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! :)