Friday, May 27, 2011

Disappointed in Army Wives

I follow Army Wives, the tv show, on Facebook.  Today they had this post up:


In honor of Memorial Day weekend, we wanted to share photos from Season 5's fallen soldier, Jeremy Sherwood. Remember Jeremy with pictures from the emotional episode here:


They then linked to some pictures of him.


I didn't even read the other responses, and I had to jump and say my piece.


There are so many fallen heroes that deserve respect on Memorial Day, not a fictional character.  Could they not come up with some other way to link to Memorial Day?


I then went back and read the 80+ comments, and saw that I was not the only one who was ticked off.


Do you think people are overreacting, or do you think Army Wives really messed up?  Obviously there social media person did a crappy job with this one!  Maybe they should hire me!

Thursday, May 26, 2011

I'm addicted....

I'm addicted to Groupon.  I'll admit it.

How was I supposed to know that I needed to try out that restaurant I kept driving by?  It was delish.

It started out slowly, and grew.

I joined Living Social.

Then our local newspaper had one.

I'm sure there's another one I subscribe to as well.

Without them, I wouldn't have known I wanted to go rock climbing in Garden of the Gods.

Or go up in a hot air balloon.

Or bike down Pikes Peak.

I had a massage and a facial.  I had 6 laser treatments (for less than $100) and no longer shave my armpits!

Let my husband try crossfit for a steal.

I discovered a love of Sri Lanken food due to the newspaper deal.

I'm signed up to take a weapons class.  I'm terrified of guns, btw.

I look at the deals of the places I am going to visit.

I obviously have a problem.

I told Gunner if the Afghan restaurant in town has one, I am all over it.  He said I could eat alone and that it would not make him feel more at home.

What deals have you scored from Groupon?  What deals are you looking for?

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Retirement

There are a lot of reasons that our retirement is different from a lot of other people's.  

We still have a 4 year old.

I went to a Pampered Chef party the other day, and all the women who had husbands that were about to retire...had grown children off at college.

Can you imagine?  We would have had to jump on the breeding bandwagon right away after we were married!  I was in no way ready, and when I finally did get pregnant the nurse was shocked that I was having my first at age 25.  Did she think I needed to be welcoming grandchildren?  

So while so many people look at retirement from the military as a time to breathe for a little while....there's no doing that here!  Our oldest is only 13....I say "only", but then I think in 9 years she would be the age that I was when I got married!  Why did my parents let me get married so young???  (I had finished my undergrad at least.)

Gunner has hit the job market full force.  Today he spent the day taking classes put on by business leaders in the community with a special interest in hiring Vets.  We put together a resume, and he has a local job fair tomorrow, then another one on Wednesday.  He.needs.a.job.

Anyone want to hire an Army Vet with over 22 years of military service?  He's dedicated, smart, hard-working, and an all around good guy (cute too!).  We'll even move anywhere in the world, and I am the most non-complaining (unless my house floods) wife, of all times!

Surely something will workout....right????

In the meantime, the kids continue to keep us on our toes.  Junior needs surgery and it could totally explain why he wasn't potty trained until recently...and he's almost five.  Abs has turned into quite the violinist.  We have been through the ringer with her this year, but we are finally making headway.  Finally.  Em is as sweet as ever, and has a love of Shakespeare and sewing that translated into her being the costume designer for the school's performance of A Misummer's Night Dream.  I had never read the story before--although I probably crammed the cliff notes the night before the test--so it was nice to sit back and enjoy it.  I can't believe that next year I will have an 8th grader, a 5th grader, and a Kindergartener!  (Ummmmm.....when Abs entered Kindergarten, Junior entered the picture.  I PROMISE you, that will not happen this time!!!!!)

So as life continues to change at a moment's notice, I look at retirement as not the end, but a brand new beginning of all that is to come!  I'm only hoping that someone has a plan for us and it is put into place before our last Army paycheck arrives.  If not, look for us under your local bridge!  (Don't worry, we have started an "under the bridge" fund!)