MilSpouse Friday Fill-In #30 and #31

Head over to Wife of a Sailor for the latest Friday Fill-In!

I missed last week's Fill-in so here's two weeks of my answers:

Friday Fill-In#30

1. What is your favorite MilSpouse blog (not including Wife of a Sailor who we all love, or your own)? submitted by Our Crazy Life

I don't know that I have a favorite one. I enjoy reading about everyone's different perspectives, thoughts and feelings about military life. Some of the military spouse blogs that I follow are linked on the side bar on my blog. I follow others too that I haven't gotten around to putting up there yet. There's definitely something about each of them that I like so I don't know if I could pick just one.

2. What are your favorite perks about your s/o being deployed (we all know there are perks)? submitted by Ramblings of a Marine Wife

I like that I can do what I want when he's gone. Not in a "he controls me when he's here" kind of way, but when he's home, I definitely make more compromises regarding everything. From the TV, to day trips, vacations, work around the house, etc....its all done on a 2 person basis. When he's gone, I can watch whatever TV show I want to watch. I can clean the house on my schedule without worrying that he's going to think that I'm a slob or lazy (he's never actually called me a slob or lazy, but I do feel motivated by my desire to not have the house looking like crap for him when he's home). I can do things that he has no interest in doing, instead of dragging him along with me with the knowledge that I AM dragging him along with me. I guess its a sense of freedom and the fact that I don't have to compromise with anyone when he's not here. Life at home becomes about me and me only, and I enjoy the fact that I have several months to be completely selfish :-).

3. How long did you date your before getting engaged? Married? submitted by Utterly Chaotic

To be honest, I don't know what day we officially started dating. But we were dating for about 6 months before getting engaged, and we were married 8 months after that.

4. What do you think your SO would do if s/he wasn’t in the military? submitted by Adventures of M-Squared

He'd be doing some kind of aerospace engineering thing. He's mentioned that he wouldn't mind working for Boeing or Lockheed-Martin in the future.

5. If you could talk to the Secretary of (fill in your appropriate branch) what is one suggestion you would like to bring to their attention in order to improve the lives of military families? submitted by My Life as His (Air Force) Wife

That's a tough one because there is a lot about this lifestyle that I don't particularly like. Since this question is going directly to the Secretary of the Navy though, maybe to make tours for officers a little longer. I know that there are a few select jobs that will stay in one place for a long time, but the general rotation of an aviation officer is 3 years on sea duty, 3 years on shore duty, then repeat - for 20 years. I don't think I would mind the moving so much if I could feel like I could actually settle into a place for a while. Maybe a 5 year tour would be better. I feel like we just got to Washington, but in 5 months we're going to pack up and move again. I don't like the feeling of being unsettled, so I don't think I would mind the uprooting so much, if it was done less often.


Friday Fill-In #31

1. Aside from no deployments, what is one thing you would want to make the MilSpouse life “perfect”? submitted by Oh How Delightful

As a continuation of my last answer from the last fill-in, I would want to move less. I do like the idea of "seeing the world" so moving in general isn't the problem for me. Its the constant moving that I don't like. I want to stay in one place long enough to feel settled there. At the rate we move, I'm starting to forget how to answer the question of "Where are you from" because no place feels like home anymore.

2. Just how many peppers did Peter Piper pick? submitted by Married into Army

This definitely deserves some kind of witty answer, but I'm not a very witty person. So the simple answer is "a pack". At least if I'm remembering the tongue twister correctly. Isn't it "Peter Piper picked a pack of pickled peppers"?

3. If you could have any career in the world with nothing holding you back, what would you do? submitted by It’s My Party and I’ll Cry if I Want To

I think I've answered a question like this before, but I'm not sure where my answer is to link back to it. I'd be a Civil War historian, and work on a Civil War battlefield. If I wanted to put both of my degrees to work, then I'd produce a Civil War documentary for the History Channel.

4. Do you have a service oriented tattoo and if so what is it. If you don’t what would you get? submitted by The Squid’s Accomplice

I have no tattoos at all. Although, I do want one. I won't get a service related one though. As much as I love Mr. V, the Navy is about him, not me. I honestly don't think it would even cross my mind to get a service related one. Instead, I'm trying to work up the nerve to get a small cat's paw print tattooed somewhere on me.

5. Imagine a block of time has opened up in your busy day for you to take a class in anything you like. What subject would you choose? submitted by To The Nth

Something history related. Preferably history of the American South related, because I'm basically a huge history nerd and would have fun taking more classes related to my degree. On a non-nerd level, and more on a crazy old cat lady level, I'd take more craft classes - mainly more quilting and sewing classes.

Finally Updating...

I think the last time I updated about anything was back in November when it snowed. So to recap the past few months (in more than one post):

We found out in January that we'll be moving back to Corpus Christi in July. I had a feeling the day would come when we'd be told we were moving back there, but I had still hoped that it wouldn't happen. Mr. V is scheduled to finish his tour here at a really bad time for orders. Basically, there are only orders available in Corpus, Oklahoma and California (which would have been great but its apparently a career killer job). I do like the XO of the squadron though. Mr. V told him that I'd probably throw an adult temper tantrum if we moved back to Corpus, and apparently the XOs wife basically flipped out when they moved to a city she hated once, so he sympathized :-). Before Mr. V talked to him, he was only offering the orders to Corpus or to California. Mr. V said no to the California orders immediately, which left only Corpus. But then the XO got in touch with the detailer and they both figured out that Mr. V could do the exact same job in Enid, Oklahoma. The only difference would be that its at an Air Force base instead of a Navy base. Flight school is a joint forces training thing so there are Air Force pilots training in Corpus and Navy pilots training in Enid. We seriously considered the idea of going to Enid, and the decision was left up to me. I spent 2 days researching everything I could about Enid and in the end it was me who chose Corpus. The decision was easy once I realized that there is NOTHING in Enid. And I mean nothing. The closest Target is about 2 hours away, and while I don't need Target to survive, I just can't handle the thought of literally living in the middle of nowhere for 3 years. I've gotten used to living out here, but it still drives me crazy that I have to drive even 45 minutes to get to Target. Aside from the fact that there is nothing in Enid, I was also convinced that it was a bad place to live when I started looking at houses for sale. The words "the storm shelter gives you peace of mind" on several listings made me hyper-aware of the fact that we'd be living in tornado alley. And while I know there are natural disasters everywhere, tornadoes terrify me. The fact that they really can't be predicted is something that I'm just not ok with. There was a storm in Jacksonville when we were there that actually had a few decent sized tornadoes touch down right down the road from us, and THAT was terrifying, but thats also rare in Jacksonville. Its not so rare in Oklahoma.

When Mr. V went and thanked the XO for finding different orders for him, but that we'd decided that we would rather live in Corpus Christi, the XO responded with "Did your wife look at a map?" in reference to my aversion to Enid. Apparently he was expecting me to say no to Enid, but wanted to give us the option just in case. So I hope I won't regret this decision. I know I don't like Corpus and I highly doubt I'll ever learn to love it there, but it IS a place that I know well, and there are definitely some positives to it (every store you could possibly need being within a 10 mile radius is one of those positives) so I guess I'm going to have to suck it up and deal.

I think the worst part of this deal though, is that Mr. V will be deploying soon, and he'll leave the deployment early to move to Corpus. We always do DITY moves, so that means that I'll be the one packing up the entire house by myself and flying to Texas by myself to find a house to buy by myself. I'm not really looking forward to that part. I guess the positive thing there is that we've been looking at real estate listings and disagreeing over every house that the other person likes. I'll get to make the decision on my own, which I find "fair" especially since Mr. V chose our house out here without me.

Anyway, I'll continue to post more updates as I get more free time!

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In #29

Check out Wife of a Sailor for this week's Friday Fill-In:

1. Since most of the country has had nasty weather, what has your weather been like this week?

Nasty in its own way. We definitely haven't had the snow and freezing temperatures like the majority of the country has had, but we still had rain (the annoying kind where its just sort of drizzles constantly) and gray skies, with temperatures in the 40s-50s. I suppose thats nothing new for Western Washington though. The sun did come out for a day though which was nice. I have to admit that the weather has been a little disappointing. Before winter started, it was being predicted that we were going to have the worst winter in 50 years. That certainly hasn't happened here by any means, though it seems to have happened to the rest of the country. We got snow back in November, and now I'd like a little more snow before winter is completely over.

2. What is/are your best money saving tip(s)?

Coupons - I love coupons. And meal planning to avoid eating out so often. Whenever we crack down and limit our eating out to once a week I'm always amazed at how much extra money we have left over at the end of the month. Also, I'm a big fan of generic products. There are a few things I won't go generic on (Pop-Tarts are a big "no generic" thing for me), but a lot of food really doesn't taste any different whether you buy name brand or generic. Household supplies are the same in many cases. A lot of my cleaning supplies come from the dollar store and work just as well as the $5 bottles of cleaner you can buy somewhere else.

3. What was your favorite vehicle you’ve ever owned??

The one I own now - my Honda Accord. I love it and will most likely get another Accord when this one kicks the bucket.

4. What is a question you’d like to see asked in a future fill-in? (Your question & blog just may appear one week!)

There was a recent question about pets you had while growing up, but I don't think I've seen a question about the pets you have now. So I guess the question would be how many pets do you have? And what type?

5. Fill in the blank: You might be a MilSpouse if….

you've spent more than 50% of your marriage away from your spouse.

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In #26, #27 & #28

Catching up on 3 weeks of Friday Fill-Ins:

Friday Fill-In #26:

1. What are you looking forward to most in 2011? from Jessica Lynn Writes

This is a hard question because if anything, there's a lot that I'm NOT looking forward to in 2011. We'll be leaving Whidbey in July, and heading back to Corpus Christi (a place I despise - more on that later), so I have been finding myself hoping that the rest of our time here goes very, very slowly. Also, Mr. V will be going on another deployment right before we move, which means that finding a house to live in, and packing this house up, falls onto my shoulders. We always do DITY moves so I am NOT looking forward to packing up an entire house by myself. The good news is that he won't complete the deployment. He'll be sent back about halfway through to detatch from the squadron here and then move. The bad news is that that won't be enough time to help me pack. So since the answer to this question is supposed to be something positive, I suppose that I'm looking forward to enjoying our last few months out here. Also, because Mr. V will be deploying, that means he'll get some pre-deployment leave, and we plan to drive to Alaska during that time. Its potentially a pretty crazy trip, but I'm looking forward to it!

2. What is something random you do on a boring night when your significant other is away? from Lovin Ma Soldier

I don't know that its random, but I read. Mr. V always has the TV on, which makes it hard for me to concentrate on a book, and I don't like locking myself in another room and ignoring him when he's home. So when he's gone, I love curling up on the couch with a good book.

3. What has been your greatest adventure as a MilSpouse?

Moving across the country. I had always wanted to go on a cross country road trip, but I never had the time or the money for it. So a three week forced "vacation" was one of the greatest adventures I've ever had. As much as I'm not looking forward to moving back to Texas, I'm looking forward to the drive there. We'll be taking a southern route to get there, to see states that we didn't see on our way out here to Washington. Moving might suck, but the places I get to see along the way make it more worthwhile.

4. What is the ugliest fashion trend you ever bought into (I’d like to make fun of you, so can you please provide a picture as well)? from More Than An Army Wife

I was an 80's child so I sported the over sized shirts tied in a knot on the side, neon colored spandex with a skirt on top, crimped hair, side pony tails, and huge thick socks pushed down with brightly colored keds sneakers. I have a lot of pictures from when I was a kid, but I wouldn't even know where to start as far as choosing one to display here. Thankfully, I wasn't a teenager in the 80's. I was just right on the cusp of the ridiculous fashion statements, so I like to think that they way I dressed was forgivable since I was really too young to know any better :-).

5. What was the high point of last month?

A relaxing Christmas. That may not sound super exciting for everyone else, but Mr. V has been so overworked and so stressed for months now (I'd say he's over reacting but when other wives from the other squadrons here ask what squadron my husband is in, they always say "Oh I'm so sorry" when I answer them. Apparently, it really is the most ridiculously overworked P3 squadron here.) So for Christmas he had 4 whole days off! He didn't get official Christmas leave, because he was forced to give it up so we could go on our Victoria trip in January (which is a whole different vent), so those 4 days were the most relaxing days ever. It had been almost a year since he even had 2 days off in a row, so when 4 free days came up, we did absolutely nothing. And it was wonderful. We spent Christmas together - just the two of us, and for the first time ever I can say that doing absolutely nothing was the best part of my month. It was just so nice to see him finally relaxed, which made ME relax. We did some other random stuff in December, but 4 days of nothing was definitely the best part!

Friday Fill-In #27:

1. What do you usually want to know about someone when meeting them for the first time?

I want to know where they are from. This lifestyle leads to meeting lots of new people from lots of different places, and that fascinates me. I love meeting people from different places and learning about those places.

2. Would you rather know everything about your spouse, or be regularly surprised?

Well I hate surprises so I'd have to say everything. I suppose its nice to occasionally learn about small little things, but for most things I'd rather know everything. I don't like being clueless, and even if its something completely un-harmful, it still annoys me when I learn something about Mr. V that I didn't know before. I think its my personality though. I hate not being in the know about everything.

3. If you could live in one city for the rest of your life, where would you live?

Victoria, British Columbia. We just got back from our trip there and I absolutely loved it there. If I couldn't live in Victoria, then Vancouver. I love Canada. I love the people that I meet there. I love the atmosphere of both Victoria and Vancouver and I could see myself being happy in either place.

4. When you go out of town, what one material thing do you ALWAYS take?

A computer. Mr. V and I would probably die (or at least feel like we were dying) if we couldn't be connected to the world via internet.

5. Using no more than 10 nouns, and ONLY nouns, describe yourself.

Pack-rat
Friend
Wife
New Jersey
Traveler
Nerd
Cat Lady
Procrastinator
Daughter
Quilter


Friday Fill-In #28:

1. If you were a famous movie star, what types of movies would you star in?

Historical Fiction

2. What is a vacation you would like to take if money were no object?

I'd take a trip around the world, seeing as many countries as I possibly can.

3. Did you have pets growing up?

I've had at least one rabbit ever since I was 4 years old. I think at the most we had 7 rabbits at once. I also had fish, an occasional hermit crab and I had 2 frogs at one point.

4. What do you do for exercise?

ummm...nothing. And I need to do something. I have a gym membership that is basically going to waste at the moment. The good news is that after spending a week in Victoria, I feel like I'm getting back into shape. I had gained about 5 pounds, which isn't a lot I know, but I'm a tiny girl to begin with so I noticed the 5 pounds. It took walking everywhere for 6 straight days to unintentionally lose the extra 5 pounds so now I'm trying to convince myself that its fun to stay in shape. I'm not doing so well on the convincing, but I'm trying!

5. What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received as a MilSpouse?

Go with the flow. Something that I find VERY hard to do, but something that is definitely necessary for me to learn (since I haven't learned how to do this yet). Going with the flow means never being able to make definite plans and never knowing what life is going to throw at me next. Maybe one day I'll be able to take that advice and not want to cry every time something changes or goes wrong or differently than I had planned.

Still Alive....

Two family members recently asked me if I was still alive. They follow this blog to stay updated on my life and apparently the fact that I haven't updated this in a month leads to concern in the family about my well being. So this is just a quick update to say that yes, I'm still alive. Yes, everything is fine. No, I haven't died or fallen off the face of the earth. I've just been really busy.

We're heading up to Victoria, British Columbia for a few days, so chances are that I won't update this until we get back at the beginning of next week. In the meantime, I'm off to enjoy another trip to Canada!!

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In #25

1. What is the best gift you have ever received or given? from Jessica Lynn Writes

This is a hard one because I've received a lot of great gifts over the years. I can't think of the "best" gift offhand, but one of my most memorable gifts was a suitcase set from my parents for Christmas 2000. 2 days after Christmas I left for a 10 day trip to England to visit some friends/co-workers of mine who lived there. It was my first trip overseas, and I was beyond excited, so the new suitcases that I got for the trip really stick out in my mind as memorable (and of course that day was the last day that the suitcases looked new - thanks airport baggage handlers!)

2. Do you celebrate holidays differently when your loved one is deployed/gone or do you keep tradition?

So far he's only been gone for one holiday - Thanksgiving last year. I don't know if I can say that I celebrated it differently or not. I wasn't with any of my family, but I did go to a friend's house for a big Thanksgiving feast, which is how I typically celebrate Thanksgiving. So even though Mr. V wasn't here, there weren't really any drastic changes to the WAY I celebrated the holiday. Just the people differed.

3. If you celebrate Christmas, do you put an angel, star or something else on the top of your tree?

Its always been a star in my family.

4. What are your three favorite websites?

Facebook - (its been a great way to stay in touch with friends and family as I move around), Amazon and Google....I guess that's kind of boring isn't it?

5. On your man do you prefer… boxers, briefs or boxer briefs? Or commando? (yeah, I’m starting to get desperate for questions!)?

boxers or boxer briefs

MilSpouse Friday Fill-Ins #23 & #24

Once again, I'm combining 2 weeks of the Friday Fill-In into one post.



Friday Fill-In #23:

1. If you were given $1,000 right now, how would you spend it?

I'd buy a new camera. I'm tired of my point and click camera so I've been looking at more expensive, nicer cameras. I need something that can take pictures that look somewhat professional, but is easy to use. When we went to the Olympics back in February, my friend took some AMAZING pictures of the ice dance competition. I couldn't take any. Not only were we far away, but ice dancers move pretty fast - all my camera would produce is a huge blurry image. While her pictures aren't perfect, they are five thousand times better than anything my camera could have produced. I've wanted a camera like her's ever since I saw how her pictures turned out, but unfortunately, they aren't exactly cheap. We're going to the Canadian National Figure Skating Championships in January and I want the ability to take pictures like these when we are there.

(Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir - Gold Medalists in Ice Dance...this picture was taken from our nosebleed seats)

(Same goes for this picture - it was taken from pretty far away)

(Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir in Sears Stars on Ice in Vancouver - this was also taken with my friend's camera)

2. If you had to choose a movie title (a real one that already exists) for your life story, what would it be?

Serendipity - based on one of my favorite quotes from the movie: "Life is not merely a series of meaningless accidents or coincidences, but rather, it's a tapestry of events that culminate in an exquisite sublime plan."

3. If you were a teacher, what subject would you like to teach?

History..its what I have a degree in so it would make sense to teach it if I ever decided to become a teacher.

4. Has being a MilSpouse changed how you view holidays or how your holidays are celebrated? If so, how? If not, what hasn’t changed?

It hasn't changed my views on holidays, but its definitely changed the way they are celebrated. Its not as easy to go home to my family for Christmas anymore, and last year Thanksgiving was spent here in Washington with some girl friends because our husbands were deployed at the time. So I guess the biggest thing that's changed is the inability to spend the holidays with my family (family meaning sometimes my husband but most of the time my parents and grandparents). This will be the 2nd Christmas in a row that I won't be in New Jersey for and that's upsetting to me.

5. What is your favorite Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate) memory?

I don't have any specific memory, but my parents had one tradition that they did every year. When we went to bed on Christmas Eve we would turn the lights off on the tree. But when I woke up in the morning the lights would already be on, even though my parents were still in bed. My parents used to tell me that Santa turned the lights on so he could see what he was doing while he was leaving presents for me. Then he left them on so I would wake up to a lit Christmas tree and presents on Christmas morning. They continued to do this every single year that I was home for Christmas. Even once I was old enough to realize that Santa wasn't real, they still turned the lights off at night, and had them turned on again before I woke up the next morning.

Friday Fill-In #24

1. What do you see your life like in 10 years?

I can't even figure out what my life is going to be like in 5 years, so 10 years? I have no idea! I suppose I'll probably be living in some state that I don't particularly like, while Mr. V finishes up his 20 years of being in the Navy. Almost exactly 10 years from now he should begin his final sea or shore tour, leaving him with only 3 years until retirement.

2. What do you like most about your job?

I like that I have nothing to do. Seriously. I don't work. The fact that I don't have a job bothered me for a pretty long time until I realized that a lot of people would give anything to have their days completely free to do whatever they wanted to do. So now I enjoy my freedom and the time I have to get things accomplished that I didn't really have when I was working full time.

3. What are three things you do every day, no matter what day it is?

brush my teeth, take a shower, feed the cats

4. What would you do with an extra five hours in the day today?

I'd make Christmas cards. I have everything I need to make homemade Christmas cards but I always seem to run out of time to make them.

5. What is your favorite Christmas (or whichever holiday you celebrate) cookie recipe (please share!)?

Italian Knot Cookies and Spritz cookies - both recipes that I can't find right now. Its about time to make them, so when I'm able to figure out where I put the recipes I'll post them in another post.