Weekend Re-Cap

Unlike most of the military world (that's not deployed) hubby only got 1 day off instead of 4 this weekend, since we knew ahead of time we made sure to capitalize on that! We woke up bright and early and went to IHOP for a hot breakfast and just to get away from the hotel's little continental one. Then we ran to the NEX and bought new snorkeling gear.

We decided to hike to a lighthouse, ending with an amazing view!

Then headed down to the beach and managed to snorkel with the honu (sea turtles)!

What a great & blessed day we had!

Memorial Day Weekend

Sometime in the midst of your shopping, bbqs, picnics, beach time, park visits, bike rides, and/or whatever else you have planned for this weekend... take a few minutes to read this letter.

I posted it last year,
I may refer to it every memorial day from now it,
it's that powerful.

I'm calling YOU out, yes... YOU!

My blog is getting approximately 50-75 views per day, which is cool... but on the comment front, there are 0-2 per entry. Talk about sad! Am I seriously that boring? There are {supposedly} 152 people who follow this blog and those of you who stumble upon it either from google or other milspouse blogs... yet you read, then leave. Now, don't get me wrong... I am a failed follower at times too, I should comment but can't think of anything brilliant to say. I think that's the problem, what we comment doesn't have to be brilliant- it just has to let the writer know we're there, agree, understand, disagree, have a question, etc.


So ladies... I want questions... anything & everything, military related or not. I'll compile a list and blog about them in the near future. This blog isn't really for me, I have a personal one that only my family/friends see. I wanted this blog to be about connecting with other milSpouses...

Please,

New Books!

My Military OneSource books arrived this week! I learned about this promotion last year, I ordered 5 then. Supposedly you can order 10 free books a year, I think it is from when you last ordered them though, because I could only order 5 this time around despite the fact I got the last ones in 2010. I guess I'll just have to wait until August to order 5 more!

I got:

• Heroes at Home
• The Jonah Factor
• Water for Elephants
• The Book Thief
• Stones into Schools (playaway)

Have you taken advantage of this extremely generous offer from Military OneSource? First sign-up for an account, then check out the library. You can choose from a list of non-fiction and fiction, most books are paperback but some are audio playaways. This website is amazing, there are so many resources... from online research libraries to pamphlets dealing with deployment.

*Besides my free books, I was not compensated
for sharing this offer with you.
I'm just a OneSource fan!

Monday: Pick-Me-Up

Hubby & I went to see "On Stranger Tides" this weekend... yes, I love Pirates of the Caribbean. I really liked the movie, it honestly didn't even matter that Will and Elizabeth weren't part of it. For me it's always been about this man, er-pirate:


My dad thinks they will eventually come back after Will's 10years... I'm not sure about that, but we'll see what happens! This last picture is just because it's too stinkin' cute:


Did any of you see the movie this weekend?
If not, are you planning too?
Thoughts?

All images from we♥it

The Hotel Life

Some people dream of living in a hotel... I am not one of them. Well... maybe living in a 5-star beach-front resort suite wouldn't be so bad, but a regular hotel room... not so much.

Pros

• First and foremost- we have a place to sleep!
• The king size bed is a foreign concept (we have a queen)
• No taking out the trash, mopping, vacuuming, cleaning toilets, sinks, showers... Julie (yeah, we've been here that long) our housekeeper does it all!
• Free internet & cable TV
• Free breakfast (when I managed to crawl out of bed between the hours of 6:30 & 8:30)
• We can walk to the Marine Mart & Subway and only have a 5min drive to the commissary, exchange, or beach.
  

Cons

• The kitchenette is just that... emphasis on the ette... we have a fridge, toaster, microwave, & coffee pot. They provided 4 bowls, plates, cups, and sets of silverware. 1 knife, can opener, wine opener, and cutting board. Lets just say making dinner can be quite interesting... it's hard to eat really healthy when the microwave is your main source of cooking...
• Having to use the laundromat... which no one seems to have the decency to time their laundry. I'm so annoyed with how many times I've gone in there and all of the washing machines & dryers are full of clothes ready to be put in the dryer and ready to be taken home.
• Privacy, this is a biggie. Maybe not for us, we're really careful about how loud we are in respect for others. Let me just say, with the number of "neighbors" we've gone through (being a hotel and all) none seem to have a mutual respect. First let me say the wall we share is the one the bed is on, so I would assume headboard to headboard. The TV is along the outer wall along with the kitchen and the bathroom finishes off the shared wall.
  >One guy, we could tell EVERY movie he was watching just by listening to the dialogue while laying in bed.
  >One girl would blast her ipod so loud I could hear it while in the kitchen making dinner... not to mention her singing along.
  >One couple was ridiculous, we could hear their entire conversation... ENTIRE conversations from anywhere in our room.
  >I swear this one guy could sleep through ANYTHING, his cell alarm must have gone off for 15min straight, at 4:30am, before we called the front desk to call him (we heard that phone ring too).
  >The worst though... is, well, anytime there's an "intimate moment"... we've had screamers, grunters, and "oh baby-more!'s" it's quite disturbing... I mean I know it's a natural thing between those in love. But, really I don't want all of the neighbors in this quad of hotel rooms to hear me and my husband making love, would you?
  
  The wall probably isn't that thick, it's definitely not cement or anything. My guess wood/drywall, but it is weird when I can hear them start their microwave or turn on the fan in the bathroom.

Maybe I should get used to these types of things though- we think we're going to get stuck living in an apartment...

Lots of things have happened recently- the biggest being a realtor flat out refusing to rent to us because we require a military clause (which is illegal by the way!), we didn't have time to fight it though because we thought we were getting the house and stopped looking at others, so we needed to look at 6 other houses in 3 days.

Hoping things change soon...

Alone but Not?

It's one thing to do everything by yourself when your husband is deployed, TAD, or TDY... you have to, you get over it, you get it done.

But I'm sick of handling everything alone while he's here.
The command had him running from day #1.

I deal with TLA,
I deal with housing,
I bought my own car,
I am having to find a house,
I have to figure out the lease.

He'll be on the range for the next couple of weeks so... I'll get to figure out TMO (which is now called DMO?) once I finalize a lease.

Oh, and Memorial Day weekend... that glorious 72 or 96-
None existent... because guess who got put in charge of color-guard and has FOUR ceremonies that weekend? Yeah, my husband.

What the crap?

Do you ever feel like our job is to keep everything else going?

Monday: Pick-Me-Up

There's no lie that my favorite shows are all from CBS...
Monday & Tuesday nights are jam packed.

Hawaii Five-0 ... NCIS ... NCIS:LA
Season Finales tonight & tomorrow!
{bittersweet}

Pretty sure some snack-age will be added to the commissary list for today... popcorn & ice cream maybe?

Workouts & Blogger Malfunctions

I was right about my legs feeling like jello on Wednesday, I did an upper body work-out to let them have a day off. Yesterday they still ached but I repeated the "100 workout" and guess what- I FINISHED IT, including the 10min run! I hate running... with a passion. The only time running was ever okay was for soccer... believe it or not I used to run 6mi three times a week, not including the running during the game. I used to be in stellar shape.

I cannot wait until we find a place to live... I'll get my hockey skates, longboard, & snorkeling gear back. My husband recently bought hockey skates as well and is contemplating a longboard purchase. It will be so fun to cruise around town with him, especially not having to drive and saving gas. We both want to try SUP (stand up paddling) and surfing soon, then we will determine which one we would rather have. A bicycle may be in the works as well... I seriously need to find a job, after the house, haha...

Dream jobs for my time here:

• Event planner for a community or club
• Deckhand on a snorkeling cruise
• Outdoor recreation guide
• Golf cart beverage driver

On an unrelated note: what a "Blogger Bummer" lately. I completely understand updates, etc. but a couple of my post disappeared for both days and all of your blogs are completely jumbled in my reader- like one posted on Sunday is next to another posted just 2hrs ago. Hopefully they'll get it all worked out soon =) In the meantime, looks like I'm scrolling through and attempting to read the new ones! If you ever want to know what's going I'd recommend bookmarking Blogger Status & Known Issues.

Hope you all have a great Friday!!!

Send Spring Announcements with Shutterfly!

I know there is still snow in some parts of the country, fortunately for us it's pretty much Spring/Summer weather all year long! I personally have a love/hate relationship with the month of May. Why? Well, there's-

1. My mom's birthday
2. Mother's day (x2 now that I'm married!)
3. Both of our parents anniversary's
   
4. Graduation announcements
5. Wedding announcements

Then June pops in and you have Father's day. I don't hate any of these events, I love them! Giving is such a joyful thing for me. Unfortunately, it takes planning/budgeting much like for Christmas and getting things in the mail on time! Luckily it falls in the middle of the year spacing the two out.

Shutterfly is doing an amazing Spring Promotion for bloggers... 50 free cards just for signing up! I think they would make wonderful wedding invites, birthday cards/party announcements, and for all of you who are or know someone graduating high school or college these could be perfect for you. Pregnant or had a baby recently? Baby shower invites or announcements, I mean just think of all the possibilities these could be used for!

Personally I think we'll use them for our "we've moved, this is our new address!" cards, or something like that...

Happy Spring & Free Cards!

Jello Legs & Stretched Hair-ties

I've been house-hunting for so long I've started to go crazy... I woke up this morning stressed out. I needed to work-out. Thinking back I haven't had a set workout routine since early January - It's MAY! *slacker!* While I was home I did the occasional yoga/pilates session, but back in MD it was all about squeezing in time with friends before we PCS'd for good. I found this online, figured why not give it a shot?



I failed... I didn't run for the final 10min, I started getting light-headed during the 30 leg-lifts. Instead, I ended up doing stretches. I blame it on the fact that I have been such a slacker, I hadn't eaten anything all day, and I wasn't properly hydrated.

I'm pretty sure my legs will feel jello-ish tomorrow, so I will do some upper body work. I would suggest this workout, although if you're in a workout routine or even remotely in shape (unlike me right now) it may be a breeze for you! Here's how I did it:


100 Jumping Jacks- there's no way to "change" these up... but instead of counting straight thru I would count 1-10, then... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 20... 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 , 90, 100. It broke it up in my mind.

90 Crunches- I took these in 3 different sets of 10's... regular crunches, then left side obliques, then right side obliques. So instead 90 regular crunches I did 30 of each.

80 Squats- I broke these up into two different types as well, 40 each alternating at the 10 mark. Regular squats (toes forward) then squats with my toes angled slightly outward.

70 Leg Lifts- I did these with the help of a chair... I did a combination of each leg lifting behind me with my leg straight and ankle at a 90* (not pointing my toes). Then I would do leg lifts to each side with my toes pointed.

My husband randomly showed up for lunch (he's taking a class this week and has actually been able to leave for an hour during lunch-time). He informed me that I was doing the wrong kind of leg-lifts... and proceeded to show me the correct way:


However, if you google leg-lifts, the way I did it comes up as well:


So I guess it's your choice! I also didn't set any time limit, but I didn't sit down between sets to rest, when I stopped (after the leg-lifts) I would walk around and drink some water. I repeated the same steps as above for the remainder of the work out (60-20), I am seriously disappointed in myself that I physically couldn't run for the final 10min. I really need to work on getting my stamina back up... *sigh*


I also have a question for you ladies... do you deal with stretched out hair-ties? I know I have super thick hair & I need a haircut since it's been a little over 2mo, but this is ridiculous:

The red one is from today's workout, the black one is brand new. I seriously only get about 3 uses from a hair-tie, it seems like such a waste of money and I feel terrible throwing them away. Do any of you have a brand that works well? Or any other ideas? Thanks ladies!

Monday: Pick-Me-Up

Tired. Worn Out. +MSAD!

Can this PCS be over...yet?
Today is Friday...
May 6th...
we arrived April 6th.
Oh. My. Goodness.
I have been living in a hotel room for
an. entire. month!

For the past week I've been looking like this when I wake up:Massive under-eye circles.
Apathetic look.
Desire to curl back up in bed and hope for some miracle to happen with base housing so I can stop this insane search for 10 houses every 10 days.

#1- there aren't THAT many houses available in our budget
#2- I've already looked at 25, yes 25 houses/condos/apts/townhomes
#3- most are crap, some aren't but are $$$

To give you an idea... the crappy ones want $2,000/mo without any utilities. Electricity & water here can run $200-300/mo, then add $100/mo for cable & internet and we're at a grand total of $2400/mo. (The nicer ones around $2600).

We get $2,000.
Yeah, we get COLA as well...
But I don't have a job,
it took me 10mo to get one in MD.
I'm not sure how long it will take here.
We need to have some $ to save.

...enter my face from above...

Right now,
What I really want= my bed.
Haven't had that since February 3rd.

BUT,
Enough with the whining...
Do you all know what today is?
If I didn't sleep in, I should be at our base's fashion event.
{I'm like the worst person ever when it comes to fashion, but since I'm new here... figured it couldn't hurt to check it out!}

Anyway, I made this for you ladies...

If you'd like to use the graphic, feel free =)

If your base, FRG, Spouses Club/Association (etc.) is doing anything cool today... let the rest of us know!

Partylite Candle

I don't know if you all remember, but JG had a rockin' set of giveaways a little while ago - I entered a few and actually won one!!!

Check out my sweet prize:

Mini Barrel Jar of the "Sea Salt & Driftwood" scent... Love it!

Thanks to JG (Me and My SoldierMan) for hosting the awesome giveaways and to Kaycee (A Tiny Piece of my World) for sponsoring the PartyLite candle one specifically.

You ladies made my day!

Now if only
I could find
some authentic
Mexican food
somewhere on
this island... =p

[Feliz Cinco de Mayo]

Spam Jam!

So... my husband has this thing for Spam, yeah... the "meat" that comes in a can...

I have tried it with rice before, but honestly my original thoughts on the matter were much like Steve's from Hawaii Five-O:

Steve: Okay, so everything you're gonna cook for me this week is gonna have Spam in it?
Kamekona: Of course. It's Hawaiian steak. The nectar of the islands.
Steve: Do you know what's in Spam? Okay, I'll tell you. It's processed pork parts, salt, and meat stock.
Kamekona: That's what give 'em the glaze. Taste.
Steve: I don't wanna taste!

Well Saturday was the 9th Annual Spam Jam, so of course we attended!

After the festival I can say when made "correctly" (as if there is a correct way to cooked processed meat in a can) it tastes alright. I ate Spam Wontons & Spam Lettuce Wraps. Hubby was in heaven and managed to chow down some Spam Sliders as well... one of the vendors even said "You local boy, ya?" Hawaiian's say "ya" a lot...

Me & "Spam Man"

Spam Can decor along a restaurant booth.

Not sure how I feel about these...

It was a fun Saturday afternoon/evening... lots of restaurant vendors, local artists, local musicians and hula groups, and of course- Spam souvenirs.

Celebrating Death?

“I’ve never wished a man dead,
but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.”
- Mark Twain

I've seen pictures posted by my friends in MD, DC, and the Naval Academy... saw some images from the White House Lawn & Ground Zero. People are celebrating... partying... for lack of better words over the death of one man. A man. I am glad he is no longer in power, but I will not celebrate his death as much as I may want to, it makes us no different than them... celebrating the death of Americans. I understand those directly affected (9/11, war widows, etc.) but the overall party and ridiculous statements such as "And that's how the USA outdoes a Royal Wedding." Kinda make me sick. How pompous can Americans be?

I wish I could believe that him being out of the picture would change things, but I honestly don't see how. History continues to repeat itself (Hitler, Stalin, Hirohito, Castro, Hussein, Chavez, etc.) there is always another to take the "empty" place of "leader."

All I can do is continue to pray, knowing God has it all in His hands. It's a very uncertain time for those of us within the military community- what's the next step? Stay or go? Please don't forget our men & women still over there, still fighting to keep us safe...

As a Christian this was a good article to come across after seeing many people (esp. fellow Christians *sigh*) ripping those apart for being happy that he has died: "Response to Bin Laden's Death" ...this one isn't Christian, but about true patriotism: "Bin Laden's Death & the Meaning of American Patriotism"