MilSpouse Friday Fill-ins (a day late)

While catching up on blogs, I found many new layouts (looking great ladies!) and a blog for someone I follow on twitter. Wife of a Sailor has a fun meme she just started for Fridays, since I'm just now finding it on a Saturday, I wanted to go ahead and participate a day late. Hope no one minds!

MilSpouse Friday Fill-ins

This week’s questions are:

1. 1. How did you and your spouse/significant other meet?
2. At my job, during the huge event at the beginning of October (and sometimes the end of September), he was helping out at it in 2005. I already knew his mom and older sister, and he already knew one of my cousins. Our boss had us posted near each other, he came in my door to use the restroom, etc. and I would step outside by his post to escape hearing the "fried chicken, salad, 7 vegetable medley" sales pitch for the millionth time that day. One night after I helped close up the building, he walked me out to my car, we kissed, and I won't get into the rest of the story, but it's almost been 5 years and we've been married for almost 3.
3. 2. What is the best thing about being a MilSpouse?
4. This is tough to answer, I don't get the same benefits as some other MilSpouses since my husband's in the Reserves, (no insurance, housing allowance, living near a real base, etc.) so at times I don't feel like a MilSpouse. When we're out at places and he's either in uniform or wearing an Army shirt, and someone will either thank him or buy our meal (it's happened a few times), I usually giggle (don't know why) but its nice knowing that people appreciate my husband for joining the military, and training to defend our country.
5. 3. What is the hardest thing about being a MilSpouse?
6. THE UNCERTAINTY!!! I've spend a great part of the last 2 years thinking my husband's deploying in a few months when it never happens. Everything is last minute, travel pay comes in AFTER he's left, not knowing if he'll be leaving next week or not for something, him coming home unexpectedly (it has happened several times!), not having any friends (military or not) to vent and talk to about all this, and the whole "deployment" thing last year.
7. 4. What is your favorite dish?
8. I'm going to assume this is a dish that I don't cook, since most of my cooking involves pulling a frozen tv dinner out of the freezer and sticking it in the oven (cooks better that way). My husband found this awesome marinara sauce recipe online, so when he cooks it and noodles to go with it, it rocks! In a restraunt setting, manicotti has to be my favorite. Teriaki flavored foods are a close second (asian, Red Robin, etc.)
9. 5. If you could change one thing in this world, what would it be?
10. Only one??? Hm...the way my life has turned out? Other than the things involving the military and my husband, I've had lots of bad luck that just doesn't seem to run out! I gave up on trying to find a job in the field I have a degree in, my normal summer job was eliminated this year (still pissed about that), the physical pain doesn't seem to ever go away, just move to different areas, living situation (because of the injuries, job stuff and uncertainty w/the Army), and other bull shit.

Sorry if anyone's leaving here depressed (I'm good at doing at apparently), but its nice to get everything out there, and now I will try to go to sleep. Have a good day and thanks for reading!

No summer department =(

The department I usually transfer to from late May to late July has eliminated my post this year. I'm upset, but I do understand their reasons. When I started as the relief in 2006, it was a bigger deal, there was a gift shop we watched over, nicer tv's, and a gate between that area & a baseball field to make sure it was closed so horses weren't stolen & only authorized people could get in. Sometime after that summer (I didn't work there the next summer), the gift shop was no more, so the post was still around, but not as big of a deal. After the baseball season ended last August-September, the team moved to a new field, so I knew it wasn't as big of a deal for my post to remain. I still held out hope it would, but it didn't. I hate working the other post, you have to get mean & tough with some people (not one of my natural traits), and at night, chase down *coughdruggedcough* race horses to get them back in their stalls. Threats of turning them into glue doesn't help.

Since I've been in my normal department for 5 years, I can work a shift most can't handle (graveyards), & some that used to work out here more aren't here anymore or work less, I am receiving more hours & responsibilities. Great example, this one HUGE building, my boss has never had me in there by myself until last weekend. It was a holiday weekend, so many took off to the lake, out of town, or they just aren't answering their phones. I also had several motion detectors (dogs).

The summer I didn't transfer, I froze! I spent my time in a very cold arena. It was 100 degrees outside & here I was carrying around blankets & jackets. This was also before my "terminator leg" so it wasn't as bad back then. Sunday night, I'll be back in that freezing cold arena w/layers of clothes on (its only been in the 90's lately), shorter hours, but I'll still have to do my best to NOT make my leg hurt!

Did I mention the stairs or the elevator that gets stuck? How about the people that feel the rules don't apply to them? Another "joy" from working my normal department, especially during the summer, yay!

Silver Star

I was featured on someone's blog!

This is a blog entry about me by D. A. Schweiss:

Quiet Rumbling

He featured me on his Blog to Blog post, he felt it was appropriate since it was Memorial Day. We've had some interesting conversations on twitter, and I believe we met through Six Word Saturday. If your coming over here from there, welcome! I hope I can answer some questions in this post to help you understand the one he featured "I'm ok"

I wrote this after my husband (Vx) left for deployment. He's in the Army Reserves, like the National Guard, normally Reservist serve one weekend a month, two weeks a year. There are some out there that are full time Reservist (report for duty almost every day), and there is my husband's current unit, they are instructors, instead of going to drill every month, they teach classes for about 2 weeks at a time every few months; they can be ordered to deploy, like the Active Army. In his former units (the 'one weekend a month/2 weeks a year' ones), he had been told numerous times before that he's deploying, and then someone changed their mind. People would keep asking me and him, "When are you leaving?" and we would keep telling them, "In a few months," but then something would happen and he wouldn't go. He really wants to deploy! I wanted to live on my own before we got married and I didn't, so I wanted him to go because he wanted to and I wanted to live on my own. Finally a unit (I called Salsa) came along, and this time it really did seem like it was real. He left for the mob site (where they go to get their final items issued, medical checks, and training) right before the I'm ok post, his next destination was supposed to be Iraqistan (we didn't know the exact location at the time). At the mob site, a dentist said he needed to come back home to get his teeth fixed, or as I called it, he was too lazy to do it himself, so they flew him back home 3 weeks later, while I was busy at work. His unit got in trouble during that time, and he wasn't allowed to deploy after all. He still hasn't deployed and it doesn't look like he will anytime soon.

Sometimes I forget that I had another blog that I made private, so I write stuff not realizing

there's no point of reference. October 2007 I was in a car wreck, I broke my left femur, had broken glass in my face, and suffered head trauma and short term memory loss. I don't remember the accident, most of my 11 day hospital stay, and other things that have happened since then (I still have some memory problems). While my husband has insurance through the Army (Tricare), getting me covered on it costs too much, & my job doesn't provide benefits for me (I'm considered part-time). I am part Native American, so I can get cheap or free health care through their clinics and a hospital about an hour away. Living in Oklahoma, where many tribes are located, this helps me out greatly in that matter. It's not the greatest health care, but it's better than nothing.

My job: I'm a security guard for an "event center" where they hold a variety of events. This last week is a great example: I started Friday before last watching some semi trucks and trailers for an auction, then I moved to an arena for a horse/cow show, watching merchandise and not allowing competitors or others inside until certain times (one area opened before the others), then I moved to another building for a dog show. As a music lover, obviously I love working concerts, but I have trouble standing around, and being a smaller woman has its disadvantages as well. This particular event, I was supposed to watch a stage and it's sound equipment, but another co-worker who was trying to get some time off from his full-time job couldn't, so I was moved to his post since it was a bigger deal (watching merchandise and a car inside a tent). I showed up 2 1/2 hours early to my job to see Shinedown perform live, despite the cold, it was a great concert! They're not a local band, but when they were starting out, they played shows here a few times a year, until they became a bigger name and started selling out those places immediately.

I hope I answered any questions you may have, if not, feel free to leave a comment, email me silvrstar@gmail.com or if your on twitter, @silvrstar. Again, thanks for stopping by!

Six Word Saturday

Via email, it's 6WS! My words describe what I just ate:

Ice cream for dinner, don't judge

One of the joys of being that a-word (adult), you get more choices w/your meals. If you've never had the joy of eating Braum's ice cream, I'm sorry. It's a chain of ice cream stores based in Oklahoma (spare me your singing of our state song) that also serve breakfast, cheese burgers, and you can purchase some grocery items there. One of their menu items they call a Mixx (3 x's? gillion?) It's ice cream w/candy or fruit mixed in, idk if its limited time or not, but you can also get strawberry short cake (yummy breakfast a few weeks ago), chocolate chip waffle cone (my dinner) and some other special flavors that have slipped from my bad memory.

No wonder I'm getting fat!

To participate in this fun game, visit www.showmyface.com & be nice to Cate, she's awesome. She has a colorful picture you can post, and Mr. Linky can make it easier for others to check out your entry (as long as you link to the actual 6ws post).

Enjoy your Saturday, I'll be snoozing away!

silver star

blah

Yeah, that's how I feel. Blah. I am so frekin bored with this whole damn life! Once I get past an aggravation, another one comes up.

We finally got the air conditioner, burners on the stove, oven, fridge, bathroom sink, fan, and the toilet fixed. We had to clean up, that was an undertaking, Vx's deployment shit is EVERYWHERE! Out of fear that maintenance would have to replace the fridge and stove completely, his stuff had to be moved into our bedroom, on top of all of his other (mostly deployment) shit that I have to trip over to reach the dresser or open the window.

Since the Army rather send soldiers on multiple deployments instead of sending my husband (who WANTS to go) on his first, can I pack up all this deployment stuff and send it back to Fort Dix or that other base he got the shit from? (the mob site in Georgia)

The a/c was fixed immediately (outside company, it was out of coolant), the rest took a while. A maintenance man came to work on it, he fixed the bathroom sink (there was a hot water stream when it was turned off all the way) and all the burners work (2 didn't work before), tweaked w/the toilet (its better now than it was, the tank fills up after flushing it most of the time), made the fridge colder (like having frozen food on the warmest setting is gonna be fixed by making it colder?), said there wasn't anything wrong w/the fan (Vx made him stand in the bathroom w/it on until it started squealing loudly), then he said he'd have to order a part for the fan and stove (electric coil exploded). The office called Vx about the repairs, he told them everything, the maintenance man wrote on his work order that he fixed everything. He's now been reassigned. A new maintenance man came in and fixed everything! He's wasn't sure about the fridge, but it's keeping things cold now (NOT frozen), we can cook again, and the bathroom smells disappear much quicker and quietly now.

Right about the time everything was fixed, Vx's friend asked him to do some work on his mom's house, she's moving out of it, the friend and his girlfriend (together maybe a year) are moving in. The thing that bothers me about this: Vx and I have been married for over 2 years (together about 5), we still live with my mom in her apartment! Is it just me, or should the rolls be reversed?

Vx has orders now (not that it means anything), he's in a new unit on the west coast, he won't be going to drill once a month (not that he has been since the whole deployment bs), after completing some classes, he'll be an instructor. One possibility is we'll be living at FLW (would it be appropriate to call it the chemical mecca?) for a short time while he teaches some classes. I fear if this assignment doesn't happen, we'll never move out of my mom's apartment. I WANT OUT OF HERE!!!

I made the mistake a month back, I asked Vx to call someone about these garage apartments near this area we agreed to live in, there condo's and they were asking as much for it as what my medical bills were about 2 years ago (six digits), now he's stuck on the idea of getting a place w/a garage. I found some other garage apartments, they were newer and further away from that particular area, they were asking 3X as much! Now he's stuck on the idea of garage apartments.

The place he had a storage unit at before the deployment bs, he's renting a unit from them again. One of the people running the place before may possibly be a "tag chaser," I'm not sure. She told him she's dated Marines, and she sent him a picture of what appeared to be her boob. He had a talk with her about it, so hopefully I won't have to do anything to her! He says there's stuff in the unit, and he'll put some of the army stuff in there as well, he says a lot of stuff but doesn't do them, so I don't have much faith in what he says or in anything involving him.

Summer time's coming, I don't know how last summer's job will work this year, ES changed the rules on work hours and pay, I assume it also applies to FMT as well. While I don't want to work about 60 days straight again, I'm curious how all of this will work with the others since this is only a 2 or 3 month job that some need to work more than 40 hrs a week at. Are they gonna have to hire more people for a temporary job? Some of these people work there every year, so if new people need to be hired, then they'll have to be trained, and pass background checks, and maybe even IRS (some do, some don't). That's something else that worries me, I made a mistake on my taxes last year, your taxes have to be in good shape for my department, so will the mistakes affect me this year? Federal said I had a mistake, but my refund was still the same, and the state kept what was supposed to be refunded.

The other night, I was looking at canes online. I feel so old. I'd like to have a fold up one that I'll keep in my car or whatever bag I carry around at work so when it starts raining while I'm there, I won't have to struggle to walk around as much. The other day, my husband and I went to Wal-Mart while it was raining outside, I could hardly walk into the store. I was okay when I got inside, I sat at a bench while he tried on some pants, we walked around a little bit, and when we were leaving the weakness started again. So this is what life will be like for me, hope that new unit doesn't want Vx and I to move there (I believe it rains in that area a lot, its also colder there)!

Thursday: Funny Pet Moments

After a brief "hiatus" (me being lazy), Thurday's Funny Pet Moments has returned!

Funny cat pictures from this site.

And for the dog lovers:

Forwarded Funnies: Service Dogs [PIC]

Have a great day!

Random mess

The first email I tried to type up was accidentally deleted, so let's try this again.

I've been working outside in my car for the last 2 or 3 weeks, every single night in the cold (one night in snow) watching semi trucks and trailers. They were auctioned off a week ago, some are taking their time picking up their items, but they are leaving. I counted about 30 left tonight (out of 300+), I think this is my last shift, but I'll have to check later.

*I won a blog make over! I'm very excited about the new look, but I would like some ideas from my readers, so leave a comment or email me if there's something you'd really like to see on my blog. I'm thinking lots of color, I'm not a big fan of green or yellow, I used green to match the Army theme, and silver is not exactly a color that I can use online.*

My mind feels very random. My neighbors aren't letting me sleep during the day, the cat isn't helping much (she cries through the door, or if you let her sleep with you, she attacks you, gets right in your face, purrs, etc.). Last week was spring break so I thought that was the reason, but the neighbors are still as noisy as they can be. Cold makes me sleepy, & some workers f/the auction think they caught me sleeping on the job one night (I wasn't, they startled me) so I really have to stay awake.

Vx has been transferred to another unit, he's becoming an instructor on Chemical Warfare for non-74D's, he naturally talks to people very easily, especially w/topics he knows very well. He still needs to complete WLC and instructor classes. He now has the points for a promotion, so that is a highlight for him. He believes that he'll be sent to Washington state at least once a year, so it'll be a chance for him to visit his little sister, nephews, & his dad & step-mom.

I don't remember if I posted anything about the aftermath of getting 3 wisdom teeth pulled, I had some jaw pain for the first week afterwards, but it's better now; no pain (or drugs) & I can open my mouth all the way or pretty close to it.

The rain is now causing weakness in my leg. I'm struggling to walk, my titanium rods, pins, and the left leg they sit inside of doesn't want to support my weight. I used my cane a month ago at work, I've been in my car most of the time so I haven't really needed it.

I should be leaving work in about an hour, so I'll quit writing for now, hope everyone has a great day, and don't forget to wear red (Remember Everyone Deployed on #redfriday)!
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device from U.S. Cellular

MF S

Mother-fuckin shit!

Times like tonight are a big reason why I hate this job!

I've been watching some trucks & trailers for an auction group that's using our parking lot. Earlier today the auction was held, my boss didn't say anything to me about needing to work after the auction, so I stayed up late (4pm instead of noon like normal). I've been coming into work at midnight, 12:30 my supervisor called my MIL (had the wrong # for me) and she called me. When I tried to call my supervisor on the phone he was supposed to have w/him, my boss answered. She took the grounds patrol phone home w/her that my supervisor is SUPPOSED to have, she has her own phone, so why does she need 2 (3?) phones? I don't have my supervisor's cell #, I've always been able to get a hold of him on the grounds phone when I needed to call him, so we talked a few minutes, told her I would leave home soon, & apologized numerous times for waking her up, then she called him I guess. About 1:15am I arrived, there's paper work I have to deal with f/this auction, so my supervisor showed me what to do & he had to talk to me about something else...

Yesterday an auction worker said he caught me asleep. I WASN'T SLEEPING!!! Him & his co-workers have either arrived after I left, or they drove in, he decided to walk in pushing a noisy battery pack. I was staring at some trucks & was startled by that noisy battery pack. After that everybody else drove in, one even towed a battery pack on his truck. If he gives me any attitude this morning about that, I may go off on him! It would be fine with me if I don't stay at this post until everything's moved out, another co-worker thought he'd be here til the 24th if not longer, I relieve him, its supposed to snow this weekend, I don't seem to drive well in it, so it's fine w/me if I don't work the rest of this.

Another thing, the CEO is so freaked out about spending too much money that will affect how I'm paid for this job, and the cell phone issue. My boss has to cut back on her cell phone use, so she's using the grounds phone. It would be ok if everyone actually had radios, but that's usually not the case. My boss can't have me work over 40 hrs in a week (never an issue before since we'd do 80-90 hour weeks then not work again for several weeks), so part of this pay is supposed to go on another check as time and a half. My last check had 40.25 hrs on it, they paid me time & a half for 15 minutes, I got a big kick out of that.

Spring's starting in the next few days (don't remember which day exactly), about the time it's supposed to snow here. Great! Not a shocker, a few years ago, it snowed on opening day for the baseball team, that's in April, so until they start playing ball, snow will not shock me, I'll just be upset.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device from U.S. Cellular

Six Word Saturday

It's that time of the week again, where we pay tribute to armadillo's with lasers by playing Six Word Saturday!

If you've never played this fun game before, you just describe something using six words. Simple enough? My words for this week are out of exhaustion:

Will everyone please let me sleep!

The worst thing about being a night owl and working a job that caters to that life is the other people around me that don't live that way, or at least not on a daily basis. While attempting to sleep on Friday, maintenance started working on someone's stair case (sawing and hammering away) what seemed like right outside my bedroom window, then if that didn't wake me up fully, the neighbor with noisy pipes took a shower, the ones on the other side of my bedroom wall were watching tv at a loud volume, the cat was crying into my door (I have to keep it closed or she'll never let me sleep), then my mom and her boyfriend woke up, started being noisy in the kitchen. My mom works nights Saturday-Monday nights, but becomes this annoying day person the rest of the week. If my husband was around, I'm sure he would've added some yelling at his computer to the mix, but luckily his job gave me a small break from that. I finally went back to sleep AFTER my alarm went off, Vx called me an hour before I needed to be at work, so I hopped up, threw on several layers of clothes (did I mention I'm working outdoors, sitting in my car?) ate part of some pizza at home, took some more with me, grabbed lunch and left. It's a miracle I'm making it to work on time or very close to it!

To participate in this fun game, click on the pretty graphic on the top (the colorful one, not the pillows) to visit Show My Face, post a comment, use Mr. Linky, and watch out for the armadillos, lasers, and I'm sure there's some scissors laying around as well.

Enjoy your weekend, I'll be trying to sleep and making a little green.

Six Word Saturday

It's time again for Six Word Saturday! This week, my entry will be a little more creative than the others:

No more chicken and stars soup

I've been living on the stuff for the last week and a half, I never want to see it again! Unfortunately, these two cans and maybe another one or two still remain. The one on the right is a convenient cup you can microwave and drink, the one on the left is the original stuff that you have to either cook on a stove or pour into a microwave bowl. My jaw is improving and the swelling is minimal, so I should be able to eat more normal foods at a more normal pace and time soon.

To participate in the fun little game, visit Call Me Cate's wonderful blog by clicking on the colorful picture at the top (not the soup one) to play along, grab a button, Mr. Linky, and leave a comment. You can also check out some of the other 6WS entries to see what other creative (or not so creative) things that others have came up with.

Another six words I just thought up:

I hate the freezing cold arena!

While this is one of the better posts to work at (hours, access to plug ins, ability to move around, little noise, etc.) I HATE THE COLD!!! Most of the time I've worked at this post, I have had to wear 3 or 4 layers of clothes and use a heating blanket just to somewhat stay warm, EVEN WHEN IT'S 100 DEGREES OUTSIDE!!! Right now its not, but in the middle of the night, it was warmer outside than it was inside, and its still winter time. I also have to walk up and down the stairs which bothers me at times. There is an elevator, but it's famous for getting stuck, like it did last night with a member of the cleaning crew inside. Luckily he was a skinny man, and was able to push the door open wide enough to get out.

This same cleaning crew, a former member of it died last week. He started about the same time I did, he flirted with me, was about my age, but the way he died and how others treated his injured/dead body does upset me. He was shot at a restaurant in a not so nice part of town in the middle of the night. People walked over his body to get their food, and when the ambulance and police arrived, people were in their way, so EMT's were unable to work on him until they arrived at the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. There were a bunch of people around, but no witnesses will come forward.

Sorry to be a debbie downer, but those are my thoughts at this moment. Tonight should be my last night in the arena for a while, then back to my "normal" life.

Try to have a good day, and have some fun for me!