Laundry, Little Boys & Lattes has a great story on her blog about hearing gun fire on post, I also have a story about the sounds of the Army.

When we were at Fort Carson many moons ago, I worked at a Christian Publishing company in the Accounting Dept. My office was right next door to one of the big managers, you know he had higher cubicle walls than me. One day Terry calls me from out in the field and there is all kinds of Artillery and gun fire in the background and for just a second I had this evil thought in my head, what if I put the phone on speaker for just a second, how long would it take the Accounting Dept to clear.... This wasn't too long after Columbine so I didn't think they would find it funny. I laughed so hard thinking about everyone hitting the floor and crawling to the nearest exit. I know it isn't funny when it really happens, but dang it would have been a sight to see.

I went with several friends to the first OSC (Officer Spouse Club) meeting/luncheon of the year. It was pleasant and everyone was very nice. Much different than the horrible situation that was going on in Leavenworth while we were there. We happened to get on the housing topic at our table. I think I stayed pretty calm, I guess I really have let go. Some day we will get a house on post.

I found this article about Joe Biden dropping out of the election on Fox News.com. I heard about it on the radio yesterday, but they dismissed it has false. Surely it is, I mean who changes VP picks a month from the election. And as someone else put it, can we really trust someone to be president that can't stick with his decisions...

I was tagged by Laundry, little boys and lattes.

1. Post the rules on your blog
2. Write 6 random things about yourself
3. Tag 6 people at the end of your post

6 random things about me

1. I graduated from high school with 14 other people, one is my husband.
2. I have a college degree and have never taken a foreign language class.
3. I have never tried an illegal drug/substance of any kind.
4. I think my kids are normal, not super smart, not slow learners, not gifted athletes, not klutz's, not perfect, not bad, just normal.
5. I love no bake cookies, so do my kids.
6. I am so boring I can't think of six random things.

I tag

Lisa A day in the life of Riley
Roberta Life in Iowa and beyond
E Our Dream Team
Melanie Galingers on the go
Molly Capra Chaos
Megan Adams Apples (since she hasn't done it from the last tag)

Okay this whole bail out thing has me why we didn't go buy a house we couldn't afford so that we could get saved by the government. And how about those CEO's that have made 100's of Millions of dollars in bonuses, and now their companies are getting bailed out by you and me the tax payers. If someone can explain to me how this works I will be glad to listen.

Things are going so well for us and I think it is important to stop and thank God for blessing us with such good fortune. The kids are all doing very well at school, even Jason seems to be enjoying going to school everyday. Work is going well for Terry, he isn't so busy that we never see him, he likes his boss and he feels things are going well for the upcoming deployment.

I am staying busy volunteering at the gift shop on post along with working towards my Financial Planning Certification. Today I attended a budgeting class and can see that there is a real need for help for these young soldiers with families and not alot of money. For the most part I will be doing most of my work on a volunteer basis, (I might get lucky and get paid for a few hours this fall) but I really feel that if I can help one family get their finances in order, I have achieved something. Someone asked me the other day what I was doing with all my free time now that all the kids are in school, I think I am as busy or more now between kids, volunteering, occasional housework, occasional pedicures. I am also meeting tons of new people, and I feel like I am now part of Fort Drum. I can go to almost any meeting, or event and know people. What a great feeling that is. I am so lucky.

Dylan has stuck with his football in spike of the bruises and pain of being knocked on his a&& and his first scrimmage is tomorrow. I am anxious to see him on the field. He has now decided he wants to play on an indoor soccer league, so there goes the rest of our Saturdays till Terry leaves. Dylan is also still involved with boy scouts even though it has taken a backseat to football.

Tyler is busy with soccer 3 nights a week on Fort Drum. Even though he will never be the star, he seems to be having a great time and learning teamwork.

Jason loves having Daddy home, and he and Tyler have formed a new friendship, since Dylan is never around. Next year will be even busier with he and Tyler playing soccer and Dylan doing whatever he wants to do next year.

As Dylan embarks on his first season of football we often talk about Kirk and how he played football. I know Dylan wishes Kirk were around to teach him a thing or two about the game, of course knowing Kirk, tackling would have been the first priority. One of the benefits of going to a small school, Kirk did a little bit of everything on the field. I was living in NM during Kirk's senior year and I think I went to all his home games. He was fun to watch and the video's I took are priceless now. This is a video of Kirk scoring a touchdown. He is number 22. Might want to turn your sound down as it is loud.

Borrowed this from a friend's email this morning. I know that with all the deployments we often wonder what we signed up for. It certainly wasn't like this when my spouse said, hey how about I get my commission and we do this for another 15+ years. The last paragraph sums it up.


What is a MILITARY Wife?

They may look different and each is wonderfully unique
But this they have in common.

Lots of moving---
moving
moving
moving far from home
moving two cars, three kids and one dog----all riding with HER of course
moving sofas to basements because they won't go in THIS house
moving curtains that won't fit
moving jobs and certifications and professional development hours
moving away from friends moving toward new friends
moving her most important luggage; her trunk full of memories

Often waiting-
waiting, waiting, waiting for housing; waiting for orders; waiting
for deployment; waiting for reunion; waiting for phones calls;
waiting for the new curtains to arrive; waiting for him to come
home for dinner----AGAIN!
They call her 'military dependent', but she knows better
she can balance a checkbook
handle the yard work
fix a noisy toilet.

She is intimately familiar with drywall, anchors, and toggle bolts.

She can file the taxes, sell a house, buy a car, or set up a move, --
--all with ONE Power of Attorney.

She welcomes neighbors that don't welcome her.

Reinvents her career with every PCS; locates a house in the desert,
the arctic, or the deep south and learns to call them all 'home'.

She MAKES them all home.

She is fiercely IN-dependent
Military Wives are somewhat hasty
They leap into decorating, leadership, volunteering, career
alternatives, churches and friendships.

They don't have 15 years to get to know people.

Their roots are short but flexible.

They plant annuals for themselves and perennials for those who come after them.

Military Wives quickly learn to value each other.

They connect over coffee, rely on the spouse-network and accept offers of
friendship and favors and record addresses in pencil.

Military Wives have a common bond.

The Military Wife has a husband unlike other husbands.

His commitment is unique. He doesn't have a job, he has a 'mission' he can't just decide to quit.

He's on-call for his country 24/7 but for you, he's the most...
Unreliable guy in town!
His language is foreign: TDY, PCS, OPR, ACC, BDU
And so, a Military Wife is a translator for her family and his.

She is the long-distance link to keep them informed; the glue that
holds them together.

Military Wife has her moments--
She wants to wring his neck, dye his uniform pink, and refuse to move to Siberia.

But she pulls herself together.

Give her a few days, a travel brochure, a long hot bath, a pledge to the flag, and a wedding picture.

And she goes.

She packs.

She moves.

She follows.

Why?
What for?
How come?
You may think it is because she has lost her mind.

But actually it is because she has lost her heart.

It was stolen from her by a man
who puts duty first
who longs to deploy
who salutes the flag
and whose boots in the doorway remind her that as long as he is her Military husband,
She will remain his Military wife

I found this video on laundry, little boys and lattes . Just the other day my mother and I were discussing the election and candidates. She then said something that made us both cry. "Thank God their mothers chose Life". My 2 brothers and my sister were adopted. So you want to talk about a compelling reason to be Pro Life, I will give you 3 reasons.





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Hard-boiled eggs can be annoying and time consuming to peel. In this video, master of time management Tim Ferris (author of the great book, The Four Hour Work Week), demonstrates how easy it is to get the egg without having to peel it!

Instructions:

Cover the eggs with water and boil on low for about 12 minutes
Cool the eggs by placing them in cold water with 1 teaspoon of baking soda and ice. The baking soda raises the pH level and reduces adherence. If you choose not to use baking soda, be sure to move the eggs into cold water with plenty of ice immediately after boiling
Crack the top of the egg and remove a small piece
Crack the bottom (wide end) of the egg and remove a small piece
Hold the egg in your hand and blow vigorously into the narrow end of the egg, which will expel it out the wide end
Doesn’t get much easier than that! Just be ready to catch it when it comes out…

9-11 always brings out the where were you stories...here is mine.

We were in Quantico VA. Terry was attending the Marine Advance course (AWS). I had just turned the tv on and had just turned the chanel to the Today show and Matt and Katie were talking about a fire in one of the World Trade Center buildings. They had no idea what had happened, there were some reports of a small plane hitting it, but no real concern. As I was watching, the other plane hit and everyone thought that something must be wrong with the air traffic control people. I was now glued to the tv watching the Trade center buildings burning and listening to the reporters trying to figure out what was happening. They were talking to someone at the pentagon when it was hit. At first they thought a bomb had gone off it was several minutes before they realized it was another plane. Terry was in class, so I called my mom. I was scared, I knew we were under attack and we were only 30 minutes from the Pentagon. I kept saying to my mom "who knows what will be hit next". Then they were reporting that all aircraft had to land immediately. And it wasn't long before they figured out that Flight 93 had gone down in PA. Terry was home by 10:30am. I will never forget watching those towers fall, wondering how many people were still inside.

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A friend called the other day and we chatted for a while and I mentioned we were still waiting on housing. She said she had notice I hadn't put anything on the blog for a while and she didn't want to bring it up. I laughed, what could she possibly be afraid of? Me freaking out again!!!! Oh those days are long gone, I am so done with letting housing decide if I have a good day or not.

We are sitting third on the list, 1st to be offered a house. We are waiting patiently for someone to move out of a 4 bedroom. With 1st Brigade coming back and 3rd Brigade leaving, we are hoping some will open up. And I am good where I am. I have a few months before the snow comes to stay and we will just have to suck up the extra costs of living here. As my friend suggested, maybe I will only heat a couple of rooms.

I would never hesitate to voice my concerns again. I know that in some way I helped someone else along the way by not being afraid to say this isn't fair. So keep praying.

I made this quilt last winter when I was stuck in the house. I sent it to someone to be quilted, but I did the rest. I think it turned out well. I already have my material for this winter's project.

We went camping near Lake Placid this weekend. White Face ski area is only 123 miles from our house so our hope is to go skiing before Terry leaves again. We took DB so that prevented us doing a few things that we would have liked to do, so next time he is staying at the dog sitters. We stayed at a KOA campground and they had a dog walk area and a dog playground and the kids had a blast taking DB to the playground even though all he did was sniff around.
Lake Placid is a nice town, very touristy. Kids enjoyed some Ben and Jerry's ice cream and Terry and I enjoyed a nice Latte from Starbucks, camping at it's best. The only thing better would have been to go eat Japanese food at one of the many Japanese restaurants there. Here are some photos and a couple video's of the kids swimming. Dylan and Tyler took the video, so hold on it is crazy.

I don't talk politics, but I am thrilled with Sarah Palin, I was up till after 11:00pm watching her speech. America wants change... why not put a young (she is close to my age) smart, ambitious woman in the VP office. I see absolutely no reason for her not to be a excellent VP and if the need arises I have no doubt she can handle the presidency and do right by the American people.

Kids all survived the first day of school. Jason seemed to have a great day, he talked about going to gym in the huge room, he enjoyed lunch and fell asleep on the way home. Tyler got to go to PE, and got to go outside and he knows several people in his class. Dylan got home at six, almost a full 12 hours after leaving. He said it was a bit chaotic until he found his first class - advanced reading and then after that he had a schedule in his hands and was fine. He didn't get to practice football as I had failed to fill out the back of one of his sheets, one that I turned in last week. Too bad they didn't let us know ahead of time. I guess I wasn't the only one that missed the backside of the sheet as he said several people sat out with him. There is a bus at 5:00pm that brings them home.

I was a bit lonely right after they all left yesterday realizing it would be like this for the next 13 years. No more babies... I had my first web class for Financial Counselor program. Very informative. Next week I will start all my volunteering so that should keep me from getting too lonely. Today I have brunch with friends, tomorrow I volunteer for 3BCT Blood Drive. There is always something to do....

All three kids are off to school. Jason wasn't sure it was his bus, but he got on and sat with Tyler. I hope he doesn't freak out when he gets to school. Tyler never hesitated and Dylan was ready to start Football. Here are some photos of the big day