Happy New Year! Let’s get it right started with the first fill-in of 2013, then I’m off to bake challah.

What’s one thing in the past month you would have changed?

I would have packed earlier for our trip to visit family during winter leave. Running around trying to get everything ready in the morning before a car ride with protesting felines turns me into Grumpy McRageface.

What was your favorite thing that happened in December? 

Getting to spend over a week visiting our families was fabulous. The fact that our nephew is old enough to ask his aunt to play airplanes and DUPLO with him is a charming bonus, and my bookworm heart goes pitter-pat when he asks me to read him a story (the same one four times in a row, but who’s counting?).

What are you looking forward to in January?

This is the first January in two years that Sampson is not heading out on deployment or a pre-deployment exercise. Can one look forward to a negative? Because I am definitely looking forward to my husband not leaving.

What did you do for New Year’s Eve?

Sampson had the duty phone shackled to his side, so we had a good excuse to stay at home, make macaroni & goat cheese, watch Star Trek, and read in bed until midnight. We probably would have done that even were he not on duty, as we are [not-so-]secretly hobbit-like homebodies.

What are your hopes and wishes for 2013?

Most of my current hoping and wishing is tied up in prayers for a smooth transition to Sampson’s next duty station. We have a PCS coming up in less than two months, so I know the stress is going to ramp up in the coming weeks. My hope is that the looming period of upheaval will pass quickly so we can start the more enjoyable process of imposing order upon chaos and settling into our new home.

Are you a military spouse/fiancée/fiancé/girlfriend/boyfriend? Hie thee to LTJG Wifey’s blog, snag the questions, and add yourself to the Mr. Linky for this month’s MilSpouse (First) Friday Fill-In!

What’s one thing in the past month you would have changed?

I wouldn’t have let Frankenstorm transform me into a raging harridan. Poor Sampson was treated to a truly loathsome display of unreasoning ire when the Navy had him evacuate an airplane to sunnier climes ahead of Hurricane Sandy’s possible visit to our area, leaving me and the cats to ride out the storm alone. Never mind that it wasn’t Sampson’s idea and he didn’t want to go; I was scared and expressed my fear as anger at the most convenient target. Not my most gracious moment, that.

What was your favorite thing that happened in October?

It was wonderful to be present for our friends’ long-awaited homecoming.

What dish makes the Thanksgiving holiday for you? (Bonus points if you share the recipe.) — Courtesy of To the Nth

Evil, wonderful, crunchy, addictive onions.

Wow, what a great question! You’d think this would be an easy one for me, as I’m the one who suggested it. Well, I get no bonus points for my answer, because I have little to do with the actual construction of the dish that makes Thanksgiving for me. Every year for as long as I can remember, my parents have brought the green bean casserole to our extended family’s Thanksgiving feast. I do know that their version differs from the recipe you see on every bag of those eminently snackable fried onions (at least as many wind up in our mouths as in the dish when we cook with these babies) this time of year in that they use a mushroom gravy rather than cream of mushroom soup, which lends the casserole a deeper, earthier flavor while keeping things dairy-free to go with a meat meal.

Check out my [Wife of a Sailor’s] post from yesterday… will you be participating in the MilSpouse Secret Santa?

I’m Jewish, so Santa (secret or otherwise) isn’t really my milieu. If you choose to sign up, have fun!

What are you looking forward to in November?

Thanksgiving is almost here! I cannot wait to join with our family to reflect on the blessings of life and harvest… and to stuff ourselves silly with the delicious bounty of the aforementioned harvest. Seriously though, I treasure the times — so much rarer now that we kids are grown — we can gather with grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, siblings, cousins, and all those who have become family through love. When we’re laughing and talking and reminiscing together, I realize the true abundance for which I must be thankful.

Are you a military spouse/fiancée/fiancé/girlfriend/boyfriend? Hie thee to LTJG Wifey’s blog, snag the questions, and add yourself to the Mr. Linky for this month’s MilSpouse (First) Friday Fill-In!

What’s one thing in the past month you would have changed?

Oh, any number of small disasters, mostly related to home maintenance. Taken separately, no single problem would have been that awful. One begins to feel a little snake-bit when the deployment gremlins sneak up and pounce all at once.

What was your favorite thing that happened in June?

My dad’s visit was definitely the bright spot. Not only did he rescue me from some of those prior gremlins, but we still had time to go shooting and eat sundaes. He’s amazing.

What did you do to celebrate Independence Day?

I mentally screeched curses at my bravo delta air conditioner, which had chosen the anniversary of our fair nation’s birth to eat its own motor. When it got dark, I sat inside hoping fervently that the idiots behind me wouldn’t set my roof on fire with their boneheaded fireworks display.

The only remotely patriotic things I did were read the Declaration of Independence and take a picture of the little plastic flag that mysteriously sprouted on my lawn overnight. They show up on all the lawns in my neighborhood every year. I know it’s the work of volunteers, but I prefer to envision little pixies that bear a strong resemblance to Uncle Sam with wee fluttery wings.

When you PCS, what items do you take with you and not let the movers pack (and if you do a DITY, what do you take with you and not box up)  (thanks to Sespi at And You Never Did Think for inspiring this question)?

Aside from the obvious (important documents, jewelry, irreplaceable valuables, laptops, pet stuff, etc.), we always bring our video game/consoles and the majority of our tools. Both of those categories have high “walk away” potential, so we remove the temptation from the nice people to whom we must turn over our worldly possessions, knowing full well that their shining qualification in the eyes of our government is the fact that they were the lowest bidder for the contract.

What are you looking forward to in July?

Something really good. 🙂

Are you a military spouse/fiancée/fiancé/girlfriend/boyfriend? Hie thee to LTJG Wifey’s blog, snag the questions, and add yourself to the Mr. Linky for this month’s MilSpouse (First) Friday Fill-In!

Okay, I know I said my next post would be Part II of “Who’s Winning, Me or the Deployment?” I decided I wanted to play the MilSpouse Friday Fill-In game today instead, especially since I missed it in May. WWMotD (Part II), in which we shall investigate the arguments in favor of the thesis that I am rocking this deployment, should go live sometime after (East Coast) sundown on Saturday; I’m sure you’re all waiting with bated breath to read about my deployment triumphs. 😉

What’s one thing in the past month you would have changed?

I would have stopped just a few bites sooner on my birthday cheesecake.

What was your favorite thing that happened in May? 

My parents and my little brother (who is actually much taller than me) came to visit for my birthday. Their stay was peppered with the eating of many delicious meals, boundless laughter, and a few abundant cocktails. Oh, and warbirds.

The P-51 Mustang is surely a “bewitching” airplane. Just look at the nose art.

Our brew pot has been sitting idle for far too long.

June includes the first day of summer… what are your plans for the summer?

Apparently my “plans” include a variety of home maintenance items, but they totally don’t count because they’re no fun whatsoever.

My real plans (i.e., the fun ones) include flying as often as possible, seeing a concert at a winery, riding my bike, brewing another batch of beer, and grilling many delicious meats and veggies.

Do you use the services on base (gym, financial planning, family services, daycare)? And if so, what’s your favorite one? (Thanks to Shanon at Modern Meets Traditional for this question!)

We did go to base legal to get wills, advanced directives, and springing durable powers of attorney (a phrase I find enormously entertaining to say: “Springing durable power of attorney! Springing durable power of attorney!”) drawn up for both of us. I found the process to be pretty streamlined for something that involves paperwork.

I strongly recommend that all military couples ensure that both spouses have wills and that they are up to date. It’s simple. Make an appointment at your base legal assistance office. They’ll provide you with worksheets that you each fill out and bring with you to the appointment. At the appointment, you’ll go over everything with a lawyer and make another appointment to come back and sign everything that needs to get signed. Easy-peasy.

Wills and other subjects relating to death are uncomfortable for a lot of people, but I promise you’ll feel better once you get it done. I’m not saying it was a barrel of laughs to contemplate such sobering scenarios, but we’d rather have the documents in hand and not need them for decades and decades than be caught unprepared by a tragedy.

What are you looking forward to in June?

I look forward to crossing another month off the deployment calendar and being one month closer to Sampson’s return. That’s always a worthy milestone to me.

Are you a military spouse/fiancée/fiancé/girlfriend/boyfriend? Hie thee to LTJG Wifey’s blog, snag the questions, and add yourself to the Mr. Linky for this month’s MilSpouse (First) Friday Fill-In!