Army Friends

One of the good (and bad things) about military life is the coming and going of friends.  I'm sure you have all been the ones who have left friends behind, and also been the ones who have left.  I remember when I left Fort Lewis, one of my civilian friends cried.  I was so sad for her, but it had also become second-nature to me and I was okay with it.  Sure I would miss them, but I have learned that it is never "Goodbye" but always "See you later"....

When I moved to Fort Carson, I didn't know anyone.....except one lone blogger, Erin.  Then I met The Displaced Dutchican.  When my house flooded, I didn't have to ask twice, I called Erin and she took Sammy and grabbed Junior from daycare to keep him till I could get there.  She kept Sammy for about two weeks and even cut poop out of his matted dog hair.  If that doesn't mean love, I don't know what does!

The Dutchican picked up the girls, fed them, and had them ready to go when I went to pick them up.  I never worried.  (Although I heard Abs was quite vocal at the local hamburger spot, much to Em's embarassment!)

That's what makes a military friend.

Friends that know when you call that you are in trouble.

Friends that know you need help, and will drop everything to help you.

Friends that don't think twice and know that often times you have no one else to help.

So many times our families live so far away and we have to count on those friends to help us get through things.  When my dad passed away, I had a friend that came over and cleaned my entire house (I was 7 months pregnant) and later that day her husband came over and mowed my lawn.  Then he knocked on the door and took my car to get cleaned inside and out.  I didn't have to say a thing, they were there for me.  I had friends that made dinner for the girls and I during that time as well.

I didn't ask.

If anyone knows me, I rarely ask for anything, but would drop anything for a friend.

So while I can go to almost any place that I have ever lived and know that I can count on a friend, I will miss that part of the military life.  There's nothing like another military wife.  Like Erin said to me when Gunner deployed for the third time to Iraq "If you want to come over and just sit here with someone who understands and you don't have to say a word, just show up".

I've had friends that have helped me through deployments.  Friends that have made me laugh when I only wanted to cry.  Friends that had faith in my when I had little faith in myself.

I think that the friends that I have made in the military will stand the test of time.  The Army is a small place and we have run into people in Germany that we hadn't seen in forever, and I still meet with friends from other posts, that I haven't seen in years, but it's like we never were apart.

I only hope that your military friendships are as incredible as mine.  No one else will ever understand what we go through, but someone else in our situation....no words needed.  What military friendship have you had that has stood the test of time?

Where does time go??

I think of all the things I want to blog every day, but then get lazy.

School is out, and I've already made one trip to Texas for the girls to go to camp for a week.  My outlaws took Junior for the week, and I was sans children.  The first time in.....forever!

I went to Dallas for a few days to visit my old suitemate from Baylor.  I met up with a blogger, Heidi.  We met for lunch and 2 1/2 hours later, we finally left the restaurant.  I had a great time!

I met up with my friend Abbey, found a free bingo on post in the middle of the day where I won an XM radio.  We made a new friend, and returned to bingo that night.  I am not a pro at all, but I did win $200!  Into the under the bridge fund it goes!

I ate tons of mexican food, met a friend for breakfast at my favorite little cafe, did crossfit (of course!), and didn't work out as much as I should have.  I saw a Ranger's game (they lost), and ate tons of ethnic food.  Yum!  With all that eating, I was worried, but I didn't gain a pound.  Whew.

In retirement news, Gunner has just 10 working days left in the Army.  It's a scary time, and many major decisions need to be made quicker than I would like.  Don't worry, if you know me, I have a plan A, plan B, plan C, all the way to plan P right now.

I got his retirement present, and have taken it somewhere to have something done to it, that needed to be done.  I can't wait to show it to y'all, it is UNBELIEVABLE!

Stay tuned, because I am sure things will get crazy over the next few weeks!

I've applied for some jobs, and am waiting to see what the future holds.  We know a move is in order, since we can't live in housing forever.  Although if they make an allowance, I wouldn't mind.

Disappointed in Army Wives

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

Official Army Wives

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!

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?

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!)

End of an Era?

After over 22 years in the Army, the 5 uniform changes that have occurred, and 5 deployments, I always said if there was a war that you should be at my house.

What once fit in a tiny front closet when we got married, now takes up half of our garage.

What is it you ask?  TA-50

I'm sure you have all learned to embrace the plethora of equipment that your husband has been issued.  I've tried numerous ways to organize the crap too.

There were hanging devices.  Stacked crates.  Left in the boxes that they were packed up in.  Footlockers.  Tubs.  The tubs seemed to work the best, because at least I could stack them on top of each other.

How many gorilla trunks are sitting in your house right now?  We got 4 by mail shortly after Gunner returned home.  I was totally not overjoyed to see it arrive.  These were added to the 8 gorilla trunks we already had here waiting for his return.

But.......

In just a matter of time, this stuff will start disappearing from my garage.  Hopefully huge amounts of it.

Soon he can go request a list from CIF with the master list of everything that he needs to turn in.  What will I do without 50,000 pounds of TA50 to move every couple of years?  What if there is a war and we need to hunker down and live off of MRE's and be ready to dig our own trenches or create a new village complete with a multitude of uniforms for everyone to choose from?

But then I start thinking about all the duplicates he has.  You can't just have one e-tool can you?  A Soldier with less than 5 canteens?  That's unheard of.  How could he have been a Soldier without stocking up on 8 sleeping mats?  Less than 20 pairs of boots?  How would that work, since he has to have tanker boots, then there are the black boots, then there are gortex boots, mountain boots, rubber boots, desert boots--you know, the right boots to match the right uniform?

With the right boots you have to have the right accessories.  We have a rucksack in every uniform color.  Don't worry, as he also has accumulated an assault bag in every color.  In case he gets thirsty, he has a camelbak in every color.

There are soft caps, berets, kevlars, pyle caps, pt caps, stetson, mess cap.  We've got 15 duffel bags, all painted with previous unit assignments.  We've got DIFFERENT PT belts from every.single.unit.

The list goes on.  So while I started thinking that we might be downsizing, I realize that my grandchildren should someday be prepared for their Grandpa to be sitting in old uniforms and telling them stories "Back when I was in the warrrrrr....".

So maybe we'll be okay in case of an emergency, because I can't imagine all of this TA50 is going anywhere...

Questions--I need answers!

It's been so long since I've worn makeup, and since I will be entering the workforce sometime in the near future, assuming someone wants to hire me, I need makeup.

What's your favorite brand of makeup?

This of course brings up the question....when did you start wearing makeup?  I see girls at Em's school that have started wearing makeup, but I was thinking I'd let her in high school, which is still a year away.  She hasn't complained about it.....yet!

I took the girls shopping for Mother's Day, because we needed to get them some camp clothes.  Keep in mind that my daughter is about 5'7" tall, thin, and does not look 13.  Why do they want her to dress like a hoochie mama? Anyone know of any good clothing stores that will have cool clothes for her age, but not break the bank?

Next question is back to potty training.  Junior is potty trained.  Reflect on that for a moment.  My almost 5 year old son is FINALLY potty trained.  He is wearing underwear.  He is dry.  Let's be honest, this is a miracle in itself.  But....did you potty train your sons at night by letting them go in underwear?  I'm thinking if the kid wants to wear pullups to bed at night, he will eventually train himself, and I should push it.  Heck, I'm just glad that I am not changing diapers during the day anymore!

(Gunner, please do not read this)  Retirement presents.  I have something in mind, but I was wondering if anyone had some great ideas for a present to give him for retirement?  (I apparently get a yellow rose at his retirement ceremony....5 deployments and I get a rose?  I should get a 24 karat rose!)

Which brings me to coin boxes.  I have looked at several online, but was wondering if anyone had a recommendation of someone that they ordered from, and the quality was impeccable?  You know how they love their coins!

Last question--I have my half marathon on Sunday, and I need some good songs for my playlist.  I know I need to download some black eyed peas, but what are some other good up-tempo songs that need to go on the list too?

Thanks guys!

Reintegration Part I

Being that this is our 5th (and LAST!) deployment, I thought we were pros at reintegration.  I choose my battles, and goodness knows with three kids, there is plenty for both of us to do and keep us busy.

The one thing that drives me nuts?

Here is my status from FB yesterday:

ABW Wonders how she survived years driving while Chris was deployed and before I met him, but apparently lost all skills once he returned home. Thank goodness he is here to tell me how to drive, or I might not be able to function.


Someone said instead of like there should be an "Amen".  Most agreed with me.  A civilian friend said her husband would never do that and she wouldn't allow it.  


This all came to a head yesterday when I was driving Gunner's new car.


"Watch out for that parked car."
"This guy might try to cut you off."
"The light might turn red, you should slow down."


I glared at him, and asked him if he wanted to drive.  "Oh no, you're doing fine, I'm just helping."


A little history here.  I am old.  I got my driver's license when I was 16.  In order to do that, I had to pass my dad's strict driving lessons.  Basically that meant that I drove around an empty parking lot in first gear, having to stop and start.  Once I got that down, he would let me coast around in first gear and he would yell "STOP" to test my reaction time.  After passing that little bit of pure hell pure joy, I was able to start shifting gears.


From gear shifting we moved to practicing in a parking garage how to stop and start again without rolling backwards on an incline.  My poor dad spent hours with us behind the wheel making sure that we knew what was going on.  


Gunner?  He got his driver's license when he was 21 (they gave him one to drive a car, when all he had ever driven was a motorcycle).  The first car he drove was a military vehicle--a humvee, so thank goodness it was an automatic.  (Side note, his brother had never driven before and during his first assignment with the Army, he was told to drive a deuce and a half, while he had never driven before.  By the end of the day he felt courageous enough to shift to second gear, lol)  He could have benefited from my dad's "Learn how to drive" class.  Granted he has gotten a lot better over the years, a lot better.  


But.........cause there's always a but....


If I could drive while he was gone (almost a total of 5 years of deployments, and we won't even count field, TDY, and all that other times they are away)......do you think I have lost all ability?  


We do laugh about it, and he is getting better.  After our afternoon trip to the car dealer, I let him drive to go get the girls.  I pointed out how he scans the roads for IEDs, watches for anything out of the "norm", and has been known to drive aggressively like he is in a convoy.


So while I know this part will eventually fade, I do notice a lot of telling the other person how to do things.  While he tells me how to drive, etc., I tell him how to take care of the kids, how things should be done.  Usually by the time we get it ironed out, he is gone again, so we wait another year and start all over again. 


How do you handle this part of reintegration?  

The Winner Is...

Abbey!

I'm still not able to post that random number generator, so if anyone can tell me how to do it for next time, I'd appreciate it!

Abbey, send me your address, and I'll have your camera shipped out to you!

P.S. More to come!

I'm still alive!

I have no great story as to why I fell off the face of the earth, other than using this guy as my excuse:

Having Gunner home has been such a huge help.  After 96 hours off, he was exhausted from trying to keep up with my schedule of crossfit, carting children around, doctor's appointments, and all the other normal day to day stuff to maintain a family of 5.

Our laundry load increased exponentially.  The amount of food we have to cook is increased as well.  I wouldn't change a thing though.

We've been working on finding jobs, and let me tell you, the Army is not helpful in this area AT ALL.  That's a whole dozen other posts that I need to write as well.

We've also balanced out the work with fun.  Gunner took the girls on a moonlight wolf tour where they got to meet wolves up close.  The girls LOVED it.

We went to the Western Museum of Mining and Industry to pan for gold.

The panning was free, and you got to keep what you collected.  There was some gold involved, and that was all my kids needed to hear before they were hooked.







Junior had more fun splashing water and mud all over himself.








They had an area where you could dress up like a miner.

Notice the wet tshirt?

Don't let the folded hands fool you! Emily found a new boyfriend too.

Junior really wanted a hat, and with a dad who recently returned home, we know that sometimes they have such guilt, they just can't say no.

On the way home we stopped off and took pictures in front of Pikes Peak.

Plus we have done a lot of this.....

Notice the new furniture?  Thankfully we have a dog that doesn't shed!  We also had to break down and buy a new car.  If you want a great car (ranked #2--A Ford is first, but don't hate, I won't buy one.  We actually went to get a Nissan Sentra because we know that they are reliable and they were ranked #31!)

Meet our new little Honda Fit.

It seems small, but has a ton of storage, and actually the whole family can ride in here, but I would not recommend it for long trips with three kids in the back!  (I'd actually recommend a limo, where you can close the barrier and not hear them, but that's out of my price range too.)

It's a great little car and gets about 34 miles per gallon around town, and 37+ on the freeway.  It also has voice activated stuff, which is kind of neat, but luckily the button you have to press before it works is on the steering wheel, as the kids heard voice activated and started all saying "Radio 92.9" or whatever their favorite station is, all at once.

So we are settling into being a family again, with a lot of big changes coming up in the future, that I am excited about.  I also have a lot to blog about too, so stay tuned!

Also, don't forget to enter my giveaway for a free digital camera, here!

The Great Flood & Giveaway

Remember the flood?  I think of it every time when I sit down to watch tv on an old 19" tv with no HDTV, and I am either on the floor or sitting in a lawn chair.  (On the bright side my lawn chairs are comfortable!)

My kitchen as they started sucking up the water and I could get in there.  Apparently my house is lopsided and the water ran into the kitchen.  It couldn't possible run into the bathroom located on the other side of the house where the hot water heater was located and a drain!

Imagine all the little paint pockets you see below, filled up with water and squirting all over your stuff.  There were hundreds of them, which just made the whole thing worse, because with the squirting streams of water, it was able to destroy even more.  Plus, this is one section.....the whole living room was covered and the water was about 4" deep.  A mess I tell you!  The water was gushing out the front and back doors, leading to a sheet of ice at both places.

I have to give housing kudos for putting us up at The Hampton Inn (whose beds and pillows I love), and for getting our house done in just under two weeks.  While I loved the Hampton, even with two adjoining rooms, it was tight quarters for the 4 of us.  Every day after carting children around, I would go check on progress and document it....just in case.

I was contacted by the someone related to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, to check out their new FREE iPhone app related to creating a home inventory.  Something I SHOULD have done before I ever had a flood occur.  Unfortunately mother nature doesn't follow my time schedule.

I did have to download this on to Gunner's phone since my software wasn't upgraded, and I just have the 3G.  It's super easy to use, take pictures, and you can even email it to yourself and have it backed up on your computer.  During the claim process, they wanted before pictures of the furniture and electronics, which I didn't have unless they were in use.  They got a picture of Junior jamming on the wii guitar, a random picture Abs took of the tv, and a picture of me sleeping on the couch.  I was not thrilled about sending any of them!

The NAIC also has instructions on how to create a home inventory.

To help you create a home inventory, the NAIC is offering a FREE Kodak Easyshare digital camera (retail value $49) for one lucky reader!  (It takes amazing pictures as you can see below!)  All you need to do is leave a comment telling me what is the most loved item in your home is, that you would capture first on your home inventory!

I will draw a random winner on Monday April 25th!

Sammy the dog after he was rescued, kept by a friend for a while, and finally groomed.  

Disclaimer--I was provided a digital camera to use for my review, but all opinions are my own, with no outside influence from the three little kids that live here.

Home

-- Post From My iPhone

Homecoming or Bust!

As we prepare for yet another homecoming, I wanted to link up to my previous homecoming stories....

Homecoming #1 from a year in Bosnia.

Homecoming #2 from a year in Iraq.

Homecoming #3 from a year in Iraq.

Homecoming #4 from a year in Iraq.

Soon there will be a FINAL homecoming #5, from Afghanistan.  I better charge that camera!

Free Welcome Home Sign

I have tons of things to finish up before Gunner gets home.

One of the things that we always do is to hang a sign up.  I have used the same sign the last 3 deployments, and today I found it so we could get it hung up!

Buildasign will give you a free sign too--you pay shipping & handling--by clicking on the link on the right hand side of the page.

I got this sign back in 2008 and after serving us well, I will be glad to retire the sign with no more deployments on the horizon!

Soon....

Soon......

I will see his face.
I will no longer have to be the only one chasing children.
I will be able to hand over potty training to him of his son.
I will have to give up control of the remote control every night.
I will have a lot more laundry to do.
I will find my house buried in a sea of ACUs.
I will have the "Army" smell back in the house.  (Ummmm......do you know the smell I am talking about?)

I need to quit coming up with optional things to do and get the house straightened up.

I've made banana bread.
Found a cookie recipe that apparently I need to try before he comes back.
Window shopped online.
Emailed with a friend.
Thought that I really should go to the store to get a new trash can, but then thought better of it.
Watched mindless tv.

Anyone else procrastinate right before redeployment?

(When we lived in Germany and Gunner was returning from Bosnia, I waited till the last minute to do everything.  They said they would give us a 3 hour warning.  Instead we got about a half hour warning, and I had to shower, find something to wear, and race over to help a friend get her kids ready since she was a fellow procrastinator!)

Camp Purple Signup!

Today is the day to sign your child up for Camp Purple, a free camp for military kids.  Em has been twice and Abs once, and they both loved it.

Go here.

You can read about our experiences with Camp Purple here.

Wordless Wednesday

It's been almost 8 months.  He'll be home soon...

We HEART Nutella

Make that a big red puffy heart!  Gunner is German. While his dad was stationed in Germany, way back in the dark ages, he met and married Gunner's mom.  On Saturday mornings, his mom would always make crepes (she even got us our own crepe pan and when Gunner is home, he carries on the tradition).  They would have fruit, nutella, and even ice cream.  (Throw Blue Bell on anything and I am there!)

I was selected to host a nutella party, and invite 10 of my friends over to enjoy in Nutella festivities.  How can I say no?  The kids have inherited Gunner's love of the stuff (For the record, I am not a chocolate person, but because of the hazelnut, I have been known to eat a little nutella on occasion.)

We had gift bags, we had recipe cards, we had samples of nutella, coupons, nutella coffee mugs, and of course a giant jar of the stuff!  (Ummmmm....no pictures of the food, because I spent my time trying to keep my kids from devouring it all!)

We served up some crepes, peanut butter and nutella (which is what my kids lived on during our trip to Disneyworld), and fresh fruit with nutella to dip it in.  Everyone was in heaven!

There's just enough nutella left for Gunner, and I have hidden it from the kids.  Do you eat nutella?  What's your favorite way?  We always ship it to Gunner while he is gone too, so he can use it to make a quick sandwich when he comes back from patrol and the mess hall is closed.    

(Even Uncle Dave attended the festivities!)

*The nutella and all nutella merchandise was provided to me at no cost for me to evaluate and share my opinion.  The opinions are mine and mine alone.  How can you not like nutella?

A Decade with Abs!

9 lbs 9 oz. A little turkey. Little did we know what lay in store for us.

She was such a sweet baby.

Her father has spent half of her life deployed. He left the first time when she was two.

Some days I wondered if we would ever reach 10. Thankfully we did, and she will have no surprises tomorrow because I sent her to the car to get a vitamin water, and forgot I had all her presents in the back. She said she didn't look, but come on, it's Abs we are talking about!

Happy Birthday to my favorite 10 year old girl. Here's hoping the next decade is a little bit easier on us both!

(We're just doing something small and waiting for a big dinner out when Gunner gets home.  She was ALL about that plan!)

Great Opportunity for Military Families in Florida!

A  Special Event to Celebrate and Honor Military Families is being sponsored by NASA, on April 18-April 19^th in Orlando, Florida.

NASA has provided an opportunity for military families to participate in a multi-day celebration culminating with the Space Shuttle launch.  We are pleased DoD has reached out to the National Military Family Association to help share this incredible opportunity with military families. 

Considerations for participation:

·         You must be a military family; the opportunity should not be extended to neighbors or friends who are not military families.  Space is limited and ID’s will be required.

·         Military Families will need to provide their own transportation to Orlando and lodging (if applicable).

·         Military Families must take DoD sponsored buses to the Kennedy Space Center and Causeway on Launch Day (no POVs will be authorized)

·         The events planned are focused on school-age children, and at least one activity has an age restriction of 12 years or older.

·         Launch day will be a long, but exciting and engaging day!  The buses are not expected to return to Orlando until 12AM-2AM. The launch is scheduled for 7:48 PM EDT. 

Monday, April 18 --L-1/One Day Before Launch there will be an afternoon of space related hands-on activities and demonstrations at the Orlando Peabody Hotel hosted by NASA education specialists;

Tuesday, April 19 --L-0/Launch Day –a special treat with military astronauts and spouses at the Peabody as they discuss with families ‘TDY to Space’ and then get families moving with ‘Train Like An Astronaut’ fitness challenge. A mission overview on STS-134 shall be given and then families will board DoD sponsored buses for transportation to Kennedy Space Center and its Causeway. Military Families will have the opportunity to participate in a special LEGO: Build the Future event on the Causeway in advance of the launch.   

Further details and an application to register for NASA’s Special Event to Celebrate and Honor Military Families is available at   http://www.militaryk12partners.dodea.edu/nasa.cfm. 

The registration will close on April 1st or until allocated spaces are filled. 


I would do this in a heartbeat! If you do participate, please let me know how it goes!!