Mil-Spouse Friday Fill-In #10

I never got around to doing Mil-Spouse Friday Fill-In's last week since I was in Pittsburgh.  But I'm back this week for week #10.

Here are the questions for this week:

1. What secret indulgence do you act on while your spouse is away? (from Devil Dog Darling)  Blogging and excessive use of the internet.  Although it's not really secret, I guess.  When hubby is home my internet time is limited so we can spend time together after the kids go to bed; when he's not home, I have ALL night!
2. If you were a spice, what would you be? (from New Girl On Post)  Hmmm....this is a hard one.  Part of me wants to say Old Bay because I'm from Maryland and I like a little spice in my life.  The other part wants to say Thyme because I'm always giving my time to my children, family and friends.    
3. Where do you go for support when your significant other is deployed? (from Texas Meets Washington)  My family and maybe a few select friends.  I thought going into deployment that I had a strong support group of mostly friends, I have learned in the past several months who my true friends are.  I've also learned that my family (my dad, mom & sis) are going to be there no matter what happens.  
4. What is the oldest thing you own? (from A Troop’s Girl)  The oldest thing I own, is actually older than me.  It's my baby blanket which I apparently stole from my big sister when I was a baby.  I've always had it close over the years and would cuddle with it if I was sick or sad but right now it's serving time in Kuwait with my hubby!
5. How did you vision your future pre-military? (from Daddy’s Duty)  There never was a future pre-military for us.  Even when we first started dating in high school we knew he would be in the service - back then we thought Navy and not Army but the service non the less.  I couldn't what our life would be like without the military even if I try to think about it now.  I have no idea where we would be living or what we would be doing for careers either.  

I hope you guys join in and link up over at Wife of a Sailor, if you don't already.  Have a great weekend!

Numbers

7:  The number of days since I have last been on blogger.  I've taken an unannounced/unexpected break from blogging and the internet in general this week (okay, really - I did read a few posts from my phone while waiting at various places over the course of the week) and have been trying to be productive.

558:  The number of unread posts in my Google reader.  (See above).  My break has been a success but I miss reading everyone's blogs and feeling like I have some sort of adult interaction.  I'll be back soon but please excuse my lack of commenting (or perhaps even reading altogether) as my Google reader is scaring me and I might just be tempted to hit the "mark all as read" button.

5.5:  The number of hours I spent in the Pittsburgh airport on Sunday trying to get home.  The flight was delayed numerous times due to weather (or so they say - when I spoke to my parents at home they said it was sunny and the birds were chirping...)

20:  The number of weeks my husband has been gone.

2: The number of times I was puked on by my lovely 3 year old at the football field on Monday night.

48:  The number of days since I've spoken to my (supposed) best friend.  There will be a post coming shortly about this and really just friends (or the lack there of) in general so far during the course of deployment.

139:  The number of days my husband has been deployed. We are more than half way to R&R!  Yay!

4:  The number of nights I spend on the sports field every week between football and soccer.  Not to mention the 5 1/2 hours I'll spend on the field this Saturday for the actual games.

1:  The number of times we ate out as a family this month.  After spending a ton of money last month, I challenged myself to stop the frivolous spending (which included eating out).  And even this one time, was a stop at McDonald's for lunch last Friday before I dropped my kids at my parents house on my way to the airport.  To celebrate, we're going out to dinner tonight!

Day 128

I seem to have missed my 125 day countdown.  I'm not entirely sure how that has happened, but I guess it's not a bad thing.  I guess it signifies that the days are moving fairly quickly - or at least busy enough that they all seem like a blur.

As I've mentioned to several people recently though, the days seems to drag on but the months seem to be flying by.  We are almost to our half-way mark for R&R and I can't wait!  And only about 8 more months before this stupid deployment is over!

Obviously since, I didn't realize what day it was, I'm not planning anything special to celebrate the passing of another 25 days like I normally do.

What I do have planned though is attending the Family Program Academy in Pittsburgh this weekend.  Have any of you attended the same thing or similar for your FRG group?  And are any of you located in the Pittsburgh area?

Homecomming Video

I'm sure most people have seen this video on Facebook.  But in case you haven't, it is a must see!  

I think I was crying not even a minute into it and cried until the end.  Very touching.

Mil-Spouse Fill-In #8

 Wow!  I can't believe Mil-Spouse Fill-Ins has been going on for eight weeks now!

I've been saying since the beginning that I wanted to participate.  But like I've said my life has seemed to have gotten away from me lately.

Anyway, I finally get to participate!  Yay!

This week’s questions are: 

1.  What is ONE thing you’d like civilians to understand about being a military family?
That the "extra" money we get during deployment is not only not enough but doesn't even begin to make up for the fact that my husband is gone for.a.year!  Yes, the money is nice but I'd much prefer to have my husband home than a few extra dollars.  
  
2.  What is your favorite mistake?  
Mine would have to actually be a favorite mistake of my husbands.  See my husband and I dated on and off in high school and then split up for several years.  During this time he was married and had my two oldest children.  Without his "mistake" I'd never be blessed with my oldest children. (This really is the abbreviated version of this story - maybe I'll have to tell it one day.)

3.  What indulgence could you give up for a year?
I honestly can't say that I have an indulgence.  The only thing I can think of is my Dunkin Donuts Iced Coffee.  and I am NOT giving that up!  I've already cut myself back to one a week but that's as good as it's ever gonna get :-)
  
4.  If you could be a winged animal, what would you be?
 I would be a fly.  Originally I was thinking some sort of bird because I didn't want to be a fly and sit on poo all day; but I think I'd like to be a fly so I could visit my kids at daycare and see what goes on everyday.  Even though my kids are in daycare on post, I still always worry about what happens when the parents aren't there.  (And it's not that I'm not comfortable with our daycare, I actually love them, it's just always something I've thought about.)   
5.  What is one question you’d like to see asked in a future MFF?
Do you set goals for yourself during deployment?  What are some of them?  (Oops, sorry.  I guess that's technically two :-)

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to the love of my life!  

Since we can't be together, I thought I'd post pictures of us together during our honeymoon in Hawaii! 

Love you honey!  Hope you enjoyed our trip down memory lane!

More Catching Up

Another crazy thing that has happened since I've been gone.

• I had an unexpected visitor show up on my doorstep last Tuesday night.  At 10pm.  

Here's the story:

I hadn't been feeling good the few days prior to that.  I suspect I had the early stages of an ear infection that has since thankfully cured itself.  I was planning on getting a little bit of work done on a paper and going to bed by 10:30 that night.

The dog starts barking outrageously crazy around 10 o'clock.  He has been doing this more and more recently (Which is super annoying when you have three kids sleeping!) and generally for no good reason what-so-ever.  Normally it's a dog walking down the street or some kid on a skate board or sometimes I think maybe just a leaf flying by.  Who knows.  The point is, I've either been ignoring him lately or calling him downstairs to get him to shut up.

That night though, something told me to get up and see what he was barking at.  Under normal circumstances, I use the window upstairs to look out and see what is going on.  See I'm short - and the peep hole isn't always the easiest for me to reach.  However, again that night for some reason I was inclined to stop on the landing and use the peep hole.

I stand on my tip-toes and peer out the peep hole and Oh.My.God. there is someone there!  I had a thousand thoughts run through my head as I came down off my tip-toes.  (Of course as a military spouse of a deployed soldier, you always have a fear of your worse nightmare coming true with that unexpected knock at the door.)

Within a split second I'm back on my tip-toes looking out.

And within the next second I'm throwing the door open.

Open to my big sis!

Who was supposedly in New Zealand.  On the other side of the world!

See my sister left last October for a round the world trip.  She was not due to be back in the States until late September/early October.  (You can read all about her adventure here.)

After ten months of traveling she was tired of being on the go, homesick and running low on funds.  So she came home early.  But conveniently failed to mention it to anyone in the family. 

It was definitely a nice surprise that brought a rush of emotions and tears to my eyes!

She ended up spending the next four days with us hanging out.  It was as if she never left and we picked right back up where we left off.  I couldn't mention it earlier because I'm not sure who reads my blog these days and she still had more people to surprise.  The surprises are finally all done though and you can read the story from her perspective here.  

 I'm so, so glad to have my sis back home.  Now if only I could hurry up and get that damn husband of mine home too!

Another Excuse

Where have I been?

Well, I've been sitting at my desk.  Writing.  For a week straight now.  Seriously.

I wish I could say that I was coming up with something awesome.  But I can't.

Remember that I'm in graduate school?  And I'm taking two classes this summer.  (It's okay if you forgot, I'd like to forget right about now too.)

Well those two classes have royally kicked my ass recently.  And really, it's my own fault.  I'm a procrastinator.  It's just who I am.  Always have been.

So yes, I've known about the THREE papers that were due (essentially all at the same time) back when classes started in June.  And I didn't do anything about it.  Until last week.

I've written a total of 26 or so total pages.  Which seriously is not that many.  But not only did I wait til the last minute to write the papers.  I waited til the last minute to actually do any research for the papers too!

I'd like to think that maybe I've learned a lesson about procrastinating.  But I'm sure I haven't.

I'm getting ready to enroll is fall classes and I'm a gluten for punishment.  I'm taking two classes again.  But this time instead of having off during the summer like I am now.  I'll be working back at the elementary school  part time, my oldest daughter will be playing soccer and practicing several nights a week, my middle son is playing football and practicing several nights a week and I must be crazy but I'm contemplating putting my youngest in the Start Smart program this fall too.  AND - the semester end craziness likely be coinciding with R&R.

I know.  I'm crazy.  You don't need to tell me, but feel free if you must!
 

Giveaway Winner

I am super sorry about not posting the winner sooner for my giveaway.  Life has just gotten the better of me these past few weeks (which I'll be explaining in posts coming soon) and blogging has obviously been put on the back burner.  I'm trying to get back into the swing of things - please be patient with me.

But without further excuses...the winner selected using random.org was:

Sara at Welcome to the Blog of an Army Wife

Congratulations Sara!  I'll be sending you an email with instructions on what to do next.  (And I promise, I'm doing it in a few minutes, it won't be weeks.)

Is There Anyone Out There?

I'm still here.  I know it's been a week or something like that since my last post.  It's been quite crazy around here.  I know I still owe you all the contest winner as well, which I will get to, I promise.  But before I can do anything I have two papers that need to get done for school.  One by Saturday and one by Monday.  I'll be returning - promise.  Just a little overwhelmed right now....