MilSpouse (First) Friday Fill-In #76

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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.

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!

Catching Up on the First of the Month

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Happy November! The last few months have seen me slacking in the online documentation of my oh-so-fascinating life, but the autumnal coolness in the air following Hurricane Sandy’s passage last week has me motivated to catch up on previously mislaid hobbies — knitting and blogging, chiefly. I’m lusting after gorgeous, squishable yarn and raring to write things more interesting than utilitarian emails. This month is shaping up to include some travel to visit family and some projects to ready the house for tenants when we move early next year, so it may be wishful thinking on my part to suppose I will have time for everything. If nothing else, tapping out a blog post now and again could provide a pleasant respite from the pre-PCS freak-out I’m already beginning to feel creeping in around the edges.

Autumn Holidays

Sampson and I have not had much time to breathe this fall. We made it through the mad rush of the Jewish holidays; Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah all pop up in remarkably quick succession. As has been the case in years past, the craziness factor in Sampson’s squadron seemed to ramp up at the same time. Mighty inconvenient, that. His chain of command does try to be accommodating of his religious observance, but the unrelenting requirements of the flight schedule were not amenable to Sampson’s taking off any more time than the bare minimum for the High Holidays. We missed out on building our own sukkah this year; I had neither the heart nor the handiness to tackle the job on my own, so our observance was rather lacking. Next year, wherever we may wind up, I want to make sure we do not let that joyful time pass us by again.

Stormy Weather

Hurricane Sandy passed our house by, leaving nothing more in the way of clean-up than a few downed branches and a ton of leaves scattered across the yard. We were very lucky. I spent most of this past weekend holed up alone in the house, watching the rain, listening to the wind, and wishing in most uncouth terms that the Navy hadn’t played its customary “Forget the woman and children; save the airplanes!” card, sending Sampson and several of his squadronmates on a “HURREVACation” to sunny Florida. Not gonna lie, the injustice of it all rankled a little bit. (Okay, it rankled a lot.) But, he’s home now, and we were extremely fortunate with the storm’s minimal impact on ourselves and our loved ones in Northern Virginia. I sincerely hope that was the last gasp of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season.

Candyween

Halloween saw a moderate number (for our neighborhood) of trick-or-treaters on our doorstep. Even though we parceled out generous handfuls to each child, we still wound up with leftovers from our single bowl of candy. My favorite kid this year was the adorable, tiny witch who had not yet mastered the trick-or-treating procedure: she tried to walk right in when I opened the door. Cute as she was, I’m not sure she tops last year’s favorite, a little boy who caught a whiff of the beef stew simmering away on the stove and announced, “Mmm, y’all are cooking something good in here; I can smell it!” This year, our chicken soup was already eaten and the leftovers put away before the doorbell started ringing, so no word on whether my cooking still meets with youthful approval.

How is your November shaping up? Got any fun stuff on tap for chillier days and lengthening nights?

Never Did Find a Pair of Hiking Boots

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My non-specialized footwear served me all right this time, though. Our Lake Tahoe vacation was glorious and relaxing and full of hiking and just what we needed.

Lake Tahoe

It’s practically unfair for water to be this blue, or for the weather to be this gorgeous.

We’re now in the midst of the Jewish High Holy Day season, which tends to boggle me with the apparent speed of its annual return. Our Rosh Hashanah wound up being quieter than we’d anticipated; Sampson’s folks were supposed to come spend the Jewish New Year with us, but my father-in-law’s golf injury necessitated a last-minute cancellation of their trip. We were sad not to be able to spend the holiday with them, but healing absolutely takes priority. Sampson and I still managed a feast of brisket, risotto, and plenty of apples and honey for a sweet new year.

Sampson’s work schedule has been pretty wacky over the last week or so, with a lot more late-night stuff than we’re used to interspersed with some early wake-ups. That kind of sleep-shifting always plays merry hell with my internal clock, so I’m glad today is shaping up to be more “normal.” I’ve got a Civil Air Patrol meeting tonight, during which I hope to get a few things back on track with the cadet side of our public affairs program. Cookies may be required to soften the blow of any tasking I have to hand out; baked goods always make work more palatable, right? I’m thinking my basic chocolate chunk recipe will do nicely.

I guess that means I’m off to bake and to further enjoy the hint of autumnal coolness on the breeze blowing through my open windows. Hope your day is going equally well!

We Made It!

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It has been over two weeks since I spotted my husband in the crush of travelers and rolling carry-on luggage at the local airport, embraced him in the midst of frazzled folk trying to figure out which baggage carousel would soon spit out their suitcases, and officially kissed Sampson’s last scheduled deployment of this sea tour goodbye. There was no COD flyover this time, no picture-taking, no applause, no shared giddiness with other wives… and not a single thing I would have changed about our quiet reunion.

I tweeted about his return, but for some reason I found my time for blogging vastly diminished. Possibly that had something to do with all the laughter and life that once again filled up the house, the whirlwind overnight visit to both our families to let them see for themselves that Sampson was safe on U.S. soil once more, and the fact that he immediately jumped back into business as usual with home guard — including wake-ups at ungodly hours like 3:45 in the mother-loving morning. Such is life in a COD squadron when there are carriers out.

He’ll have a chance to take his post-deployment leave pretty soon, though, and we’re planning a kick-ass vacation to Lake Tahoe. I’ve been keeping an eye on the temperatures out in those mountains, and they sound positively delicious to us. Highs in the low eighties and lows in the forties? Yes, please, we’ll take it.

That Wacky Toe Shoe Couple

We both love our “crazy toe shoes” for a variety of activities, including light hiking on maintained trails, but they’re not great for colder temperatures.

I’m so excited about getting in some hiking, even if I haven’t been able to find the new hiking shoes of my dreams. Why does no one seem to manufacture women’s hiking footwear in wide sizes? I can’t even follow the advice I’ve seen to get men’s boots for a wider toe-box, as I wear a 6W in lady-shoes — that’s like a 4 in men’s, and hardly anyone seems to carry anything below a men’s 7. Grump. I am increasingly tempted to go minimalist even for hiking and pick up a pair of Vibram FiveFingers with a grippier tread than my current KSOs. I love walking in my “barefoot shoes,” but I’d been hoping to find something more traditional that’d work for cold weather. Oh well, I may be out of luck.

In short, Sampson is home, I am thrilled, and we’re going on vacation in the foreseeable future. Life is good.

MilSpouse (First) Friday Fill-In #73

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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!