MilSpouse Friday Fill-In

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In #30

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What is your favorite MilSpouse blog (not including Wife of a Sailor who we all love, or your own)? –submitted by Our Crazy Life

Now, now, it’s not nice to play favorites. 😉 I’ll give what might be perceived as a cop-out answer and say SpouseBUZZ is pretty cool because of the variety of viewpoints it offers. SpouseBUZZ was one of the very first milspouse blogs I added to my RSS reader several years ago, back before I kept my own milspouse blog or really sought out others’.

What are your favorite perks about your s/o being deployed (we all know there are perks)? —submitted by Ramblings of a Marine Wife

One thing I have savored is not having to live my life by the flight schedule. We have no idea what my husband will be doing the next day until the flight schedule goes out the evening before. Until that point, we don’t know if we’re looking at an oh-dark-thirty wake-up for an early brief or if he’ll overshoot a reasonable dinnertime by hours due to a night bounce (Field Carrier Landing Practice, or FCLP) session. My hours are much more regular when Sampson is away; I imagine it will be a bit of an adjustment to get used to planning around the flight sked again when he returns home.

How long did you date your <significant other> before getting engaged? Married? –submitted by Utterly Chaotic

We had been dating for about four and two-thirds years when Sampson proposed. We initially thought our engagement would be about a year and a half long, but due to the exigencies of flight school, we wound up getting married just a few days shy of one year after he proposed.

What do you think your <significant other> would do if s/he wasn’t in the military? –submitted by Adventures of M-Squared

We’ve talked about this “parallel universe” scenario from time to time. I think we would find ourselves living close to our Northern Virginia roots while Sampson worked as an aerospace engineer for one of the big government contractors. It’s possible that I would be working for the same one as a software engineer.

I think one of the main things that kept Sampson from going that route was the knowledge that if he didn’t even try to make his childhood dream of being a Naval Aviator a reality, he would live the rest of his life wondering what might have been. The fact of the matter is that one can pursue a career in engineering after a career as a military pilot, but the reverse is not true. Some things must be done in youth or not at all.

If you could talk to the Secretary of (fill in your appropriate branch) what is one suggestion you would like to bring to their attention in order to improve the lives of military families? —submitted by My Life as His (Air Force) Wife

I don’t know about the lives of military families in general, but it would set this Navy family’s collective mind at ease to have confidence that those in the upper echelons understand the difference between sustainable, well-supported efforts and temporary, extraordinary measures to get the job done in a pinch. None of us can function interminably at “in a pinch” levels.

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

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In #29

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Since most if the country has had nasty weather, what has your weather been like this week?

It’s been all over the place: rain, sun, wind, highs in the 30s, highs in the 70s… you name it (no snow here, though). Usually it’s March that can’t make up its mind; I guess late January and early February wanted to get in on the indecisive action.

What is/are your best money saving tip(s)?

If you need it, buy it. If you want it, think about it for a while before you buy it.

Aside from that, one of the best ways to save money is not to take up flying. All it takes is airspeed and money…

What was your favorite vehicle you’ve ever owned?

I have fond memories of my bike when I was a kid. It represented freedom of the neighborhood in the form of a purple frame and two wheels. The day I learned how to use the gears to make it easier to go up hills was a good one, but the best days were the ones in summertime that began with me coasting down the hill to the bottom of our street, skidding to a stop in my friend’s driveway, and running to the door with my helmet still on to see if she could come out and play.

What is a question you’d like to see asked in a future fill-in?

Imagine a block of time has opened up in your busy day for you to take a class in anything you like. What subject would you choose?

Fill in the blank: You might be a MilSpouse if….

…you still find colorful little moving tags on various pieces of furniture even though it’s been two years since you PCSed. Bonus points if there are multiple tags stuck atop one another.

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

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In #28

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If you were a famous movie star, what types of movies would you star in?

I think it would be a blast to star in a big, loud, epic superhero movie.

What is a vacation you would like to take if money were no object?

Ever since reading Troubling a Star by Madeleine L’Engle when I was a child, I have wanted to see Antarctica. Since money is no object in this dream vacation, my trip to the planet’s deep freeze would be followed by a sojourn to some more temperate clime to thaw out.

Did you have pets growing up?

I sure did. My family had a dog that had been with them since the early days of their marriage, so my childhood is filled with memories of a good-natured, if not overly smart, mutt. After he went on to his great canine reward, my family adopted a cat, one we selected from the shelter because he was the only one who didn’t cringe in fear from my then-three-year-old brother. A few years later, my brother and I were desperate for a kitten. When my parents finally relented, off to the shelter we went. We came home with a darling black-and-white kitten whom the shelter thought to be nine weeks old. According to the vet, though, she was about four months old and just that tiny. She never got very big, but her personality was more than wacky enough to make up for it.

My husband never had pets growing up, having been born into a family with a severely allergic father and sister. The cats and I are very glad that he doesn’t share those allergies.

What do you do for exercise?

Not nearly enough, probably. I will confess my dorkiness and say that I do enjoy Wii Fit Plus. It may not count as serious exercise, but it gets my sedentary behind off the couch and moving and stretching. The little time piggy bank in the game does a happy little dance when I hit thirty minutes of actual activity, and I shudder to think what it says about me that I’m motivated by such things. I even sent away for a freebie tote bag from Nintendo.

I will be the most stylin’ gal at the commissary with this reusable bag, let me tell you.

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received as a MilSpouse?

“Semper Gumbi.” Live it. Do it. (I frequently fail at this, but it’s still good advice.) 😉

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

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In #24

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What do you see your life like in 10 years?

It’s hard for me to imagine what my life will be like in ten days, much less ten years.  I suspect we will have at least one small human underfoot and I hope I will be as accomplished a private pilot as my husband is a naval aviator.

What do you like most about your job?

I am not currently employed, but my volunteer time with Civil Air Patrol is incredibly satisfying.  I have the opportunity to work with talented people dedicated to service, whether in the air, in ground search and rescue, in working with motivated cadets, or in promoting aerospace education.  I am proud to be counted among them, and I am blessed to count them among my friends.

What are three things you do every day, no matter what day it is?

This is harder than one might think.  I can’t even say I brush my teeth every day, as there are certain fast days on the Jewish calendar where not even a toothbrush is supposed to pass our lips.  (I promise I brush my teeth on the vast majority of days, though.)  About the only things I can claim to do every single day are:

  1. Blink
  2. Breathe
  3. pump Blood through my Body

Sorry; got a little hung up on the letter ‘B’ for some reason.

What would you do with an extra five hours in your day today?

Pray forgive my hopeless dullness, but I’d probably sleep.  An extra five hours of sleep without worry that the phone is going to ring with some crisis that just couldn’t wait until morning is precisely what my husband and I need in the midst of this stupidly busy time.

What is your favorite Christmas (or whichever holiday  you celebrate) cookie recipe (please share!)?

Despite the increasingly widespread availability of kitschy cookie cutters in the shape of dreidels, stars of David, menorahs, etc., Chanukah is not traditionally a cookie-making holiday.  I wouldn’t turn down a Chanukah-themed cookie — hell, I might make them with our kids someday — but cookies just don’t scream Festival of Lights to me.  Chanukah treats tend to be fried in oil, a nod to the story of the miracle of one day’s worth of oil for the Temple’s lamp lasting eight days.

I stretched my Chanukah celebration out one more day to make latkes for my Civil Air Patrol squadron’s holiday party/change of command.  Everyone appeared to like the delightfully crisp potato-and-onion pancakes, but I was shocked to learn how many people had never heard of them until that very evening.  Where I grew up, even the non-Jews at least knew what a latke was.  Guess we really are in the South.  As my husband so succinctly put it, “We grew up a lot closer to New York than they did to Fort Lauderdale.”

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

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In #10

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What secret indulgence do you act on while your spouse is away? (from Devil Dog Darling)

I will quite cheerfully pour myself a glass of wine and settle in for an evening of reading bad fanfiction.

Man, that’s embarrassing.  I should have made up something saucier.

If you were a spice, what would you be? (from New Girl On Post)

I don’t have a good answer for this one.  The question asks which spice I would be, but I think I’d rather choose an herb.  However, I am not having much success wrangling my pedantic tendencies into submission this morning, so I find myself unable to tell you what kind of leaf I am when I ought to be choosing which bark, seed, root, or fruit I am.

Where do you go for support when your significant other is deployed? (from Texas Meets Washington)

My undergarments remain supportive whether my husband is here or not.

Family and Twitter work wonders when I’m not making lame lingerie jokes.

What is the oldest thing you own? (from A Troop’s Girl)

I am not sure.  The oldest T-shirt I own (and regularly wear) is bright red and from the theatre at which my parents were working when they met.  Mom was an actress, Dad was a techie.  It was a match made in heaven, if heaven is a place where patrons are encouraged to boo, hiss, and throw popcorn at the villains.

How did you envision your future pre-military? (from Daddy’s Duty)

How far pre-military do we want to go?  If you asked four-year-old Nth, you would hear about a fascinating projected career as a paleontologist.  From about first grade onward, you would be regaled with plans for becoming a marine biologist specializing in cetaceans, particularly in orca communication.  Post-freshman year of high school, during which I had a phenomenally lousy biology teacher, my interest in computer science began to solidify alongside an interest in the Russian language.  I thought I might wind up working for the State Department or some other federal government agency (a career aspiration not uncommon when growing up in the DC-Metro area.

I had an inkling that my future might involve the military when I started dating my now-husband during my junior year of high school, as he had already gotten an appointment to the United States Naval Academy.  As we continued dating and eventually came to the conclusion that we were probably going to wind up married, it became clear that my career would not be as simple as staying in DC to seek a government job.  I still struggle with that a little bit, as I have not yet made the leap into wholehearted pursuit of alternate career ideas.

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