Carrier Quals

I did commit to using this blog for the purpose of keeping our friends and family up-to-date on our lives, so here it goes....

Carrier qualifications were last week. For those of you who don't know, this is when student jet pilots fly their planes to an aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean. There, they attempt to land the planes on the carrier, over and over and over again.  "But the planes are going too fast to land on such a short runway", you say?  Well yes, they are going too fast.  The pilots must also catch a wire that lays across the runway, referred to as 'hooking', which brings the planes to a halt, much as a brick wall would stop an accelerating vehicle.  Owie. Should they miss the wire, they must bounce back up and try again.

So Jesse embarked on his journey to Jacksonville, FL, and then on to the USS Bush (you can imagine the clever patches they created for this) for 5 anxiety-filled days.  I was a nervous wreck. Fortunately, I was occupied with a project.  It is the spouse's responsibility during this time to create a 'welcome home hooker' banner for the much anticipated return. The spouses of VT-7 and VT-9 put their little noodles together to come up with a creative means to celebrate the homecoming.  Due to my lack of creative execution (I probably would have hot glued my eyelids shut, or something), I found a wonderful Navy spouse on Etsy who was more than happy to create my hooker banner for me. For the low low cost of $20 (you may be rolling your eyes, but believe me, it was worth it), I had a customized banner waiting for me in my inbox in just a few short hours.  Office Depot printed it, and with the help of duct tape, it was hung across the front porch just in time for Jesse's arrival...almost.  

Just my luck, Jesse got stuck in Jacksonville for an extra day due to some broken down planes. But it was worth the wait considering how surprised he was to see the sign hanging when we pulled into the driveway. Apparently the boys had no idea that we had been assigned a task while they were gone.

You might be wondering what happens if a pilot repeatedly fails to hook the wire.  Well, then they don't qual, and must try again a month or so later.  No, I did not consider this a possibility when I slapped the date on the banner. Despite my nerves, there was never a doubt in my mind about him qualifying.  And let me tell you, sitting by the phone for 48 straight hours, answering frequent 'have you heard anything??' texts from the other girls, was well worth it when I finally got the all clear call of 'I did it!' from the boy. It might not seem like a big deal to most, but it was a monumental occasion in our home, and now we are one step closer to wings of gold.

Bedroom Face-lift, Part 1

One aspect of living a military lifestyle that we often joke/complain/become inspired/pop aspirin over, is making the furniture that we already have, serve different purposes in each new house we move into.  It is not always an easy task.  And thus, we are forced to sand, strip, paint, rewire, and rearrange after each move.  The shape and dimensions of each room are always different, and furniture that used to belong in the kitchen gets moved to the bedroom, as your old kitchen pantry becomes your new bedroom dresser.  Yes it's true, my old food pantry now houses my unmentionables.

When the boy and I decided to embark on cohabitation, I was forced to purchase a lot of furniture very quickly, as between the two of us, turns out we didn't own much.  Our night-stands were an after-thought that I purchased at a Target in Virginia.  All I was after was something cheap that I could place a lamp and glass of water on, thinking they would be temporary.  Years later, still unwilling to upgrade, I have decided to give the poor, pathetic excuses for tables, a face-lift.

As you can see....quite ugly. Years of packing and unpacking have left them worn and ragged.

Fortunately, the legs screw off(!), making them really easy to upholster.

A little paint on the legs...

Glass on top, and voila!

So it's not perfect, but it is definitely an upgrade from the sad before picture. Potentially I will be sick of them in no time at all, but once I paint my underwear pantry to match, we will be in business.

Next project: upholstered headboard....