RE: Military wives support

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Harvie -> RE: Military wives support (7/28/2008 2:03:39 PM)
We've decided to take a last minute, spur-of-the-moment (2 weeks) vacation to ... Alaska! We fly in an out of Anchorage (got a nice deal on tickets through Alaska Airlines.) We wpend the first 3 nights at Elmendorf Air Force Base, then 2 nights at the Seward Military Resort, then 2 nights at the Dancing Bears Bed n' Breakfast in Girdwood. We haven't figured out where we're staying the last 2 nights ... we have to wait until the weekend to see if we can stay at Elmendorf those last 2 days.... and we can't check Fort Richardson until we are 3 days out ... so we may end up there or in a hotel! What fun!

peculiar_lady2 -> RE: Military wives support (7/28/2008 5:37:09 PM)
quote: We've decided to take a last minute, spur-of-the-moment (2 weeks) vacation to ... Alaska! cool!!!!! (If you ever decide to take a spur of the moment trip to Germany, check out Edelweiss Lodge & Resort in Garmisch)

Brandy -> RE: Military wives support (7/28/2008 8:06:41 PM)
We were stationed at Elmendorf!! I so miss Alaska. Have a GREAT time Harvie and don't be surprised if you don't sleep very well at night.. it only gets dark from 1-4 am this time of year.

_Cinderella_ -> RE: Military wives support (8/2/2008 7:10:03 AM)
My brother joined the army [sm=funny.gif] I am really glad he did. He dropped out of high school and has been letting his life waste away ever since. I hope the army will be good for him and he won't drop out or anything.

peculiar_lady2 -> RE: Military wives support (8/2/2008 11:34:11 AM)
YAY for your brother Cathrine!!!!

ezri -> RE: Military wives support (8/5/2008 11:13:05 PM)
Posting this here as well- it seems to be the active thread. Sorry for the double posts. quote: Digging this up out of the dregs to ask a question- Honey leaves the first week of Sept. I feel like there are a million things we need to do or ought to be doing but I cannot for the life of me get my head around them. We are in the last 3+ weeks of his being here. HELP! What stuff should be taken care of prior to him signing in? We already have the wills and power of atty done. The few things around the house that i KNOW require a man to do have been done. What else is there? I have Pre-Deploy Brain Drain ~e

IAMJulie -> RE: Military wives support (8/18/2008 12:36:18 AM)
Someone asked, quite a few weeks ago actually, when DH was shipping out. I haven't been on in a while so I apologize for not answering. Once we heard he was leaving things got really nuts, especially in the last few weeks. He has been gone three weeks today and boy has it felt like a lifetime already! Him being gone is one thing but he hadn't even been gone a week when Zion ended up in the ER with a dislocated elbow, then a few days after that she ate something naughty and I had to call Poison Control and a week ago she tumbled head first down the stairs. Gideon quit sleeping after left and Gabe is an emotional wreck. The last one I expected. Also, the microwave died and it appears that someone paintballed two of our vehicles - well, one actually but it covered both of them. The crazy thing is that I feel like things are going pretty well. Obivously many, many people are praying for me otherwise I would not be feeling that way! DH spent the first week in San Diego updating his medical file and getting his jabs and whatnot then went on to Ft. Bragg for training galore. We're slowly but surely finding out more about the job he'll have once he gets over there but we still don't know a lot. I did learn through a meeting two days before he left that he is considered an Individual Augmentee and what that means. It would have been nice for them to tell us that when they first told us he was leaving, it would have answered a lot of questions. Ezri, there should be a check list that you can get your hands on that may help. Rob was given one that was fairly long and then a family handbook (that we got two days before he left) also had a shorter version in it for me. Sarah, I mat a lady from Ft. Hood today. She was visiting family at my church. Her name is Ruby, sweet gal.

ezri -> RE: Military wives support (8/18/2008 9:29:15 PM)
Seems we have most of the stuff in the family booklet done. My honey is a personnel admin guy- so we have had that booklet for a while now as he has had open acsess to it all along. I just feel like we are forgetting something. We have the budget down... what I will pay and what he will pay (online) we don't have a lot of bills as we are working ourselves out of debt for the last 5 years. He did take out another small loan to cover the cost of a lawn tractor and some car repairs that came up this past 2 weeks. He has taken care of training #1 and #2 sons in the Maint. of the driveway(gravel and has to be dragged after big rains), water softener(bag of salt every month), & A/C filter(new filter every other month). He has all his gear, and it is all put together and inventoried and ready to go. He told me to add half of his current gas money to the grocery budget and use the other half for a 2x a month fun night out. We have my AKO mail acct all set up and going with a nice web cam for the video messages you can send. RE: AKO mail... GAH the PASSWORD requirements! Anyone else want to choke the idiot that thought 2 uppercase letters, 2 lowercase letters, 2 symbols, and 2 numbers and at leats 10 characters was a good idea??? Security? NO WAY! Not when the requirements are so thick one has to keep it out in the pen and easily acsessable to remember it! ~e

ezri -> RE: Military wives support (8/18/2008 9:35:03 PM)
OH! and Honey leaves the first week of sept. for a predeployment site survey- 10 days in the sand to "survey" the "new" digs. he will be "home" though not "home" for a week then they all sign in and head to Ft Bragg for all that training that you were talking about. [;)] ~e

peculiar_lady2 -> RE: Military wives support (8/18/2008 9:46:56 PM)
quote: RE: AKO mail... GAH the PASSWORD requirements! Anyone else want to choke the idiot that thought 2 uppercase letters, 2 lowercase letters, 2 symbols, and 2 numbers and at leats 10 characters was a good idea??? Security? NO WAY! Not when the requirements are so thick one has to keep it out in the pen and easily acsessable to remember it! ROFLOL...I completely understand....that's why I am sooooooo glad we don't have to deal with them much now. (btw, if you want my ako addy, just let me know) Julie...glad you got some more info. Things went crazy right when Paul leaves for big things too...but then things seem to settle down and the mundane things set in still praying for both your men and your families....thanks for the updates.

IAMJulie -> RE: Military wives support (8/18/2008 11:58:39 PM)
Anyone have any brilliatn ideas about how to eat healthy when DH is gone. Yes, I have three kiddos but one is on a liquid diet only (i.e. Mama's Milk) and the other two eat like birds. It makes no sense to make a whole meal when it's really just me that going to eat it and I can't stand leftovers. I have a few ideas but would like to hear what others are doing.

MissGizmo -> RE: Military wives support (8/19/2008 12:19:32 AM)
I see where several of you ladies say that your husbad's are headed for FtBrag. My nephew that just came back from Iraq in July is now doing trainning for the ones getting ready to go. I will be praying for all of the service men & women & their famlies while they are deployed.

Sideways -> RE: Military wives support (8/19/2008 4:21:17 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: IAMJulie Anyone have any brilliatn ideas about how to eat healthy when DH is gone. Yes, I have three kiddos but one is on a liquid diet only (i.e. Mama's Milk) and the other two eat like birds. It makes no sense to make a whole meal when it's really just me that going to eat it and I can't stand leftovers. I have a few ideas but would like to hear what others are doing. Julie, I got this book when it was just dH and I, and I really like it. It has small portion recipes that are usually quite tasty and healthy. The author is pretty entertaining. LINK

BlessedMamaofmany -> RE: Military wives support (8/19/2008 6:19:21 AM)
we eat a lot of sandwiches and soup when the man is gone. Easy and filling. I like to make a BIG pot of soup, whatever kind I feel like...then when it's cooked and cooled, divvy it up into freezer bags (in serving sizes big enough for me and the kids), then I can just take it out and heat.

IAMJulie -> RE: Military wives support (8/19/2008 8:36:56 PM)
Thanks Sideways! That looks great! And of course when I looked at that one Amazon brought up a bunch of similar "cooking for one/two" cookbooks so I've got a lot of ideas. I'm going to see if my library offers any and maybe let myself buy one or two. I'm a cookbook addict, have a bookshelf in my kitchen to hold them all. Blessed Mama, we are eating lots of sandwiches. Soup will come when the weather cools. I guess part of me has to get used to having those two things for so many meals - especially when the kids will only eat PBJ or grilled cheese. :) I have a great recipe for Taco Soup that I have frozen in the past because it's too much even when Rob is home. I was going to try to find a restaurant supply store to see if I could find small aluminum pans that I could split recipes into for things like casseroles and my favorite baked mac'n cheese. I also need to find the time for that though. It seems Gideon will be happy while I cook and fuss when I eat or fuss when I cook and be happy when I eat (usually because I'm nursing him) so I don't have as much time as I'd like for advanced preperation. Once things settle down and we get into a groove (we're nearly there) I also plan to invite company over maybe once a week. That way I can cook a "real" meal and have people to share it with. I've started fighting loneliness lately, funny how that can happen even with three kids in the house, it will be nice to have adults in the house once in a while.

IAMJulie -> RE: Military wives support (8/20/2008 1:40:57 AM)
Just an FYI for Sideways and anyone else. My library didn't have the cookbook you recommended but they had most of the others that Amazon recommended, all for one or two people, including a slow cooker cookbook for two. :) I'll check them out at the library and buy the best ones. Also, Amazon had all of them for sale through used stores/individuals for only a few dollars each.

IAMJulie -> RE: Military wives support (8/22/2008 4:54:48 PM)
Alrighty, where are all our military wives? :) Today is Rob's birthday. He is 32. Tonight we're going out to dinner to celebrate without him. He did get the care package I sent though and enjoyed his gifts. What do you guys do for birthdays?

ezri -> RE: Military wives support (8/22/2008 10:24:56 PM)
I have been spending time with my Honey... AND everyone else that wants to spend time with him before he leaves. My Sister and BIL came out and spent 2 days/3 nights. It was a good visit. Our biggest issue right now is that our 11yo and 9yo have regressed to about age 4.5 and 3. [&o][:(][:o][X(][:@] They are "Special Needs" the 11 yo is developmentally delayed anyway- on a good day he does well to function at age 7 or 8 and doesn't associate natural consequences with the action that brought them on. not making that connection = him making the same bad choices over and over sometimes. I am thankful that my Sis and BIL work as house parents at a group home now--- in the past they have been very down on my hard line boundaries with the lil ones. They have been working this job for a year+ now and fully understand the situation and have told me that they have dealt with it but they get a break (20 days on 10 days off). we had 3 major infractions while they were here, all by perpetrated by our 11yo son. 1- Attempted Manipulation of a Aunt (to include the major hissy fit he pitched following the big let down that it did not work) 2- Letting a scared newly adopted baby kitty out in a yard she'd never been in before. (but he did not literally "LET" the kitty out- he only opened a door he had been specifically told NOT to open and watched her run past.) 3- Premeditated permission seeking... Oooo a new one on ya? Let me explain. This is when you wait til mom is gone and Dad is up to his neck in some project then ask the same thing over and over til dad says WHATEVER JUST SHUT UP AND LET ME WORK! This case 11yo, who I was already contemplating duct taping to the ceiling, asked his dad if he and his 9yo brother could sleep out in the lil tent Uncle C**** brought them. Daddy said yes. Imagine my surprise when Honey said Okay Bed time and my 2 sons that are doing good to be called toddlers started toward the back door. I have not wanted to cuss so badly as I wanted to cuss right then. The boys where out the door before I looked at Honey and asked him what he was thinking when he said yes to that one??? He immediately called them back in and told them that the priviledge had been revoked until they could make better choices. then I find out that he was stringing a fishing pole and up to his neck in fishing line when 11yo started in on his tear about the tent and it was a WHATEVER just go on and be quiet choice. 11yo bawled for 30 minutes. [&o] Me personally? I am feeling the beginnings of depression starting to creep in on me. I am taking stress tabs and all- I realize that it is coming on so I am trying to take steps to thwart it or manage it. The boys handling the stress by becoming blubbering idiots half their actual age is HAR*D. My eldest Son is doing much better since his dad had the "Man of the house" chat with him (buying him a new riding lawn mower helped too[;)] ) The girls are doing Okay- 16yo is an emotional wreck- but breathing and moving and doing what needs to be done. 18yo is dealing a bit better but only by a few steps. ~e

IAMJulie -> RE: Military wives support (8/23/2008 1:32:17 AM)
I'm sorry, Ezri, that's no fun. My kiddos waited to act out until my hubby left we actually had pretty good days before he left. And my kids are only 4, 21 months, and 3 months so when they act like that it's appropriate. My 4 year old is simply more emotional and he's already very emotional so I'm having a hard time being patient when he's had 6 tearful breakdowns and he hasn't even been up 20 minutes yet. My 21 month old is getting into EVERYTHING! And she knows she's not supposed to so she waits until I'm occupied. Then when I come back from wherever I find her on top of the coffee table, emptying the cupboards, getting into the craft bin and coloring herself with marker, eating things she shouldn't, dumping my water bottle onto the couch... you get te picture. And my 3 month old has quit sleeping well. He's back to waking every 2, sometimes 3 hours. My DH was the Master Soother and little Gideon has communicated to me under no uncertain terms that I will never do. Do you have people to support you once he's gone? I mean besides your older kids. I told my favorite babysitter who's 15 that I would adopt her if her parents were OK with that. :) She's so helpful, sweet and kind! I also have a woman at church who put together a roster of ladies and teen gals who have all volunteered to come watch the kids once a week for a few hours so I could get away or do things at home that I can't do with 3 chillen's hanging off my legs. And my sister has promised to come and spend the weekend with me every so often and since she is the kiddos very favorite person that helps a lot. I hope that things smooth out for you before he goes. On another note, I scrapblogged a page for my hubby tonight that I'm going to print and send him - check it out here So Proud.

ezri -> RE: Military wives support (8/23/2008 11:10:36 AM)
I love the scrap book thing- it is too cute. my two lil ones are reds, my eldest is what I call blonde-blonde-strawberry-blonde. This years Forever Day picture <-- all the kids + Honey and... This is a photo album with all of our forever day photos + a few other "all the kids" photos in it. My 12yo sounds like your eldest. (He may not live to see 13 [;)] ) My Honey sounds like yours. he is the soother... 'specially when they do something STOOPID. I am like "Yeah- you black and deckered* that one- suck up your speshulness and get over yourself." He is the head pat you messed up you will do better next time type. my 14yo was told to turn off the dining room light. it is attached to the ceiling fan, one of those expensive types that we have only had for 4 months. We said LIGHTS. he turned off the light by the pull chain THEN proceeded to mess with the fan chain pull. he continued to mess even after we'd said Leave the fan alone. only the light. Then--- he put his hand into the blades and forced it to stop. He burnt out the smart motor. My first NICE fan bought not because it was the cheapest but because it was lovely and would look beautiful in the room it went into- Pewter and Oak finish. He burnt it up. We had to buy another fan yesterday. Found a nice one on clearance and bought a remote switch for it. Now to turn on the fan you push a button on the wall. With the remote switch it cost the same as the nice one. it is brass and mahogany finish. It is okay but i really liked the other one. Can't a Momma have NOTHING NICE? Really the kids are all over 9... You'd think at some point.... and something hanging ABOVE THEIR HEADS... At any rate 14yo actually admitted the fan dieing was his fault. That is a good thing. he is really good about finding someone else to blame. ~e *Black & Deckered is a stand in for what you do with a screw driver + the word up.

peculiar_lady2 -> RE: Military wives support (8/23/2008 11:34:52 AM)
quote: Today is Rob's birthday. He is 32. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROB!!!!!!!!!!! quote: What do you guys do for birthdays? when my hubby was deployed I was not able to do anything for his birthday simply because that week we were leaving Germany to go to my moms in TX (to stay with her for the remainder of the deployment because I was pregnant and would be put on bed rest at some point). So we didn't get to "do" anything for his birthday. His birthday is a week after Valentines Day though....so after we got settled at my moms the kids and I made him V-day and B-day cookies and sent those (and a few other things) to him. quote: Our biggest issue right now is that our 11yo and 9yo have regressed to about age 4.5 and 3. I am sorry...we had to deal with that with our kids too...esp Jake. He is soooo very sensitive to things like that. quote: Attempted Manipulation of a Aunt (to include the major hissy fit he pitched following the big let down that it did not work) that's a biggie here.....esp with Jake....he tries to do that, playing me against Paul. quote: Me personally? I am feeling the beginnings of depression starting to creep in on me. [:(][:(][:(] I am sorry Ez. we found the hardest part of the whole thing to be the year leading up to it. We knew 12 months in advance that he was going...and that whole year they "trained"...never long enough at one time to get extra pay, but if you added up all the days he was gone during that time it was over 9 months worth. (Don't you just love how the Army gets around THAT rule). After he left things settled down nicely....we got into our new routine and things started going much better for the kids and me. (Then of course a huge wrench was thrown into things and I found out I was pregnant with Jackson when Paul had been gone three months...yeah that was fun...NOT). quote: *Black & Deckered is a stand in for what you do with a screw driver + the word up. ROFLOL.....kind of like when things "hoover" Paul has been back now for over a year and a half and things are still not the way we want or need them to be. The kids second guess everything he says (esp the oldest one). We DO NOT play that game...or the going back and forth "Well Mommy said...." or "Well Daddy said...". That is an automatic spanking in our house. Our oldest though will argue on and on with Paul about the stupidest things....things he wouldn't dare do before he left and things I won't put up with. Paul can say something as simple as "Jake, go make your bed" and we get the whine fest of the century. I try to leave it alone and let Paul deal with it on his own (how else can he be the authority if he is always having to be backed up by me)...but most of the time I have to step in and at least give "the look" or something. I don't know why he pushes us that way...he KNOWS we are a united front, always have been and always will be. All that kind of behavior has ever gotten him is a sore posterior....but he still won't learn that lesson. Today is Jake's birthday...he is 9yo today.....I hope the rest of our day goes as well as it has so far...no whining.

PrincessDonna -> RE: Military wives support (8/23/2008 12:54:11 PM)
quote: Paul can say something as simple as "Jake, go make your bed" and we get the whine fest of the century. I try to leave it alone and let Paul deal with it on his own (how else can he be the authority if he is always having to be backed up by me)...but most of the time I have to step in and at least give "the look" or something. I don't know why he pushes us that way...he KNOWS we are a united front, always have been and always will be. All that kind of behavior has ever gotten him is a sore posterior....but he still won't learn that lesson. Just a comment on this...it may be affected by all the separation from Paul, but we are going through pretty much the same thing with Noah. If he wants to be helpful, then he is. If he doesn't want to, it requires a sore bottom to get him to obey simple things. I think some of it may be age (pushing the boundaries now that they are "big") and personality. Cuz I'm not a military mom...and he doesn't get away with it either, but still, he continues to push it.[:@] ((((((((((((((((((((Ezri)))))))))))))))))))))) (((((((((((((((((((Julie)))))))))))))))))))))) (((((((((((((((((((Sandy)))))))))))))))))))) I think of you guys often and thank God for your sacrifice. Praying for cooperative children (hey, miracles DO happen[;)]).

peculiar_lady2 -> RE: Military wives support (8/23/2008 1:25:01 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: PrincessDonna quote: Paul can say something as simple as "Jake, go make your bed" and we get the whine fest of the century. I try to leave it alone and let Paul deal with it on his own (how else can he be the authority if he is always having to be backed up by me)...but most of the time I have to step in and at least give "the look" or something. I don't know why he pushes us that way...he KNOWS we are a united front, always have been and always will be. All that kind of behavior has ever gotten him is a sore posterior....but he still won't learn that lesson. Just a comment on this...it may be affected by all the separation from Paul, but we are going through pretty much the same thing with Noah. If he wants to be helpful, then he is. If he doesn't want to, it requires a sore bottom to get him to obey simple things. I think some of it may be age (pushing the boundaries now that they are "big") and personality. Cuz I'm not a military mom...and he doesn't get away with it either, but still, he continues to push it.[:@] Noah and Jake are very very similar...every time I read something about Noah that you post I think I could have posted the exact same thing about Jake...lol. I think a lot of it is personality...and also just how he deals with things.

IAMJulie -> RE: Military wives support (8/24/2008 7:56:59 PM)
What to do about my DD and her pacifier? Z is nearly 22 months and has recently become obsessed with the darn thing. For the longest time she has only had her "plug" as we call it in her bed and in the car and I was just about to wean her from it in the car. Now she wants it ALL the time and cries and begs and wails "mommy" over and over again in the most pathetic voice. I wonder if her sudden neediness is related to Rob being gone (why I posted this query here) and what I should do - indulge her or stick to my guns (and only allow it in bed and in the car). Any thoughts? Note, one of the reasons why I don't make her give it up entirely is because Gideon has one or two lying around. She is very stubborn and creative and, though I don't give in to her pleas, she always manages to find one.

peculiar_lady2 -> RE: Military wives support (8/24/2008 10:00:00 PM)
quote: "plug" as we call it [:D] that's what we call it too...lol I personally would indulge her a bit longer...esp with it possibly being a family dynamic issue of her needing that comfort right now. We had to deal with a similar type of situation with Emma and the bottle. She stopped nursing when I was pregnant (and Paul was deployed) and she couldn't drink from a cup for nearly 8 months after that (we couldn't find a cup she could figure out), so she had to go on a bottle. Once we finally found a cup she could use, then Paul was not deployed anymore and we left my moms (where I stayed while pregnant) and went back to Germany. Then three months later we moved from there...the kids and I spent a few months more at my moms while Paul came here where we are stationed now, found a house, etc. Then my nephew moved in here with us for a few months....he left in the fall last year (after he turned 18). All that change finally settled down, so we set her date to quit as being her 3rd birthday (December last year). We talked to her about it, reminded her that 3yo's don't get a bottle, etc. Then when her birthday came around she was ready. We had minimal tears and she didn't even ask after the second day.

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