Just Another Reason...

Why I absolutely can't stand when the Obamas claim they care about the military so much.

I complained about it a few times during the campaign, especially when he would bring it up in the debates and then there was that clip where he said he would cut funding and another where he said he thought about joining the military once but didn't think it was important. And I would cringe every time I saw Michelle having a "town hall meeting" with spouses at military bases. It always seemed to disingenuous.

But according to Michelle military families are going to be one of her "issues" as first lady:

I would be honored to be first lady. I would work daily on the issues closest to my heart: helping working women and families, particularly military families.

Fast forward to the present day and the Obamas want to move into the Blair House (guest house across the street from the White House) early because their kids start school January 5. Unfortunately for them it will not be available until January 15, which is the traditional move in date for president elects.

OK, as part of a military family all I can think is cry me a river.

But it gets better! On Friday's Good Morning America they had a segment on this story and David Wright tells us the this little nugget of information:

The White House kindly offered up temporary accommodations on a nearby military base. The Obamas politely declined.

HA! Michelle dear, by either moving to Washington on the 15th or staying on the military base you'll finally have one thing in common with a military family: Uprooting your family at a not so convenient time for you school aged children or living in military housing (although you'd be staying in a much nicer house than most other military families). But I guess you are too good for either. I really get a kick out of the fact that they declined to stay on a military base when she says that military families are an issue close to her heart. I guess we are like a charitable novelty. One of those things that sound good in theory but god forbid you have to live where they do for 10 days (horrors!). She always seemed so insincere when talking to these military spouses, bored even. She never cared about them before but all of a sudden they are dear to her heart? I always thought she was trying to repair her image after saying she was proud of her country for the first time in her adult life and that America was a downright mean country. And now I believe that even more.

So next time I hear her or Obama try to tell us that they support our military or that the military families are dear to their hearts I'm going to think about him saying he didn't think it was important to serve, that as president he'd cut defense spending and that they declined to stay on a military base when the Bush administration was trying to accommodate them in their desire to move to DC early and then I will throw up in my mouth a little.

The Latest

There is a possibility that the Army Dude will be going somewhere in Korea that I can go with him. Last night we briefly talked about it but we didn't really go into details. We just talked about him possibly not finding out till he gets there and how it would be difficult for me to get everything situated here to go over there and do we really want to do that for one year. I think he's right, there would be an awful lot that I would have to do: get the house ready to rent, get our stuff packed and shipped, do something with the boat and four-wheeler, and so on. But then I thought about what a great opportunity this would be for the Little Dude to see a different part of the world (like really different not just Europe different) and I would love to get that opportunity for myself as well. Then I went back to thinking about having to leave everything here to go there for a couple of years only to come back here. And then I thought about how not many people get a chance to live there, and then I thought that this PCS (permanent change of station) is already putting a hold on expanding our family and if I go it would do so by an extra year. But it really would be an exciting opportunity. I don't know.
And speaking of our family planning. I had the Little Dude young. And when I had him we said we would not have another one until he started kindergarten. When that time came I really didn't feel like I wanted another one, I guess I wasn't ready. Now I'm ready but it's a bad time. If he does go for a year that would put me at having another baby when I'm 30. I thought for sure that I'd have a second child when I was 26 maybe 27. When I think that I had Little Dude when I was 21 it seems like such a long time and it makes me wonder if maybe I waited too long. I don't realize how long we've waited until I think about what age I had my first and what age I would have my second.

Busy Little Bee

That's me!

I have been super busy lately. That's why I haven't been able to post much, although, trust me, I have wanted to!

Like I said before, last week I got sick just in time for Thanksgiving and didn't start feeling better until Monday afternoon. While I was sick I slowed down on school work because I couldn't concentrate so now I have to pick up the pace. The term is almost done, today I did the final for the political geography class and now I have to finish working on the term paper for political theory which is due next weekend. We also have our town Christmas parade that little dude is going to be in again this year (we have to set up the float Friday too) and of course the SEC Championship is Saturday as well, ROLL TIDE! and next weekend is little dude's birthday. I can't believe he's going to be 7 already.
Oh and did I mention the Army Dude has a new assignment. Looks like Korea. I don't really know what to think, I'm relieved in a way that we get to stay put but then again I want to go with him. I love to travel and to experience new places and Korea would be so cool. I've had a couple of friends who have been there that liked it and one of my good friends lived there when her dad was in the Air Force and she loved it too. We've done the year separation before so we know what that's about but it wont hit me until he leaves and we don't know when that will be.

This Week's Developments

Can I just say TGIFF (Thank God it's finally Friday!)? It's been on hell of a week.
It started Monday, I still wasn't feeling well about five people asked me if I was pregnant, too many cars in front of every CVS on the way home so I didn't stop. Tuesday, still felt sick, went to a sushi place for lunch with some girls from work and the overpowering smell of raw fish smacked me when I walked in and I thought I was going to lose whatever I had eaten the day before. Someone else asked me if I was pregnant, stopped at Walmart got a test, wasn't.
Wednesday two of my good friends got laid off (I'm so sad about this).
Thursday, still don't feel well, passed my Karate test, received red belt (YAY!) felt so bad I almost didn't make it through and things started to go downhill after throwing one of my male classmates three times, luckily that was with about 10 minutes left in the test. The Army dude wasn't feeling well so he left school early and stopped by the studio on the way home to watch the rest of my test which was a nice surprise, and then he says he's impressed with how well I'm doing because he didn't think I had it in me when I started. Gee buddy thanks for the vote of confidence!
And today it's finally Friday and we found out that the Army Dude is no longer on assignment for Colorado (WOOO HOOOO!!!!). And I find out that, according to my political theory text book, I am a right-wing extremist. Apparently, anyone that isn't in step with Al Gore on the environment, is against the government raising our taxes and miss using what they are already taking from us, is for the Second Amendment and thinks Socialism and Liberalism is suspicious or bad is a right-wing extremist. And by the way if you are a right-wing extremists are also racist OK... that's news to me... I have a whole laundry list of complaints about this book, there are a lot of margin notes where I have written "Is this guy serious?" "What the hell?" "This never happened!" and so on. But that is another post all together. But at least we aren't going to Colorado! And knock on wood that we don't end up somewhere worse!

By the way the Army Dude had a good idea for bailing out The Big 3. Since OPEC makes so much money off of us driving around in our SUV's and such and because without The Big 3 and their gas guzzlers OPEC would stand to lose money, OPEC should bail the car makers out. With all the money that we have sent to these "friends" of ours they can bail out our car companies and send that money back our way. It's a win win situation, Our tax money doesn't bail them out, they get their money, and OPEC keeps them in business to make more cars that will need more gas. What's not to love? Army Dude in 2012

Because the Army Hates Me

We are going to Colorado. I don't even know what to think abou it. I don't even want to think about it because everytime I do I start to cry. Back in June he found out that he was on assignment to go to Colorado but he told me not to think about it or get worked up about it because it would probably change and he would try to change it. Then he got a date, which was this past Monday. Because he was in school we thought they would delete those orders. Today he found out that the date has been changed to the spring. I have spent the rest of the day crying, sleeping, crying, staring blankly, and crying.

Weighing the Options

A couple of days ago The Army Dude and I were talking about our next move. We had said before that we would like to go somewhere in the North East or Mid Atlantic. But my friend Sarah brought up Alaska and that set the wheels turning. Back when we lived in Germany a friend of mine and her family moved to Alaska and I talked to her when she was there and she went on and on about how much she liked it. In fact everyone I know that has been stationed there has loved it. I really wanted to go to Alaska then and was really pushing The Army Dude on it (not that he has any say anyway). Once we got to Georgia I fell in love with the area and got used to the heat and thoughts of Alaska vanished from my mind faster than a snowflake in our part of GA.
I told The Army Dude, who was not at all interested in Alaska last time, and he actually thought that was a good idea. He went on and on about the hunting and fishing there and said if we were going to Alaska he wanted to buy a 4-wheeler to take hunting in the summer. Today he bought one. YAY! Those of you that know me and know how I don't like the cold, or the snow, are wondering what the hell am I thinking. I know it sounds weird, especially coming from someone that didn't want to go to Colorado because it was too far and too cold (by the way we are still scheduled to be there Monday!). Alaska is different, it would be like a totally different experience. I know we would not live there were it not for the military and I would love to be able to have the chance to live there if even for 3 years. Now we just have to see if the Army is as enthusiastic about sending us there as we are to go.

Inevitable

As we get closer to the inevitable (move) I've been asked to think about where I would like to move to next. We really do not have a say but we can put in our 2 cents (however worthless they may be) because he just came off the Drill Sgt. trail. So I've been thinking about where I would like to live next.

For some reason I've wanted to move to the DC area since we were getting ready to leave Germany, that's almost 6 years now (time flies). So 4 of the 5 choices I came up with are in the DC area and then there is Ft. Hamilton in NY. That one deffinately didn't go over well but how cool would that be? I'm sure that got scratched off the list as soon as I turned my back. Yesterday I did my homework and checked out all these posts for things that I think are important, like housing, and the more I checked into it the more I thought should I be doing this?

Mom has always said that things happen for a reason, and I do believe that's true, so I'm thinking what if we do end up moving somewhere I want to go and we don't like it, or what if things would be better somewhere else and I just don't want to give it a chance. Should I try to go to one of these places or should I just go with the flow (which has worked out very well for us so far). My husband says that I just don't want to take responsibility for putting us somewhere we hate and that is partly true, but the other part is that I feel like I'm gambling on where we are going to live.

I know this sounds so wierd. People move everyday. People make up their own minds and decide for themselves where to move everyday. Maybe I'm just so used to being told where I'm going to move that I can't handle that decision on my own. I'm stuck in my own comfort zone here in Georgia and I don't want to screw up our comfortable little life with the unknown. I don't know what it is but I'm sure I sound totally irrational to any normal person. There has just been so much going through my mind in the last few days. I almost wish they would delete his current assignment and put him on assignment to a place that we haven't been thinking about but that sounds cool so we could just be happy with that.

And another thing that has been bothering me is the housing. Housing is not important to my husband, but it's very important to me. That's where we are going to live, everyday. I don't want to live in a dump. When we moved here we bought our house and we plan on renting it out when we leave and not buying again. So I know we are going to live on post where ever we go next. I was looking through housing for these different posts and I kept thinking to myself if I get stuck in one of their dump units I'm going to be so upset.

The army segregates living quarters, officers and enlisted and even then by pay grade and the higher up the better housing is afforded to you. They have also privatized their housing so there is an outside company that you pay your BAH (Basic allowance for housing) to this takes care of rent and utilities. OK so here's my beef, there could possibly be someone living next door to me that pays less rent for the same quarters. Socialist. And if I can afford (because I always work) to pay a little more a month in rent why can't I get a better place? Isn't money, money? Personally, I think that when they went to this privatized deal and made it to where you were handing over the money to a private company to rent these houses they should have made it an open market. Each different type of unit has a value the bigger and nice the more you pay and you pay what you can afford not what the government decides you should pay. I just don't want to end up living in a dump. If we can afford to live in a nice place (and we can surely do that) I don't want to end up in one of their old units that's falling apart (unless it's an old historic unit that's like 100 years old), we've been there, done that, and have moved up. I know before that happens we'll probably just move off post.

Happy Birthday to ME!

LOL Well it's not like I'm doing anything special later today. Just more homework and studying. I will be glad for Friday evening to get here. We are going to go watch the Augusta Opera's (yes, I'm shocked they have an Opera too lol)performance of Sweeny Todd. I can't wait! Until then it's homework and studying for mid terms. Hubby says that I won't be able to keep up this pace till I finish school because it's too much and I'm going to burn myself out with 4 hours of sleep every night. No way! I just want to finish. So far I have straight A's again this term.

So this year for my birthday I'm going to go to work, go to karate and then do more homework. I'm going to stay busy all day and I must confess I'm partly doing it to try to keep from having to talk to certain people that may call tomorrow.
But Friday I'm taking the day off and I plan on sleeping in just a little bit, then I'm going to finish up my American Lit. work and send it to the instructor and then I'm going to go get my GA license, register to vote here (I want my vote to count. no throwing it out this time!) and I'm going to get my McCain yard signs. Then I'm going to go see my friend at the MAC counter and get my makeup done. I decided I'm going to wear my cute little black dress. So I'll just celebrate a day late.

So I found out today that hubby is planning on volunteering to go to Korea for a year. I don't know what to think. On the one hand I like it here and I'd hate to leave my house and job and friends and family (since I'm finally so close!) to go somewhere I may or may not like. But then I think we've been here so long, everyone we have known has left, and we are NEVER going to leave. His intentions are to go to Korea and then he's been offered a job here at a unit that never deploys when he gets back, and he'll stay here till he retires. Hmmmm, just when we were hoping that our (or my) DC dreams were going to come true. I'm having mixed feelings but at the moment I'm more mad than anything because he said he'd try to go anywhere I wanted to go because I'm the one that's impacted the most from our moves. And I know that one of the reasons he wants to stay is because of my job (which would actually be great because then I could finish school without having to pay a dime) but unlike his job mine is not guaranteed until I retire. I'm just going to have to put it out of my head for now. I've given myself a headache.

OK so how about that Cindy McCain responding to the McCain's terrible treatment on The View? Here is the audio

Take a look at this. Biased?