Merry Christmas!!

I hope all of my readers have a blessed Christmas and in case I'm still MIA a happy new year filled with good fortune.

I promise posts soon about my amazing secret Santa gift and ornament exchange I haven't forgotten I just haven't been on my computer to post pictures and don't want to ruin it by not posting pictures of my super cute stuff.

And a partridge in a pear tree

This weekend was Adams command Christmas party and we had a really nice time. We failed however to take a single picture. I plan on Facebook stalking some of the people I met in hopes that they have one or two I can steal :)
Overall it was a very fun night. We had a great dinner and I finally got to put some faces with names. I cannot wait until I get moved to Norfolk and can be with him and hopefully make friends with some of the wives. One of the wives in particular is super sweet. Adam and I went to dinner with her & her husband one other time when I was in town I hope we are able to do the double date thing often once I am there.
Adam told me today that a female sailor in his department who he doesn't know very well and didn't even see at the party came up to him today and said "Your wife in gorgeous!" I think she had me confused with someone else at the party but she apparently also commented on my dress specifically enough that it had to be me. It always feels good to hear compliments like that especially when they are 110% unsolicited!

I had an interview on Thursday before the party and I left feeling really good about the interview and the company but knew it wasn't my dream job but I could do it well and wouldn't hate it. I received an email today that they chose a different candidate for the job :( BUT apparently they were impressed by me and liked me because the person I interviewed with wants to schedule a time to discuss some positions that will be coming open in the near future that he believes my experience will be a great fit for! Talk about two huge ego boosts in one day!!!
I think that is it for my major updates. I will try to be a less sucky blogger.
I will update later this week about my MilSpouse Secret Santa gift. I received my present and it is perfect but want to wait on my person to get her gift before I blog about it just in case.

Christmas shopping.

Yes I am normally the person who buys next years Christmas cards on December 26 (that's not true, I wait until January 1 when they are 900% off). I also start Christmas shopping on January one. But I am also never done shopping until Christmas eve. I LOVE giving presents and always want to give everyone the perfect gift. That is why this year I am so proud of myself.
It is not even thanksgiving and the only presents I have not bought are for my father in law and my husband. And I have bought Adam a present just not a special present so I am trying to think of something else. Though I am probably never going to beat the Colts tickets I bought him 2 years ago...
I have to explain though because I think it is a bit crazy to be done shopping g already. I don't know what we will be doing over Christmas. I do however know I am driving to my grandmas for thanksgiving and won't be back there for Christmas. So I am taking all of my family presents with me to leave at her house for Christmas. I am also leaving all of the presents for Adams family (ha ha Adams family ha ha) with my mom because she lives only 2 hours away from them so if we fly or I have a new job and have to work and don't make it to Louisville for Christmas at least I know the presents will get delivered.
Now I have NO FREAKING CLUE what to get my father in law so any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. I have 2 days...123 go! :)

I'm a bad blogger

For this I apologize...

That is all.





Ok I am in the process of composing a real update in my head but there is a ton going on right now and I just have failed at blogging.

Adam came to visit for Veterans Day :)

The job hunt is still in full force.  I did however get two great leads this week and really hope one of them pans out.

I almost quit-quit my job today...funny since we didn't actually work today it was our staff Thanksgiving/building decoration day...People get cranky when they can't nap after consuming Turkey!

That is all...

Milspouse Friday Fill-In#63

Look at me being a team player and participating!   It has been forever!!!!

The best part of October was Getting to see my husband .

The worst part of October was The stress of working tons of hours and trying to find a job.

For Halloween, I’ll be Myself, driving from VA to GA.

I hope that in November  I will find a job I like in VA .

Wifey has posted MilSpouse Secret Santa. I  will  be participating and will buy my person the best present ever.

It's a good thing I love him.

Some days I have to remind myself 100 times that I do in fact love my husband. Why do I have to do this?
Because sometimes he can be extra annoying.
Two nights this week he has called and woke me up. While I understand that this may happen when he is deployed to who knows where is whatever time zone it is not ok when he is safely in Virginia in the same time zone as me! (sorry I get cranky when I don't get enough sleep) he however thinks it's hilarious.
So today he sends me an "I love you" text, I being my cranky, smart a$$, sleep deprived self responded with"I love you too even though you like to call me in the middle of the night and wake me up"
What was my jerk of a husbands response? Was it I'm sorry or something sweet? Nope he said "it wasn't the middle of the night it was 12:03 it was only the beginning"
Goodness I love that jerk.
<3

The job hunt

How do you search for a job from 11 hours away?
It seems I am being bombarded with advice, good advice, but irrelevant advice.

1-Use your social network-ok that's great but my "friends" in the area I'm moving to don't actually know me IRL I'm not comfortable asking them to vouch for my skills and abilities that would be at best risky for them not to mention dishonest, I wouldn't be their friends if they were liars so why would I ask them to lie? (tho once again of you know of a job in Hampton Roads in accounting please let me know!)

2-online job search sites, yep, great, using them. And my resume rocks but ya know what, online job aps are screened by HR people. Guess what HR peeps (generally) know about accounting, nothing. That means usually over qualified applicants that companies can't afford make it through the screening and people like me at the bottom of the experience pool (and therefore bottom of the salary range funny how that works!) don't get through even though we are kick-ass candidates!

3-use a professional recruiter. Yep, done. Problem with headhunters is they only send your resume to their clients, but every potential job you want to apply for has to be ran past them just in case they already submitted you. Guess what I just waited 3 days to hear back, guess what else great job was taken down yesterday UGH!!!

4-write a good cover letter...I'm not even going to roll my eyes at this one. It is by far the most important part of a job ap to me but believe me...I'm writing more than one, I have written 15 cover letters for the 16 jobs I've applied for in the past month. Yep I've got the cover letter thing down.


So I ask again, how do you search for a job 10+ hours away. Really all sarcasm aside what have you found to be the most effective tools for your job searches. Do you try to secure a job before a PCS or do you sit tight, move, then look in person? What has worked in your experience???

Also-I totally fell into my current job which is 8 hours away from where I lived at the time and was having the same issues looking for a local job the. So I guess what I am really asking is how do you make yourself stand out from the 800 other applicants so that you can make it through the initial screening and get an interview??

In Hiding

So this has been alluded to on twitter by a few of the people who knew but I have been hiding from blogger because I have a ton going on right now and can't right about part of it without exposing part that needed to remain under-wraps for a while, but now I am finally able to come clean.

I have started looking for jobs in Hampton Roads so that I can move and be with my husband.

There, I said it, I am out of the closet :)  For those of you wondering why I waited to say anything, I felt it was necessary to inform the board of trustees for my organization in person about this decision.  We had a trustees meeting this weekend and this week will be spent getting everything in order to start the search for my replacement and hopefully things will go well and I will be able to find a job so that I can move after getting someone here trained.

This decision was made after a lot of prayer, soul searching, and exploring what things look like for my husband deployment wise etc.  Right now his boat is not scheduled to deploy for a long time so we felt it is better for us if I move to be with him now instead of staying here until after his first deployment which was our initial plan.

SOOOOO If anyone knows of a company hiring someone in the accounting field with 4.5 years of experience let me know!  :)  Bonus if it's a non-profit, Over the past 2 years I have become a non-profit accounting pro and a 990 wiz! :)

0-dark thirty

I have read many blogs full of hilarious stories about waking at 0-dark thirty for various military purposes but never thought I would have to wake up at 0-dark thirty for the reason I did last night.
I set my phone clock to 24-hour time as a joke/dare and actually have come to like it. It makes me think a little more throughout the day and it making it a lot easier for me to adjust to Adam referring to things in military time. Imagine my annoyance last night though when my phone rang at literally 0:04 roughly 30 minutes after i had fallen asleep. All I could think was so this is what 0-dark thirty wake ups sound like! Turns out hubby was leaving a movie he had gone by himself because no one else wanted to go watch it and thought I would still be up. In hindsite it's kind of cute but at 0:15 this morning when he was still talking I didn't find it very sweet.


***yes I realize 0-dark thirty usually falls in the 3-6AM range and I have been initiated into that club thanks to hurricane Irene however it is currently 1:00 and in my exhausted state of mind I am finding this story hilarious :)

Squeaky Dog Toys

Nope I don't mean my dogs are playing with squeaky toys...I mean my dog is a squeaky toy!!!

Tonight I was at a friends house for dinner and Jersey was sitting in her lap.  Every time my friend went to pet Jersey she made a squeaky noise. It was absolutely adorable! 

What kind of cute things do your pets do?

We survived

I'm sitting in Qdoba in Norfolk taking advantage of the free internet.  Right now I'm eating my three cheese nachos so I'm not going to type a long post but wanted to give you all some pictures to enjoy from yesterday :)

My husband going to see how high the water was

I might have gotten my feet a little wet

Big waves!!!

Earthquakes, and Hurricanes, and Sunshine...Oh My!

Earthquakes
So everyone is all a-buzz with the news of the earthquake last night in Colorado and the one this afternoon in Virginia.  So far everyone I know in both areas is ok, thankfully.  When you aren't prepared/used to hurricanes the devestations from even a minor one can be extreamly bad.
Hurricanes
Of course I am a super bright person and didn't even realize the looming hurricane is headed straight for the Norfolk area this weekend until I visited weather.com this afternoon to look up information about the earthquake...a little out of touch am I?  Not only is the hurricane scheduled to hit this weekend, I am also supposed to be in Norfolk visiting hubby this weekend...YAY my first hurricane experience...Wish me luck :)  I'm actually a little excited by this (yes I know I'm crazy!) but where Adam's apartment is I will be able to sit on the beach and watch the storm assuming it isn't too bad and current weather forcasts have it down to a level 1 by the time it reaches Norfolk. 
Sunshine
Today was a beautiful day.  It wasn't to hot, there was almost no humidity and the sun was shining.  It was perfect.  My boss bought us pizza and we sat outside to eat lunch...It was wonderful I am so lucky to work in such a beautiful building in such a beautiful town where our back yard is a southern plantation style verenanda with a lake and trees!

So--If you could re-write Lions and Tigers and Bears to describe your day today what words would you use????

ugh!!!

I just read over 200 blogs...needless to say I didn't comment.  For this I apologize because some of the posts were commentable--but I am now caught up so I should be a better blog friend now
love you all
hugs and kisses
kthxbye

Four Days!

In my short time as a milspouse I have learned that countdowns are always looming...everyone is constantly counting down to something, days until the next deployment, days until this deployment is over, days until we PCS, days until we get out!  It seems like everyone has a ticker somewhere counting down.
A few days ago I was talking to a friend and mentioned that I really wanted last week to hurry up and be over with because I get to go visit Adam this week.  She asked me if I ever feel like I am wishing my life away by constantly counting down for the next event.  Since Adam enlisted I have counted down:

Days until he moved to Louisville temporarily

Days until he left for boot camp

Days until graduation

Days until A-School was over

Days until he went to Norfolk

Days until I could visit the first time

Days until I can visit this week

AND I am already counting

Days until the boat Christmas Party

Days until the boat leaves the shipyard

Days until the boat is deployable for humanitiarian efforts

Days until the boat is rumored to deploy

Days until Adam can strike for a rate

The list goes on and on.  Her question really got me thinking though. Am I really wishing my life away?  I don't think so.  If anything having these constant count downs has made me appreciate the days more.  Plus is it really any different from before he enlisted?  Then I was counting down days until the weekend, Christmas, trips to visit grandma, graduation, my birthday...Now I am just counting down different things. 

Needless to say my current counter is down to four days!  Thursday after work I get to head to Norfolk for a long weekend with my husband.  Yes he has to work but at least I get to spend every night with him and a couple of days full of sun, sand, and laughter. :)


PS-Have you entered my giveaway? It ends next week!

The Help

Have you read "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett? If not, you should...I should...I have not yet read the book, but I do own it...and I have seen the movie so that is something right?

 

"The Help" is an amazing story about a white woman in the 1960's in Jackson, Mississippi who decides to interview the "help" in the town about what it is like to be a black maid.  The women share with her stories about the things they have seen and heard, the names they have been called, the way they have been treated.  Ms. Stockett leaves no viewpoint untouched.  She points out both the good and the bad in people, her characters tell stories about good employers and bad ones, the kind and the rude.  The movie doesn't come out until August 10th and you should run to see it!  I was lucky enough to attend a free pre-screening of the movie and was absolutely amazed.  One warning though, don't wear mascara, you will cry!  If you have not yet heard about this amazing story then you must live under a rock but I promise you it is touching.  I was with a group of about 20 women, all white, ages ranging from 23-50+ in a prominently black theater, this story truly touches all races.  Everyone in the theater joined in the utter joy and laughter of the characters at some scenes, we all reacted in shock and disgust at others.  I promise you that not a single person left the theater without wiping at least one tear from the corner of their eyes.  The theater was full of men and women, black and white, the story is one of unity and community.  It is about standing up for what is right and telling the truth.  In reality I don't think the story is about the battle against racism, though that is the most predominant and obvious theme, for me the true message is about the HUGE difference one person can make when they take the time to see the viewpoint of people who are not like them, then tell the story, the true story, about what is going on in the world.  I am trying not to refer to the actual plot to much because I don't want to ruin the story for those of you who haven't read it and since I know most of you won't have seen it yet at this point but I do want all of you to know it is a truly amazing movie that was extremely well written.  The book, will be my reading on the plane when I go visit hubby later this week and I will let you know if it is as good as the movie then.  (aren't the books ALWAYS better? I'm sure this will be no exception!)

 OH--and don't forget to go enter my giveaway!  

Back to School Giveaway

How would you like a wall hanging honoring YOU?

I made these super cute signs (?) for some friends over the summer and thought that some of my blog followers would like one as all.  The one pictures was the first one I made so I promise that yours will be centered properly :) The poem on the sign is "The Military Wife"

When the Lord was creating a military wife He ran into His sixth day of overtime. An angel appeared and said, "You're having a lot of trouble with this one. What's wrong with the standard model?"

The Lord replied, "Have you seen the specs on this order? It has to be completely independent but must always be sponsored to get on a military installation. It must have the qualities of both mother and father during deployments, be a perfect host to 4 or 40, handle emergencies without an instruction manual, cope with flu and moves all around the world, have a kiss that cures anything from a child's bruised knee to a husband's weary days, have the patience of a saint when waiting for its mate to come home and, have six pairs of hands."

The angel shook her head slowly and said, "Six pairs of hands? No way." The Lord answered, "Don't worry; we will make other military wives to help. Besides, it's not the hands that are causing the problem, it's the heart. It must swell with pride, sustain the ache of numerous separations while remaining true, beat soundly even when it feels too tired to do so, be large enough to say 'I understand' when it doesn't, and say 'I love you', regardless.

"Lord," said the angel, gently touching His sleeve. "Go to bed. You can finish it tomorrow." "I can't," said the Lord. "I'm so close to creating something quite unique. Already it can heal itself when sick, on a moment’s notice it will willingly embrace and feed total strangers who have been stranded during a PCS move and it can wave goodbye to its husband understanding why he had to leave."

The angel circled the model of the military wife very slowly. "It's too soft," she sighed.

"But tough," the Lord said excitedly. "You cannot imagine what this being can do or endure."

"Can it think?" asked the angel. "Can it think?! It can convert 1400 to 2 p.m.," replied the Lord.

Finally the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek. "There's a leak," she said. "I told you that you were trying to put too much into this model." It's not a leak," said the Lord. "It's a tear." "What's it for?" asked the angel. "It's for joy, sadness, pain, loneliness and pride." "You're a genius," said the angel.

Looking at her somberly, the Lord replied, "I didn't put it there."

How to enter:

First-Comment on this post (1 entry) with your military branch and what color you would like the canvas background to be.  Please leave some way I can contact you (link to your blog, twitter username etc) or send an email to shanonrenee@gmail.com and let me know who you are so that I can contact you when the winner is announced.

Addtional entries:

Blog about this giveaway (1 entry) comment on this blog with a link to your blog post

Tweet about this giveaway with a link to this entry and mention me (@shanonrenee) (1 entry per day) comment on this blog to let me know that you tweeted and include your username.

Are you not a milspouse but have a friend who is, is this not your style but you know someone who would love it?  Feel free to enter for your friends and family, just in your first comment tell me that you are entering for someone else, your connection to them (friend, sister, spouse, daughter etc.) and give their branch and background color (or pick a color for them!)

The giveaway ends on 8/31 at midnight and the winner will be announced no later than 9/4 I will try to do it sooner though! 

Good Luck!

Day Late but I'm Here

I totally forgot to post my Boohoo and Hooyah last week :/ after giving Mrs. Monkey a hard time for thinking about stopping it...I'm a bad blogger...bad bad blogger so here it is!

My boohoo--After two weeks of not calorie counting I didn't lose any more weight
My Hooyah--After two weeks of not calorie counting I didn't gain any weight...

Was that a cop-out??? ok here's another set
Boohoo-I have to go to the dr today to be established as a patient with my new PCM, hopefully she will give me a referal to the Ob/Gyn I already have here since they take tri-care (thank god! one less new doctor!)
Hooyah-I am flying through the prep stuff for our audit at work.  I think I will be ready to go on Friday and the audit isn't until the 15th!!!

Help me, help you...or well other people like us...

As many of you know I work for a non-profit foundation.  The primary focus of our foundation is to help a specific sorority and it's members.  One of our alums wants to establish a fund to help our members who are either in the military or milspouses.  As the "resident military expert" *bah!* I have been tasked with drafting the description of the fund so that we can fulfill her wishes.  Yesterday I recieved a lot of help on Twitter but thought some of the people who read my blog and are not on Twitter might want to chime in as well.  What I am needing is ideas of examples of surprise/emergency expenses that military families face that may require outside assistance so far I have:
Car Repairs
Lay-off/loss of job for civilian spouse
Large appliance repair
Emergency home/plumbing repair
Pet boarding in emergency situations
Travel costs due to sick family member in the house hold
Child care related to illness or injury of parent (either military or civilian)
Medical expenses not covered by tri-care
Emergency travel for family illness/emergency/death
Travel expenses to bring family member to duty station during emergency while service member is deployed
Housing/Food expenses due to loss of income for any reason

Feel free to chime in!  I need the help! :)

Birthday Shenanigans

So for my birthday my friend Erica came to my Mom's house and we went to a local Mexican resturant.  I love Mexican food just in case you didn't know. :)  A group of 17-19 year old girls came in and sat at the booth behind us.  My mom works for the school system and knows these girls, she later told us that they are 3.5-4.0 students...
These are actual quotes from their conversation...I fear for the future of our country...

Girl 1: I'm so glad you got back to America before the bombings in Norway!
Girl 2: I was no where near Norway
Girl 1: You were in Europe it's the same continent!

Girl 2: And if you wanted ketchup, like American ketchup, you had to ask for TOMATOE ketchup!
Girl 3: That's so wierd!
Girl 2: And they assumed you wanted stuff on your food, like fries, I would order fries and say I want tomatoe ketchup on my fries and they would put MAYO on them!
Girl 1: EWWW that's gross!
Girl 2: They put mayo on everything!

Girl 2:And they didn't put sauce on anything, like we had to eat steak without steak sauce! 
*in her defense she has probably never eaten a steak that wasn't burnt since she is from BFE KY so good steak is also a foreign concept to her

Girl 1: Ok, So when you got drunk...

Girl 2: I wrote out my will in case something happened in Europe, like a list of people that aren't allowed to come to my funeral...

Girl 2: and old men drink hard liquor at like 11:45 in the morning, it was some sort of Dutch Ale stuff...
*yes because ale = hard liquor...also in her defense, she has grown up in a dry county...probably thinks any beer that isn't light beer is hard liquor...

Girl 3: So was everyone skinny there?
Girl 2: Yes, it's not like the food is any different I think they just cooked it healthier.
Girl 2: and the guys were all so good looking but the girls, there weren't any cute girls anywhere!

Girl 2: The Mexican food gave me food poisoning

And I saved the best for last--Keep in mind we where in a MEXICAN resturant...
Girl 2: So you know how I've always said I want to live somewhere other than America
Girl 1: Yeah, are you going to move there?
Girl 2: No I'm staying here I like America way better
Girl 3: Even with all of the Mexicans???

Oh to be young again!  After about 5 minutes of them sitting behind me I looked at Erica and said this blog fodder is too good to miss out on I need an ink pen now!  Erica was like I have one, and a note book and dug them out of her purse :)

How not to spend your birthday...

Please note--this is not a reflection of my entire day only about 30 minutes of it but still, not how you want to spend your birthday.

I came to my mom's for my birthday, I was throwing myself a pity party about being alone on my bday etc and decided I needed to remove myself from the situation so I came to my moms house.  Now my mom lives on 86 acres out in the country...but her house is about 100 yards away from a major US Highway (not interstate, 2-lane highway) so we have always just let the dogs run outside.  In the 17 years my mom has lived here we have had two dogs (of the 7 who have lived here, one of which was a stray) hit by cars.  Izzy, Jersey, and Pete (mom's dog) have never shown any interest in going near the road.  Today Erica came to visit for my birthday and brought her dog Molly, who is a beagle/jack russell mix.  Molly and Izzy were outside and Pete and Jersey were inside when we heard a car horn.  Mom, Erica and I went outside thinking "oh no, the dogs!" but when we went outside we didn't see them anywhere, we were checking the road expecting to see dog-splatter but they weren't there so we started yelling for them.  about 10 seconds later a car slams on its breaks and we hear a thud.  My heart completly stopped when I saw Izzy roll out from under the car and come running to the house but Molly was no where to be seen.  All three of us immediatly thought "oh shit the first horn was Molly" and we kept yelling for Molly, Erica and I running towards the road, mom trying to get Izzy to come to her so that she could check and make sure Izzy was ok.  About 10 seconds later Molly comes running across the road (luckily there weren't any cars!) and the car that hit Izzy pulled into our drive.  I finally got Izzy to come to me and Erica got Molly and we were checking them for wounds and Izzy had a scraped up knee but was otherwise ok.  We told the people she was ok and thanked them for stopping and they went on their way.
When we came inside I realized that the scrape was bleeding pretty bad, she also had a small cut on her foot, a cut above her eye (I'm guessing the car's bumper hit her head and the rest was from the road?) and she has road rash on her butt under her tail (poor thing!) We got her cleaned up and the bleeding stopped, she is acting fine and is playing though not as rough as normally.  Needless to say I did not want to spend my birthday worrying about my dog's life!
I texted Adam and told him what happened and soon got the expected/obligatory "I'm glad she is ok but now have you learned your lesson about not having her on a leash" phone call (Jerkface!)

So moral of the story--Izzy is ok but sore and I will be having to watch her closely for the next few days until the cuts start to heal. 

Boohoo and a Hooyah

Are you playing along?

From A Monkey in the Navy:

"Just in case you want to join in, here's how it goes. You give a short "Boohoo", or something that's not going right. And then follow it up with a short positive "Hooyah" (or your applicable battle cry)."

 

So here is mine:

BooHoo--I just spent over 2 hours watching stupid videos for my calculus class online only to realize that the videos I have access to are only for the review portion, not even for the actual class.  I thought I was going to get the course finished in no time but now I have no clue how long the actual course material will take me!  I hope I'm able to finish it before my REAL MBA classes start since it is a pre-req for one of them!

HooYah--I now have a webcam courtesy of said stupid calculus class AND hubby has free wi-fi at his new apartment and a new laptop so it has a built in webcam.  SOOOO I got to see my hubby's face last night!  and I guessed what he bought me for my bday and it's a perfect gift! (But I have to pretend it's a surprise so I can't tell you yet!)

A Mood

For the past couple of days I have been in what my mom would call "a mood."  You know what I'm talking about right?  A bit whiny and selfish, only want to do what you want to do, maybe a little lethargic (or hyper depending)?  Yeah I'm in a mood... Maybe a better way to describe it is all I want to do is act like a 2 year old and throw a tantrum for no reason...oh see now you know what I'm talking about. 
It all started Thursday.  I had a doctors appointment and had to leave work early.  No big deal, I have all sorts of sick time and never take off without good cause my boss totally understood!  Then, my co-worker who already was taking Friday off and had already taken 3 days off "to move" wanted to leave early on Thursday too..This just annoyed the hell out of me.  (I really don't know why other than she annoys me because she takes advantage of our bosses generosity so I feel like I work harder/more than she does--which I do but I also make more...)
Then on Friday when it was supposed to be my boss and me all day my boss was sick so it was just me for most of the day.  Usually I love days that are just me in the office, I get so much more done! And Friday was no exception, I got a ton done, but I just felt off all day.  I did not want to be at work I just wanted to go home and curl up in bed and ignore life.  And Friday night that is exactly what I did.
Saturday I woke up still in a mood...so I decided to watch a bit of tv before heading to my coworker and best friends apartment to help them move.  I went and helped them for about 4-5 hours and shocker my coworker annoyed me again, this time because while everyone else was carrying her shit up and down 3 flights of stairs to get her moved she was inside in the a/c "cleaning." But it totally wasn't worth the fight so I just kept counting the calories telling myself it was better for my health anyway...Then I escaped to go watch Harry Potter, surely to goodness Harry Potter would put me in a good mood!  Nope--Because I was so sweaty from all of the trips up and down the stairs I got cold in the theater and couldn't shake the chill once I got home.  Don't get me wrong, the movie itself was great and it was wonderful just to escape and eat popcorn, but I was still in a mood.  So I went home, watched tv, realized I wasn't going to shake the chill, took a LONG HOT bath and went to bed thinking I would feel better in the morning.
Sunday I woke up THINKING I had beaten the mood--yet somehow all I accomplished all day was eating a ton of food both healthy and junky and making myself sick to my stomach...I made ravioli from scratch which was amazing, and really the highlight of my day, but still at bedtime I was in a mood.
Today I woke up sick to my stomach (self inflicted due to all of the food yesterday I'm sure) and ended up taking an hour of sick time to let the pepto kick in.  But I am still in a mood.  (and for the record my co-worker is actually working today and hasn't done anything to annoy me so it's not her this time!)

Have you ever just been in a mood and not really known why or how to get out of it?  How do you beat the funk?  Any comments/suggestions are very much appreciated!

Milspouse Friday Fillin #49

It's that time again and I'm back on the bandwagon!  Time for the MilSpouse Friday Fillin

From Wifey:
I love learning more about my fellow MilSpouse bloggers! MilSpouse Friday Fill-in took off even better than I could have ever hoped. I learned so much about my fellow bloggers and can’t wait to learn more… and hopefully even MORE will join in as we continue.
Here’s the skinny for newcomers about MilSpouse Friday Fill-ins (and when I say MilSpouse, I mean significant others, too!):
Each week, I’ll post a list of questions on Thursday (so you can have your blog ready on Friday). Come back here on Friday and enter your blog post into Mr. Linky so others know who else participated and we can all visit other blogs.  And please feel free to use the button above!

1. If you could have a private concert with any singer, who would it be?  submitted by An Air Force Wife’s Blog
   I would love  to have a private concert with any number of different musicians.  I think I would probably have to vote for Uncle Kracker because I could never handle the pot smoke at one of their real concerts but I saw them live at a radio station sponsored show once and I loved listening to their music.
2. Is there anything you do to supplement your family’s income? submitted by Our Life, One Adventure at a Time
   I work, I have always worked.  I'm actual a little nervous that there will come a time when I can't work before we have kids.  I know kids will keep me busy but when Six Flags closed and I was unemployed for a month I went bonkers...I also mystery shop...but that is more free stuff/food than income because I don't do it very much. 
3. During your pregnancy (whether past, present, or future), what did you nickname your unborn baby before you knew the sex? submitted by Explosions of Love
   Knowing my husband our baby will be nicknamed something really loving--like parasite... 
4. Have you ever won a blog giveaway?  If so what did you win? submitted by Mrs. O’s Life
   I have won three, my first was a puppy snuggie from Bethany @ Canines and Cadences, the second was a super cute "flirty apron" from A Giveaway Everyday and the third was a Scentsy warmer and 2 bars from Lauren @ Young but not (completely) dumb.
5.  If I looked into your refrigerator right now, what would I find? submitted by Married to the Army
    I have a gallon of milk, some cheese, about 15 fruit duos (they were $1.25 each @ Kroger this week and a $1.00 off coupon on them this week!) a couple of Herizon milk boxes (Vanilla Yum!) and I'm honestly not sure what else, I really need to clean it out!
   
   
   In related news apparently since I linked my amazon account to my blog to monetize on the Amazon Associates program gives me a search bar to I guess program results related to my post.  I searched for "Wife Gifts" and the results were all porn related...

Freezer Pops...

I Love freezer pops--Yes I am a three year old...I dug some out of the deep freeze two weeks ago when I was sick and have since eaten at least 1 if not 3-5 every night I've been home...

Good thing they're only 25 calories each! :)

The most important thing in my life right this secod...

Is totally an iPhone app...Yes I have this giant blog post I need to make about hubby's trip home on leave, and his going to his first duty station, and me going to visit him...ok maybe 3 big posts...but the most important thing I have to talk about is the HeyTell app on my iPhone.  It is sooo much fun!!! If you have a smart phone you need to discover this app like now!  It is like texting only with your voice...My friends and I have been messing with it all day at work :)

Do you have a button??

I have a button!  Just in case you haven't checked out my beautiful blog design yet, I do have a button feel free to grab it!  I am also adding the buttons of all of my wonderful followers who I love dearly because I think they are pretty and fun so if you have a button and are not yet on my side bar please comment and I would love to add your button too!   (please don't be offended if you aren't on there yet, I went to a few blogs that I knew had buttons and went ahead and added them just to see how it would look!)

Update coming later this week about my wonderful weekend visiting my hubby!

Long Distance Marriage

This weekend I was talking to a random person at the apartment complex pool and she complimented me on being so young with a long-distance marriage.  I never really thought of what Adam and I are doing right now as having a long distance marriage since our plan is for me to be with him soon (yes I think 1-3 years is soon when your looking at 50+!)

So I've been thinking about this a lot lately and it has really weighed heavy on my mind and I started doing a little research. 

First--I found some great tips at the blog of A Lady Scientist in my first general Google search.  Number one is a biggie we are dealing with already--End the conversation when there is nothing left to talk about.  Last night I was sick and losing my voice yet Adam and I were still on the phone for nearly an hour and I'm not sure what anything we talked about was.  Oh yeah, and I was drugged up on Nyquill at the time so I'm sure that what little I did contribute to the conversation was SUPER meaningful...I'm actually forwarding the link to her blog to Adam to read too.  Not sure if he will but if he does I think it would be helpful, either way I know that I learned a lot and it will help me.

Second--THIS military.com article summed up a long distance marriage pretty much the way I expect it to go.  It made me feel good to read this article and realize that  I am going into this with my eyes fairly open.  I fully expect the next few years to be absolute hell, however as stated in this article, I also bet that I will shave my legs every time my husband comes home or I go to see him :)

Those of you who have actually visited my blog page and don't just follow me in RSS or Google Reader know that my "tagline" is "happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance"  I don't actually believe that it is a matter of chance but I do believe that meeting and marrying the person who will bring you happiness is chance.  I was lucky enough to meet the man who makes me happy and who I make happy.  That being said one thing I learned from watching my parents during their 25 year marriage, (23 years of which I was alive for and actually watched...) is that marriage is work.  There is give and take, and sometimes one person takes more but at other times they will be the one who gives more.  I think that no matter what kind of marriage you have long distance or co-habitating (is that even a word?) lots of work is involved.  When you live with your SO you have to deal with them leaving towels on the floor (me!) or squeezing toothpaste from the middle of the tube (hubby!) and when you don't live together you have an entirely different set of problems to deal with like phone calls and bad times that you feel like you have to take and travel expenses to visit each other.

Adam and I have been married for 22 months now, of that 22 months he has been in the Navy 4 months, worked 3rd shift 4 months and we have lived at least 6 hours away from one another 9 months (including the 4 he has been in the Navy) it has been a fairly crazy start to our life together but it has been fun so far and I'm looking forward to see how the next 20 years go!

Something that I am still a little worried about is the stigma I have been told is attached to the wives of geographic bachelors in the military.  I've heard people say/read in other blogs etc. that wives like me are often frowned upon.  As if we are not supporting our husbands by being away instead of being with them.  But sometimes we cannot go with our husbands for a variety of reasons.  For me it is simply a matter of I am not willing to give up my career at this point.  If I can stay here until he has a rate and gets orders to his next PCS where we will be staying for a while then I will be better able to continue my career.  Also, we currently have a mortgage in Louisville and my ton of student loans.  Because of this we simply can't afford to go without my income right now even for a short period of time.  Just because I am not with my husband at his duty station does not mean that I am not supporting him though.  I am providing all of the emotional support I can from 10+hours away right now.  Also I am supporting him by continuing my career because he wants me to be successful as much as I want for him to be successful.  We support each other, it is a give and take.

So now to open the can of worms--What is your opinion of long-distance marriages?  What kind of marriage do you have how do you make yours work?  What experience have you had with military families who are living with long distance marriages?  Feel free to disagree with me but please do so respectfully.  I know this can be controversial and normally I avoid controversy on this blog but it is my blog and this is what I am thinking about right now so I want you to feel free to sound-off as well.

Ok--go comment now but play nice! :)

Ugh!!!

I don't think I'll ever get caught up on all of my blog reading! I was MIA for a little over a week because Adam was home on leave and now I'm playing catch up on my blogs, on Saturday I had 231 blogs to read, I got down to just over 100 now it's back to 173... So ummm yeah, if y'all could take a day or two off that would be grand! :)

Scentsy is amazing

So I won a giveaway from Lauren @ Young but not (completely) dumb Lauren is a scentsy consultant and she sent me the super cute Boho Chic full sized warmer.  I love how neutral it is while still having it's own style.  She also sent me two scentsy bars, "Sharp Dressed Man", which really does smell like clean boy I LOVE IT! and "Mocahdoodle" (Spelling?) which has a great coffee scent that makes the house smell like a coffee shop.  As an added bonus Lauren sent me a travel tin in "Beach" I am keeping it in my car and on her advice open it when I am in the car and close it during the day when I am at work so that it will last longer.  My car smells amazing and it is great at hiding the wet dog smell that was in my backseat the other day (I had to wash the seat protector!)
All in all I say scentsy is a win and I finally understand why so many people were making such a big deal out of it!

BooHoo and HooYah

So a friend of mine posted this meme yesterday and I thought it was adorable and want to join in!  If you want more info go check out A Monkey In the Navy it's such a cute idea!  Basically it is a way to give a short vent and a short happy about your week!!

BooHoo--I miss my husband and feel bad since at this point I can't send him any letters :(
HooYah--I am running the mutt strut 5k this weekend with my great friend Sespi at And You never Did Think
to help raise money for Faith to get a service dog have you donated yet?  If not go check out Raise the Woof!

Hope everyone has a great day!

Milspouse Friday Fillin #44

 From Wife of a Sailor:

I love learning more about my fellow MilSpouse bloggers! MilSpouse Friday Fill-in is taking off even better than I could have ever hoped. I learned so much about my fellow bloggers and can’t wait to learn more… and hopefully even MORE will join in as we go.

Here’s the skinny for newcomers about MilSpouse Friday Fill-ins (and when I say MilSpouse, I mean significant others, too!):

Each week, I’ll post a list of questions on Thursday (so you can have your blog ready on Friday). Come back here on Friday and enter your blog post into Mr. Linky so others know who else participated and we can all visit other blogs.  And please feel free to use the button above!

1. When you vacation what type of vacation do you like to take (beach, historic, adventurous, food oriented, etc.)? submitted by Megan Dub-Yuh  Adam and I both really like historic trips.  We love learning about the past and seeing where significant events took place.
2. What is your best memory associated with a song (you know we all have tons!) submitted by Ramblings of a Marine Wife I really can't think of one right now but I know that as soon as I hear the song I will remember :)
3. If you had six months with no obligations or financial constraints, what would you do with your time? submitted by Married to the Army Probably volunteer with animals or children.  Maybe travel for part of the time too.
4. What is one thing about you that people do NOT typically notice at first that you wish they would? submitted by Our Motto is Patience Most people don't realize how honest and up front I am.  Probably because I am less so with new people.  My bluntness has caused some problems in the past though so I wish people would realize it exists in the begining.
5. …. submitted by The Three Turners: It’s a summer of sequels, and if you had to live in one of each of the following “worlds” (there are three total) which would you choose and why? 
   –X-Men: Be a Mutant, what would your power be?
   –Harry Potter: Be a Witch or Muggle?
   –Twilight: Be a Vampire or Werewolf?
   Harry Potter and witch by far.  For starters because this is the only of the options I know anything really about and second because how awesome would it be to be able to disapperate and fly on a broom!

I have a button!!

That's right, my super awesome new blog design came complete with a button, now that I have a button I think I will start collecting them! If you collect them too feel free to grab my button!  :)

Don't forget I will be having a giveaway announcement soon.  I am dead set on doing the giveaway but still haven't decided what it will be so if you have any ideas let me know :)

New Blog Design

Hi everyone!  I have a new blog design up and running (surprise!) and it looks amazing!  Aly from Bridgework Blog Design created it for me and did an amazing job.  Go check her out!  

In honor of my super awesome new blog design, and the fact that I get to be super stressed in two weeks preparing for a major board meeting and trying to spend time with my husband, and trying to get him moved to Norfolk, I will be having a giveaway next week.  I don't know what I'll be giving away yet I have to go buy something! But I will get all of that figured out tonight and will be posting the details later this week so tune in for details :)

Boo Hoo Hooyah!

My friend from A Monkey in the Navy came up with the best link up ever!  For more info check out here blog but it's probably my favorite!!!!


BooHoo--Looks like Hubby will be in Great Lakes an extra week :( AND I didn't get my house completly ready to sell in Louisville this weekend

Hooyah--If hubby gets held an extra week I won't have to take vacation time to take him to his first duty station AND if I go back to Louisville again this weekend I might actually get to see friends AND my mommy will come help AND I still had good pills in the medicine cabinet from a root-canal so I can't feel the mass amounts of pain from busting my ass all weekend :)

Milspouse Friday Fill In

If you are reading my blog then you should know what the MilSpouse Friday Fill-In is all about but just in case you don't...From Wife of a Sailor, our host--
"Here’s the skinny for newcomers about MilSpouse Friday Fill-ins (and when I say MilSpouse, I mean significant others, too!):

Each week, I’ll post a list of questions on Thursday (so you can have your blog ready on Friday). Come back here on Friday and enter your blog post into Mr. Linky so others know who else participated and we can all visit other blogs.  And please feel free to use the button above!"

1. Do you think civilians, in general, understand the meaning of Memorial Day? I'm not sure I truly understand the meaning of Memorial Day...I know what it is for and all but truly understanding it is a different thing completely.
   
2. What are your plans for the Memorial Day Weekend? I will be driving to Louisville so that I can paint walls, sand and refinish hardwood floors, and clean, woo hoo my idea of fun!
3. What skill/talent do you wish you had? submitted by The 3 Turners I wish I was better at playing the piano.  I'm not horrible at it and have a natural talent but desire to practice was always a problem and one that I never overcame...
4. Which came first: the chicken or the egg? submitted by I Married Into The Army The egg, because we are all born from eggs :)
5. What is the best thing about your post (base)? The worst? submitted by Randomly, Roby Since I'm not on a base yet I really don't know...But the best thing about hubby being at A-school is the random text messages throughout the day when he is in his room :)

BooHoo and a HooYah

Well it's a day late but I plead traffic! Last night I left Louisville to get to Atlanta before 10PM and made it here around 12:30 AM.  The traffic was horrible!  If you don't know Mrs. Monkey you should go check out her blog.  She had such a great idea coming up with the BooHoo and HooYah idea.  The idea is each week you post a boohoo and a hooyah about your week.  One bad and one good thing!

Here it goes:
BooHoo--Hubby can't talk on the phone, after hearing his voice all weekend I really would like to hear it more.
HooYah--Hubby and text whenever he is in his room so I get to "talk" to him all the time.

I hope everyone elses BooHoo is as silly as mine this week :)

YAY I Won a Giveaway!!!

So Lauren @ Young but not Completely Dumb had a super awesome scentsy giveaway.  AND I WON!!!  I've been wanting to try scentsy but couldn't convince myself to spend the money on the warmer because I have so many candles and plug-ins all over the apt already, but no one can argue against free :)  I have a feeling I will be spending a lot of money in the near future I have heard nothing but great things about scentsy.  So if you don't know Lauren go check out her blog she is super sweet!
 And I promise a full review of my warmer and the bars as soon as I get them!

NOOOooooOOOOOOooooo

As you all know blogger was down over night...I posted two posts yesterday and they have both disappeared :(

MilSpouse Friday Fill-in

I

 If you have been following me for very long at all you know what this is about but just in case:

From Wife of a Sailor's blog:

I love learning more about my fellow MilSpouse bloggers! MilSpouse Friday Fill-in is taking off even better than I could have ever hoped. I learned so much about my fellow bloggers and can’t wait to learn more… and hopefully even MORE will join in as we go.
Here’s the skinny for newcomers about MilSpouse Friday Fill-ins (and when I say MilSpouse, I mean significant others, too!):
Each week, I’ll post a list of questions on Thursday (so you can have your blog ready on Friday). Come back here on Friday and enter your blog post into Mr. Linky so others know who else participated and we can all visit other blogs.  And please feel free to use the button above!

So go grab the button, fill in your on answers and link up!

1. Which was the best day of your life- Wedding day or Homecoming day? submitted by Pink Champagne, Gatorade & MREs  For now I have to say wedding day but I am sure that next Friday I will feel otherwise :)
2. Were you a part of the joining the military question or did you sign up for the relationship when your man was already in the military? submitted by Cammo Style Love I was 100% involved in Adam's decision.  In fact I even had full veto power all along. The downside is I can't say I never had a choice!
3. What is your favorite Disney movie and why? submitted by Raising Roscoe I LOVE 101 Dalmatians, I am such a dog person :) but I think my actual favorite is probably Cinderella, doesn't every little girl dream of having a fairy godmother and a prince?
4. What is your favorite family activity to do on the weekends? submitted by Destination: RN! I love it when Adam and I are able to just go somewhere out side with nice weather with the dogs and walk around and just be together.
5. Where do you secretly wish you could be stationed with you/your SO’s line of work (realistically speaking, not everyone can be stationed on NAS Fiji)? submitted by Wookie & Co. I have always loved Germany/Austria/Italy and did study abroad in Salzburg and Florence in college.  I would love to be able to go back to the region and live for a while, if it was for work I don't think I would complain!

 
 
 
 
 PS-this was scheduled to post at 8:00 Friday morning...not sure why it is showing up! :)
 
 

1.  

Crazy Days

OMG...What a crazy day! 

This afternoon my realtor had some free time (he is one of my best friends husbands) and went by my house in Louisville to make a list of the things I need to do now that the tenant had moved out (who is another friend)to get the house ready to sell.  I am absolutely pissed! How in the WORLD can someone who claims to be a friend leave such disarray in my home when I am trying to sell it?????????

His lease ended May 1, he moved into a new place April 28th.  He should have been out of my house by now!  I knew the realtor was going over this week to make the list and had told our friend this.  The friend said that the upstairs was empty last week when I talked to him and that he still had some stuff in the basement he wanted to sort through so that he wasn't paying to store stuff he didn't want.  Which I was fine with because I knew the upstairs would need a little bit of work done before we could list the house. 

When the realtor got to the house the alarm had been set.  My friend did not use the alarm the entire time he lived there so it did not occur to me to give the realtor the alarm code.  My friend was still listed as the first person for the alarm company to call before dispatching the police.  When they called him he told them he had no clue who was there and to send the police...HE KNEW THE REALTOR WOULD BE THERE THIS WEEK!!!!! WTH!!!! So I call the alarm company tell them to remove him from the account and get it put back in my name.  The call to stop the dispatch but the cops were already on my street so they stopped anyway.  The cop started laughing when he saw the realtor signs on our realtors truck and him locking the door behind him with nothing except a clipboard in his hands :)   Turns out the cop is getting ready to move and needed a realtor YAY my friend has a new client wanting to look in a fairly high-end part of town.  Hopefully this means he will make enough off of the cop's house to make up for the fact that he is helping me soooo much with this house and it is worth peanuts.
After all of this I get a text from the Realtors wife.  She said "Realtor just got home, he was going to call you but wants you to call him after you are home and in a place where it is safe to scream."  My only response was FUCK.  For those of you who don't know me I don't use that word very often, and when I do it is in more of a lighthearted fashion...my girlfriend knew I was pissed and apparently started laughing when she got my text. 

So I came home and called the realtor and my wonderful friend Laney came and got the puppies and took them to the dog park for me so I could concentrate on being pissed off.  Here is the damage:
Upstairs still has a lot of little stuff, a large china cabinet, kitchen stuff, oh yeah and 2 bags of trash in the kitchen that is full of bugs....WTH! BUGS!!!!  The two rooms with carpet will probably have to have the carpet replaced.  There is so much dog hair he couldn't even see the floor he is pretty sure that it is ground into the carpet and probably won't come up :(  Luckily there is decent hardwood under the carpet so we can sand the floors and polyurethane them when we do the living room.  I'm also going to have to paint the entire upstairs, I was expecting to have to paint 1 bedroom, the living room, and maybe the kitchen but the kitchen is a most definitely and the bedroom I thought would be OK has all sorts of marks on the wall from furniture banging into it.  Marks that weren't there 6 months ago. 

Now for the basement--There is so much shit in the basement that the realtor didn't even leave the stairwell...our friend has more shit in the basement than we did...

Last of all the yard--There is dog shit everywhere and the grass is almost knee high in the back yard.  For those of you who live under rocks the Kentucky Derby was on Saturday, for those of you who aren't from the Louisville area the Derby is a HUGE deal in Louisville, this is the city's time to shine.  Because of all of the attention that the city draws the metro government goes crazy on making sure everything looks nice.  I am lucky that I don't have a $200-$500 fine on my hands for the yard not being mowed...I can only assume that from the road you can't tell how bad the back yard is.  It should have been mowed 3-5 times since the last time he mowed...that is not acceptable!
So I got off of the phone with my realtor, drank a glass of water, counted to ten and called my friend.  I told him "you HAVE to mow the yard tonight!" he said "It's not bad but it does need it I was going to take care of it tonight"  I thought NOT BAD! my realtor had no reason to exaggerate about the yard...I'm pretty sure it's at least over your shins...but I just bit my tongue and said "the city has been issuing fines lately and they can be as much as $500, mow it tonight or if I get one you're paying it."  He said it would be done tonight and that he still had a "couple of things" upstairs that he was getting out tonight.  I almost died...a couple of things...SERIOUSLY there is still furniture upstairs!!!!
He did explain the basement at least...Next week is bulk junk pickup for my neighborhood.  He has a couple of old couches in the basement that he needs to get rid of so he is going to start leaving stuff on the curb to have hauled off...which I am fine with...I gave him until Monday to have everything out of the house and has to run the vacuum well in both bedrooms before he moves out.  I will be there next week and expect it to be clean so that I can finish cleaning it.  I am considering driving up there on Saturday after the 5K to see how bad it really is/get started on the stuff necessary to get the house ready to sell...maybe tape off the ceiling etc. to paint and if it isn't too bad maybe even get the floors sanded and ready to polyurethane over.  It wouldn't be my smartest decision but I think it might be the best idea.  The sooner everything is done the sooner it can get listed. 

THEN--I got off of the phone without screaming or calling my friend a liar, went to the dog park to get the puppies and came home and went for a run.  About 1/2 way through the run I got this super sharp pain in my abdomen that was so bad I almost hit the ground.  I stopped moving until it got bearable then walked back to the apt.  I was scared to death it was my appendix (and it may be but I highly doubt it) I have a history of small ovarian cysts which rupture from time to time.  I haven't had one rupture in about 4 years and had forgotten how bad it hurt but  the pain has gone mostly away so I am sure that it was a cyst and not my appendix.  On the bright side it did make me read my TriCare paperwork so that I could look up where I need to go to the doctor/er if necessary :) 

Now I am sitting here complaining to the blogosphere I apologize for venting to all of you!  Thanks for listening :)

Scentsy Giveaway

No I'm not  hosting one but my fellow MilSpouse and Blogger Lauren @ Young but not (completely) Dumb is!

Go check out her blog and enter the giveaway! I've been wanting to get on the scentsy bandwagon for a while and hope I win so that I can! :)

What it's like having a husband in RTC

Today is Military Spouse Appreciation Day.  I didn't even know this day existed until yesterday, but I'm glad it does.  I vowed to help others going through what I am going through by actually blogging and writing down how I feel.  Well here is the first in what I hope will be many posts about just that--how I feel and what I am going through. 


Some days it's hard.
Some days you just want to curl up and cry.
Then you think of the road ahead of you--
The 6 month deployments,
And want to cry some more.

You think--I can't do this alone.
You wonder--How are we going to be able to make it
You ask--Why did we think this was a good idea?

Other days it's easy.
You get the whole bed to your self
The dogs make you laugh
You get coffee with friends
You have less laundry to wash
Those days are good, but then you feel guilty--
Because you don't miss him...

Some days you just have to pretend he is at the store
Buying you ice cream
Or at work...which he is....
Some days it's easier to pretent
Some days pretending is the only way you can get by

Some days you're happy
You're so proud of what he is doing
You get a letter and things are going well
Happy days are the best.

Most days are some combination of all of the above.
You will be so happy then start crying from no where
In a lot of ways the adjustment is like grieving
But remember you will adjust
You will keep strong
You can do it

And at the end of the day, no matter what kind of day it is,
You are married to a wonderful man,
Doing wonderful things,
For you and your family,
For our country. 
It is a sacrifice, but it's worth it.

You're too happy?!?!?!?!??!?!?!

I am absolutely appalled! I got sick yesterday, nothing big--I thought it was something I ate, turns out it must have been a small bug because my boss got sick today with the same type of stuff going on.  Less than 5 minutes after our boss left my coworker walks in my office and tells me she is going home.  I came into work today at noon because I was up most of the night sick to my stomach.  What did I learn?  I learned that if everyone else gets to be sick today so should I!  WTH???????

I do not understand the selfish rude behavior that my coworker exemplifies!  She isn't a mean person per-se, if she was I wouldn't put up with it. but I do not understand how she thinks that some of the things she says/does are ok!

She is flat out mean to her roommate.  And extremely demanding.   Her roommate is a good friend of mine.  We will be out at the dog park or getting ice cream and my coworker will call and ask her to pick up milk or toilet paper or whatever.  Not a big deal every now and then but it is constant.  My friend will be home with nothing exciting to do and the coworker will give her a laundry list of chores--chores I might add that my coworker won't do or neglects until my friend does them like emptying the dishwasher.

My friend is dating a really nice guy.  I like him a lot and enjoy hanging out with him.  I think he and hubby will get along well too.  They are pretty serious and she has said on more than one occasion that she would not be surprised if they end up married.  He makes her super happy and you can tell when he is around she is less stressed.  These are things I want my friends to experience.  I want my friends to be happy!  Last night my coworker told my friend she doesn't like the BF being around all the time because he makes my friend "too happy."  What?!?!?!?! excuse me, how can someone be too happy!   Jealous much!!!

I am biting my tongue because it is none of my business and it would be out of place for me to tell my coworker she is wrong when this isn't happening in front of me but God help her if it does happen when I am in the room.  Am I out of place for telling my friend that she deserves to be treated nicer and that she needs to try and find a place she can live without the coworker when their lease is up?  I have actually thought about sharing an apartment with her but since I don't have hubby's orders yet/know where I will be a year from now I don't want to leave her without a roommate before she is ready to be :( 

Sorry about that I just really needed to vent.  Normally I vent to the hubby but since he isn't here the blogger world is getting it.  I have scheduled this post to publish while I should be at dinner celebrating Cinco de Mayo with the two of them, if the coworker even comes, hopefully venting to the blogosphere will help me keep my mouth shut if necessary.

Tomorrow is Military Spouse Appreciation Day.  Please feel free to shower me with gifts or send me flowers :)  Or if you think I'm a little self absorbed and self righteous and don't deserve that many gifts and flowers :(  at the very lease try to show appreciation to the milspouses around you--even if you are one, thank your friends for their service as well.

I am going to help.

I have been a selfish brat.
I tend to be a selfish brat a lot.  Not in a way that a is noticeable to other people.  In fact most people think that I am loving, self sacrificing, kind, giving and anything but selfish--of course the brat part, well we can all be bratty sometimes right?   But I have been extra selfish lately and no one even knows it. 

When Hubby and I first starting to discuss the military I instantly turned to the internet for information.  I drew on the experiences of all of the military spouses and girlfriends that came before me.  I asked questions and got answers.  I read about others experiences to get an idea about what to expect.  I then started this blog for a few different reasons.  I started my blog so that I had a way to easily track/follow all of my blogging friends.  I started my blog as a way to chronicle our journey for my self.  Most of all I started the blog so that I might be able to help others the way I had been helped by all of my friends blogs. 

Then Hubby left for RTC...and I became selfish.  I haven't been blogging because I didn't want to blog.  I haven't been sharing because it's painful.  I don't want to sound like a whiny selfish brat but in reality by not blogging I have been exactly that.  If I am going to help other people I need to be honest and I need to blog about what is going on.  Even if I am emotional and whiny and selfish I need to write about what I feel so that others know that it is normal and OK...so guess what, welcome to the emotional roller coaster that is probably going to be my life for the next 20 years. Please fasten your safety belts and keep your hands inside the car while the ride is in motion.

PS--While I am not a dark depressing person therefore I do not anticipate my blog becoming a constant bitchfest I also don't expect it to be all sunshine and rainbows.  Unfortunately I am more of a sunshine, rainbows and puppies kind of person so I have neglected blogging for the fear something negative would sneak in.  It is time for me to get over that fear and be honest with myself and everyone else so here it goes wish me luck! 

My name is Shanon and I am a self-sufficient, strong, independent, career woman who is madly in love with my husband an enlisted sailor in the US Navy and because of that I desperately want to live up to the June Cleaver standard (which we all know is impossible!)...I am Modern meets Traditional.

MilSpouse Friday Fill In #39--a couple of days late...

The FYI--Taken from Wife of a Sailor's Blog--

 I love learning more about my fellow MilSpouse bloggers! MilSpouse Friday Fill-in is taking off even better than I could have ever hoped. I learned so much about my fellow bloggers and can’t wait to learn more… and hopefully even MORE will join in as we go.

Here’s the skinny for newcomers about MilSpouse Friday Fill-ins (and when I say MilSpouse, I mean significant others, too!):

Each week, I’ll post a list of questions on Thursday (so you can have your blog ready on Friday). Come back here on Friday and enter your blog post into Mr. Linky so others know who else participated and we can all visit other blogs.  And please feel free to use the button above!

1. Have you and your spouse agreed to live in separate locations (a geographical bachelor tour) knowing that the short-term inconvenience would have long-term benefits for your family? How did it work for you? submitted by When Good People Get TogetherHubs and I haven't really decided what we are going to do but most likely I will be staying in GA for a while as long as his first assignment isn't so far away I can't visit him a couple of times a month when he isn't deployed. 
2. What is your favorite thing about being a MilSpouse? submitted by Sarah Ruth Today   So far really the only thing about being a MilSpouse I have experiences is all of my great twitter and blogger friends so I guess you guys are my favorite part! :)
   
3. If you could still have your spouse/significant other and your family, but take the military life out of it…would you?  submitted by Trust. Love. Believe. Bake. I don't think so.  We just added the military part in! :)
   
4. What have your homecoming experiences been like after a year long tour of separation? submitted by Army Soldier, Army WifeI will let you know when I get to have one but T-19 days until RTC Graduation!!! :) 
5. If you have a child(ren) why you chose their name(s)? If not, why you would name your child something?  submitted by Tiara’s & ACU’s  I really like old names.  For a girl I think we will combine our grandmothers names in some way, for a boy I have no clue!

Welp that is my milspouse fill in for this week!  I promise I will try to be a better blogger :)