Frustrations..

So a little background here.

For the last two years, I believe, there has been a reenlistment bonus of around $40,000+ for Donnie when he reenlisted this next time. We have been "looking forward" to this bonus to say the least, because it seemed that his last two reenlistment's he BARELY missed the big bonuses. So like I said this bonus was something we REALLY looked forward to. Well today, I looked up the bonuses for the fiscal year of 2010, which in the military starts on October 1st. Guess what, the bonus is GONE!! Go figure, he will get a bonus of a big fat $0.00.

So yes, I am FRUSTRATED. Am I ungrateful for what the Marine Corps provides for my family, ABSOLUTELY NOT. I am WELL aware that we get GREAT health coverage, job security, ETC, but really, I am FRUSTRATED. When Donnie and I first got married, it was under the Clinton administration, and the condition that the military was in would disgust so many. When we got married Donnie was making LESS then $400 a pay check. LESS, that is just absurd to me!! They did not even have enough GEAR for everyone. Really, it was PATHETIC the condition that the Clinton administration let the military get into.

The Bush administration came in and did their best to bring the military as close to equal to their civilian counterparts as they could, and to make sure that each and everyone of these men and women had the gear necessary to make sure they stayed safe. The military has come a LONG way in the last 8 years, A LONG WAY; but now with the new administration taking over, it seems that the military will be put on the back burner yet again. They are already taking budget cuts, being seen first and foremost with the bonuses.

Is my initial frustration that the money that we had HOPED we would see is gone, YES of course, is it a bit selfish, of course; I don't know many that wouldn't be frustrated with that situation though. My bigger frustration is, I see where this is heading and it seems it will be heading that way rather quickly.

When this administration took office, we knew that there would be changes that we would see on "this side" of it all, just was hoping it wouldn't be this soon. These men and women that sacrifice so much, deserve so much more then they get already. If you look at the overall population, there are very FEW who are willing to sacrifice EVERYTHING, for this entire country to have the freedom's that they have. We all take it for granted, every single day, from getting on the Internet and writing our blogs and e-mails, to driving our OWN vehicles down the street, and yelling at the guy who cut us off, to going shopping at grocery stores, to getting up in the dark to go pee and flipping on a light switch and having power, to being able to say "i don't like this government" whether past or present government. There are many governments that would have you killed on the spot for disagreeing with them. I could go on and on with the freedom's we Americans have that we take for granted every day. I do it myself.

Donnie has lost a few great friends, and my good friend, Carrie, lost her husband. I am lucky to say I knew some of these men..and feel EXTREMELY lucky to say I knew Chris. Not a day goes by that I don't think about Carrie and her son, and all the other men and women who have given everything. So in times like this, when my own selfish motives try to take over, I think about them, and what they have given up, and what we can do to help ourselves in these tough times.

We as Americans are all going through a tough time. Now is the time we all need to stand up for ourselves, and quit letting the government tell us what is best for us. Do we need "change"?? ABSOLUTELY, but that change does not need to come from the top! It needs to start at the bottom with the average American. "The President earns (and this comes from Wikipedia) $400,000 per year, along with a $50,000 monthly expense account, a $100,000 non-taxable travel account and $19,000 for entertainment.", how can he know what the American that is working for minimum wage need? How does he know what it is like to have to live off of a budget that really doesn't get you through the month?? He doesn't. That is why the change needs to start at the bottom. That is why the little guys voice does matter.

There are a lot more "little" guys out there then their are the big ones. Have you seen the movie "Bug's Life"?? I quote "You let one ant stand up to us, and they all might stand up! Those puny little ants outnumber us a hundred to one, and if they ever figure that out, there goes our way of life! It's not about food, it's about keeping those ants in line!" We as Americans are those puny little ants.

The people in the "government" are no longer "for the people", for the most part, at least not like they use to be. They are out for themselves, and for those that they "owe" a favor to. If this nation is in such a HUGE deficit, why do they get a pay raise every year?? I guarantee you, they don't take that pay raise for a few years, that will take a HUGE chunk out of the deficit. No, they would rather take money from the schools, military, and other NEEDED programs, then take money out of their own pockets.

It is not just this administration that my frustration is with. Are they catching most of my wrath?? Of course, because they are the ones in office, but honestly..whether Republicans or Democrats, they are just a bunch of crooked people, only out for themselves and not the good of the American people in general.

We need to put God back into our country. This country has thrived for 233 years, and was FOUNDED on God, and once people decided that they knew better then God, and took him out, we have started our decline as a country as a whole.

It starts with the "puny little ants"!! Once we realize we outnumber them, and our voices really do matter, is when we will see our "change" that we need!!

Not Me! Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I most certainly DID NOT let my 5 year old get his hair cut into a "cool" Mohawk, against the rest of the families wishes, just because I feel my children's hair, ONLY during summer time, is theirs do with as they please. NOT ME!! Why would I be so lenient with such a thing!!

My husband and I DID NOT buy our two oldest Nintendo DS's because we feel guilty about uprooting them from the only home they have ever really known, and feel that since they have been asking for one for so long, that it is something that might add a little "light" to what seems like a gloomy time for them! NOT US!!

I most certainly DID NOT torture my 5 year old with a dead crab, because he was scared of touching them. He was NOT sitting next to me SCREAMING, with me forcing his hand to touch the shell, with me telling him, "SEE, IT WON'T HURT YOU". NOT ME!!

I DID NOT fall completely in love with the new houses that we will be moving into sometime in the next 6 months, and of course I am NOT jealous of the people that get to move into said houses next month, why would I be..NOT ME!!!

I DO NOT get nervous everytime (2 times round trip, so 4 times total) we have rode the Ferry with the kids. I am NOT afraid that my boys will climb the railings and fall over board. Why would my boys do such things, certainly NOT!!

I have NOT been soooo busy that I haven't had time to call most of my friends or family. I am the type that stays on top of making phone calls to everyone!! So of course, that WASN'T me!!

I really am sorry about the last one...but we ARE super busy!! Pray that we find a house/apartment soon that offers month to month leases...don't know what we will do if we can't find that.

Hope everyone has a GREAT week, with many things they DO NOT want to do filling their time!! :D

Hello Washington

So we officially made it to Washington on Tuesday, we have just been super busy, and I barely have time to get on the computer and check my emails, facebook, myspace, etc. We REALLY enjoyed our trip up here. Instead of doing a rush trip up, we took our time, and went up highway 1 / 101. The whole family had a blast, minus the few fights, and myself getting car sick a few times from the roads twisting and turning up and down the cliff sides right along the shore! I'll post the pictures at the end of the post!

We went across the water to where we are going to be living, and signed up for Navy housing. I am SUPER stoked about it. We saw a few pictures, and tomorrow is the open house that we will be going to. They are currently being built, and will begin to open up the completed houses mid-August, and all houses will be completed by December. We are on the list, but they have no idea where we fall on the list, due to the fact that families that are getting relocated out of the older housing have priority over us. So we patiently impatiently wait! They are all SINGLE houses, two car garages, fenced back yards. We rate a 4 bedroom house. They said the 4 bedrooms are between 1800 and 2000 sq ft! That is a lot of space!! We are currently staying with hubby's grandma until we can find an apartment that does month to month leases...so keep your fingers crossed for us there!!

The kids are LOVING Washington. I think they were a little leary at first, and sad to leave their friends, but now they enjoy spending time and being close to family, and LOVE exploring the woods behind Grandma's house!! They have found so many little critters, and berries, and all sorts of fun things to do since being here!! I think after we get settled into our house, they will adjust to Washington rather quickly. Every now and again they will mention that they miss their friends, or Robin will say "When Bailey comes to see me!", but for the most part, they are taking the move well.

Until we get completely settled, my postings will be sporadic to say the least, but I do try to get on and "quickly" read others as I can!! Hope everyone is doing great, and we miss all of our friends!! :D

Here are a few pictures!!


As soon as we set out on the 101.



Can't go through wine country without stopping for a taste!



Hubby tasting wine.



The GORGEOUS coast line!!



Golden Gate Bridge. My car was FULL of giggles from the kids, they were super excited!



Crappy picture of Alcatraz.



Drive Thru Tree! Our Expedition wouldn't fit!



Kids chasing frogs at the pond at the Drive Thru Tree



The cat's favorite spot to ride on the trip.



The kids first Ferry ride!



The kids on the front of the Ferry, and some random guy that happened to get in the pic..



The under side of the Ferry, walking back to the Truck...



Robin feeding the Bunny in Auntie's front yard.

Not Me Monday!!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.


Here is a list of things I CERTAINLY DID NOT do this week!! Not me, why would I do such things??

I have NOT let my house get completely trashed this weekend, just because movers will be coming on Tuesday, and I didn't see the point in cleaning until my house was completely empty. NOT ME!!

I have NOT been an emotional wreck for the past week, or stressed out about the upcoming move. NOT ME!!

I have NOT been yelling at my hubby because he always seems to find something more important to do then to get stuff in this house ready for a move. Not him, and certainly NOT ME!!

My children and I have NOT been living off of lunchables, Kid Cuisines and juice boxes for the past week or longer because I do not see the need in going grocery shopping just to give away throw away, what is remaining when we move. I would NEVER feed my children such things! NOT ME!!

I DID NOT put my daughter to bed last night, in her clothes from that day. I would NEVER not change her into PJ's because I didn't want to deal with her waking up, and having to fight to get her back to sleep. NOT ME!!

I most certainly did NOT tell the housing lady that she was retarded to go fuck herself, the second she walked out of my door. Why would such words come out of MY mouth. NEVER, NOT ME!!

I am NOT going to miss ANY of my friends, or California. I am the type of person that DOES NOT get attached to people, or places. I would NEVER do such a thing, NOT ME!!

I am NOT wasting my time on the computer, with this being my last day to pack before the movers come. NO WAY I would do that, NOPE, NOT ME!!

I am sure there are many more things, I DID NOT do this past week. Hope everyone has a GREAT week!!

Writer's Workshop

A day late, but hey, I am pretty busy, seeing as to how I am moving next week!! :D But thanks to Mama Kat, here is this weeks Writer's Workshop!! Feel free to join in!! :D

Where would you like to be?


Where to begin with this one?

1. Out of my house, WITHOUT paying for my carpet to be replaced. (read post below)

2. Highway 101. I heard it is a beautiful drive!! We shall see next week!

3. In the Redwood Forest. We are PCSing to Seattle, and since we are driving up through CA, my 5 year old has been BEGGING to see the Redwood Forest. I can't wait to see the amazement in his little eyes at those TOWERING trees above him. Shoot, I can't wait to see those towering trees above me!!

4. The Golden Gate Bridge. This was my 7 year old's request since we will be driving through CA. And the same with him, to see the amazement of the bridge, and to hear him giggling with excitement as we drive over it!

5. My new house, wherever that might be.

6. A remote tropical island with some hottie with no shirt on, and rock hard abs serving me drinks out of a coconut with a nifty little umbrella, who offers to rub sunscreen on my back!! It will all be ok with my hubby too, because he will be sitting next to me, with a girl in a tiny bikini doing the same for him!!

When it Rains...

It POURS...I swear!!

A few days ago, we had our "pre-inspection" to move out of base housing, and it just happened to be on the same day we are dog-sitting for our friends. She walked through the house, said everything looks great. Says carpet looks great, no visible stains or odors. Goes through the checklist of what to do, etc. We are standing in the kitchen finishing up, and she says, "oh, btw, since you have dogs, we are going to black light your carpet to check for urine stains." To which my reply was.."umm, these aren't my dogs, I'm just dog sitting." To which her reply was, "well, they are on your premises, so we have to assume that they are yours." This would all be fine and dandy, EXCEPT for the fact, that my daughter had only been potty trained a few short months before moving here, so she has had a few accidents in the 7 months we have lived here. Urine is urine, whether it be dog or human urine, it will glow under the black light all the same. She lets me know, if there are ANY stains on the carpet, we will be charged to have it replaced...GREAT!! This wouldn't be that big a deal to me, if our carpet looked horrible, or it really stunk..but it doesn't, with a quick carpet clean over the high traffic area, it would look BRAND new. So this really has me pissed at this inspector lady, REALLY PISSED.

Our neighbors are actually carpet cleaners for the housing office, so they let us know to go to Home Depot, buy this certain kind of cleaner, and that we could get a black light there, and check the house ourselves. So finally yesterday evening we get to Home Depot, get everything we need and get back home. Of course I am curious to see what my carpet actually looks like under black light, and it is late in the evening, so we go around, close all blinds, and turn off all lights. Flip on the black light, and HOLY SHIT...my carpet is glowing, EVERYWHERE. Not BRIGHTLY glowing, but you can see every spot we have EVER scrubbed on my carpet, and I am talking EVERY. We start in the living room, and work our way to the hallway, where I know we are going to see pee spots, and sure enough, there is a puddle right in my daughters doorway with drip marks leading all the way to the bathroom!! We go into her room, and find two more brightly glowing spots next to her bed! The boys room AMAZINGLY, only has one spot in it. The play room...OH the playroom...yeah..we found 5 brightly glowing spots in there, and three more in our room in the path that leads to our bathroom. So all night last night we spent treating our "glowing" carpet in the living room and toy room. Today at around 3, since that is the time that our inspection will be on next Friday, I closed all blinds in the house and got it as dark as I could, to see what these "treated" areas looked like under the light. The treated areas looked GREAT, barely noticeable, and I am sure once our neighbor cleans our carpet next Thursday, you will never know it had even been there. So I was pretty stoked about that...but of course it couldn't end there....

Do you ever have those days, that start off great, and something just has to come along, and knock you down?? Well today was that day!! UGH.

First thing this morning, get on the computer and check our pay. We got our travel money today! WOO HOO!! We got DOUBLE what we were expecting, so I was super excited. That means rather then staying at my hubby's grandmothers for 4 weeks to get a full months of BAH saved up to get a place, we would just have to stay there about two weeks! I was super stoked and on cloud nine ALL morning. Well, hubby calls around noonish, and says his car is sorta acting funny, that we should probably tow it to Washington, rather then him driving it. I thought no biggy, we can swing that one. It was the kids last day of school today, and it went GREAT. I went and had a picnic with both of the boys, and got to play with them at school this afternoon. Then the carpet thing happened..I thought WHAT A GREAT DAY. Well hubby called me at around 4ish, to tell me he was on his way, then called back about half an hour later, saying I was going to have to come get him. The transmission just went out on the car, it won't shift any higher then second gear. GREAT. So I'm thinking, OK, this is going to cost us between $500 and a thousand to get fixed, just a little set back, but we should still be ok...hmmm...guess again. On my way down to get him, sitting in DEAD STOP traffic on the 5, he calls to say he just got off the phone with a transmission shop. It is going to cost anywhere from $1600-$2000. Just what I wanted to hear. I swear, we are destined to have only one vehicle. We bought the car for $1200, it is worth roughly 2400, so if we have to put 2 grand into it to fix it..we will have spent more then what it is worth...what to do what to do. Guess first things first..tow it to Washington..try to find a place that is cheaper up there, because anywhere up there has to be cheaper then Cali!! We have roughly a month to figure this out, and I am hoping in that time, something GREAT happens. Not holding my breath though.

Writers Workshop: Giving this a try...

So my sister follows this blog called Mama's Losin' It. It is actually pretty interesting, and she has these "writer workshop's" she posts, and you are suppose to do it every Thursday. Well, it is Friday, but I am a "newbie", and she says it is never too late to jump in..so I'm jumpin' in on a Friday! Thought I would give it a try, and If I like it, would continue to do so! For my first time, I posted instructions and all, but after that, I will only post the Prompt I choose to write about!

Your Assignment, Should You Choose To Accept

Directions:
For you newbies it's never to late to jump in!! Here is what you must do. Choose a prompt that inspires you most. Write. Come back Thursday and paste your blog URL into the Mister Linky that will be up...this way anyone can click on your name and head over to your place to see what you wrote.

Feel free to write on more than one prompt if you so desire. I do it all the time, but it's my game...and I don't know how to shut-up...so it should be expected. And remember the more comment love you give, the more comment love you get so comment comment away.

The Prompts:

1.) If you could cut back on something in your life that takes up your time what would it be? And what would you prefer to spend that time doing?
(inspired by Lady Isra)

2.) Share a recent adventure you had with a friend.
(inspired by Amy)

3.) Describe a memorable gift. Why was it important to you?
(Inspired by Kit Kat)

4.) If you could change career paths now and be anything you wanted to be...what would you be and why?
(inspired by Lauren)

5.) Kim's email:

In the St. Louis News-Dispatch paper, they had an article of a man who wrote his own obituary before his death, and gave it to his sister to post when he died. He summed life up in 45 words:

(Click here to read his words).

I know it's a morbid subject, but what about a prompt about what would one's obit say, with a word limit. You could stipulate that everyone died at 100, so we'd all be predicting what our future would be like.


So there you have it. Sum up life in 45 words. :) Happy happy.
(Inspired by Kim)

If you would like to join in on the fun visit her blog at Mama's Losin' It


So I chose to write about number 4. If you could change career paths now and be anything you wanted to be...what would you be and why?

Well this is actually a really simple one for me! I have been a stay at home Mommy for the past 8 years. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my kids to death, but I don't feel that I am SAHM material. The first few years I loved every single moment of it, but now I have got to the point, that I feel I just am stuck in a rut. I want more out of my life. I want to feel like I go out in the world and make a difference. Well this fall with be my chance.

My husband got selected to be a recruiter for the Marine Corps. We are going to be stationed up in Washington state, near his family, and it is going to give me the opportunity to go back to college, not that I spent much time there to begin with! I am going to find a great community college that offers a two year nursing program. Since we will only be stationed in WA for 2 and a half years, I figure I need to get my two year degree to begin with. Once I get that degree, I figure I will start working part time, and go to whatever college that happens to be close to our next duty station, part time, to finish up my 4 year nursing degree. After accomplishing that, I will continue to go to school and work part time, and get my masters as a Nurse Midwife. It is a really long term goal, but something that I have had my heart set on for quite a few years now. My husband is looking at retirement from the Marine Corps in just a little over 10 years, so I feel as long as I get my Midwife degree within 10 years, we will be doing great, although planning on having it within 6 years, if all goes how I have planned!

I just feel that as a Midwife, I will be making a difference in these women's lives. I feel that so many doctor's, and some Midwife's that I have encountered through the Naval Hospital, are so wrapped up in what they are doing, that they forget about the women they are treating. I want to be that Midwife that takes the time to explain everything to the woman. Walk her through step by step on what is going on with her changing body, what to expect, and to also take the time to befriend her, and let her know she has someone she can really trust. There are so many pregnant women out there that have no idea WHAT is going on with their body, and when they ask the doctor, they just brush them off, like they are not important enough to take the time to explain it to them, and then some of the women are just too afraid to ask. I want to empower women to realize that it is THEIR bodies, THEIR birth experiences, and that these doctors are not in control, that they are, and to help them understand their choices in these matters. Just ready to make a difference in the world!