MilSpouse Friday Fill-in #39

1. Have you and your spouse agreed to live in separate locations (a geographical bachelor tour) knowing that the short-term inconvenience would have long-term benefits for your family? How did it work for you? submitted by When Good People Get Together
I said no at first, then realized we actually had. Sort of. I was still in college when we sneakily got married, so he was three hours down the interstate. But we weren't living together prior to that, since he was away at basic/tech school/etc so it wasn't a big change from what we were already doing.

2. What is your favorite thing about being a MilSpouse? submitted by Sarah Ruth Today
The potential for awesome travel/living abroad. I want to go to fun places.

3. If you could still have your spouse and your family, but take the military life out of it...would you? submitted by Trust, Love, Believe, Bake
I haven't really experienced enough of the military life to say one way or another. It hasn't had any kind of drastic, life-changing effects on our lives yet. Get back to me in a few months when I'm across the country.

4. What have your homecoming experiences been like after a year long tour of separation? submitted by Army Soldier, Army Wife
Erm, not entirely applicable. When he came back from the 4 month deployment, I was exhausted from the will-he-be-here-or-won't-he run around - over the course of 3 days, I was told a different eta every few hours (and I had to prepare since I was picking him up at BWI - nearly 4 hours from home). After spending the day in DC with a friend, the husband called around 10 pm and said he'd be at BWI in 2 hours. A little while after I started driving to the airport, he called back and said he wouldn't be in until the next morning, so I tried to turn around to go back to my friend's house, took a wrong exit and was lost in downtown DC for an hour. By the time I was able to get back in touch with my friend and have her try to lead me back to her apartment, I got another call - he would be arriving that night after all. I got to BWI and neither the arrival signs nor any of the few people working (it was well after midnight by this point) had any idea where to point me. After another hour and a half of trying to nap/wandering around an empty airport, I suddenly saw a mass of camo at the far end of the corridor. How the hell was I supposed to pick him out?! He made it easy and found me first (only about 3 people were leaving from there, the rest were flying out again the next morning). We didn't get out of the airport until around 3:30, and at that point, he decided he just wanted to go home instead of doing the logical thing and getting a hotel, so we got home after the sun came up and immediately passed out since we'd both been up for over 24 hours at that point. Probably the least romantical reunite ever.

5. If you have a child(ren) why did you choose their name(s)? If not, why would you name your child something? submitted by Tiara's and ACU's
We have no younglings, but have unofficially agreed on Anja for a girl. I like the German-ness, as it would go well with the husband's last name. With me being saddled with the same name as 10% of the other girls born in the 80's, I will not go near anything on the "most popular" lists - I once worked with 5 other Ashleys...it got confusing/annoying. And we don't want to go for the other extreme of making up/horribly misspelling a "regular" name, as the in-law's left a letter off of the end of the husband's name to make it "unique" but that just ended up making people misspell/mispronounce his name his whole life. I'm going to make an educated guess and say that we will probably agree upon not insane sounding sci-fi related names.

Musical Funtimes

It is link up time with Goodnight Moon. I'm quite pleased that I remembered to do this before three days from now. Yay me! Every time I hear this song on the radio (like I did yesterday), I find myself unconsciously humming it for a day or two. Also, I want this chick's hair. And I wish high school picture day was this cool looking in real life.

A Late-ish Musical Link-Up

I usually forget to do this, and I am several days late, AND I'm too late to actually link up with Goodnight Moon for What's YOUR Song? Week 9, but I'm posting this anyways. Wah wah.
My musical selections for the next 7 weeks will most likely represent my upcoming Bonnaroo extravaganza. Gogol Bordello is this week's pick. I've seen them once, and, oh, what a gypsy punk dance party it was. If there is one thing that defines my musical tastes it is this: if you can have a hoe-down to it, be it country, Irish, gypsy, or folksy, I love it.



Things I love about this video:
The opening quote: "Remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants." -  Franklin Delano Roosevelt - It's so true.
Eugene Hütz's superfly mustache.
The pictures of old-timey immigrant mustaches. 
Eugene Hütz's crazy-eyes and gold tooth.
The tiny little country maps showing where everyone in the video is from - this is a 9 person band that represents 8 countries. Hello globalization. 
The Mexican Guy (minute 2:52 and 3:46) who looks like Saddam (you must admit...that's a brave look to try to pull off)
Sergey Ryabtsev's violin throw down(starting at minute 3:12)

MilSpouse Friday Fill-in #38

1. How many pets do you have? And what type? submitted by Life and Times of a Displaced Jersey Girl
One polydactyl kitteh, Sicily. Though she was born in the mountains of Virginia, we like to imagine that she is at least partially a Norwegian Forest Cat. Her tail isn't as huge, but she has the wooly undercoat and massive head, chest and leg fluff (especially in the winter). We hope to bless her with a canine sibling after we reach the west coast.

Norwegian Forest Cat

Sicily

2. What are your favorite projects to do while hubby is away? submitted by my-inspired-nest

Is road tripping/concert going considered a project? Cause that's what I do. I am also more motivated to go to the gym while he's away.

3. What are the must-haves in your deployment care packages? submitted by Christine's Little Blog
Peter Pan Honey Roasted Creamy Peanut Butter. And Jim Melton's Beef Jerky.

4. If you could star in any TV show, which would it be? submitted by Just A Girl
Does being a contestant on Jeopardy! count as "starring" in a show?

5. What was the biggest hurdle that you faced during your significant other's first deployment? submitted by The Pavlik Perspective
The time lag via Skype. Our conversation would start out all well and good, but then it would get to the point where we couldn't hear what the other person was saying until 45 sec-1 min after it was said. It got a little frustrating. Oh the horror, right?

Bad Blogger!

 That's me...It's just that at the moment there is literally nothing going on. The husband is in ALS (Airman Leadership School) for the next few weeks, so he's on base longer and then has massive amounts of reading/outlining/speech writing to do when he gets home. I have been occupying myself with errand running, streaming Netflix and reading (lots of reading). I've had A Game of Thrones lying around since Christmas and finally got around to finishing it the day after the show premiered. Then I started the next book in the series, A Clash of Kings, and finished 40% of it in two days, so that's an improvement. I must say, though the story started out a bit slow, these books are pretty bad-ass, and I love that they made a show of it so I can put faces to the characters. They have even made me appreciate the husband's Kindle. I'm old school and actually prefer turning pages and having bookmarks and such, but I'm also too impatient to wait a week to have the actual book shipped to me, so the Kindle has been a life saver. I should probably take a break, as the storyline has invaded my dreams, but I'm an addict at the moment.  

                                

I spent a bit of time researching our future home as well. I'm still at a loss on the finding a place to live front, but I'd rather make that kind of decision once we are there and can see for ourselves if there are crack houses on the other side of the block. I have discovered that their are multiple base libraries that appear to be better stocked than both the base and county libraries here, there is an indie art house theater nearby, and *drumroll* the base has a WOMEN'S ROLLER DERBY LEAGUE. I've also learned that the I-5 is a veritable parking lot (boo) and there is an app for local happy hours (yay!). All in all, it doesn't look so bad. I feel as if I should be more prepared though, since we'll actually be there in 3 months, but this whole PCS-ing thing is new to me so I'm not sure how to go about being more prepared. Maybe I should go clean out a closet or something...

MilSpouse Friday Fill-in #37

1. With PCS moves happening every few years, do you take the time to paint and decorate your home? submitted by Life as Mrs. JPT
We've lived in two apartments in two years here (we didn't find out how ghetto the first one was until we had already signed the lease). We've had stuff on the walls in both places, but I wouldn't call it decorated. Since we should be in Washington for 3-4 years, I think I'll go for it and try to make wherever we live seem homier. I'd love to have some color on the walls. And maybe actually get a dining room table that isn't a folding card table...

2. If you could live in any home on a television series, what would it be? submitted by Standing By Him
Oh my, can I just pick pieces of different TV houses? I dig Carrie Bradshaw's closet on SATC. The Greystone's house on Caprica was pretty tricked out, but most of the awesome stuff in it (um, robot butler? yes, please!) doesn't exist in this universe. I really love the exterior of Cam and Mitchell's house and the living room/kitchen of the Dunphy house on Modern Family. And the guys on The Big Bang Theory have the best geeked out decor. So if we can just mash these all together, I'll be happy.

3. What inspired you to start your blog? submitted by Pink Combat Boots
One, I figured it was a way to keep a few friends updated on the impending cross country move. And two, I wanted to fill out Friday Fill-ins :)

4. What is the weirdest thing you've ever seen on base? submitted by Adventures in Life
I've thought long and hard about this and I honestly cannot come up with anything. I'm sure I've seen a weird thing or two on base, but none of them stuck to my brain.

5. Which historical figure (politician, writer, artist, scientist, actor, etc...) would you like to have dinner with? submitted by Army of Two
I'll go for the obvious here and say Jesus. I'd like to see what he really looked like (cause you know he wasn't blonde haired and blue eyed) and what he'd have to say about things going on these days (particularly some of the hateful things done in his name).

The BSC Will Save the Day

Yikes, I have been terrible on the blog front this week. And it's not that I've been busy or anything. In fact, the exact opposite is true. I've done nothing but be a good little hausfrau all week - cleaning the kitchen daily, laundry-ing, being a helpful sous-chef (because I still can't cook). I did have a meeting with my former manager, in which he told me that he wasn't mad about anything, I'm awesome and he wanted me to come back to work, but since my stress level has decreased to next to zero in the weeks since the evil-customer incident, I declined. I'd been telling myself forever to get out of there, and now it is done. Granted, I could have picked a better time to become unemployed...

Aside from house-wifery, I've been spending entirely too much time reading lots of depressing shit about the government shut down. There isn't much I can add that hasn't already been said about the fuckery going on in Congress. For a while I was thinking, "Nah, this won't actually happen," but now that it is closing in on zero hour, it looks like the husband is only getting paid half of his earnings on his next paycheck and that kind of makes me irate. We have *some* money in savings and no kids to feed or anything, so we'll be okay for the time being, but it's the principle of the thing! I can only imagine the feelings of those whose significant others are in fucking combat and won't be getting their appropriate amount of pay. Congress needs to stop acting like moody teenagers and drop the bullshit of tagging on disagreeable provisions onto bills that would allow the military to get paid on time, especially considering that when these asshats go out to campaign they can't stop prattling on about how much they support the troops and just how amazingly patriotic they are. Yeah, nice way to show it. Support the troops, my ass.

On a far more lighthearted note, I have found a wonderful remedy for the all-kinds-of-pissed-off that happens after reading about the debacle above. My good friend Pinot Grigio and I get together and read these amazingly entertaining blogs (and there are so many of them!) snarking on my favorite pre-teen lit, Sweet Valley and The Baby-Sitter's Club. Did you know that there is a new (by all accounts terrible) adult novel called Sweet Valley Confidential that follows the now adult Wakefield twins?! And there is a piece of SVH/BSC crossover fanfic over at What Winston Saw that is the most ridiculous thing ever, but I just couldn't turn away. I can't be the only person who read these as a kid and loves having the inanities of these series pointed out. Lame? Yes. But taking refuge in in terribly written schlock is better than focusing on how the government is trying to give me an anxiety attack.

MilSpouse Friday Fill-in #36

1. What romance movie scene reminds you of your spouse and the LOVE you share? submitted by Simply Sunshine and Daisy's
Really? Okay, I'm going with the Ikea scene from (500) Days of Summer, uh, because we both really like Ikea.

2. If you were allowed to deploy with your husband to a war zone would you and why? submitted by I & J
Dear sweet baby Jesus, no thank you. Luckily, the husband's job doesn't actually go directly into war zones. But if it did, it would be bad enough for one of us to be there, much less both of us. I would think that it would be distracting to the service member to have to worry about their family's safety in such a volatile place. I would definitely prefer to stay behind in relative safety. Besides, someone has to take care of the cat.

3. Have you ever done anything (intentionally, or unintentionally) to embarrass your spouse in front of his military cohorts? submitted by Marrying the Navy
Yeah, but it wasn't anything too dreadful. So the husband started playing Magic (you know, the geeky card game) at lunch with some guys in the lab. Then he started trying to get me to play at home. At first I refused. I mean, I'm a nerd, but am I THAT nerdy? But he finally convinced me and I beat him, nay, destroyed him like ten times. About a week later, I stopped by the lab to ask the husband some random question on the way home from the gym. It was lunch time and he and the other guys were in the midst of their card game, so I shamed him by letting everyone know that I totally owned him at his own game.

4. What is your most irrational fear? submitted by Eights on the Move
I am terrified of birds pooping on me. It has happened twice in my life, once while playing in my front yard as a kid, and again about three years ago. The husband, the bff and I were downtown on an unseasonably warm spring day, looking for a place with outdoor dining. As we waited to cross the street,  I suddenly felt something on my arm. It was bird poop. I started screaming. Of course none of us had tissues or paper or anything, so the husband took off his sock for me to wipe the grossness off. Isn't he chivalrous? We ended up eating lunch indoors. Now whenever we see a flock of seagulls, the husband narrates how they are out looking for me to poop on again. The worst is at the park where you have to cross this long bridge to get to the trails and there is always a family or two feeding the birds. It is always a walk of terror.

5. If you could only live in one kind of climate for the rest of your life, what would it be and why? submitted by Many Waters
After a week of gloom, cold and rain, I'm craving a nice stretch 70-something-degrees sunny days. I just don't even want to leave the house when it's cold and gross outside, so nice weather makes me more productive as well.