Home again, home again....

The ship actually pulled in a day early - Thursday instead of Friday. I was super sneaky, though. I didn't tell Tony we were coming home, and I didn't call him once we were home. I just drove to the house and walked in the kitchen door. He was so suprised! Angus went wild, Cactus came running in, it was great!! Of course, it's probably not something we should get used to, that pulling in early stuff. I saw our underway schedule for the rest of the year and we are out to sea for a third of it. It's going to be exhausting. I understand why this is called "Arduous Sea Duty." Total crap. But on a good note, I found out last week that I made board for Chief. Now I have to submit a package, I have at least two evals screwed up, and wait. By this summer I will know if this was my lucky year or not. Maybe it will be next year or the year after. We'll see. It's up to the board. I have to stop thinking about it now, I don't want to jinx myself!
Today we went and bought a bunch of spring-time stuff. Some Forsythia bushes to replace the one's trampled on by a certain brown beast, some ground covers, a couple of garden decorations, some new cusions for the wicker, and a new grill. Tomorrow we are going to go to the garden nursery and see what they have. Even though I won't be home this summer, at least I know my gardens look good.
I need to catch up on my sleep. Those 12 hour work days have worn me out.