Get real! Your poo does not smell like roses!

 If I see another my life is perfect post I might just puke, but then again the I am a a martyr because my man is a Marine makes me want to scream!

This life is filled with ups and downs, so when you only portray the good to me. I know your not being real and hiding behind a fake facade of lies and deceit. Your one year old is not a mathematician, it probably plays in the toilet water and wipes its buggers on your antiques.

It takes more then strength! Semper Fi!

     I had no clue what the military life style was like when I married my husband. I probably could have told you more about the lifestyle of the rich and famous because they are always on TV. Sure I had seen some of the tear filled leaving and coming home videos. I had seen some news reports, even a movie or two that show these heroic (yummy looking) men running into battle. Maybe I did even think: They can't all be like Chuck Norris or Steven Seagal,

The roller coaster of life & Simple moments

Life has its ups and downs. times you scream and shout out of joy and the times you do it out of terror or any other number of emotions. I am just full of metaphors and analogies  today. This morning I used the treadmill and hamster wheel, to describe the rhythms and negativity  we sometimes get stuck in. I really need to stay away from mechanical objects that go in circles. Good thing I have not been to an amusement park lately or I am sure I would have used a “Merry Go Round” analogy.

ADT/USMC (fun with photos)

Conjugal visits! (aka R&R)

 Planning our conjugal visit! Under my circumstances they are normally called Deployment R&R, but I have decided to affectingly refer to it as our conjugal visit. It seems very fitting, and lets be real at least a few days of it he and I plan to toss the kids to his parents and run away to a hotel. If that does not yell conjugal visit I don’t know what would.

Child Abuse Awarness: Part of my story and a reminder to all of us! If you suspect it report it!

How many of you realized it was child abuse awareness month. I know I did not until I read a blog on the topic. Seems sad that it is almost the end of the month before I read something highlighting it. As a person that was abused I almost feel guilty for not being more aware and metaphorically shouting about it sooner. I have so little on my plate these days, with all the spa days and pedicures. Oh, wait that’s what I do in my short lived hours of dreams. Reality is Deployment, children, chores, girl scouts, dance classes, bills, and chores. I guess I already said chores, but those silly things never seem to go away. I guess I will not beat myself up to much!

Ahh, your such a “cute” couple! {cute, what I'm not a puppy or a baby!!}

Have you ever been told this? The first time I heard this about my husband and I. It made me smile but shake my head. What do you mean “cute?” My husband hates the word cute so his reaction was very entertaining. You see “cute” in its original definition is used to explain something young or infantile. A baby, a puppy even a small child can be cute. Call him cute and it causes a unique and hysterical reaction. I sometimes do it on purpose just because I love messing with him. If we get into a debate and I want to win, I will sometimes distract him by saying; Ahh, babe your so cute. He is a man, an adult, a Marine there is no way in his mind he can be “cute.”

Kids Say The "Dandiest" Things!

My daughter this morning, trying very gently to wake her up.

“Mom why do Mondays always start sooooo early!”

I started laughing, she probably thought I had completely lost it. But, I couldn’t help it. I felt the same way. My laughing was interrupted by the beep of the coffee maker to saying my cup of morning salvation was ready. I felt bad for the kid, Mondays are never fun. Not bad enough to

Beautiful Inside & Out!

Yesterday I survived another year of dance photos for my little girl. There was lots of coffee flowing through my veins. If you do not have a little girl in dance, I'll start by saying once a year. Normally at the end of the dance season when you are getting close to recitals. The studios always do "Dance photos" every child has to put on their recital costume(s) and partake in group/class and individual photos. I always dread this day! I have found over the years picture day is always way worse then recital day. Recitals are an all day event with many "acts" in between dances for your child so lots of time for changes and adjustments. While picture day is normally set up by age. All the costume changes, hair styles changes and make-up. Yes, make-up! Take place over a short amount of time.

Military acronyms and slang style "report!" :)

 Its been an extraordinarily busy couple of weeks with many highs and a few to many lows. Here is my fun with Military acronyms and slang style report!

There is scuttlebutt that the "duty NCO" Crystal Barnes was not diligent in her perimeter checks and is facing a page 11. Her misconduct caused "CQC" with the dreaded terrorist commonly known as "Virus" aka “The common cold.” The boot Taylor took some shrapnel from the attack but has recovered. "Baby G" Barnes has recently been released form sick bay and is expected to make a full recovery. The NCO herself was hit hard by this enemy but was considering submitting herself for a medal. She did keep up her troops and overcame the attack. :)

Family & Unoffically "offical" deployment baskets! {Don't forget the choloclate)

Right before I married my husband one of his friends stopped by my place. She and her husband had been friends with my soon to be hubby for some time. I did not know her well at that point but she quickly became a very valued part of my life. Having been a Marine Wife for a while she gave me the best wedding gift ever.

Memories

Memories can be beautiful, motivating, angering, and even haunting! Our memories can fill us with so many emotions and a lot times you are struck by many at the same time. Memories can be stemmed from wonderful events our weddings, child birth, a special date with your spouse. They can come from tragic events, the loss of a loved one, or things like yesterdays bombings. When the events happen good or bad they are always in the front of our thoughts. As time goes by life takes over and these events are not forgotten but no longer our focal point. A single event big or small can cause our memories to come flooding back.

Sprinklers, K-9's and reunions!

I had a family member send me a touching video about a service member being reunited with his dog after deployment.  It got me thinking about our silly dog and our last reunion of sorts. My husband had gone away to one of his Jump schools. If I remember correctly he had been gone about  two months. Not long in the scheme of things but I was still very excited to see him. I had a special little thing all planned out.

United yet Seperate

     Today I am writing about something personal to me. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find as much comedy in the situation as I would like. You can read a lot of blogs and articles about post-deployment reintegration. The struggles of bringing two people whom have been living separate lives back together. There are even some articles that put a romantic spin on it. Talking about the joys of falling back in love when your spouse returns. But until recently the flip side to these romantic articles never hit me. Does that mean you fall out of love while he/she is gone?

Mighty Midgets!

Baby Barnes 2012

It is the month of the Military child and I feel like I would be remiss if I did not dedicate at least one post to these mighty little midgets.

Military kids are as diverse and unique as there are different colors of crayons made by Crayola. Some of them take this lifestyle in stride and others need extra love and support along the way. But then again I don’t know one spouse, male or female, that has not needed a hand to hold or shoulder to cry on along the way. And we are the adults!

Brain Power Of A Gnat!

 

Thank you for joining us! Today we are tuning into

 “Brain power of a gnat” 

brought to you by the powers of deployment.

Random Ramblings!

photo creator unknown

    Seriously silly, The spouse bragging thing. The my husband did this and this and has gone here and here. He is the bomb and his rank is yada yada.  All his accomplishments make me cool and just check out this rock I am wearing. Oh, and the name brand bag I just bought! When this kind of thing happens I visualize myself saying:

{Well yesterday, I climbed into bed with a toy truck and cleaned banana off my walls. I found this coupon, I plan to use at “Wal-Mart” this week. I know hold back your applause, I am so the coolest!}

Empathy vs. Sympathy, Apples to Oranges!

See hash-tag for photo origin!

I found my writing inspiration today looking at Military Wife jokes.

I think sometimes we get so caught up in our own plight and we forget to have empathy for others. {Empathy = Compassion, To put yourself in their shoes and remember what it is like, sympathy = feeling sorry for them} I am not saying I am not guilty.

Please send Tissues! :)

                                         

photo origin unknown

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Vacations {Flowers and Fairy Tales}

      When I day dream of vacations, I always think of the fairy tales getaway. No kids, a nice hotel room, hot tubs, flowers, meals out, moon-lit walks on the beach, couples massages.. Ahh, I have had one of those! Honestly I did. Although my husband was not nearly as fond of the couples massage as I was. You see he got “bruno, the furry” to do his massage and I got the petite attractive brunette. He made me promise to never put him through that again. That was a wonderful vacation. I also came home with a little gift that I will never forget. I came home pregnant, Imagine that. Ha ha

Prepping!

I am a very analytical person. Yep, I am one of those. Something comes up, changes about to happen and I think about it. Then I think about it some more. Then I probably think about it a couple more times just to make sure. whatever I was thinking the first time was right.  As you can imagine my mind is kept very busy in this military life style.
  

Hot Topic #2

I want to talk about being in the Service. The anger, frustration, and sacrifice we sometimes face. The days or nights I curse the branch of service I encouraged my husband to re-enlist in. I don’t hate the service most days but there are times in this life. That if it was a person, it would so get an ear full.

Deployment: Hot Topic #1

     I am calling this “Hot Topic” because this is one of the things no one ever seems to want to talk about. Most of us don’t like to admit “hot topic’s” even exist! We talk about missing our men, we talk about Mr. Murphy and how he likes to visit. We are very open about kid problems, there emotions and adapting issues. As a community we are getting better about talking about depression. But there are few things I have noticed that even I dislike admitting to or talking about. even though they are, or very much can be a part of the deployment package.

Fun With letters!

If our son could talk!

Dear daddy,

Why, oh why, did you leave me alone with this crazy woman I am told to call her Ma ma. She is always wiping my face and telling me no. You should see what I go through in a day.

Adversity

This is not going to be my normal humor type of post. It is much different. Today I had two little kids over to play with my daughter. They are eight and nine years old. I do not know their story and probably never will. What I do know is that they currently live with there aunt.