May 15, 2008|
That is right folks...
A full on DITY move with no husband, after being here for 8 years.
I am sure some of you strong and courageous women have done this.
OK, I am 16 days out from being out of here, and could use some of your best cheerleading. (no horror stories PLEASE.)
May 12, 2008|
Yesterday, I was talking with my neighbor and she asked if we would be staying here another year. It must have seemed strange to her that recently my husband and I were out planting flowers, just weeks before we're set to move. And we weren't planting annuals, but perennials. But it wasn't strange to us. First of all, I love to work in the yard, but that's not really why we were planting perennials. Excluding the apartments we've lived in during our military marriage (because there was no yard), we've lived in seven houses. I've planted perennials of various sorts in the yards of all but one of those houses.
I remember driving through Georgia several years ago and taking a detour through the old neighborhood just to look at the azalea bushes we had planted long ago. They were still there, and were in full bloom. I couldn't believe how much they had grown. Planting something permanent where we live is just one way to leave our mark on the many places we've called home. It's the modern-day military version of scrawling, "Andi was here" on a textbook, or bathroom stall (not that I would know anything about that, mom).
If we ever make our way back here again, I hope to see some large, healthy Rhododendrons in full bloom. And I'll look at my husband and say, "remember years ago when we planted those Rhododendrons?" And if we ever make our way back to Kansas (the one place where I didn't plant a perennial), I wonder if the tenants would find it strange if I pulled into the driveway with a trunk full of plants and did a little gardening?
May 7, 2008|
I don't know if this is normal, but I have a hard time letting go of homes. Of course, anything outside of CONUS is easy. But if we move within a day's drive, I try to pretend that I still sort of live in my old home while making a life at my new home. The result is a special sort of multiple personality disorder that results in a ridiculous amount of driving and scheduling stress. Throw in some part of my family anywhere nearby and the amount of time behind the wheel increases even more.
April 22, 2008|
I have come to the realization, that there is no such thing as "a little dity".
April 14, 2008|
No doubt my blog entries for the foreseeable future will largely focus on my upcoming PCS move. Oh, lucky you.... Currently, I find myself in the Purge-a-tory stage. It's not much fun. I'll be dragging you along for the train wreck, too. Let's both just try and make the most of it, shall we?
This week's installment of Purge-a-tory follows:
I love to keep a nice little basket of things in my guest bath for overnight guests. If you stay overnight with me and forgot a toiletry, there is no need to fret. No need at all. I've got just about anything you might need all in your very own private grab bag of toiletries. Soap (in many manly and not-so-manly varieties), razors, shaving creme, toothbrushes, night cream, bath bombs, towelettes, dental floss, curling iron, mints (yes, mints) bubble bath... You name it, it's there.
I always thought this was such a cute little individual-sized mouthwash for guests who feel the need to freshen their breath, or kill that nasty gingivitis that is known to attack the mouth late at night.
I've had three in the basket for a long time now. Hum, wonder why nobody took the bait. I mean, really, who wouldn't want to travel with this fresh little fella?
April 9, 2008|
Due to the overwhelming success of the first edition of I'm So Clueless, I need some more help with PCS tipping etiquette.
While I'm sure that there are more people that I should tip, I'm mostly concerned about the movers. After all, nearly everything I own is in their hands and I want to do whatever necessary to make sure that the movers like me. We already buy them a semi-decent, usually fast food, lunch every day that they are moving us. Some movers protest a little (at first) but they all seem to be appreciative. I also try to keep bottled water and Gatorade available. It isn't until the end of the move that I start getting really nervous. I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to tip someone, and I'm not sure who, or how much. Do I tip everyone the same, or does the driver get more, or less? What if you have one crew at one end and another crew at the other. What if a packer comes for two days but doesn't come on the third day, when I'm handing out tips?
I would love to hear your thoughts, knowledge and experience. Let the sharing begin!
April 7, 2008|
We're approaching peak PCS season. A lot of military families have their new orders in hand and are beginning to make transportation appointments, search for housing at their new destination and sort through their belongings to decide which items the movers should take, which items need to be kept with them and which items they can sell or donate to charity.
Several years ago when we lived in Kansas, my husband told me that we needed to participate in the post-wide yard sale. I looked at him and said, "But we don't have anything to sell." And I really thought that was the case. But then I went through the house, room by room, and managed to find an appalling number of items that I could part with, and didn't need. One morning my husband left for work and the garage was just a garage. When he returned, it had been transformed into a yard sale staging area and there was no longer room for his car. We ended up making over $600 in that garage sale!
Friday was groundhog day. My husband informed me that we WOULD be participating in the post yard sale. My response was the same as it was eight years ago. This time I was even more convinced that my response was true. We moved less than a year ago and I had trimmed the fat pretty well.
I was wrong, of course...
March 27, 2008|
The funniest PCS story I've ever heard didn't come from a military family, it came from a Department of the Army civilian contractor who my husband once worked with. My husband and I recall the story from time to time and still get a good laugh out of it. I think you will too, although it's much funnier to hear the stars of the story tell it. We'll call them Steve and Suzie in an effort to protect the innocent guilty.
Steve and Suzie's disastrous move came many years ago when they were a young, recently married couple. This was before everyone, even eight year-olds, had cell phones. When Steve and Suzie got to the U-Haul office (using that in the generic sense because I am not sure if it was a Ryder or a U-Haul) to pick up a truck for their DITY move, all they had were manual transmission trucks. Steve didn't know how to drive a stick shift -- something which earned him an inordinate amount of grief from Mr. Andi -- but Suzie did, so it fell to Suzie to drive the moving truck to their destination.
March 21, 2008|
As I stumbled around the internet, I came across a inspiring post about preparing to move. If you've got a PCS looming on the horizon, head on over to Life Lessons of a Military Wife for great tips to get your stuff together before the packers arrive. Even after numerous moves, I still look for new tips and ways to get myself motivated. Thanks to Veteran Military Wife for her suggestions.
March 3, 2008|
We have been at our current place of residence for 8 years now. In Army Wife years that equals 16.
I noted for the last week or so I was having a tremendously hard time packing. I hit some strange "moving wall". There are items in the house I have not laid eyes on in years. However, I was clinging onto these items for no rational reason.
So this morning I made a phone call to the Disabled Americian Veterans, and was surprised they have no store in state. So I called another charity. They will be here in a few days to remove the items in question.
My rule of thumb today is "If you have not used it in one year, you no longer need it, unless it is a family heirloom."
I currently have a growing collection.
I really thought I was "Spartan".
March 2, 2008|
Each time we PCS, I think we'll have all kinds of time to get out, see the sights, socialize with newly-made friends and make the most of our time in a new town. When we moved here, we knew it was a short assignment, but we vowed to pack in as much as we possibly could.
You already know where I'm going with this, don't you?
February 21, 2008|
It continues to amaze me that there are still so many comments being added about Privatized Housing.
I should not be surprised - really. It is an ongoing hot topic. One that profoundly affects military families. It boils down to quality of living.
February 15, 2008|
Everyone here knows that the military is a neverending cycle of hurry-up-and-wait, of finding out about changes at the last minute, of thinking you're headed in one direction only to find you're headed in the opposite.
Everyone knows this. I know this.
So why do I always get surprised when it happens?
February 14, 2008|
When we moved here and started unpacking, I set some things aside to donate to Goodwill. I put them in empty boxes and stacked them in the garage to haul away.
A year ago. They're still there. Ugh. I promise they won't get moved with us on the next PCS.
I resolve to finally handle the matter. Um, maybe tomorrow. Or next week.
My procrastination is embarrassing.
February 13, 2008|
On Monday, I had the opportunity to accompany He of the Sea to the office of the nice Household Goods Lady, aka the Moving Chick. Prior to the appointment, we downloaded all the information regarding the various types of insurance we could purchase and debated the chances that 1) things would be damaged, 2) things would go missing, 3) we would bother to file a claim when 1 and 2 occurred. Due to an unpleasant claims adjudication incident some 10 years ago, the Sea family has refrained from filing claims the last three times we've moved. I figured my sanity was more important than whatever pittance the military was going to pay for my wrecked or missing stuff.
After some conversation, we decided to pay for the Full Replacement Value coverage and promised ourselves that we would diligently document every scratch, carefully check each item as it left the truck, and conscientiously submit our claim in a timely manner. We headed to the Moving Chick's cubicle, where I said, "Oh, darn, I meant to bring the checkbook in case we need to pay today." To which, the Moving Chick replied...
February 7, 2008|
A Note to myself - even though much of the available military paperwork (explanations) dealing with moving, AKA PCSing, is straight forward - some of it is difficult to decipherer.
Transportation counselors and finance offices sometimes 'forget' to mention certain things. I should know better, really. I should have researched better and asked more questions before our last PCS.
February 5, 2008|
RedLegMeg wrote about her trip to the DMV, as did AirForceWife. Now it's my turn.
Everyone's trip to the DMV includes hours of waiting and some nailbiting when you're not sure you'll give the proper names for the road signs. I won't bore you with that stuff. And happily my photo didn't turn out half bad. But my trip also included a couple of military-related headaches.
February 4, 2008|
He of the Sea got an interesting package in the mail today. Wrapped in a plain, manilla envelope, was a pile of stuff from the Fleet & Family Support Centers (FFSC) of Hampton Roads, Virginia. The generic cover letter leads us to assume that someone, somewhere has actually seen a copy of He's orders, and that He is going where we think that He is going.
At first glance, the enclosures weren't very exciting. Things such as...
January 31, 2008|
I like moving, I really do. I know, that makes me weird. But aside from the fact that moving seems like a vacation paid for out of the ever-so-gracious pocket of Uncle Sam, moving also allows me something particularly necessary after a few years (or sometimes a few months) in one spot.
The ability to start over where people don't know me, my family, or our... um... "issues" is a God Send.
Case in point - today's incident at Little Gym. Which I will be happy to leave behind.
January 20, 2008|
The Army just threw us a curve ball. This one was a bit different than others that have been thrown at us over the years. This one was a good curve ball, and one we're very excited about. Now, I suppose I should start off with a caveat - this too can change. Although that goes without saying with this crowd. All of you know that.
January 14, 2008|
Yesterday, Mr. Andi and I were on our way to church when I was reminded, yet again, how different things are everywhere we move. Mr. Andi proceeded on the entrance ramp to the interstate and was forced to bring the car to a complete stop. On the on ramp. From 50 mph to zero in about three seconds. As I looked left, I saw the truck which forced my husband to stop. And nothing else. There was no other vehicle in sight. The driver of the truck decided against easing into the left lane and allowing my husband to proceed. Instead, as I told my husband, the driver was teaching him a lesson.
"We don't do it like that here," I could imagine him saying. Laughing, as he passed us.
You see, I had been taught the same lesson days before by a man who actually took it a step further. He honked his horn multiple times, after forcing me to stop, and gestured wildly, as if I were the crazy one.
January 6, 2008|
Last week, I published a post about three things that terrify me about a PCS move. And they were all about "me." On Friday, I was forced to add something else to that dreaded list, and this time, it's not about me.
The most recent addition to our family developed a lump on his side. On Friday, off we went to a new veterinarian, in a new town. Mind you, we had just been in the vet's office two weeks earlier, but that was simply for yearly shots and a routine exam.
January 4, 2008|
After three visits to the DMV, a visit to the Country Treasurer's Office, a lost car registration from California, and someone attempting to tell me that my CA driver's license, my military ID, my birth certificate, and my social security card were not enough to establish my identity (and causing a fit of rage and temper only someone who knows a redhead in person can appreciate)...
I HAVE A VIRGINIA DRIVER'S LICENSE!! And my cars are successfully registered, too.
The picture is horrible.
Many, many thanks to those of you who emailed me and commented on my last post about the travails of petty bureaucracy. It was precisely your suggestions which enabled me to get this done.
Yay for SpouseBUZZ! Ya'll had a sister's back!
January 3, 2008|
Each time we're facing a PCS move, three things strike fear in my heart, and none of them have anything to do with the actual packing and moving part of the PCS. No, you see, it's all about me.
Just what is it that totally sets off my panic button? The fact that I have to be assigned a new gynecologist, and find a new dentist and hairstylist. These things are important, after all.
December 28, 2007|
Only once in our entire military life have we had to get non-California license plates - and that was because we bought a car in Texas. I've had the same driver's license picture for about 10 years, also a California thing.
But now we need to get car registrations and licenses at our new place of residence. I had no idea what I was getting into when I left the house this morning.
December 13, 2007|
Since we moved, I've already hosted one holiday party at our new home with hubby's new associates. It went off really well. People were really getting into the holiday games and giggling madly about the prizes.
We have yet another party this Saturday - and it's a potluck. I'm bringing Kitty Litter Rum Balls.
December 12, 2007|
Have you been anxiously awaiting the 2008 BAH rates?
You can find them via your zip code here.
December 9, 2007|
We’ve all heard about the multiple horror stories of the “expected gratuity” and in a leading digest, one of the writers goes into hilarious detail about how everyone from the garbage men to the paper delivery folks to the lawn care team, are so bold as to leave you empty, self-addressed envelopes for you to put hard earned cash in, and stamp it and mail it back to them. They’ve somehow been encouraged to expect it.
In a similar vein, as we and our spouses PCS around the country and the world, ever notice how it has become almost an expectation by some of "us" that we’ll receive a “going away” gift, simply because we existed through the assignment? Or on the flip-side, ever been hit-up no-notice, "Hey, I need five bucks for your portion of the gift for Them." What’s up with this? When did we gravitate from presenting a gift to those that really, truly gave an effort “above and beyond” to now feeling embarrassed when we don’t give a gift to seemingly everyone? Making the flip-side even more distressing—when we find that someone has slipped through the crack and didn’t receive a gift, now we’re horrified and they have hurt feelings. So, if there's no laying of gifts, everyone feels bad.
November 14, 2007|
It took me eight days to completely unpack and have my house in order.
EIGHT. DAYS.
I must be more out of practice than I thought.
November 8, 2007|
Every time we move, there are approximately three dish barrel sized boxes that never get unpacked. These are the same boxes that didn't get unpacked the FIRST time we moved last century, but I do open them and dig around half-heartedly.
Sometimes.
October 26, 2007|
Poor Andi. What with GBear's nude pediatrician neighbor, my potty issues, Andi's own incident with downloading adult content emails, and my adventures with the packers; SpouseBUZZ's G Rating may be completely, totally, and for all time lost.
So, now I'm going to make it worse. And in true airforcewife fashion, this falls under the heading of, "You Can't Make This Stuff Up."
Because you really can't.
October 23, 2007|
No matter how ready you think you are for the movers, as they pack they will ALWAYS find something totally embarrassing amongst your things.
At least they didn't overflow the toilet this time.
October 22, 2007|
Tomorrow the movers come to pack my house.
I hope they don't overflow the toilet this time.
October 17, 2007|
I meant to do a post on fire prevention during Fire Prevention Week (October 7-13), but like many things, I neglected to do it.
It struck me that like my post, fire prevention can take a backseat to what we perceive to be more pressing matters.
As a military family, however, fire prevention is something for which we must make time.
October 6, 2007|
I have an update to my old Those Wacky Civilians post.
I ordered pizza recently. The bubbly, bouncy, beautiful girl (BBB) who delivered my pizza needed my driver's license number.
October 5, 2007|
A few weeks ago, I wrote about all the new critters I've been exposed to each time we've moved from one place to the other. Our new duty station wasn't on my top ten list of places I would like to live, but I'm finding it does have its benefits, and they're pretty remarkable.
September 25, 2007|
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?
September 9, 2007|
I have decided to expand my letter to Secretary Gates. I truly believe that not only will my letter be well-received by Secretary Gates, but military wives everywhere will be grateful to me for championing a cause worth fighting for. I've got your backs, ladies.
September 6, 2007|
You know which one I'm talking about, right? The Scream.
Talk about having a "theme painting!"About now, that's me. Because I'm absolutely certain that by this time in November we will be homeless.
August 23, 2007|
The U.S. Army has played some pretty nasty tricks on me before, but this time...this time, they've gone too far.
August 18, 2007|
Last week, I met some fabulous military spouses at our new duty station, and we began talking about our pets. One of them said that when her husband received PCS orders for an overseas assignment, they couldn't find an airline that would fly their cat. Not about to go without him, they ended up taking a ferry - a 54-hour ferry ride! Another wife told the story about her 17 year-old diabetic cat who required two shots of insulin per day in order to stay alive. They received orders to a place which required a six-week quarantine. Bad enough, but the quarantine kennel had a policy that prevented them from administering insulin shots.
This conversation made me think about the lengths we go to for our pets, and how difficult some PCS moves can be for both the pet, and the family who loves their pet.
August 4, 2007|
As most of you know, my husband and I have just completed a PCS move. You can expect more on that later, I have material to last for days....
Before the packers came, I went through all of the rooms and picked out the items that I wanted to hand-carry with us.
August 3, 2007|
.... that the boss and I were on the move -- and this unlike the other 20 or so PCS’ we’ve had, seemed to be different on many levels.
To be a bit more specific, it wasn’t the moving, it was the Moving-In that generates a question. Why is it that the folks who won the base housing privatization contract for our installation, think that WE are a pain in THEIR butts? Didn’t they ask to take over and be in charge? I mean, seriously, didn't they probably low-ball another contractor so that they would win, and be able to service, those in the Service. No?
So why is it that they’re annoyed when on our move-in inspection, I start the dishwasher simply to see that it works? (it does, but I swear there’s a UH-1 landing in my kitchen); and when I turn on the shower in the bathtub and water spews everywhere, they get pissed over the fact that “the walls are now all wet.” Duh … didn’t THEY do a walk through inspection before the last folks left and we moved in? Were they hoping that I’d first discover their poor maintenance skills AFTER my wife signed the move-in papers and turned over her BAH allotment to their sweaty little hands? Then bill us for damages???
July 26, 2007|
I am not a military brat. I was born and raised in the same area. Until I met and married my husband, the only surroundings I was intimately familiar with were same the ones I had experienced, over and over again, for twenty years. It was all I knew. Aside from the annual vacations and occasional trips out of state, I didn't think that much about the differences in surroundings.
All of that changed when I married a soldier.
July 25, 2007|
One of the great things about a PCS move is that usually our spouses have several days when they arrive at their new duty station before they have to report for duty. Of course, most of that time is spent getting settled into a new home and acquainting the family with the new surroundings, both on and off-post.
July 24, 2007|
My previous post was about waiting in limbo to see if we get to take leave or not. Regular SpouseBUZZ commenter dizzylizzie reminds us all that it's never safe to plan anything in the military more than a month ahead. She's right, but my husband's course ends tomorrow, and we still don't know if he's getting leave or not! We may or may not be on a 17-hour car trip by the end of the week. How I wish we had a month to plan.
Our family seems to have a history of waiting in limbo. For our very first PCS, we didn't get orders until six days before he signed out of his unit. And that was to Germany; it's not easy to arrange an OCONUS PCS in six days! On our way to our current duty station, we cleared our previous housing, loaded the dog and suitcases in the car, and swung back by post to pick up my husband's orders. Yep, he got his PCS orders on the way out of town.
This made me think about those PCS checklists you get: 12 weeks out, do X; 9 weeks out, do Y, 6 weeks out, do Z. Has anyone really ever been able to follow that checklist? Twelve weeks out seems like a dream to me; so far we've been lucky to have one week for everything!
Who created those checklists, and can I please have their Army lifestyle?
July 20, 2007|
I've just completed a PCS move, so I have a lot to write about, but the thing I'm currently struggling with is how to get back on track. I'm a pretty regimented person and I usually operate on a strict schedule. I wake-up at 7:00 a.m., eat my breakfast and get to work. I break for lunch between 12:00 and 12:30, squeeze in my Yoga Booty Ballet between 2:00 and 3:00, shower and get back to work. Dinner is between 6:30 - 7:00. Well, you get the idea.
A PCS move throws everything out of whack.
July 7, 2007|
Okay, so you move to a new residence. Be it base housing, a rental or you bought it, the residence is "yours" for a time. You hang your curtains, put your pictures on the wall and do some gardening. You put your personal stamp on it. You celebrate holidays and make memories here. You make it your own.
And then it happens. The mother of all buzzkills.
June 29, 2007|
Like GBear, I will not be moving during the "normal" PCS season. We are gearing up for a move, but not in the June/July/August rush.
However, it seems as though everyone else on my base is moving off or moving on; and although PCS season is normally hectic, this year seems to take the cake. I'm not sure why, but I think that everyone is in a rush to hurry up and get gone before the Air Force realizes that PCS orders managed to slip through even though they ran out of PCS money about three months ago and put a moratorium on moving.
We aren't even going to get into that fiasco.
June 26, 2007|
The Army has played games with me since I became associated with it through marriage. In my first year as an Army Wife, I moved three times. After that year, I settled into a more normal cycle of moves and I hit my stride as "Moving Goddess," which was quite an accomplishment given my history of disastrous moves. I've come a long way baby, or so I thought.
Just as I hit my stride, the Army plopped us into the Washington, DC area and decided to leave us there for an unheard of five+ years. Wicked sense of humor, those Army folks. Just when I know how to move efficiently, they decide to deprive me of putting my new skill to good use. We all know that if you don't use skills, over time they weaken, which has, unfortunately, occurred in my case.
June 5, 2007|
We have come to the worst part of moving for our family - the search for a house to live in.
I hate this part, some of the worst arguments my husband and I have ever had have been over where we will live. Inevitably, it is because what hubby wants to live in and what I want to live in are 180 degrees apart.
Let me explain.
May 30, 2007|
There are dogs all over my base. Obviously, military people have a lot of dogs. In general, we like dogs. Our kids like dogs. While our spouse is gone for deployments and lengthy TDYs, not only is our dog extra company with undying devotion and love, but they bark if someone comes to the door. I can't speak for everyone, but having that extra alarm system makes me sleep much easier at night.
Our dog will go wherever we go.
Sometimes, though, that creates quite a problem.
May 21, 2007|
Ah, PCS time. What a thrill. Especially when you're PCSing for only 11 months and trying to rent your house. Most renters, understandably, don't want to sign a one-year lease. I can relate to that. Who wants to just get settled in and then be told to get out?
This PCS is, so far, more trying than all the others. This is the first duty station where we've owned a home, which means that this is the first time we've had to deal with potential renters traipsing through our house at all hours of the day and night. It's also the first time that we've had to deal with potential renters ignoring "renter etiquette."
March 31, 2007|
This, in a nutshell, is military life. Lots of long sentences of waiting punctuated with bursts of hurrying up. Sometimes we have to hurry up just to be able to get to the next stage of wait. Sometimes we're given dire consequences if we don't hurry up, which then turn into admonitions to "Calm down, we have time. Just wait a bit."
Hubby and I, having passed the sleepless nights of "Hurry Up and Fill Out the Dream Sheet Before All the Good Assignments are Gone", are now engaged in the waiting. It's nearly April and most of the assignments (to various schools) require a report date of sometime in July. I'm expecting to get a phone call in August asking hubby why he never reported.
March 22, 2007|
While procrastinating and Googling SpouseBUZZ, which I suppose is just slightly less narcissistic than Googling myself, I came across Jenny Spouse. Julie Negron, creator of Jenny Spouse, had linked to this awesome post by Sarah. Immediately, I found myself clicking through two years of archives, smiling and laughing out loud and saying to myself, "It is just so true."
I knew immediately I had to spread the word about her great comics. Julie was kind enough to allow me to share one with you on SpouseBUZZ.The only remaining difficulty was which strip to share with so many excellent choices.
Since we've recently been talking about "Do-Overs," I thought this one was very timely (click for full size):
