The Cat is Out of the Bag

For those of you who missed the SpouseBUZZ Pajama Party tonight, you missed our big announcement.

SpouseBUZZ LIVE is coming to Fayetteville, North Carolina, home to Ft. Bragg and Pope Air Force Base, on Saturday, December 1, 2007.

Put it on your calendar. We hope to see all of you there. Trust us, you won't want to miss this high-energy event, and we don't want to miss a chance to meet you!

More details to follow very, very soon.

No Wardrobe Malfunction Allowed

I admit to going through a dozen wardrobe changes each time my husband comes home from a deployment or long TDY assignment. I'm always trying to figure it out. Sexy, casual, chic, pulled-together-smart, natural or all of the above? I want to get that wow factor just right. Truth be told, my husband would be thrilled to see me even if I were wearing stretch pants, no make-up and a ball cap, but that doesn't stop me from obsessing over what to wear. I do it every single time.

Have an upcoming reunion and need a little help?

It's a Sprint, Not a Marathon

This morning, my husband and I went out for breakfast. After breakfast, we did something we almost never do - we went grocery shopping together. Unfortunately, our commissary is rather small and doesn't carry many of the items I use, so most of my shopping is done at a local grocery store.

Today, I quickly learned that my husband doesn't have what it takes to be a serious grocery shopper, and I've decided to ban him from all commissaries for fear he would never make it back home.

SpouseBUZZ LIVE: East Coast Version

We've been teasing it for a few weeks, and we're finally ready to make the announcement. Join us for our SpouseBUZZ Pajama Party tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern to find out where and when SpouseBUZZ LIVE will take place.

The SpouseBUZZ crew is very excited about bringing this high-energy event to the East Coast and we're grateful to military.com for sponsoring this event and giving us the opportunity to meet more spouses. We hope to see you at SpouseBUZZ LIVE.

UPDATED: Click to hear all about it.

In Praise of the Key Volunteer Network

I have been a Key Volunteer for as long as I can remember.  I know that some folks aren't particularly fond of the Network and I can understand why.  With the wrong person volunteering for the wrong reason, it can be a nightmare.  There is a certain personality type that does not suit the goals of a Key Volunteer Network (KVN).  They are better suited running a small country in South America.  I freely admit this.

That said, with the right people volunteering for the right reason, the KVN can be a force of nature.

Which is more difficult?

Sarah brought up an excellent thought here and it touches on many topics of the dual edge of the blade, ... for there truly are many more "views from the other side" of the looking glass.

Here's another "view" that struck me very recently ... and it had me thinking ...

What's more difficult -- being lonely over "there" waiting to come home to my wife or being lonely here, waiting for my wife to come home to me? 

Folks ... I like many of you, have that rather unique T-shirt.  And recently walking in the crisp Fall air with my girls here at home, waiting for The Boss to return, I began to think ... Over there, I wanted to come home; while here, I just want her to come home ... seems ...

Are you calling me a liar?

We had been waiting for a paycheck from Uncle Sam.

A large travel expense paycheck.

Let me remind you, we are in the suburbs.  We are a National Guard Family.  We are in a suburbs.  There might be 3 other NG families in town. 

This has led to all sorts of interesting conversations last  week! 

You Could Have Heard a Pin Drop

I dare say there are very few people who have the ability to make our chat room freeze, but that's exactly what happened when Lily Corrales joined us this evening on SpouseBUZZ Talk Radio. At one point, I had to check in with the chatters to see if they were still there. You could have heard a pin drop. They were transfixed, and utterly impressed with Lily.

Lily Corrales is an Army wife whose husband faces premeditated murder charges stemming from the death of an Iraqi. How does a spouse handle the reality that her husband could potentially face the death penalty? Well, if I'm ever in Lily's shoes, I can only hope to possess a small portion of her strength and composure. Lily is an incredible advocate for her husband. Click to listen.

From the Other Point of View

The soldier who blogs at Shield of Achilles just watched his unit deploy.  He wrote a post called The Hardest Part About Leaving for War...

If you have family, you know what's the hardest part about deploying? It's the very last few hours of the last day. You can't relax because you have so many last minute things to do, and are constantly looking at the clock because you are worried about being late. And looking at the clock is a continuous reminder about how little time you have left. I only have 5 hours left with my family, four hours left, three hours left, etc... What should I tell them? What should I do? How can I make these last moments count?

We don't often get the servicemember's point of view here at SpouseBUZZ, so I wanted to link to this post.  We all know how hard it is on us to see them go, but it's just as emotional and difficult for them to leave.  Take a moment to visit Shield of Achilles and thank him for writing about this from his point of view. 

Double the Fun

While my husband was deployed, I set out to do some yardwork one day. I grabbed the weed eater, which was fairly new, and a good one. When I turned the weed eater on, it made a dull buzzing sound, but one that I recognized. That sound told me the spool needed to be replaced. Easy fix, right?

SpouseBuzz Book Club: The Real Stars

As a military spouse, I really must say I was proud when Ben Stein wrote a piece titled The Real Stars, for his Monday Night At Morton's gig. 

I recall it being sent to me via e-mail, I read the piece online and I never did get tired of reading it.  Heck I think I might have sent it to every military service member I knew.  It really was refreshing to read. 

I copied part of his essay for those of you that have not read it below the fold. 

Imagine This...

You get a call one night from your deployed husband. He tells you to sit down and take a deep breath. You know he's alive, so you wonder what this is all about. Was a friend injured or killed? Was your husband injured, but still able to speak?

No. None of the above.

It's a spouse's life

Let me set the scenario that led to my very rude response to a phone call:

1. Papa Bear is TDY (of course)
2. Goober (7) is whining because of a broken arm - which Papa Bear broke while practicing soccer and then went TDY!
3. Bud is sitting with his leg up - it is incredibly swollen and hurts like the dickens when it rains - which it's been doing since Papa Bear went TDY.  He's still recovering from this summer's limb lengthening surgery.
4. Bubba is practicing the 4 notes he knows on his sax. ('Nuf said on THAT note!)

Note: I don't blame any of the kids for the above - or Papa Bear for being TDY!

Enter the Army recruiter!

Odds and Ends

First of all, the SpouseBUZZ fliers are finally here! You can email them, post them on your message boards, virtual FRGs or print copies and take them to your ACS office or spouse club event. Thanks to all of you who requested them, and thanks for helping spread the world about SpouseBUZZ.   

Click here to download the flier.

Over the weekend, I published a post about The Army Integrated Family Support Network, a brand new program developed by the Army, "to provide assistance to Soldiers and their Families in geographically dispersed areas." Many of you had questions about this program. On Monday I spoke to someone with the Army Public Affairs Office about the program. We'll be having an official spokesperson from the Army MWR office on SpouseBUZZ Talk Radio soon to discuss this program in detail. I'll alert you as to when, but if you have any questions about the program, leave them in the comment section and I'll be sure to ask your question.

Finally, we receive suggestions and comments about how we can improve this site for you fairly frequently. Given that we just celebrated our first birthday, I thought it might be a good time to put out a general call for feedback regarding SpouseBUZZ. Tell us what we're doing right, what we're doing wrong and what we aren't doing that you would like to see us do. This site exists because of you and we value your input. Don't be shy about making suggestions, we're open to all of them. We can't always implement every suggestion, but when we can, we certainly do.

What's In a Name?

I've noticed that several of the wives who post on SpouseBUZZ, both as authors and as active and much appreciated commenters, have online nicknames for their husbands.

I'm jealous.  And I'm desperately trying to think up a cool name to use for my husband when I write about him.  I've been calling him "Hubby" for about three years now online, and occasionally AirForceGuy, and the cool factor there is approximately that of a thirty-something woman with four children (wait a minute here!  That sounds very familiar!).

Becoming a Milspouse

Last weekend, I got to do something I'd never done before. 
I got to see a friend become one of us.

SpouseBUZZ Blog Series, Part III: Privacy Concerns

So now you have a blog and want to write about your deployment or your day-to-day life in the military.  What should you be concerned about in the very public world of milblogging?

Most spouses I know are highly invested in maintaining OPSEC, or operational security.  And generally I think most milbloggers do a good job of flying under the radar because, as DJ Elliot astutely said, "they are the ones most personally affected by the results of a violation."  No blogger wants to do anything to injure his or her spouse, ever.  Many wives I know won't say anything about where their husbands are, even to me!  They take it very seriously and keep all references to unit affiliation, duty station, or sector downrange out of their posts.

But what else do you need to think about?

I Love This Product

As I mentioned on our last radio program, we're launching a new series here at SpouseBUZZ called, "I love this product." From time to time, we'll be publishing posts that feature products we love, and we'll share with you why we love these products.

The Handywoman Can

click to enlarge

Deployments, TDY assignments and field training often leave us without our handyman. We have to take matters into our own hands. We become the handyman.

Military Home Owner Woos?

A new comment on a prior posting got me thinking. 

How are recent changes in the US housing market impacting military families, if at all?  How many of you are having issues trying to sell or rent your home pre or post PCS?  How many of you have decided to purchase a home recently and why?  How many of you have decided to delay purchasing a home and why?

Who are you, and what did you do with my husband?

Sometimes my husband does things that surprise the heck out of me.  Like today.  I came home from my internship just as he was pulling in to the driveway.  He's never home that early, so I was curiuos about why he was there.

Me:  Hey, Honey!  What are you doing home already?

DH:  I came home to do some chores before I go do my recon tonight.

Me:  Chores??????

You Never Know Who We May Talk To Next...

SpouseBUZZ Talk Radio is a fairly new addition to the blog. Even so, we've hosted some very interesting, humorous and emotional shows. Our guests have included authors, actors, filmmakers, journalists, rock stars, real military spouses and even a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense. For the benefit of our new readers/listeners, in the "continue reading" section I've posted links to all of our past radio programs. Take a stroll through the list and when you find a show you might be interested in, just click the link to listen.

Our shows are available for download after each show airs. If you missed the live show, you can listen to the archived show and set it to play in the background while you surf the net, IM, email, fold clothes or anything else you may be doing. Many of you have said that you download the shows to iTunes and listen while you exercise. Our shows are either 30 or 60 minute shows, perfect for work-outs. If you want to subscribe to our show via iTunes, click here, scroll down until you see the "subscribe" button on the right-hand side of your screen and then subscribe to have SpouseBUZZ Talk Radio delivered straight into your iTunes.

Stay tuned to SpouseBUZZ Talk Radio. We have a great fall line-up planned.

A lot of Negative Talk about Military Marriages

You see it in the news, you see it on military/military spouse type forums.  Military marriages are doomed, military marriage sucks, marry a military man and you will be divorced sooner rather than later.

I generally try to avoid these type of discussions.  They do not represent my personal situation nor the majority of what I have seen in other military marriages.

Temporary single parent

One of the most common questions I have been asked during this never-ending deployment is, "How do you DO the single parent thing?" That is often followed up with "I could never do that" or "I don't know how you do it". In the beginning, I didn't think I could do it. Sometimes I still don't.  But it gets done. We're heading into month 15 and the kids are alive and I'm not in jail.

So, how do you do it? I can't give you fool-proof ideas but I can share with you what worked for us.

The Army Integrated Family Support Network

Big changes are in store for Army families, active and reserve components. News you can use:

The Army Integrated Family Support Network, a new program to provide assistance to Soldiers and their Families in geographically dispersed areas was announced today by Secretary of the Army Pete Geren and Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey.

"In this era of persistent conflict, we can expect continuing deployments and to sustain this effort, we have to eliminate the old way of supporting Families, and replace it with a system to support all Army Families with means that respond to a globally networked society communicating in mobile ways," Sec. Geren said.

What is your Chain of Command/FRG telling you about AIFSN?

Listen, Learn and Laugh

Guard Wife hosted an excellent show about scrapbooking military-style on Thursday. I'm not a scrapbooker, but I listened to the show and was surprised to find that I learned a lot. Some of what I learned had nothing to do with scrapbooking. I learned how to properly store, take care of and label those boxes of photos and dozens of photo albums I have. Suffice it to say, I haven't been the best custodian of my family photographs. Shocking, I know. Click here to listen.

While the show was on air, I hung out with all the gals in the chat room and I think it's fair to say, we had a blast! In fact, my husband said I laughed the entire show. We're going to do it again tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. EDT when our Sunday evening SpouseBUZZ Pajama Party will be live, on air. Be sure to join us and remember - what happens in the chat room stays in the chat room. Thankfully...

We ALMOST saved $3,000 per year

I was so excited when DH brought a copy of National Guard Publication home, and I read an article on TRICARE benefits extending to National Guard families. I was thrilled. I the Queen of Frugality, started to crunch numbers in my head. We currently spend a little over $500 a month of health insurance for our family. The fee proposed by TRICARE, is $253 per month for our family. I was thrilled, at the $3,000 savings per year. I mean, I was literally jumping up and down thrilled. I was dreaming of paying off a credit card, and buying a new mattress.

I also couldn't wait to tell the readers here at SpouseBuzz about such a great benefit. We can all use tremendous savings.

But then....

Wah Wah Wah....

"Do the Kelvin"

I bet you've done "the Kelvin," you just didn't know it actually had a term. It does. I don't like to do the Kelvin. It's no fun. No fun at all. But sometimes we're placed in bad situations and we're forced to do the Kelvin.

Confessions of a Military Spouse Part IV

My husband is coming home from TDY.

I should probably shave my legs now.

National POW/MIA Recognition Day

This just in......September 21, 2007 is officially National POW/MIA Recognition Day. The President made the proclamation below and I wanted to share it with you.

I'm Sorry. My Life Doesn't Fit into a Soundbite

Yesterday I was asked a question which I've been asked before. Many times. I think reporters like to ask this question of milspouses. I've always tried to answer this question, but I don't really have an answer that fits nicely into a soundbite. Never did, actually.

Well, until now.   

SpouseBUZZ Blog Series, Part II: I want a blog! But how do I DO it?

When we moved to Fort Campbell, KY in 2004 I knew we were headed for a deployment. And I needed an outlet. Something that would allow me to vent, in a somewhat constructive fashion. I was new to the world of blogs...just a reader at that point. I mainly read the blogs of friends but I was curious as to how to start one myself. My friend's blog was hosted on Blogger.com so I pulled up the site and started reading. Blogger has a start page that will walk you through what a blog is, how to set it up, and where to go from there. Nice and easy and quite user friendly.

Once I had my blog up and running, I found Mudville Gazette through a friend's blog and stumbled upon the world of military blogs or "milblogs" and I was hooked. Greyhawk, the man behind Mudville, and his wife run an incredible blog. Mrs. G's "Dawn Patrol" is the quintessential round up of all things military on the internet. You need it? It's there. About 2 years ago, Greyhawk posted an invaluable post titled Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Blogging (but were afraid to ask) that included 10 fundamentals of blogging. If you are new to blogging or considering starting your own blog, THIS is the place to go.

Birthday Bear

A day late, but I thought I posted it yesterday - technology is my friend, technology is my friend, technology is my friend.

Happy Birthday!  or is it better to say Happy Anniversary!  What a wild ride of a year.  If I'd have had any clue about how much I don't know about military life, I'd have bowed out when Andi asked me to come on board as an author!  Now I'm addicted - not just to have an opportunity to bond with other military spouses, but I've learned so much about military life of all sorts!

Just how do you capture a concept?

A net won't work in the material world. A firewall won't work in the cyber world. Or maybe it's that a really good concept or idea, is something that comes into your mind at a time and in a place, where remarkable things are just waiting to happen. Where quiet discussions full of apprehension happen and then, with a deep breath and the push of a key, we understand that capturing this concept is best done by turning it loose on the world.

One year ago, a concept was unleashed that was destined to burn through the minds of hundreds and hundreds of people. It would ignite in many of us, and re-ignite in many more, a passion for the one thing that we had in common, creating a place where we could "celebrate and embrace the tie that binds us all -- military service."

SpouseBUZZ. The goal was to be your "virtual family support group where we could instantly connect" to one another to discuss our problems and laugh at our goofs. And where we at times, could only sit and stare at the words on the monitor -- and ever so carefully move our hands to the keyboard to type some very important words, "I'm here--let's talk."

By way of reintroduction, in the hood of SpouseBUZZ I have a particularly interesting seat. My dad was a career NCO, and he pushed me to college. I was commissioned three years post-Viet Nam and led an active duty life all the way to the borders of Afghanistan ... and then some. Through this, my wife, also an active duty officer walked with me a balance beam of mutual support that continues to this day. Maybe you're seeing why my seat is particularly interesting: #1- I'm a guy. Followed closely by, I'm a retired officer with 26 years of active duty, with almost 600 days of combat (a drop in the bucket these days), and a statistic that is exceptionally personal -- 5 handwritten letters to those we honor as Gold Star Mothers. I chose to retire, because my wife needed my full and undivided support, so now my place is by her side, her Wingman, if you understand the concept. And SpouseBUZZ is my home.

What a Year!

Welcome to our new readers! Today, we're celebrating our first birthday. Regular posting will resume tomorrow. In the meantime, you can take a stroll through our humor, PCS or deployment archives and scroll down during the day to see what the other SpouseBUZZ authors have to say about our first birthday. This post will stay on top until tonight.

****

One year and one night ago, I didn't sleep a wink. I knew we would be launching SpouseBUZZ the following morning. I tossed and I turned, and my mood alternated between fear and excitement.

Happy Anniversary, Spousebuzz!!!!

Wow, has it really been a year since Andi and the gang opened up Spousebuzz?

I am the newcomer to Spousebuzz, at least on the author side of things, but I do remember when it all started.  What a great ride this first year has been and how exciting to think of what will happen in the second.

I introduced myself only two months ago.  Since then, I've talked about various things WITH you and even managed to drop a dime on Lancelot only yesterday!!

What I really want to write about today is all of you.

A Year Does Make a Difference...

I re-read the post I wrote here a year ago and while some things are "the same", I realize they truly have changed. 

I'm betting if you think back to a year ago, the same is true for you.

The Reintroduction of airforcewife

I feel like breaking into a Marilyn Monroe rendition of Happy Birthday!

Luckily, although we've got a great website and a radio show, we don't have a TV Talk contract.  So you'll be spared.

For those of you who haven't been around since September 19 last year, I thought I'd re-introduce myself a little.

A wonderful year indeed

The launch of SpouseBUZZ began last year with all of the authors introducing ourselves.  I had big hopes for SpouseBUZZ, but honestly, I never could have imagined how wonderful it would be, how many great people that I would encounter and how many stories I would be thankful that someone took the time to share.

It has been a wonderful year of sharing Our Common Bond and I want to thank all of our readers for jumping on the wagon with us and coming along for the ride.  It has been a great year and I look forward to what this next year has in store for all of us that love SpouseBUZZ.

Reintroducing Sarah

I like to say that we've gotten pretty good mileage out of the Army already.  My husband has been in the Active Army for five years now, and we're already on our fifth duty station.  Most times when I tell people we've had five PCSes in five years, they smile...and then the sentence hits their brain and they do a double-take!  So while we're not nearly as seasoned as some of you other military families, we have managed to cram a fair amount of excitement into our five years so far: gold-bar recruiting, an overseas tour, one OIF deployment, a branch-detail switch from Armor to Finance, and then another branch switch to the new-and-improved Civil Affairs.  At last count, I have had nine different part-time jobs since my husband joined the Army.  And the funny thing about all of this is that I don't deal well with change or uncertainty!  Luckily the Army is trying to cure me of that.

My husband and I don't have children yet, but we do have a dog to keep us crazy.  I teach knitting lessons locally, a hobby that helps keep me sane when life gets uncertain.  SpouseBUZZ helps for that too...

A year later.....

~"When we are working at a difficult task and strive after a good thing, we are fighting a righteous battle, the direct reward of which is that we are kept from much evil. As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is developed. Indeed life is a have to defend and protect ourselves, and with a cheerful and brace spirit we must battle; we plan and calculate in order to make progress." ~Vincent van Gogh

The following was my first post here at SpouseBuzz a year ago. And as telling as the post is, it doesn't tell you that I have been married for 16 years. I have been a mil spouse most of that 16 years. I started out as an active duty wife, at a very young age.... I was 20. I was also was told by many, that there was no way it would work. "People do not just get married a week after their fiancees return from war."

There have always been war brides.

To all of the incredible women I meet at the SpouseBuzz Live events, to those I have not had the fortune of meeting. To those women that will watch the news with a heavy heart, whose husbands pat their pregnant bellies right before boarding a bus to deploy. You inspire me with your guts, and courage.

I am so proud to be one of you. You have shared your stories, and have helped so many others.

**photo taken 2 days after our wedding 16 years ago, at Dear Husbands Grandparent's home. Dearest Husband had been home about 1 week from Desert Storm after a 9 month deployment. Dear Husband's favorite photo, and yes I was sleeping...... for the first time in months.

May I have a side order of fries with that humiliation, please?

During summer camp, my youngest daughter made best-good-friends with the daughter of one of the squadron commanders on our base.

They absolutely love each other, and they look so cute together.  They're both tiny, little understated things with cute little pixie voices.

This weekend, my daughter's friend came over for the evening.

Fun with power tools

Before I begin this post, I want to state emphatically that I LOVE my husband.  I do.  I really do.

Lancelot has a degree in mechanical engineering.  I've seen it.  I have to go and look at it every now and again because some days, it's hard to believe.

Getting "paid"

Last night I was in the SpouseBuzz chat room and had the opportunity to "meet" two faithful SB readers.  As we were chatting the subject of "pay" came up.  Just to clarify, the authors of SB don't get paid in monetary funds, American or otherwise.  We are all volunteers who do our darndest to entertain you, share our experiences, link to resources, and most of all, we learn a LOT from all of you who comment... and we love you for it!

Now, let me explain how we DO get "paid:"

Beer in the Rear

I'm pretty sure that this title will do little in the way of getting the SpouseBUZZ XXX rating reversed, but the title was just too applicable not to use. Besides, GBear has been busy destroying our once solid G rating too. Ah well, I'll beg for forgiveness later.

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

Some of you in the chat room and via email have been asking for SpouseBUZZ flyers to distribute to your FRGs, ACS offices, etc.. Well, ask and ye shall receive. I should have the flyers up for you to download later today, or early tomorrow. You can then email the flyers, post them on your virtual FRG boards copy, print and distribute at your military installation. Military.com designed some super-nice, glossy 1/3 pagers too, so if you prefer those, we can have them sent to your military installation, just let us know and we'll provide them.

We appreciate you spreading the word about SpouseBUZZ. We're always thrilled when we find we've been listed as a spouse resource on websites or in post/base resource packets, and we have YOU to thank for that. Word of mouth is our best form of advertisement and we want to say thanks to all of you who have helped spread the word about SpouseBUZZ. We are truly humbled by your commitment to what we do here, and by your contributions to the discussion in our comment section. We have learned -- and continue to learn -- so much from you.   

I also want to mention that there is no SpouseBUZZ Pajama Party tonight. Remember that we said we would schedule two of them this month just to test the waters. We held one last Sunday, and the next one is scheduled for next Sunday, the 23rd. I have to say though, if the next one is as successful as the first one, we'll definitely be doing these each week, complete with a mystery guest, just like we had last week. The new chat room was on fire last week, what a party that was! Plus, everyone enjoyed our special mystery guest. Thursdays will deal with serious topics, and Sundays are all about fun. If you missed Thursday's show on reintegration hosted by AWTM and Guard Wife, click here to listen. It was very interesting.

So, no radio show this evening, but if you want to meet in the chat room tonight at 9:00, we can still do that.

Can We Get Glamour Shots in Here?

One of the less serious changes that took affect after 9/11 that has caused me mental anguish is the studied perusal of our ID cards everywhere we go.  Yes, they were required before, but I was also able to usually get by with just quickly flashing the darn thing with my finger over the picture.

Now, everywhere I go, people want to devour the thing like it's the new Brad Thor novel (you know, Brad Thor -  my literary crush).  And I don't WANT people to peruse my ID card like it's Reader's Digest and they're in the bathroom.  I want them to glance at it and let me go before they can connect that horrible picture with the person sitting in the car before them.

Conversation filters

The other night DH and I were watching a movie trailer on TV.  I can't recall the name of the movie, but I do know there was a lot of "shoot 'em up stuff."  There was a particular scene in the movie trailer and my husband suddenly says, "I really hate it when that happens."

I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends

One of our own could use some support right now. First, read and watch this. Then, pay a visit and send some love to a fellow milspouse. This is a sisterhood, after all.

Dear Secretary Gates....

Oh my. Imagine my surprise at the outpouring of email when I made public the letter that I sent Secretary Gates last week. In fact, many of you sent suggestions of other things that need to brought to Secretary Gate's attention. Well, I live to serve. Ladies - we're going to continue to fight the good fight. Think of me as your personal liaison to Secretary Gates. I'll bridge the gap and make sure our voices are heard.

Will you be shipping packages overseas for the holidays?

If so, be sure to check out the USPS holiday mailing deadlines.

If you want to get holiday gifts to a service member deployed overseas by Dec. 25, it’s time to start thinking about mail deadlines.

Blog It, Don't Hog It

Some of my closest friends have become my closest friends as a result of a decision that I made almost three years ago. I decided to become a blogger. That decision changed my life. Literally. In ways that are too numerous to list.