So, I know most my readers are not military, so a separation from your husband usually is confined to a few days at most. And maybe those days are spent getting "me" time or special time with your children. But as a miltiary wife, the second thing you do after your husband is deployed, is make a list of projects to tackle and accomplish over his absence. The first thing you do of course is try to pick yourself up of the couch where you've been sobbing for the last hour. Deployments don't get easier, and the initial pain of missing the man you love is so intense. But giving yourself something to work at greatly helps busy the mind and body not to dwell on the current circumstances.

I'm sure it depends on the length of deployment - Susi had 15 long, grueling months. And a 4 month old daughter. But guess what the first thing she did was? She moved!!! Talk about an accomplishment!

My projects have been much smaller. Last spring, they were making a lovely place out of the front flowerbed, re-vamping the office completely (including a lot of hanging/organizing and painting my desk), and organizing the garage. Plus lots of visiting around. Anyway, here's a tiny glimpse of what I did last time:

You can't see in this picture, but the front bed was so ugly. Planted 4 rose bushes, a gardenia bush, dusty miller (silver-colored), hostas, red flowers, mulched, put up black fencing. Took about a month for all the colors to come in & I never got a picture of that, but believe me it looked great! All that digging was a lot of work! (Before & After pics) Click to see the colors!

I can't find a "before" of the office, but believe me it was messy and uncoordinated! This is what my desk went from looking like. It's so much nicer with complimentary furniture!

So this time, my projects were to get the new office all set up (since the old office was now the baby's room). This was a bit tricky because it involved combining the hunting room with the office. Sure, there was space, but careful organization was needed to keep it from being crowded and frustrating. (Believe me, we have enough hunting stuff to dedicate an entire room to it! *grins*)

I also had the best project ever, to get the baby's room painted! I also ended up purchasing a fair amount of baby clothes/stuff while Jonathan was gone, so getting that set up was inevitable. My little projects have been: read birthing & new baby-related books, crochet Baby Girl a blanket, sew myself a nursing cover, make my own baby thank-you notes, and just in general organize the house more (I feel like I can always, always organize it more!). So, for your enjoyment, here are some pictures of my accomplishments. I did also travel & have guests too, went to Chicago for business, and made my sister-in-law's wedding cake. All I have left to do is cleaning until Jonathan returns!!!!

Nursing Cover, Baby Blanket, Thank You Notes

For what it's worth, I'm craving this fabulous concoction Susi and I made: a Black Forest Kirsch-laced Torte. We made it one of my last few days there, and even managed it for breakfast once (goes incredible with some Cutter's Point coffee laced with real cream). Can anyone tell we have decadent taste????