Hello 2010!

Well the holidays are done and over with and I'm back in North Carolina. We set a record longest ride ever wasting a half hour driving around god-knows-where West Virginia looking for new wiper blades for my car. The drivers side wiper blade rubber part tore away from the blade itself and wasn't clearing the windshield in just the exact area I needed to see out of. Seriously the whole darned windshield was crystal clear except one big smear in front of my face. All the gross sludge and old snow on the roads just kept making it worse of course. When I decided I definitely needed to replace the stupid thing was when I realized both kids had miraculously fallen asleep. That's a boat I'm certainly not willing to rock since they hate the traveling so much. So I crouched down and watched the road from a little spot way down by the dashboard for and hour and a half while they slept.

I stopped at a "TravelMart" in mid-West Virginia. Seemed like a logical place to get automotive odds and ends typically needed by travelers. Of course all they had were WV shot glasses and onesies. (Have I mentioned before how much I dislike the whole entire state of WV? Nothing good ever happens there.) Anyway they directed me to a few exits down where I could find a "GoMart" (somehow much different than a "TravelMart". I did find wiper blades there and I do have the basic automotive skills to do a small fix like that. However, when the little clippy thing that holds the old, decrepit, falling apart wiper blade in place is all corroded and jacked up, it makes the job go not so smoothly. I managed to get a trucker to lend me his jackknife to free the little clip and it was easy from that point. The whole scenario just sucked though. It makes me wish I still had my man around! Ok - truth be told, I'm usually the one fixing Gunnar's car. He isn't bad at car stuff, I just seem to be the one doing it most of the time. I replaced his water pump, he handed me tools. So it's not like I really needed him there to do it for me or anything like that. It's just when you're stuck in dumb situations like that, it's nice to have your support person there. Or at least not feeling like you are doing everything on your own.

Gunnar called on New Year's Day to chat for a few minutes. His company was moving to a new FOB (Forward Operations Base) in Afghanistan the following day. They are building it from the ground up, not joining an existing base and have to do a ton of work on it before it's actually safe and liveable. He won't have access to running water, showers, internet or phone for a few weeks. Which makes me think they weren't really ready for the guys to move to the new FOB but what the hell do I know? I am learning (still!) to have low expectations for communication with him so I can be pleasantly surprised when I do hear from him.

Here's some recent pics from Afghanistan.




I'm definitely hoping that 2010 flies by, for the most part. I can't wait to see this guy again!