gone to a particular school for the Navy. Kurt had completed that school just last summer (which is why he was gone while I was pregnant) because he needed it to be stationed to his ship.

So Kurt goes over to the other ship and in four hours fixes whatever problem with their engines or consoles that they had been having for months. The commanding officer of this other ship was so impressed he called almost everyone in Kurt's chain of command to let him know how awesome Kurt is.

That commanding officer also insisted that Kurt be given a Navy Achievement Medal (his fifth) for the work he did aboard that ship.

I was so incredibly proud of Kurt that he had the knowledge to fix the problem, and that he was awarded a medal from a ship that he wasn't even assigned to!

The other cool part is this award has gone into Kurt's Chief's package, so there is a possibility that this award will make the selection board choose Kurt for promotion to Chief. At least, one can hope.

Keep your fingers crossed this summer!!!

I finally mowed my lawn today. I think it had been two weeks since I mowed it, which isn't too bad, but the dandelions were huge.

What is it with my lawn?? I know I don't fertilize it or put weed killer down like I should, but I don't see my neighbor doing that either and her lawn isn't overrun by dandelions like mine is. It's really bad, especially since these are the ginormous Washington dandelions that grow three feet tall and have such thick stems that you get shot with dandelion goo when you mow over them. And they grow a good foot in two weeks. It's insane.

The whole time I was mowing the lawn I was grumbling. I wanted to mow the lawn today since it's only 60 degrees and overcast (thank god the heat wave broke), and even still I must have sweated out about ten gallons of water. Plus I just hate mowing lawns. I've mentioned that before. And I have a huge lawn; it took me forty-five minutes to mow the sideyard and the backyard because the sideyard is just enormous.

And it annoys me that everyone in the freakin' neighborhood knows Kurt's out to sea. Does anyone offer to help me out?! Oh hell no. I meet women on the street because they stop to talk to J while I'm with her, and when I get introduced, they say, "Oh you're the girl whose husband is out to sea!" They tell me to call them if I need any kind of help, but they don't give me their phone number. We all know they're just being polite, but personally I think it's rude to offer help without giving a way for me to contact them. It's common knowledge that Kurt's out to sea because people I don't even know will ask me when Kurt's coming back home. I don't want much; I just want someone either to watch the baby so I can mow the lawn and not feel like someone's going to call CPS on me because I left her in a crib taking a nap for two hours, or just mow the damn lawn for me.

What else can I do but leave her in her crib napping while I'm mowing the lawn? It has to be done. And she's safe in her crib. It's not near a window so she can't fall out, the door's always shut so the animals can't bother her, and she can't climb out of her crib. I tried putting her in the playpen on the porch while I mowed the front lawn, but she was having none of that.

I don't mean to whine all the time, but I am just floored by the indifference of my neighbors. If I knew of a girl in the neighborhood with a baby whose husband was out to sea or in Iraq, I'd call her and offer my assistance, see what she needed to have done.

I guess the problem is most folks here have plenty of family around. The military people that are stationed in this area have chosen Washington because they have family nearby. I guess they assume that I have family here too that I can call on for help.

Oh well. Hopefully the next time I mow my lawn J will be home (she's off with her family camping for the weekend) and she can watch Grace.