Rabble Rabble

Hey y'all,

    It's midnight, and I. Can. Not. Sleep. I am just super antsy and tense. I hate it. But, it's a part of that "Pre-Separation" process. Yay for moving. Yay Navy... Anyway, this is going to be a babbling brook of nonsense to try to quiet the cacophony of things running through my head. Maybe then I can sleep? Who knows.

    I mean, it could have something to do with the ginormous thing of sweet tea I made today.... Psh. No. Sweet Tea cures everything. Right? I am going to be making baby blankets for a few friends of mine. It's definitely making my baby fever crazy intense. But, like the husband keeps reminding me, "We have a plan." I swear, if I hear that one more time I may punch him in the kidney. Even though I know he is right. #TheStruggle.

    That's another thing that I constantly think about or worry about... What if I am not a good parent? What if I screw it up? I have this idea of what I want my future children to have. The lessons I want them to teach them... Gah. I know that I shouldn't be stressing about it, but I am... I have always wanted to be a mother... One day... One day...

    Also, might I add, I might be absolutely bonkers. I spent a few hours today researching how to ship/fly with Stanley when we move. It's crazy, right? I ended up finding out that the only way we could take him with us would be to ship him. So I will have to talk to the husband and see if he thinks I'm nuts...

    We are going to be going to the beach and I promise to take a ton of photos and post them in here. :) 

    I have to confess something that I have been harboring for a while.... 

I hate Hawaii.

    Really, I do. I can't stand it. Here are 5 reasons behind my feeling about this dinky rock out in the middle of the Pacific.

• Once you have been to all the beaches, been to the plantation, been to all the tourist-y tourist spots.... What left is there to do? 

• The "Aloha Spirit" that you hear about wherever you go... I have two words for you: Semantic Satiation. If you don't know what that is, it's a psychological phenomenon in which repetition causes a word or phrase to temporarily lose meaning for the listener, who then perceives the speech as repeated meaningless sounds. 

• Shipping Prices. I won't even say anything else on that topic.

• Car Registration = The biggest headache/joke combo on the planet. 

• Traffic all the time no matter where you go.

    Those are the things that have stacked up over and over until I decided that Hawaii is like that smokin hot babe at the gym that you would give your left arm to talk to, only to find out that she has about the same amount of personality as a box of rocks. 

    It really makes me miss home. Arizona is beautiful. I miss the heat, I miss the wide open roads, I miss the grid system... I miss being able to go see my family. This chica is seriously homesick. 

    Although I am beyond excited to go to the next duty station: South Carolina or Bust! If y'all would like, I can take pictures and show you how I put together my PCS binder. :) It is such a life saver to have all those important documents in one spot... Especially if you are going all the way across the USA like we will be. Haha. 

    What are some moving tips that you do that work well for you?

-Haley

Paws for Homes

Hey y'all,

    So sorry that I haven't posted in the last few days. I have been spending some good quality time with Trent seeing as our time together is growing shorter and shorter every day. (Yay... not) So I have been unplugged from my computer and phone and spending as much time with him as possible. 

    Anyway, one of the things I find on facebook on a daily basis is the fact that pets get rehomed so much in the military community. It drives me up a wall. A pet is yours till the day it dies. It should not be a situation where you are moving and no longer want it.... 

    What is something that drives you nutty about the military community?

    Oh, and here is an updated before and after picture of our Stanley:

-Haley

Just Keep Swimming

Hey y'all!

    So I have established something that I never thought possible. Fish Stink. Like, you think when you have a fish that you just change the water and call it a day? Nope. These stinkers smell. Terribly. Needless to say, I cleaned Stanley's tank completely and I can't even begin to describe the smell. (I did a complete clean, like scrubbed his hide aways and his fake plants. and holy moly. Gross.

    Do you have any pets? What is one thing they do that you can't stand? How about something they do that you love? Stanley swims up to me whenever I walk by his tank. He'll also follow me around the kitchen as I cook. He makes my heart happy.

-Haley

Oh No!

Hey y'all,

    So woke up this morning to discover that Stanley the Betta Fish has developed Fin Rot. Fin Rot is: 

"Fin rot can be the result of a bacterial infection (Pseudomonas fluorescens, which causes a ragged rotting of the fin), or as a fungal infection (which rots the fin more evenly and is more likely to produce a white 'edge'). Sometimes, both types of infection are seen together. Infection is commonly brought on by bad water conditions, injury, poor diet, or as a secondary infection in a fish which is already stressed by other disease." - Wikipedia

     So this is the picture that we showed to our Local Fish Store to determine if we were nuts or not. 

    It's hard to tell, but his back two fins shouldn't have that space there. Also to note the white edge that almost outlines the fins.... Shouldn't be there. He has gotten a lot of his color back in the last month that we have had him, but it looks like it's that "one step forward, two steps back" thing again.

    So, we have our pretty boy in quarantine in his small 1 liter tank with 2 drops of Betta Revive in it.

    He isn't too pleased with being in his smaller isolation tank, but It's going to make him better after the next 3 days. Once the three days are over, he goes back in his big tank where we have cleaned and put in some special medicine that is a little bit more long term to kill off any of the remaining bacteria in the tank that our cleaning didn't take care of. So, hopefully, our beautiful boy starts to feel better soon.

    Anyway, so Trent told me that we will be moving in the June/July area to South Carolina! If you have any tips, tricks, or ideas on how to make the move seamless seeing that Trent won't be here for it so I am kinda on my own. (Although I do have a moving buddy!)

-Haley

Meet Stanley

Hey y'all!

    So as you can tell from the title, I have adopted a new buddy! Meet Stanley the Fish:

    Stanley is a male betta fish. Trent and I got him via the adoption method from one of our friends on the island. He is like, a opalescent pink and deep blue-violet in color and was pretty sick when we got him. (i.e. lethargic, not eating, and just kind of sitting in the bottom of the 1 liter tank he was in. We finally got him eating again and did some research on beta care and maintenance. This website: (CLICK HERE) is so full of information and helpful tips... So here is what we went and got from a local fish store here on Oahu. 

    We went and purchased this 5 gallon plastic rectangular tank. That way he has plenty of room to swim and we could fill it with stuff.

    Now, before you go putting anything in the tank, it needs to be washed. In other words, you have no idea where it's been... so wash that sumbitch. So, that meant that we had to wash every rock and artificial plant that we purchased.

This is Trent washing the rocks... cause I knew I would spill it down the drain and break the disposal.

The plants being washed

That white material is aquarium salt to wash everything with. A little went a LONG way. Like, a half a pinch for the whole tank

    Now, the pottery that we got for the tank, for him to explore and have fun with, needs to sit and soak for the next 24 hours to make sure it's completely clean... So it isn't in the tank yet... But isn't it cute?!

    The rocks are in! Surprisingly, one bag of the rocks was almost too much. But it covered and anchored everything pretty well. 

    Now the plants and water are being added. We did a gallon at a time.... It made life so much easier.

    That leaf you see is something called Almond Leaf and it's supposed to be very good for betta fish. We also got this stuff called Betta Revive that is supposed to help cure and prevent any nasty diseases that bettas can get. Warning: It's very blue.

    The final product! We had to slowly acclimate him to the water. Which felt like it took forever. Ugh. But after waiting 45 minutes we finally put him in. :)

Happy Fishy

Zoom!

    And that is Stanley the fish. :) He is very happy in his new tank with all the new things to explore and enjoy. Once the pottery things are safe, we will put those in and he will have even more to explore! 

    That is all for now, I might make another post tonight before going to bed. But we will see! :)

-Haley