After all the bs we put up with our bake sale was CANCELLED on Monday night as we were still buisly baking. Why was it cancelled? Because someone at brigade level didn’t fill out some piece of paperwork and forgot that the YMCA was coming to hand out water and we couldn’t very well be selling stuff if they were giving it away for free! We were all pretty aggravated. Our rear d guy told us we could have it yesterday, later in the morning, but same location and that he would man it himself if we would drop the stuff off. Well, we dropped off stuff and then one lady manned it by herself because the rear d guy had his hands pretty full. We made $150. Not to shabby, better than we expected really! We’re all very happy that it’s over and the four of us have decided the next time the words “bake sale”or “fundraiser” are mentioned, we are exempt!
Bake Sale Stress
May 27, 2009 at 11:28 pm (Army Life, Army Wife)
I am in charge of putting together a bake sale so that my family readiness group (FRG) can raise money for a big welcome home party when our husbands come home. There are a some major problems with this bake sale:
1. We are having it on a Tuesday morning (not my idea, think it’s insane) after a Brigade run.
2. After passing around a sign-up sheet at a meeting a few weeks ago I think there are four people volunteering their time.
3. After passing around a different sign up sheet asking for donations we have about a billion bottles of water, some orange juice, and two or three people bringing muffins.
I am very worried bout this. The lady that is helping me and I have sent out email after email asking for volunteers and donations and have received little response. Then there is the fact that someone (me) has to arrive at 6 am the day of the sale to set up. I am already panicking about how I’m going to get myself and my two little ones up, dressed, and out the door by 5:30 am.
The women in my FRG have all these big plans for this welcome home party and I am tempted to send this email:
“Dear Spouses,
You all want to have this big party, but we aren’t going to have any money because nobody wanted to take the time to bake anything or go buy stuff. So, I don’t want to hear any complaints when we are partying at the Burger King. Don’t you think your husband deserves more than a whopper when he gets home???”
Maybe that would light a fire under them!
Getting Back to Real Life
May 6, 2009 at 2:17 pm (Army Life, Army Wife, Dear Hubby, Kendal, Monkey)
We put my wonderful hubby on a plane early Monday morning for his return to Iraq. It’s always difficult to say goodbye to him, but something was different about Monday. We were able to go with him to his gate. We sat at the gate, waiting, Monkey talked some asked him why he had to go back and sat in his lap. Unlike last time, though, she didn’t fall apart and for that matter, neither did I. When it was time for him to board, he gave us kisses and a few words were exchanged and then he walked away. Once we couldn’t see him anymore, we turned to leave. Monkey cried a little and on the drive home I cried a little. When we walked back into the house it seemed different. It felt empty and silent and still.
We are slowly getting back to our real life. A life where my dear husband misses out on so much. A life that at times is lonely and difficult. It takes me a couple of days after he leaves to get over feeling empty. But, we are getting there. Monkey is playing. Kendal is rolling over and exploring anything she can get her little hands on. Laundry is going. Life continues.
I was chatting with one of my very dear friends last night and when she asked how Monkey and I were with my husband leaving I told her about not falling apart or crying for days and she said “Well, I guess it’s just getting easier for you.” Maybe she’s right and I feel a little guilty about that. Don’t get me wrong, we miss him terribly when he’s gone and we can’t wait for him to come home again.
A Very Happy Day
April 18, 2009 at 9:25 pm (Army Wife, Dear Hubby, Monkey)
So my precious husband is coming in today for his two weeks of R and R! We are all so very excited and he can not get here soon enough! Of course, yesterday, the car decides to fall apart, so it’s spending time at the shop. Monkey has been asking for him ALL day, so I put in his flight info and she’s been tracking his plane.
- Tracking Daddy’s Plane
Monkey and I were talking about the ocean last night and she says: “Mama, does an octopus pee?” Yeah, like I know the answer to that one! So, I did what any good mom would do, I googled it. Finally, I found a document that said the octopus does in fact pee, but did not give information as to how, which of course was a follow up question. After looking around for the urinary habits of an octopus and having no luck, we decided to do some octopus related art!
A Tiny Broken Heart
March 7, 2009 at 10:39 pm (Army Wife, Monkey)
We went to a birthday party today for the little boy that lives behind us. What started out as a fun and festive celebration turned into a tear filled missing daddy meltdown. Why? Because the daddy of the little boy is home for his two weeks of R and R. All the wives are jealous of the little boy’s mom and are counting down days until we get to celebrate those go by way too fast weeks and all the kids were hanging on him like they had never seen a guy before. But Monkey, well, Monkey is very much a Daddy’s girl. Has been for the majority of her four years on this earth. So, Monkey does not handle it well when there are daddy’s around and hers isn’t one of them. I felt so incredibly sad for her, it was all I could do not to breakdown and cry right along with her because there was nothing I could do to heal the hurt. I held her and tried to calm her down and I have to give kudos to the little boy’s dad, because he held her, played with her, and tried to calm her down too, but she was in full blown meltdown mode. Finally, in her tiny exhausted, quivering voice she looks at me with tear filled eyes and almost as if she was begging says “Mommy, I want to go home. I want to wait for my daddy.” I of course said OK and we came home. By the time I got her calmed down the beautiful butterfly that the really cool face painter, who was dressed like the princess from Star Wars, had painted on her cheek was gone.
A couple of things…
January 26, 2009 at 11:59 pm (Army Wife)
This post has no point. I just felt like putting these things out there and none of them deserved a post of their own!
My FRG is having a key leaders meeting this week where I will have to present the ideas that I have come up with for social events. I found a couple of ideas online, took some ideas from things that were done at our old post, and every once in a while an idea just pops into my head. It’s really not as easy as one would think to come up with ideas that would interest a large group of women! I hope they like what I have come up with and I intend to tell the whole group that I am totally open to suggestions!
My father-in-law keeps calling me and feels the need to remind me that my husband is in a war zone. Really? Does he really think that I have forgotten where my husband is and what could (God forbid) happen to him? I was telling my husband about the latest conversation and had him in hysterics when I said “I think he means well. Really, I think it comes from a good place, it just comes out all kinds of wrong.” I try to see the good even when he tells me that my husband should get out of the military and we should pack up and move to Canada!
The thoughts in my head go about a hundred miles a minute, I never really relax because I’m always thinking. I bought a journal at the bookstore and decided that I would just write stuff down and see how that worked out. Now, I sit down to write all the craziness and nothing. I know that it’s just for my eyes, but it totally frustrates me that I can’t get the thoughts from my head to the paper the way I feel they should be. So my beautiful journal sits on the desk as empty as the day it was purchased.
Have you ever heard of this? Remember how Monkey had pink eye last week? Well, she broke out in this really nasty rash so I took her back to the doctor because I thought she might be having a reaction to the medicine they gave her. No, she was having a reaction to the pink eye virus itself. There was nothing they could do for her, the doctor said the rash would go away as she got over the virus. As if she wasn’t suffering enough, I mean how fun is it to have pink eye, have to have ointment squeezed into your eye lid, and then have an extremely annoying rash? She then developed a cough, runny nose, and sore throat. The pink eye is better, the rash is disappearing, and I think the cold is getting better too.
I’m so excited! My best friend is coming to visit in March. How awesome is it that she’s spending her whole tax refund to buy the plane ticket to come see me and my girls? She can’t get here fast enough!
Dinner with the Girls
January 25, 2009 at 5:38 pm (Army Wife)
My neighbor invited us to dinner with her and some of her friends last night. It was nice to be included, even nicer to get to have an adult conversation and get out of the house. Monkey had a good time playing with all the other children and watching movies. All the adults enjoyed a delicious dinner of steak, potatoes, salad, and of course dessert. Everyone brought something. I volunteered to bring dessert because I love to bake. I tried a new recipe, chocolate fudge brownies. I was a bit worried about how they would turn out, but they turned out alright. Everything we ate was fantastic! I learned a lesson though…I can feed the baby, chat on the computer, talk on the phone, and wipe a runny nose all at the same time, but I can not feed the baby and cut a steak! That’s the beauty of dinner with the ladies, there is always someone that will take over baby duty!
Broken
January 23, 2009 at 12:06 am (Army Wife, Faith, Kendal, Monkey)
I love being a mom, I truly believe I was put on this earth to be a mom. I love my little girls and I feel blessed to have them in my life and to have the opportunity to raise them. That being said, it’s hard to have a preschooler and a newborn with a deployed husband that left when the newborn was a week old. I know there are moms out there who do it everyday and I tip my hat to them! Anyway, I was reading my daily devotional yesterday, it was written by a woman who loved being a mom now, but had not always felt that way. She talked about being ready to give up and the day that everything changed. It made me stop and think about the night I was ready to give up and the moment that changed me.
I do not consider myself a strong person. I do not like to be in charge. So, being an Army wife is really hard for me. I’ll admit that it has changed me in some ways for the better. I have learned I can survive on three hours of sleep, I can take care of two sick children and still keep the house clean, I can navigate icy roads, I can handle the money.. But, it was one of those nights. Kendal and I were up for the fourth or fifth night in a row, she was screaming, I was walking, rocking, feeding, burping, bouncing…everything I could think of to calm her. Monkey was up every ten minutes missing her daddy, needing a drink, wanting to sleep in my bed. By three o’clock in the morning I was done. I couldn’t take it anymore. So, there in the middle of my bed I collapsed into a mess. As I held my precious child close to my body and rocked her, I began to cry, almost as loudly as my tiny, helpless infant. As the tears streamed down my face and the resentment toward my husband began to surface I looked up at the ceiling and said “I can’t do this. I am done. I can’t do this.” Almost immediately my baby stopped crying and closed her eyes, she was asleep! My tears stopped almost as quickly as they started and I felt the most beautiful sense of peace. At that moment, I knew I wasn’t alone, I wasn’t doing this by myself. The resentment I felt began to fade. I knew that God was with me and everything would be alright. I have always had faith in Him and have struggled and continue to struggle to be what He created me to be. I’m so thankful for that moment, the moment I was completely broken.
After that night I had a new peace, a new joy. I felt calmer and more relaxed. That feeling has stayed with me. That is not to say that we still don’t have some rough nights, but they are less frequent now. On those nights I say a prayer and do all I can to comfort this beautiful little person God has entrusted to me. I know it’s all going to be alright as long as I remember I’m not doing this on my own.
And, to ease the husbands mind, I don’t resent him, anymore. I know he’d rather be here with his family than where he is.
Events Chairman
January 14, 2009 at 12:09 am (Army Wife)
I emailed my FRG leader today and asked her if she had found anyone else that wanted the events chairman position. Apparently not, because she called me tonight and told me that she looked forward to working with me. So, I guess this position has fallen into my lap. I was asked to brainstorm ideas for the upcoming leadership meeting, so I have been searching the web for ideas and have come up with some that I think will be a hit! This is going to be an interesting experience for me since it’s the first active FRG I’ve been a part of, not to mention the first time I’ve held a position. I’m kind of excited! Hopefully I won’t mess up big time!
FRG
January 10, 2009 at 8:57 pm (Army Wife)
Little Chickie and I were up until after three this morning. This really wouldn’t have been an issue except that my FRG was having a meeting at 10:00 am. I set my alarm for seven and then at 3:15 when she finally fell asleep, I reset it for 7:30. Like thirty minutes was going to make a huge difference! When it went off, I thought about skipping the meeting and sleeping, but decided against it. I had to cook something to take and get a shower in before my girls got up. My goal was to have us all dressed, the food cooked, and out the door by 9:30. Surprisingly we did it! I even found the building (I’d never heard of the place, much less been there, so thanks dear hubby for the awesome directions) without incident! After arriving, I was really glad that I had decided to go. They had a volunteer come and do activities with the children and Monkey really enjoyed the story that was read and the games they played. We ate some yummy brunch fare and I was so fortunate to have someone volunteer to hold my baby while I got a plate and ate! Someone had come up with an ice breaker, which always makes me nervous because I really don’t like speaking to a large group of people, especially people I’ve been around once or twice, but it wasn’t too bad. We got a lot of good information and found out the different ways that we could volunteer. The kids got these really cool dolls that you can put a picture in of your soldier. I think you have to order them online, but someone had ordered enough for our company. When we got home we printed a picture of the husband and Monkey has been carrying hers around ever since. I fixed the one for Kendal, but as you can imagine at three weeks she really doesn’t care. Anyway, I had been thinking about a way to get involved in the FRG, so I told the leader that I would be on the events planning committee. She looked at me and said “Would you be the chairman?” Umm, I don’t think so. I told her I would think about it and if she couldn’t find someone else that wanted to be the chairman then I would do it. She gave me an information sheet about what I’d have to do and told me to read over it and if I decided I wanted the position then fill out the sheet and give it back to her. Ok, I can come up with some cool ideas for events, but I don’t think I want it all on my shoulders. I’d feel better having someone to bounce ideas off of, so I thought maybe if I could find someone else who wanted to be a chairman, but felt the same way I did, we could just co chair the committee together.
I have to laugh because we were stationed in Texas for three years and I think I got three phone calls and a handful of emails from my FRG. I’ve been here three months and get a phone call at least once a week and my inbox usually has four or five emails from this FRG every other day. When Kendal was born my key caller and another lady came by the day we came home from the hospital with flowers, candy, and a homemade blanket. I was pretty shocked by that since I’d never met them, but it meant a lot to me!
One plus that came from being up all night with the little one, was that I got to chat with my hubby for more than five minutes!
So that was my Saturday! Tonight my girls and I are going to the neighbors for a small birthday party. Monkey will have the chance to play with some girls her age and I’ll have the chance to hang out with some adults! I am so excited!
