Friday, October 8, 2010

October arrived with pride and a paintbrush.

When you are as impatient a person as I am, waiting out the greencard application process can get a little fraying on the nerves. The eternity that it takes is a unique sort of torture- in the limitations that it places upon you, where you sit around twiddling your thumb -wishing you could work- while you try and find purpose in every day. There is at least an upside to this state of limbo, and rather than lamenting the limitations of my predicament, I am coaching myself to appreciate the time that has been gifted to me as a result of it.

Once we get past the mundane details of housewifeliness- the washing, the sandwich making, the cleaning, the shopping- I have hours stretched out before me for illustrative adventures, craft projects, baking and quality time with the fam-damily.


My treasure of a husband was recently promoted to 1st Lt. and the great honor was bestowed upon me to pin on his new rank and give him a punch (an Army tradition that I was more than happy to continue). Seeing Forrest work so hard every day, and meeting his friends who are some outstanding guys makes me proud to be part of this community, and proudest of my pancake making, football playing, copter-flying husband. To mark the occasion, I made him a....well....dinner tray, actually. Not the most elegant or romantic of gifts but hey, we Neumanns are all about practicality! Inspired by the four-legged-wonder-Rudy- and Forrest's other interests, the design is quite pleasing to me. After painting, I covered the whole thing in varnish, for luck (and protection).

So congrats, 1st Lieutenant Neumann....next time I won't punch you quite so hard!



12 comments:

  1. CONGRATULATIONS 1st Lt. and wife - and thank you for serving!!! Love everything about this post - thanks for sharing too.

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  2. Echoing Sandy, congratulations and thank you both. I think the painting of Rudy, etc. is excellent!

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  3. Just spent a wonderful half hour reading your posts and loving you artwork! Congrats to your husband and thank him for me fir his service! Love your Rudy, we have a long haired Eastern German Shepherd and there's no greater friend and companion! I just love your style!!!!

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  4. Congratulations to you both, and yes, thank you from the bottom of my heart. The post is fun, interesting, and the painting of Rudy is really special! nancy

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  5. Congratulations to your husband for his promotion and a huge thank you for his service.

    The gift is just great...what a wonderful memory you have created! Is Rudy actually serving in the military too? I've heard and read some amazing stories about these wonderful dogs.

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  6. The tray is such a neat idea. Of course, your artwork is superb!

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  7. I can assure you all that Lou hits with the best of them. I got a lot of comments about that. Haha. And the dinner tray is AWESOME. And thanks all!

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  8. Thanks Forrest, yes I polished my fist for the occasion :)
    Joan- Rudy isn't a military dog, the dear boy is certainly too uncoordinated for any such career I think!
    Revelle, I agree- this German Shepherd is the best companion we could have hoped for. I've never known any thing like it, I'm just in love with the boy.
    And thanks everybody for visiting my blog, it's always such a pleasure to receive your comments!

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  9. Awesome idea! I love it. Congrats to your husband and thanks to you both!

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  10. Wow what a great news! Congratulations =) I am not well educated about rankings but my sister is in the army too, she's a Lt. Colonel, is that anywhere near your husband's rank?
    Anyway I love the illustration, it's awesome.

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  11. Ah what a great original gift. Congratulations to your husband.

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  12. Congratulations to your husbands...and to you to! I'm a retired Army major; my husband knows the life of an Army spouse!

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