MilSpouse Friday Fill-In #15 and #16

Due to my constant lack of free time over the past 2 weeks I'm responding to two Friday Fill-Ins again. So click here for last week's Friday Fill-In from Wife of a Sailor and click here for this week's.

Friday Fill-#15

1. What is the silliest get-up you have ever worn outside of a Halloween party? (from To The Nth)

I was looking through photo albums this morning trying to find this picture but so far it seems to have disappeared. When I was in college I double majored in Communication Arts and History. I had to take a variety of public speaking classes for the communications major and one of them was called Reader's Theatre. Each semester the class voted on a theme and then we read stories out loud, based on that theme. Then at the end of the semester, our final exam consisted of us going around to local elementary schools and reading to them. My class voted on Dr. Seuss and we spent the entire semester reading Dr. Seuss stories out loud. When we went to the elementary schools we had to dress up to look like we could fit into a Dr. Seuss book. My outfit consisted of a blue flowered dress over an orange striped shirt, rainbow toe socks and flip flops with huge flowers on them, and my hair was in pig tails. I looked absolutely ridiculous, but I have to admit I had fun reading to the local kids. If I can find the picture, I'll post it in another blog for people to laugh at me :-).

2. What is something that you gave up in order to live the military lifestyle? (from Pennies from Heaven)

A career. See my answer above about going to college and graduating with 2 majors? Yeah...I have no use for that degree at the moment. It took me a LONG time to accept the fact that right now, staying home and being a housewife is OK. Ideally I want to work as a Civil War historian on a battlefield, but that can't exactly happen out on the West Coast. I had a temp job at the Whataburger Corporate Office when we lived in Corpus Christi which wasn't too bad, but it was still just a job, not a career. In Jacksonville I babysat a lot which is also what I do here. There are very few jobs on this island, never mind a career job. I was raised to think and believe that I will always have to have a way to provide for myself but this lifestyle has made that somewhat impossible. I know there are military spouses who do have careers, but what I want for a career isn't something portable and that was really depressing to me at first. The only thing that has made it better for me is that I have come to realize that almost all of the wives in Mr. V's squadron are also unemployed so its not just me. I never thought I'd have to rely on a man to support me, but at the moment, thats what I am doing. Maybe someday I'll get to have my dream career.

3. If money wasn’t a factor and you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be? And why? (from Life and Times of a Displaced Jersey Girl)

This was my question but I don't have a straight answer for it. I want to go everywhere! I want to see every single country on this planet, even though I know thats absolutely impossible to do. So since I can't see everything then I want to travel as much as I can. A friend of mine just finished a "Round the World" trip. She started in London, worked her way through Europe, then Asia, then Australia, then North America. She ended in New York City. The entire trip took several months but she had the greatest time! I'd love to have the time and money to do something like that!

4. If you were going to join the military, what branch would you join? Or which MOS/rating would you choose? (from And You Never Did Think)

Well...I have absolutely no interest whatsoever in joining the military, but if I was forced to choose, then I'd join the Navy as a Public Affairs Officer. Then I could put my communications degree to use :-).

5. What is your favorite thing to make for dinner? (from Armendinger Party of 4)

My favorite thing to make? Or my favorite thing to eat? My favorite thing to make is anything that I can pop in the microwave for 5 minutes, and then eat. I hate cooking. I'm not exactly the world's best chef. If I had to actually make something, then it would be deli sliced roast beef and mashed potatoes. My dad came up with this when I was in middle school and its so easy to make and very tasty! I buy cajun spiced roast beef from the deli (or regular roast beef and then spice it myself), boil a pot of brown gravy, toss the roast beef in for a few minutes, make some instant mashed potatoes (I prefer real ones but I'm going for simplicity here), and eat. I've been told that it sounds weird to use deli sliced roast beef, but I've made it for several people and everyone has liked it so far!

Friday Fill-In #16

1. What is the longest road trip you’ve ever taken?

Our move out here. We went from Jacksonville, Florida to Whidbey Island, Washington. We took 3 weeks (I think it would have taken about 4-5 days if we had just driven straight through without stopping to be tourists along the way) and drove through Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and finally Washington. Out of all those states, the only ones I had ever seen before this trip were Florida (obviously since we were living there) Georgia and Tennessee. The rest was all new to me. It was definitely a trip of a lifetime! (or at least until we drive back to the East Coast, then we'll have another trip of a lifetime).

2. Do you collect anything? Tell us a bit about it.

I'm sort of a pack rat so I have a lot of collections, but my largest one is my rabbit collection. I got my first live rabbit when I was 4, but I got my first stuffed bunny when I was born. I love rabbits and collect anything that has a rabbit on it. I have literally hundreds and hundreds of rabbit items in my house and there's no way I'll ever have room to display them all. To put it in perspective, when I was 8 years old, I displayed a small part of my rabbit collection in the local library and had a newspaper article written about it because it was so unique and diverse. 22 years have gone by since then and I've continued to collect rabbits. Its pretty safe to say its a pretty large collection.

3. What is your favorite part about being an adult?

Living on my own. I guess that sounds simple but my mother and I butted heads a lot when I was growing up and we still do to this day. I love my mom but we are 2 very different people in the way we do things, but very much alike in our stubbornness. The greatest thing I ever did was move out of my house because now I can live on my own without my mom's constant nagging all the time. I like being able to be my own person. I can decorate my house the way I want to. I can do what I want, when I want to. I like that I'll never have to answer to someone ever again. (I do value Mr. V's opinions about things though, but he also loves being away from his parents)

4. What song brings a tear to your eye?

I could write a whole list of songs that make me cry for a variety of reasons. I'm very emotional when it comes to music. I guess the most recent one is "Just a Dream" by Carrie Underwood. I heard it for the first time when I was going through Mr. V's first deployment. If you know the lyrics then you know its not a great song to hear the first time your husband is deployed.

5. Describe your first plane ride (how old you were, where you were heading, etc).

I was 8 flying from New Jersey to Florida to go to Disney World. The only thing I really remember about the flight was that some guy on the plane completely freaked out as the plane was pulling away from the gate. He was yelling about how he had to get off the plane. They did bring the plane back and let him off, but that was slightly frightening for an 8 year old on her first plane trip. I didn't like flying then, and I still don't like it now.