Author Archives: michellereitemeyer

04.04.08
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New Month’s Resolution for April

Through the miracle of 20th century medicine, I am feeling much better. Thank you all for your kind words and prayers.

A little late this month, but I haven’t been doing much these last few days anyway: I bring you this month’s resolution: get stuff out of my house.

First I have six packages that need to be mailed. I’ll need my helpers just to get in the post office.

Then there’s the glass turntable I saved from my microwave when it caught on fire last month (and I didn’t even blog about that little excitement). I think I could sell it on eBay for $10-15 which makes it worth the hassle. I’ve never sold on eBay before. I need to either do it, or get rid of it.

Then I have several piles of clothes I’ve set aside for people I know with younger boys. Perhaps the Used Clothing Fairy needs to make some early morning covert drop offs, just so the errand doesn’t take an hour.

Then there is the huge pile of kids clothes that are too worn or I don’t prefer or that we simply don’t need. They must go. And I can’t wait to relieve myself of the onerous presence of certain articles of clothing that have seen me through the early post-partum months of several kids. The very sight of them makes me feel fat. If I have another baby, I will get other clothes.

And lastly, there are other things I’ve been setting aside to donate to the thrift store. These little piles are cluttering various corners of different closets.

If I have time, I’ll glean the kids’ toys and games, but for now, the main focus is just getting out what is already marked for removal.

What is a New Month’s Resolution? I’ve been doing these for over a year now. Every month I look at where I need to focus my attention. Perhaps I’ve been procrastinating on certain chores. Perhaps I need to spend some extra time with one or more of the kids. Perhaps I’d like to try a new habit. New Month’s Resolutions are not grandiose plans to lose ten pounds or declutter the entire house or give up smoking (of course, I don’t smoke, but if I did, this would not be the venue in which I would give it up). New Month’s resolutions are short-term commitments; they are easily attained goals; they focus on what is needed right now, instead of what is best for a lifetime.

Do you have a new month’s resolution?

04.02.08
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Better get me a fainting chair

On Palm Sunday, a boy a few rows behind us fainted during the long Gospel reading. Just in case you didn’t know this, locking your knees while standing will make you faint. You never know when that information might be useful. We explained to our children what had happened so that they wouldn’t be alarmed.

Billy is struggling with long division. Until it clicks, we’re doing basic math worksheets with 6 multiplication problems like 148 x 4 and 6 division problems like 105 / 5. His method of getting through it is to avoid doing it in the hopes that his (still) feverish mother would just quit. So I told him to bring his worksheet and pencil over to my desk to stand by me and complete those final two problems.

He wanted to bring a chair. I said no. This is punishment, by golly.

“But what if I lock my knees and faint,” he wailed.

Well, that would be one way to avoid doing your math. One day, I’m sure, one of them will have to try this.

03.31.08
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A few years ago, I sat in my neighbor’s driveway and chatted while the kids played. My next door neighbor was there as well. It was just an ordinary afternoon.

The one woman’s husband was deployed to Iraq. My next door neighbor’s husband was TDY to Iraq. Bill was safely in Virginia (but Interstate 95/395 can be brutal, you know).

A strange car pulled into the driveway my next door neighbor and I shared. Inside were several people in Class A uniforms (not the ones from my previous post, but a more formal uniform…like what someone might wear on “official business”).

We all stopped breathing and waited.

Then the car backed out of the driveway and went back the way it had come.

We all exhaled.

“They’re for someone else,” one woman said. We went back to our ordinary talk.

I can’t imagine the additional stress a military wife has when her husband is in a combat zone. Bill was in Afghanistan for two days. I didn’t have enough time to get worried. When he deployed, it was on a peacekeeping mission to Kosovo. I had all the stress of single-parenting, but I didn’t have the daily worry about his physical well-being.

Jennie is worried about her husband. She’s been at it alone for nearly 11 months now. Her baby, a newborn infant when David left, is now a toddler. She needs our prayers. David needs our prayers. My family prays daily for “all the military people away from home,” but we’ll be adding an “especially for Sgt. C” until he’s safe in the arms of his beloved.

03.31.08
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Retro Day

subtitled: It’s all about the boots.The old Army uniform is rapidly approaching its “wearout-date” – the last date it can be worn. Out with the old uniform go too the black boots that required hours of polishing.

Old uniform. Bill in Kosovo.
The new uniform is comfortable (Bill refers to them as pajamas), low-maintenance (no ironing or starching allowed), and is accompanied by tan, sueded boots that need no polish. While I’m sure no one is sad to see an end to hours of ironing (or the expense of dry cleaning) or the effort at keeping boots spit-shined, I don’t think many people would argue that the new uniforms are “sharp.” The old uniforms with their heavy starch, tight creases, and polished boots gave an air of discipline and attention to detail that the low maintenance uniform can not project.
On Friday, Bill had himself a “retro day.” He dug out an old uniform and put on his favorite pair of boots. These aren’t just any boots, no sir, these are custom fit Dehner tanker boots bought back when he was an unmarried Second Lieutenant and payday cash seemed so abundant and the “Payment Due” date on student loans seemed so far away and the idea of saving pennies to buy an engagement ring for a girlfriend seemed much less important than having THE coolest boots a young armor officer could.

Bill’s boots. Bill’s feet.

From the company’s website: This boot style was designed by Dehner’s own H. E. Ketzler and General George S. Patton Jr. in 1937. Made for Patton’s Tank Corp, he wanted something easy and fast to get on, yet still giving firm ankle support. He of course turned to the Craftsmen at Dehner’s to fill the bill!

Of course.

I remember Bill carefully measuring his foot and lower leg. I remember him debating the options and considering the extra cost of an inch more leather. I remember tsking my disapproval at the extravagance – after all, a diamond ring was much more practical.

But boy, oh boy, were they sexy. His new ones, which he got as a 38th – 43rd birthday present (snicker: he turns 40 this year), just don’t have the same appeal. Those black Dehners are 15 years old now, and it’s sad to see them retired. They are a bit worn, despite being reserved for indoor wear only, so they would have to go anyway.

“Go.” Not really. They’ll be one of the few things I would never suggest tossing.