Tomorrow Is Another Day...

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In #32

1) Do you or your {spouse} ever wish your {spouse} was in a different branch of the military?
No way on earth.  We do our fair share of bitching and moaning about the Air Force, but the bottom line is that out of all the services they definitely treat their people the best.  That's not to say that we don't have all the respect in the world for other services.  There's plenty of good natured ribbing that goes on between the services, but we all need each other to get the mission done. 

2) What duty station(s) are on your “No Way, Hell No, Not Going, Have Fun Unaccompanied” list and why?
I joke about the fact that if Colby gets stationed in Alaska, he'd be going on his own!  I wouldn't really send him off into the ice floes alone, but I would have a really hard time there.  Washington state was enough to nearly kill me--Alaska seems like it would be a million times worse.  But hey, maybe I'd be surprised and love it.  (Doubtful.) 

3) If you could be one age forever, what age would you choose and why?
This is hard for me to answer, and for whatever it says about me, I've thought about it a lot.  My gut reaction is nine-years-old.  I *loved* 5th grade, school was still easy as pie at that point, I played outside after school with my sister and best friends every day.  I was only allowed an hour of television a day (I picked a half hour and my sister picked a half hour), so I had tons of reading and writing time.  All in all, it was awesome.  BUT, I wanted to be grown up so badly.  So, if I could pick that age, it would be with the caveat that the burning desire to be an adult was excised from my personality!  Otherwise, I'd say 25.  Newly married to Colby, in our lovely house, surrounded by a close circle of friends, no conception of the stresses brought by the crashing real estate market.  But then again, 28 is pretty awesome too! 

4) If you were a breakfast cereal, which one would you be?
I choose not to be cereal, thank you! 

5) What is your morning beverage of choice and why?
A nice strong black tea with cream!  My current favorite is Numi Breakfast Blend.  I discovered it first at a restaurant in San Francisco, and it is the perfect combination of strength and smoothness.  Delish!

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In #28

1) If you were a famous movie star, what types of movies would you star in?
Historical dramas, no doubt.  From the moment I fell madly in love with Gone with the Wind to my weakness for BBC costume dramas, I have dreamed of playing a beautifully dressed woman of days gone by in a film with an astronomical costume budget.  Of course, with my luck, I'd probably end up cast as the hard-luck guttersnipe dressed in dirty rags. 

2) What is a vacation you would like to take if money were no object?
This is tough, because there are so many places I want to go.  Just one of my many dreams is Paris.  I would take a first class flight direct from the East coast to Charles De Gualle airport, where I would be met by the driver of a fancy limousine who would spend the next weeks driving me everywhere I want to go.  I would spent the next week in a Frenzy of Parisian delights, then set off for a 2-3 week tour of France stopping at Giverny, Normandy, the Loire Valley, the Champagne region, and the French Riveira.  And of course staying in nothing but the finest establishments--The Ritz in Paris and a swanky castle in the Loire--and eating the creme de la creme of French culinary delights!

Um.  I'm ready to go now.

3) Did you have pets growing up?

Tinkerbelle "Belle" Kriger
July 1994 - November 2010 

4) What do you do for exercise?
Run slowly.  I really like Jillian Michaels and Insanity for building up my manly muscles. 

5) What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received as a MilSpouse?
Whatever you do, always make sure there is a bottle of wine standing by.

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In #27

1) What do you usually want to know about someone when meeting them for the first time?
There's not really one specific thing that I wonder when meeting someone for the first time.  I would say that I'm looking for whether they have a sense of humor.  That's really the most important thing.  Oh, and if they're one of those Facebook caps lock abusers. 

2) Would you rather know everything about your spouse, or be regularly surprised?
After nearly ten years together, there are very few surprises, and I'm really okay with that.  But every now and then, something will come up and I'll discover that Colby doesn't like mint (WHAT?!?) or he puts pickles and mayonnaise on his grilled cheese.  Evidently all of the surprises are food related...  Anyway, those little surprises sprinkled lightly throughout life make it more interesting.  But knowing each other REALLY well is kind of awesome. 

3) If you could live in one city for the rest of your life, where would you live?
You mean if I had to live in one city?  Honestly, I have no idea.  I really love where we're living right now just outside of Charleston.  But I'm still enjoying the adventure of moving from place to place and we're nowhere near making a decision on our "forever home" yet. 

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

5) Using no more than 10 nouns, and ONLY nouns, describe yourself.
Books, Wife, Daughter, Sister, Travel, Internet, Friend, Sarcasm, Author, Mascara

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In #26

Yay!  Today marks my triumphant return to the MilSpouse Friday Fill-In over at Wife of a Sailor!  If you are a military spouse or significant other, feel free to play along as well!
What are you looking forward to most in 2011?
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!!!  Whoop!  Alohomora, bitches!

What is something random you do on a boring night when your significant other is away?
Hm... I don't really do much differently when Colby is here or when he's not.  My average boring night is spent on the sofa either reading a book or watching tv.  I am a thrilling individual! 

What has been your greatest adventure as a MilSpouse?
Can I just say "All of it"?  Seriously, every day is a new adventure.  I've lived in three different states in four years.  My husband is gone on average 200+ days every year.  We frequently find out mere days in advance that he'll be leaving for a 2-3 week trip.  Airplanes break and plans have to be cancelled or rescheduled.  Buying tickets for anything more than a month in advance is either foolhardy or a guarantee that I'll be going with a friend.  Still, with all of that, I've got to say, the Air Force has given us a really good life and I wouldn't take a day of it back. 

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)?
Hm, well, I'm not sure if the bike shorts, mismatched Keds and oversized puff-painted t-shirts of my childhood count since I had minimal control over my attire.  So, I'll go with the high school phase of huge, clomping Doc Martens with the big flannel button ups over jeans.  Either that or over-alls.  I'd attach a photo, but I'll be honest, that's just way too much effort.

What was the high point of last month?
Though there were some unexpected drawbacks, I have to say our Barcelona/Cruise vacay.  I saw such amazing places, and even though we missed out on the Pyramids, it was still an incredible life experience.

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In #8

It's 9:30 in the morning, and I'm already wiped out.  Whoo!  Yesterday's relaxing day turned into a morning spent bonding with the DirecTV guy as he installed our satellite dish (SUCK IT, COMCAST!!) and then an afternoon running errands in the 110 degree heat index.  Then I had the worst time sleeping.  I don't think I slept more than an hour at a time all night.  Ugh.

But I woke up this morning, put on my big girl britches, and went out to replace the embarrassingly dead flowers around the bottom of the tree in our front yard.  Holy shit, it is hot outside.  So, after an hour digging, planting and collecting debris off the lawn, I'm already about to die.  Fortunately, today's blog is an easy one--Wife of a Sailor's MilSpouse Fill-In!

What is ONE thing you’d like civilians to understand about being a military family?
Well, I should preface this by saying that every family is different, including military families.  I guess for me in particular, I just want you to know that we're really not that abnormal!  I swear!  As I've talked about before, I tend to get a lot of "wow, I don't know how you do it" type comments, and I just think it's a product of people trying to reach out and be kind, but honestly, there's nothing particularly special about us.  It's just our life.  We still have the same conversations, do dishes, cook dinner, argue over stupid things.  We're just like you--we just spend more time apart.

What is your favorite mistake?
Haha, getting super drunk at a college party in 2002 and making out with Colby all night in front of all our friends.  Super embarrassing at the time, especially as we spent the next few weeks awkwardly avoiding eye contact, but I think it worked out pretty well in the end!

What indulgence could you give up for a year?
Hm, this is a tough one...  I guess I would say professional hair coloring.  I already do my brown out of a box, but I still like to get highlights put in every couple of months.  I could live without that.

If you could be a winged animal, what would you be?
I would be a butterfly.  They have a great sense of style, sit around in the sun a lot, and drink nectar.  Sounds good to me!

What is one question you’d like to see asked in a future MFF?
I'd like to know people's favorite assignments and why!  The Air Force has already told us to start putting together our dream sheet for our next assignment, and I want to know what people really think about the places they've lived.  Maybe we could get some insight into where we should go next!

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In #7

1) What is something you wished you’d learned to do earlier in life?
I wish that I had learned to sew a long time ago.  It's something I still haven't learned to do, and I have all of these fantasies about seeing a fabulous outfit in Vogue and being to whip it up on my sewing machine in an hour for, like, 50 cents.  My mom tried to teach me to cross-stitch when I was about 5 and I worked on some damn yarn cat on a net sampler for the next seven years without ever finishing it, so I think I'd like to stick with sewing for the sake of fashion.

2) What is your biggest pet peeve with the military?
A lot of people will say that they dislike the instability and the inability to plan anything because of unexpected deployments, classes that suddenly pop up, canceled leave, and yes, that bugs me too, but it's not my biggest pet peeve.  My biggest gripe is the rating system.  You see, there are these things called EPRs and OPRs (Enlisted or Officer Performance Reports).  These are done yearly and are the main source of information when it comes to promotions--especially officers.  However, it's gotten to the point where they are so overinflated that everyone looks as though they are Superman, and if you can't somehow turn making photocopies into a Herculean task, you're probably not going to make it past Major.  They're completely awful, and for years the military has talked about overhauling the system, but that would be a huge pain in the ass and just hasn't happened yet.  Sorry, that got... long-winded...

3) What tourist attraction near you have you never seen?
We've been in Charleston for a little over 7 months, and while there are tons of attractions Colby hasn't seen yet, I've done a pretty good job of seeing most of the big sights.  Of course, there's always more to see and I'm desperate to get up to the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina.

4) What are you avoiding doing right now?
I started Insanity on Monday, and it's not nearly as awful as I'd expected, but I'm always going to avoid doing exercise.  That's just the way it is.

5) Wine, beer or liquor?
Wine--red wine to be more specific!  Liquor has its place from time to time--particularly in a fancy martini, a pina colada or a cranberry and vodka, but NEVER beer.  Blech.  If I have to drink something beer-like, I enjoy a delicious raspberry lambic, but wine still comes first.

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In #6

Happy Friday, everyone.  Thank you all so much for your incredible kindness and support after  yesterday's post.  It was a very emotional day, one in which I found my eyes welling up with tears as I tried to select a Lean Cuisine or my words catching in my throat when my bag boy at Publix asked about my husband.  But I also spent plenty of the day with tears in my eyes because of the outpouring of support not only for me, but for the entire military family.  The prayers were palpable.

Anyway, I'm feeling much better today, and looking forward to reaching out to others in the military spouse community through this fun weekly feature!

1) What is your spouse’s best feature?
I think his best physical feature is his eyes.  They're such a pretty blue and filled with so much kindness and love.  He also has a great sense of humor that complements mine perfectly and is no kidding one of the nicest people I've ever met.  I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen him angry in the ten years we've known each other, and he is always ready and willing to help out at work or at home and would do anything for his friends.

2) Mild, Medium or Hot sauce?
Well, I accept that this makes me an awful Louisianian, but give me Mild any day.  I like a little kick to my food, but I absolutely hate when food makes my eyes water or makes me physically hot.  And let me tell you, it doesn't take much!

3) What is the worst uniform you had to wear for a job?
BDUs, no doubt.  I spent four years in JROTC in high school, four years in ROTC at LSU and two and a half years in the Air Force, and every step of the way I HATED BDUs.  I hated how much work went into getting them ready to wear.  I hated how they were too hot in summer but not warm enough in winter.  I hated how they completely obliterated the shape of a woman, and I hated those stupid BDU hats with the rank insignia digging into my forehead.  Give me Class Bs with a skirt and heels any day!

4) You have invisible powers… where is the first place you would go?
Overseas to spend the rest of the deployment with Colby!

5) What’s left on your “to do” list for this summer?
Wow, so much!  I've made it a goal to finish my Ireland scrapbook before the end of summer--you know, since I've been working on it for NINE YEARS!  My mom is coming to visit in a couple of weeks, my sister and bestie are coming to visit in mid September.  I'm wrapping up a masters class on instructional technology.  And I'm planning to start the Insanity workout program on the first day of August and have it finished by the end of September.

I hope you all have a great weekend, and before you go, don't forget to enter my contest for your opportunity to win a gorgeous pearl necklace from the Aloha Kitchen Etsy Shop.  Remember, the last day to enter is Wednesday, August 4th!

MilSpouse Friday Fill-in #5

Oh, this week just keeps getting better and better.  More school drama is rearing its ugly head, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed very tightly that I'll be able to work something out with the school of education.  The short story is that I believe they enrolled me in the wrong class this term (which was supposed to be my last), and now that I'm halfway through that class, they're telling me that I still have one more class to take.  Sound familiar?  Sigh.

This weekend Colby and I will reach the end of month number one of the deployment.  Which means only a bit more than three months to go.  Um, yeah, that sounded much better in my head.  But still, it's one month closer than we were a month ago, so it's a start.  It does make the first couple of questions of the Mil-Spouse Fill-in pretty easy to answer though!

1) Besides the horizontal mambo, what do you miss most when your spouse is deployed?
Someone else cooking dinner with me... okay, for me.

2) What do you miss the least?
How he untucks the sheets on his side of the bed at night.  I have a strange need for tight, tucked in sheets, but poor dude is just too tall for our bed, and he says his feet feel trapped by the sheets if they aren't untucked.  My little Abe Lincoln.

3) You only get three crayons to finish your picture... which three do you choose and why?
I guess it depends on what my picture is, doesn't it!  Hm...  well, I'm getting pretty pumped up for LSU football season, so I'll go with purple, gold and black!!

4) If you could have your own fragrance, what would it be called?
Eau de Introvert

5) If the shoes make the man (or woman), what do your shoes say about you right now?
Well, if you mean the shoes I'm wearing--I'm not!  So I guess that says I'm a hillbilly.  If you're talking about the 60ish pairs that I have in my closet, well, I guess they'd say I have a serious addiction problem.